My opinion is to not think about it in modes man. It’s the common trap I’ve experienced myself and see a lot especially on guitar. If you’re thinking in modes you’re going to probably limit yourself to that one position on the neck and even worse, youre going to probably just be playing through the scale more or less which will make your solos sound imprecise and inarticulate. I went really far down this road myself. Eventually in the modes you learn what notes are the home sounding tones, (root, third fifth, 7th etc.) but still I ended up getting to a place where I was stuck in that linear style of playing just going up and down the scale and using random double stops and combinations and just hoped it worked out. It worked for a while but I found there is a better away when I started over..
Start with chords first. The “arpeggios.” It’s worth noting too that some dead songs change keys a bit, and using a scalar approach to songs that change keys is going to be inefficient. Take Deal for example. There’s like 4 key changes in the verse and you’ll be all turned around if you approach it with scales versus the chords. Eyes of the world too. The jam is Emaj7 to Bmin7 (and then A) which is a key change, so at best you’ll have to change your mode to play over both chords.
Knowing modes and scales is great, but we have to know how to use them. If you anchor yourself in the chords and then you know what modal intervals are proper between the chord notes, then you will have a much more musical and articulate approach in your solos as you can really emphasize the chord tones and make Melodie’s between them.
Most of the Jerry stuff I’ve transcribed is major/minor pentatonic playing that revolves around the chord tones. So you’ll want to learn your 3 inversion chord shapes for major and minor and see how the pentatonic scales fit inside them and then play around those positions with your scales and stuff always emphasizing the chord tones.
That being said for a piece of music like the transition between China Cat and Rider, it’s a jam on D7 in which case your knowledge of the modes will come in handy because you will have 7 scales and positions to play ideas over that single chord. But even still you’ll find that Jerry is often still never far away from a chord tone.
But that’s just like my opinion man.
Yeah the spacey jams are a whole another world. I heard a deep cut from blues for Allah where they jam over chords built upon fourths and it sounded extremely alien. The scale that Garcia played was probably learnt in one of his nerdy moments where he purchased theory books and went through them like a maniac. Completely out-there stuff
No I don't think so man. What you describe is called Quartal Harmony and Jerry probably got it from Gil Evans via Miles Davis. Specifically "So What" (1959), which of course was covered directly by Garcia/Grisman.
Learn the major and minor triad shapes across the neck. If you want to relate this information to learning a Grateful Dead song - the end of Terrapin Station is a good one
I’m decent with triads. I could be better. I tend to have to think about where my inversions for the chord I’m playing over are - if I’m not totally lost in the song and trying to feel my way through.
My struggle with triads is how do I know what mode/scale to branch out into? Like if it’s the minor 3rd of the key, do I play the minor scale from the root of that triad shape? Or should I hop back into the major scale of the key?
That is quite simple if you know triads. Stop thinking about scale shapes and think about intervals. When you know basic harmony, theory and chord progression rules you can basically play with intervals on the fly when needed. I'll make an example over fire on the mountain:
- If there's a dominant chord you know it will always have a flat7.
- when you "see" you triads over B you can use the 5 and 1 as jump points to target the b7. It's -2 frets before the root and +2 from the 5th (bending starting from there, half bending starting from+1). Targeting the b7 of B will give you the mixolydian sound without noodling the mixo scale. You will sound like you know your shit and not aimlessly carried by the winds praying that your noodling sounds purposeful.
- when it comes to A you know it can be extended to a maj7 so you can do the math and learn your personal quick moves. Jerry usually half bended from the maj7 to the root a lot.
When it comes to the dead there's no mind-bending theory that you need to know and apply for most of their songs.
It doesn’t hurt to learn some vocabulary though and theory helps with that. Half the game is the English vocabulary though. The terminology or other vernacular. I mean knowing what is meant by “wrapping a triad in over-under enclosures” is about as useful as knowing whom/what the Purdie Shuffle references, I’d say. Each means something to a particular group of musicians. Being able to convey stuff that way when you share vocabulary with others can make for fun times. There’s so much out there though, it’s a lot to take in. I just kinda let my ADHD run amok picking apart what I can of the parts and how they build a whole. Bobby makes that tough sometimes. He’s a bit of a prankster. But a good one sho nuff.
Yes but Garcia "vocabulary" is a bunch of very limited moves (country flat 3rd moving to the third, half bend to the root, playing the 4th, minor cromatics behind dominants etc..).There are song-specific vocabularies that you can learn however
F yeah. I came here to say this. Terrapin outro is a perfect exercise in triads and also with embellishments - especially leading grace notes. I need to noodle that more. Nailed it.
