Scarborough Fair: Anonymous
Learn to play the iconic "Scarborough Fair". This traditional tune has lasted the ages and continues to be one of the best-loved songs worldwide.
Includes:
6 VideosIncludes PDF Materials
Bonus Tutorial
Lifetime Access

Course Level: EARLY INTERMEDIATE
This course is at the EARLY INTERMEDIATE level. This means that most of the notes will be in the lower positions, with occasional notes moving into higher positions (usually just on the 1st string). The rhythms are mostly simple. Chords are mostly common, open-position. TABs are included for an alternative to music notation. For more advanced players, pieces in this level can be used as a study to improve learning, memorization and phrasing techniques.
About CGS Study Guides
CGS Study Guides are like a series of lessons on a single piece, all condensed into a few videos. What may take weeks or months with a teacher are presented here for your own self-paced study.
You’ll get suggestions on varied subjects, which may include:
- How to count and play any tricky rhythms
- How to polish difficult transitions
- How to phrase the music, when to swell or fade
- How to apply advanced phrasing techniques to make the music more beautiful
- How to practice so you learn the piece most quickly
- How to memorize the music more easily
- How to troubleshoot hard spots
- How to avoid common traps that slow players down
- How to make small changes that make big differences
- How to understand the composer’s intentions
- How to choose the right tone quality for each part
- How to make the melody sing
- How to make the rhythm more lively
- How to practice to increase your speed and precision
- How to maintain the piece after you learn it
- among others
When you purchase a CGS Study Guide, you get lifetime access to all videos and materials. You also get full support and your questions get answered via on-page comment or email.
Members of The Woodshed Program get full access to all courses and Study Guides for the life of their membership. Note: Videos stream only and are not available for download.
How are Study Guides different from the CGS Full Courses?
The CGS Full Courses go note by note, and are extremely detailed. Many of the full courses are upwards of 30 or more videos.
This makes for a thorough and beneficial learning experience. But they do require a substantial time investment to complete.
Study Notes, on the other hand, are condensed lessons. They assume you (the student/player) can figure out the basic notes and fingerings. So the suggestions are more often on how to improve upon what you can already do.
Focus is on understanding the music, and bringing it to a high level of technical and musical mastery. To this end, potential problems are addressed, and opportunities highlighted. Study Guides are usually from 20-40 minutes of video.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee, Plus…

I am a 61 year old physician, reconnecting with the classical guitar after a hiatus of nearly 40 years. After a couple of weeks [in the program], I’m now producing a much clearer, yet somehow more mellow and beautiful sound. It was really good to feel it happening in my hand, and that it felt more comfortable and somehow “right”, compared to the way I had played before (“curved picking”). The fog started to lift and I found that I was remembering more, and it felt great (also a bit of a relief!), giving me confidence to keep going. Thank you for making your course available - your love of music and the guitar shines through the teaching. I am very happy I found and registered with CGS.
-Brian Davey
Allen: Just wanted you to know I have thoroughly enjoyed The Woodshed program. I'm in Level 1C and love how every part works together. It has improved my "general" playing already.
-Lydia Chance
Play Scarborough Fair: Anonymous: $19
This course on Scarborough Fair: Anonymous costs $19
for lifetime access to the course and all supplementary materials
**Become a member of The Woodshed and get full access to this and all courses included in your membership.**
Purchase just this course.
The Woodshed is a complete program to learn classical guitar.
- Access to every course on CGS.
- A step-by-step technique program.
- Access to a massive library of play-along skill-building videos.
- One-on-one feedback and support included.
The Woodshed is $49/month, billed automatically. Cancel anytime, with no contracts. Full money-back guarantee, plus keep this course for free, just for trying it. Learn more here.
After you’ve paid for the course, you can come back to this page and the modules below should be unlocked. You can view and access all your courses anytime on the My Courses page, found in the top menu bar of any page.
I am truly enjoying the growth and challenge that the Woodshed material provides. I look forward to working hard and learning much in the years ahead. Thanks for all the effort and care that you have taken in providing these lessons and resources!
-Mark Whitsett

