How to Play Deep Elem Blues on Guitar

A step by step guide on how to play Deep Elem Blues on guitar.

Chords needed

The Deep Elem Blues is a traditional American folk song that has been recorded by a number of artists over the years. The most well-known version is probably the one by the Grateful Dead, but there are many other great versions out there as well.

If you want to learn how to play Deep Elem Blues on guitar, you’ll need to know a few basic chords. The chords you’ll need are C, F, G, and D. You can either use standard tuning or open tuning for this song. If you’re not sure how to tune your guitar to open tuning, check out this video tutorial:

Once you have your guitar tuned, try playing the following chord progression: C-F-G-C-F-G-D-G. This is the basic chord progression for Deep Elem Blues. If you have trouble playing any of these chords, refer to a guitar chord chart or online tutorial.

Once you can play the basic chord progression, try adding in some strumming patterns. A simple strumming pattern for this song would be down-up-down-up. Start slowly and gradually speed up as you get comfortable with the pattern.

You can also add in some embellishments like slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs to make your playing sound more interesting. Experiment and see what sounds good to you!

How to make the chords

The chords for this song are G, D7, Em, and C. To make a G chord, place your middle finger on the third fret of the low E string, your ring finger on the third fret of the A string, and your index finger on the second fret of the high E string. For a D7 chord, place your middle finger on the second fret of the low E string, your ring finger on the second fret of the A string, your index finger on the first fret of the high E string, and your pinky finger on the second fret of the B string. For an Em chord, place your middle finger on the second fret of the B string, your ring finger on the second fret of the G string, and your index finger on t he first fret of
the high E string. Finally, for a C chord, place your index finger on t he first fret of
the B string and your ring finger will be placed across all six strings on t he third fret.

The chord progression

The chord progression for “Deep Elem Blues” is pretty simple. It’s just a I, IV, V progression in the key of A. The chords are A, D, and E. You can play this in standard tuning or drop D tuning. I prefer drop D because it gives the song a really nice low end sound.

To play the progression in standard tuning, you would play the A chord at the 5th fret, the D chord at the 10th fret, and the E chord at the 12th fret. If you’re playing in drop D tuning, you would play the A chord at the 5th fret, the D chord at the 7th fret, and the E chord at the 12th fret.

Once you have these chords down, you can start adding in some of thebetween each chord.

The strumming pattern

The Deep Elem Blues strumming pattern is very simple. We’ll be using all downstrokes, and we’ll be playing on beats 2 and 4. So, the pattern will look like this:

D – – D – –

This is a very common strumming pattern in country music, so if you’re familiar with that genre, you should feel right at home. If not, don’t worry, it’s very easy to get the hang of.

One thing to keep in mind is that the strumming pattern doesn’t start on the first beat of the measure. It starts on the “and” of 1. So, the first downstroke will come on the “and” of 1, and then you’ll strum down again on beat 2.