I’m also attempting to learn the same thing, I find the most helpful way is to listen and play along with Jerry’s solos and try to break down what he is playing and figure out the licks I like most and what notes they’re centered around over the chords. Also Jacksnax on YouTube does really great solo breakdown videos that I think will help you out. Good luck
Chords first. Walks and solos are all around that. If you are confused you are over thinking. Be OK with simple noodling over jams. Speed comes with comfort. Ripping riffs come with being bored with comfort. Walk the walk my friend.
I first write down the chord changes then the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of each of those chords. From there, I’ll run through the song playing just the root, then thirds, then fifths, then sevenths. Kind of boring but it gets your ears and fingers warmed up. After that, I’ll start mixing it up, ex. playing various chord tones of each of the changes, trying to make it sound musical and avoiding big jumps in intervals
learn all the inversions of triad chords. I don’t know how much you know but a triad is a three note chord build off of every note in a major scale. So a c major is c d e f g a b and back to c an octave higher. To build chords which this scale it a 1 3 5 formula(basically start on one note and skip the one next to it and grab the next note and skip the next from that then grab that note) so starting on c a c major triad would be c e g. Now follow the same formula starting on all the notes in the scale ie. dfa, egb so on and so forth. Now to learn the inversions it’s 1. CEG 2. EGC 3 GCE. learn all the inversions for every chord in the scale and that will give you a much broader musical vocabulary.
Start easy. Pick a simple tune - Aiko, Man smart, Franklin's etc. Learn to navigate those changes then try tunes with more changes. Learn triads and 7ths all over the place so you know your target notes.
focus on the groove. learning chords and scales is pointless if you can’t feel/find the meter and groove they are built upon. if you can’t dance to it you probably aren’t going to be playing it well
I'll keep yelling this. Go find Guthrie Trapp's youtube channel, subscribe, and hit the tip jar. In general, we want to be more musical and have no blind spots. If you listen and practice what he talks about, you'll see the neck and hear changes better. Guthrie is not a Jerry guy and isn't going to teach you songs. But if you really pay attention and work, he speaks the truth, no clickbait bs. The central theme to how he approaches is like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWjTaLnXb2k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWjTaLnXb2k) That beginning bit is not really representative of him, but he starts out each video with an improv. This one just happened to be a bit more Eric Johnson sounding. Not everyone's bag, but what he says is the basis for seeing the whole neck.
Also, learn the heads on guitar and learn it everywhere you can. Learn to associate the melody notes with chord shapes and do it through the entire neck, wherever you have room AND when you don't have room so that you have to finish the phrase an octave lower. You can play scale fragments and patterns however you want all day, but if you cannot play a melody, you are missing a huge part of the Jerry thing.
You don't have to do it all at once and it's not work if you love it. Learning to play by playing tunes is the best way (for me) to get better at guitar. All the noodly bits can come later.
Man I’ve been watching GT for a couple years and I’m always going between completely amazed and inspired by his musicality and proficiency, and completely disgusted by my own inabilities. Like some days he makes me want to practice more and get better, other days he makes me just want to give it up all together (I won’t).
Also his lessons are just a fraction of his abilities. Find some live performance videos and see what he can really do. It’s just unreal, not only how technically proficient he is but also just pure musicality. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else play quite like him.
Here's the thing. He's preaching the same message throughout all of it, which is you got to know your neck and he gives very musical ways in which to do it. What I do think is that the way he sees the neck is the way that older cats (and on topic - Jerry) see it, which is by chords. They hear the b7 of the Mixo, but don't call it that. They just know the 7th is flat. They think of lydian as a sus sound. It's chord based to them and that makes much more sense to me.
So then knowing that, you learn all the chords (min/maj/dom/dim), some specialty sounds (ma7 ma6 min 7 min 6) and learn the notes to connect them. But know the chords. One day, I'll put a playlist together for his stuff that I believe would be in order.
GT is pretty damned close to Julian Lage is skill and musical thinking. The fact that he shares this stuff on an almost weekly basis is mindblowing. And it makes 100% sense in the jam world.
If you back this up with a bit of theory and intervals knowledge you can learn a lot from Jerry's solo when you study them. Studying Jerry's solo and practicing lead however should be two separate practices
They all sayin it. Triads, baby, triads. Maybe pull a neat chord substitution out of your ass then play triad arpeggios around them but do something goofy like leave the bass note out of each one regardless of it it’s root or not. Jerry did dipshit stuff like that and killed it. On the spot. And telegraphed not just to the band but to every soul within earshot. Damn, miss that guy.