About Allen Mathews
Allen Mathews learned guitar as an adult, and has been a full-time guitar teacher for almost two decades to students age 4 to 96. He has taught classical guitar at Reed College and Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and has been a guest lecturer and clinician at schools and universities throughout the U.S. Allen is often praised for his creative teaching abilities, and his dedication to helping adults learn classical guitar. He has a popular Youtube Channel offering regular classical guitar tutorials, and has gained fans worldwide for his weekly emails and articles at ClassicalGuitarShed.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions on the course, or on any of the lessons within the course, you can leave a comment on any page. (Comments on the website are best, because others can see them as well.)
If you would rather not leave the question as a comment, you can email me directly. I will promptly do my best to answer any questions you have.
If you get in over your head, that’s okay. You can return the course and get a refund, or you can keep it and come back to it later.
If you feel overwhelmed, you can also email me for advice or input.
Also, if you feel like it may be too difficult, you may be able to simplify your practice. Focusing on one small aspect (such as the right hand alone) of one small section at a time is very helpful.
If you are ready to purchase this course, you can click the purchase button above or below this text.
After you complete the checkout, you will have access to the course.
If you do not already have a username and password, one will be emailed to you. (Your username is usually your email address).
You can login at the top of any page.
Once you are logged in, you can find your courses in the “My Courses” tab at the top of any page.
To begin the course, print your materials and progress through the lessons.
If you ever have technical difficulties or something doesn’t seem to be working correctly, you can contact me and I’ll help as soon as I am able.
Once you purchase the course, you have lifetime access. You can proceed at your own pace. You can start and stop as you wish, and know that it will always be here.
If you mark lessons “complete” as you go, your progress will be saved and you can pick up where you left off.
As you watch the video and look and the excerpt above, ask yourself the questions:
“Have I played music using these notes?”
“Do I recognize any of the “shapes in the left hand?”
“Are there markings or techniques I don’t recognize or understand?”
“Does this piece get me excited, and just a little scared?”
Most pieces of music can be a wonderful experience for a wide range of players. If you’re a beginner, your challenge will be getting the notes and controlling your hands. If you’re a more advanced player, the notes may come more quickly, but you may need to work on playing more beautifully (phrasing, connecting the notes, balancing the voices, etc).
There is always more to learn. As long as you take your time and focus on specific challenges one at a time, you can enjoy moving forward and learning a wide variety of music.
Most courses include sheet music. You can see above in the grey box with the sheet music excerpt whether or not this course does. If so, you get both standard musical notation and TAB PDFs to download, save, and print. You’ll also find the music separated into small sections for closer study, as well as any other helpful study-aids.
If the music is not included, you’ll see a notice stating this above as well.
Yes, all courses and videos will work just fine on all common devices.
Yes. There is no limit on time, and you can progress at whatever pace is most comfortable for you.
If you need to take a break from the course (to travel, or to focus on other things), you can pick up where you left off.
Move through the lessons as slowly or as quickly as you wish.
Currently, videos only stream and cannot be downloaded. You will need internet access to view the videos.
Most courses include sheet music and TABs. You can see above in the grey box with the sheet music excerpt whether or not this course does. If so, you get both standard musical notation and TABs PDFs to download, save, and print. If the music is not included, you’ll see a notice stating this above as well.
Hi Allen,
First public performance ever! I am up to Level 1E in The Woodshed program. It is certainly mega helpful.
-Peter Graham
Play Scarborough Fair: Anonymous: $19
This course on Scarborough Fair: Anonymous costs $19
for lifetime access to the course and all supplementary materials
**Become a member of The Woodshed and get full access to this and all courses included in your membership.**
Purchase just this course.
The Woodshed is a complete program to learn classical guitar.
- Access to every course on CGS.
- A step-by-step technique program.
- Access to a massive library of play-along skill-building videos.
- One-on-one feedback and support included.
The Woodshed is $49/month, billed automatically. Cancel anytime, with no contracts. Full money-back guarantee, plus keep this course for free, just for trying it. Learn more here.
After you’ve paid for the course, you can come back to this page and the modules below should be unlocked. You can view and access all your courses anytime on the My Courses page, found in the top menu bar of any page.
This is the ideal starting position for me. As a relative beginner with no teacher this is helping me enormously in developing good technique and not falling into bad habits. I no longer feel (A) That it's a struggle to learn a new piece and (B) That I am alone in my endeavors. My advice is to try The Woodshed program. It is fantastic and will not only bring up your playing but his explanations of musical concepts as you go along put things into perspective.
-John Andersson