Grateful Dead Ripple Guitar Lesson

Learn how to play the song “Ripple” by The Grateful Dead with this free acoustic guitar lesson by Marty Schwartz with GuitarJamz.com.

Ripple is the 6th track from the Album “American Beauty” released in 1970.  The lyrics to this song were written by Robert Hunter and the music written by Jerry Garcia.  Although not an official performing member of the Greatful Dead, Robert Hunter collaborated with Garcia on many of the Dead’s songs, so much so, that in 1994 when the Dead was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hunter was included as a member of the band. Learn more about the Song Ripple over at Wikipedia here.

This is a great beginner song that you can play around a campfire.  It has a nice relaxing rhythm with basic beginner chords and those are:  G Major, C Major, D Major, A Minor, A7.  There is also a more complicated melody that is played along with these chords that Marty will teach below.  If that is too difficult for you, you can just stick with a basic strumming pattern.  Marty will explain both methods below in the video.

Video Lesson