How to play Red by Taylor Swift
Taylor’s Eras tour played to millions of concert goers around the world in 2023-24 and Red was one of the concert highlights. Whole stadiums became a stunning sea of red! First recorded in 2012 for the original Red album, Taylor re-recorded both the song and the album for the ‘Taylor’s Version’ Red album, released in late 2021.
Taylor’s Version of Red is a perfect song chart for established beginner - intermediate range players. It’s a rocky little number that features both steel-string acoustic and electric guitars. Although you can play a nylon-string guitar for the accompaniment part it will sound best on electrics and acoustic steels.
Chords : F Am G C Em
Capo : is needed at the 4th fret to be at the same pitch as the recorded version . If you are singing and find the pitch too high try the capo at the 2nd fret. This lowers the pitch by a whole-tone. If you play Red in open-position without the capo you are playing two whole-tones below the recorded pitch.
Pick or Fingers? If you are using a nylon-string guitar play normal finger-style throughout. If you are playing a steel-string acoustic you could play the arpeggio verses with finger-style, then quickly change to the pick for the chorus. There is room to do this in the last bar of the verse, and then put the pick down in the last bar of the 1st Chorus. From the second Chorus on you would stay with the pick. But, if you are comfortable with the pick it sounds best on steel strings to use it through the whole song. For electric guitar use the pick.
Arpeggio verse : you can finger-pick this with thumb, index and middle fingers (p i m) on strings 4, 3 and 2. Using a pick you can play all down-strokes in the intro but for the verse pattern play the first four notes with a down-stroke but the last two with an upstroke. This keeps the hand movement more secure. If you are trying to play it with down-strokes only it will be harder.
Chorus : the intensity of the accompaniment needs to lift here; strong rhythm strumming with a pick is the only way to do this satisfactorily on steel strings. Strumming on nylon strings with fingers is no problem but, if you are playing fingerstyle on steel strings you are likely to find that repeated loud strumming will damage your fingernails. (It will certainly ruin you nail polish!).
Middle section : the build up to the solo features strongly accented, staccato strums on small, high pitched chords. Play these with a short, flat downstroke, relaxing the fingers straight after each strike to create a sudden stop. This creates ‘staccato’ articulation.
Guitar Solo : The electric guitar solo centers around the E major pentatonic mode (that’s the recorded pitch but remember, it’s in C Major if you are playing in the open position without the Capo IV option) .
Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : To learn about rhythm slash notation and how to shape a rhythm look at pages 4, 10, 20 - 21. On pages 36 - 37 you will find a detailed explanation of how the capo can be used to change the key of a piece of music.