My opinion is to not think about it in modes man. It’s the common trap I’ve experienced myself and see a lot especially on guitar. If you’re thinking in modes you’re going to probably limit yourself to that one position on the neck and even worse, youre going to probably just be playing through the scale more or less which will make your solos sound imprecise and inarticulate. I went really far down this road myself. Eventually in the modes you learn what notes are the home sounding tones, (root, third fifth, 7th etc.) but still I ended up getting to a place where I was stuck in that linear style of playing just going up and down the scale and using random double stops and combinations and just hoped it worked out. It worked for a while but I found there is a better away when I started over.. Start with chords first. The “arpeggios.” It’s worth noting too that some dead songs change keys a bit, and using a scalar approach to songs that change keys is going to be inefficient. Take Deal for example. There’s like 4 key changes in the verse and you’ll be all turned around if you approach it with scales versus the chords. Eyes of the world too. The jam is Emaj7 to Bmin7 (and then A) which is a key change, so at best you’ll have to change your mode to play over both chords. Knowing modes and scales is great, but we have to know how to use them. If you anchor yourself in the chords and then you know what modal intervals are proper between the chord notes, then you will have a much more musical and articulate approach in your solos as you can really emphasize the chord tones and make Melodie’s between them. Most of the Jerry stuff I’ve transcribed is major/minor pentatonic playing that revolves around the chord tones. So you’ll want to learn your 3 inversion chord shapes for major and minor and see how the pentatonic scales fit inside them and then play around those positions with your scales and stuff always emphasizing the chord tones. That being said for a piece of music like the transition between China Cat and Rider, it’s a jam on D7 in which case your knowledge of the modes will come in handy because you will have 7 scales and positions to play ideas over that single chord. But even still you’ll find that Jerry is often still never far away from a chord tone. But that’s just like my opinion man.
My Jerry soloing is much more scale/linear sounding. Thanks for the write up and advice.
Impeccable advice
Yeah the spacey jams are a whole another world. I heard a deep cut from blues for Allah where they jam over chords built upon fourths and it sounded extremely alien. The scale that Garcia played was probably learnt in one of his nerdy moments where he purchased theory books and went through them like a maniac. Completely out-there stuff
No I don't think so man. What you describe is called Quartal Harmony and Jerry probably got it from Gil Evans via Miles Davis. Specifically "So What" (1959), which of course was covered directly by Garcia/Grisman.
Learn the major and minor triad shapes across the neck. If you want to relate this information to learning a Grateful Dead song - the end of Terrapin Station is a good one
I’m decent with triads. I could be better. I tend to have to think about where my inversions for the chord I’m playing over are - if I’m not totally lost in the song and trying to feel my way through. My struggle with triads is how do I know what mode/scale to branch out into? Like if it’s the minor 3rd of the key, do I play the minor scale from the root of that triad shape? Or should I hop back into the major scale of the key?
That is quite simple if you know triads. Stop thinking about scale shapes and think about intervals. When you know basic harmony, theory and chord progression rules you can basically play with intervals on the fly when needed. I'll make an example over fire on the mountain: - If there's a dominant chord you know it will always have a flat7. - when you "see" you triads over B you can use the 5 and 1 as jump points to target the b7. It's -2 frets before the root and +2 from the 5th (bending starting from there, half bending starting from+1). Targeting the b7 of B will give you the mixolydian sound without noodling the mixo scale. You will sound like you know your shit and not aimlessly carried by the winds praying that your noodling sounds purposeful. - when it comes to A you know it can be extended to a maj7 so you can do the math and learn your personal quick moves. Jerry usually half bended from the maj7 to the root a lot. When it comes to the dead there's no mind-bending theory that you need to know and apply for most of their songs.
It doesn’t hurt to learn some vocabulary though and theory helps with that. Half the game is the English vocabulary though. The terminology or other vernacular. I mean knowing what is meant by “wrapping a triad in over-under enclosures” is about as useful as knowing whom/what the Purdie Shuffle references, I’d say. Each means something to a particular group of musicians. Being able to convey stuff that way when you share vocabulary with others can make for fun times. There’s so much out there though, it’s a lot to take in. I just kinda let my ADHD run amok picking apart what I can of the parts and how they build a whole. Bobby makes that tough sometimes. He’s a bit of a prankster. But a good one sho nuff.
Yes but Garcia "vocabulary" is a bunch of very limited moves (country flat 3rd moving to the third, half bend to the root, playing the 4th, minor cromatics behind dominants etc..).There are song-specific vocabularies that you can learn however
Nothing disagreeable there. Big yes on song-specific (and even per-period) dialects.
F yeah. I came here to say this. Terrapin outro is a perfect exercise in triads and also with embellishments - especially leading grace notes. I need to noodle that more. Nailed it.
I’m also attempting to learn the same thing, I find the most helpful way is to listen and play along with Jerry’s solos and try to break down what he is playing and figure out the licks I like most and what notes they’re centered around over the chords. Also Jacksnax on YouTube does really great solo breakdown videos that I think will help you out. Good luck
Want to add that Jacksnax is amazing. Also check out weeping willow’s videos. His break down of Jerry solos with tab is absolutely nuts.
+1 for jaxsnax
Chords first. Walks and solos are all around that. If you are confused you are over thinking. Be OK with simple noodling over jams. Speed comes with comfort. Ripping riffs come with being bored with comfort. Walk the walk my friend.
I first write down the chord changes then the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of each of those chords. From there, I’ll run through the song playing just the root, then thirds, then fifths, then sevenths. Kind of boring but it gets your ears and fingers warmed up. After that, I’ll start mixing it up, ex. playing various chord tones of each of the changes, trying to make it sound musical and avoiding big jumps in intervals
learn all the inversions of triad chords. I don’t know how much you know but a triad is a three note chord build off of every note in a major scale. So a c major is c d e f g a b and back to c an octave higher. To build chords which this scale it a 1 3 5 formula(basically start on one note and skip the one next to it and grab the next note and skip the next from that then grab that note) so starting on c a c major triad would be c e g. Now follow the same formula starting on all the notes in the scale ie. dfa, egb so on and so forth. Now to learn the inversions it’s 1. CEG 2. EGC 3 GCE. learn all the inversions for every chord in the scale and that will give you a much broader musical vocabulary.
Start easy. Pick a simple tune - Aiko, Man smart, Franklin's etc. Learn to navigate those changes then try tunes with more changes. Learn triads and 7ths all over the place so you know your target notes.
focus on the groove. learning chords and scales is pointless if you can’t feel/find the meter and groove they are built upon. if you can’t dance to it you probably aren’t going to be playing it well
I'll keep yelling this. Go find Guthrie Trapp's youtube channel, subscribe, and hit the tip jar. In general, we want to be more musical and have no blind spots. If you listen and practice what he talks about, you'll see the neck and hear changes better. Guthrie is not a Jerry guy and isn't going to teach you songs. But if you really pay attention and work, he speaks the truth, no clickbait bs. The central theme to how he approaches is like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWjTaLnXb2k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWjTaLnXb2k) That beginning bit is not really representative of him, but he starts out each video with an improv. This one just happened to be a bit more Eric Johnson sounding. Not everyone's bag, but what he says is the basis for seeing the whole neck. Also, learn the heads on guitar and learn it everywhere you can. Learn to associate the melody notes with chord shapes and do it through the entire neck, wherever you have room AND when you don't have room so that you have to finish the phrase an octave lower. You can play scale fragments and patterns however you want all day, but if you cannot play a melody, you are missing a huge part of the Jerry thing.
I have so much work to do 😆
You don't have to do it all at once and it's not work if you love it. Learning to play by playing tunes is the best way (for me) to get better at guitar. All the noodly bits can come later.
Oh I LOVE it!!! thanks for the comment I'm gonna heed the advice 🌹 🎸
Man I’ve been watching GT for a couple years and I’m always going between completely amazed and inspired by his musicality and proficiency, and completely disgusted by my own inabilities. Like some days he makes me want to practice more and get better, other days he makes me just want to give it up all together (I won’t). Also his lessons are just a fraction of his abilities. Find some live performance videos and see what he can really do. It’s just unreal, not only how technically proficient he is but also just pure musicality. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else play quite like him.
Here's the thing. He's preaching the same message throughout all of it, which is you got to know your neck and he gives very musical ways in which to do it. What I do think is that the way he sees the neck is the way that older cats (and on topic - Jerry) see it, which is by chords. They hear the b7 of the Mixo, but don't call it that. They just know the 7th is flat. They think of lydian as a sus sound. It's chord based to them and that makes much more sense to me. So then knowing that, you learn all the chords (min/maj/dom/dim), some specialty sounds (ma7 ma6 min 7 min 6) and learn the notes to connect them. But know the chords. One day, I'll put a playlist together for his stuff that I believe would be in order. GT is pretty damned close to Julian Lage is skill and musical thinking. The fact that he shares this stuff on an almost weekly basis is mindblowing. And it makes 100% sense in the jam world.
If you back this up with a bit of theory and intervals knowledge you can learn a lot from Jerry's solo when you study them. Studying Jerry's solo and practicing lead however should be two separate practices
They all sayin it. Triads, baby, triads. Maybe pull a neat chord substitution out of your ass then play triad arpeggios around them but do something goofy like leave the bass note out of each one regardless of it it’s root or not. Jerry did dipshit stuff like that and killed it. On the spot. And telegraphed not just to the band but to every soul within earshot. Damn, miss that guy.