History of key this is in?

[Emoto]

Hi folks,

Sometime in the mid to late 70's, I bought a GD songbook and it had Sugaree as C to F, etc. Does anyone know if they ever played it there, and if they did, when they changed keys? I was not aware of this until the other night when a friend came by to jam and wanted to play it in B to E, I think, and he sad he'd picked that up off of a live show. Anyone know?

Thanks,

Bob

[Pete B.]

'Not sure of the GD Key history, but fwiw, I think this song falls under the umbrella of... You/I/We should be able to play this song in whatever key the lead singer calls it in (ie. once learned in any given key, it's easily transposed on the fly).
~pb

[tigerstrat]

Just a guess, since I don't have the album, but perhaps its in that key only on the album version, i.e. Garcia? Then again there are a few other songs in the Anthology that are published as F but were afaik only played in E.

Never been a big fan of shifting keys on the fly- I might be able to get through the song but it definitely takes me out of my comfort zone.

[Emoto]

'Not sure of the GD Key history, but fwiw, I think this song falls under the umbrella of... You/I/We should be able to play this song in whatever key the lead singer calls it in (ie. once learned in any given key, it's easily transposed on the fly).
~pb

Yes, it's easy enough. I was just kind of curious if anyone knew the story is all. I also wonder how many more of these I'll run into...

[ebick]

Correct....it is C to F on Garcia

[Mick]

The tab book I have shows it written in E. When I play it in E, it sounds right to me, but I can't remember the last time I played along with a recording of it to tell you if they played it that way.

[Tennessee Jedi]

'Not sure of the GD Key history, but fwiw, I think this song falls under the umbrella of... You/I/We should be able to play this song in whatever key the lead singer calls it in (ie. once learned in any given key, it's easily transposed on the fly).
~pb

Yes, it's easy enough. I was just kind of curious if anyone knew the story is all. I also wonder how many more of these I'll run into...

Birdsong , also from GARCIA is one. Some do it in D and some E ....
So maybe its a matter of some early tunes just being reworked.
DIREWOLF is in E on the album but in C ( I think ) live.

Hi folks,

Sometime in the mid to late 70's, I bought a GD songbook and it had Sugaree as C to F, etc. Does anyone know if they ever played it there, and if they did, when they changed keys? I was not aware of this until the other night when a friend came by to jam and wanted to play it in B to E, I think, and he sad he'd picked that up off of a live show. Anyone know?

yeah I hate it when that happens. This happened to me with BIRDSONG . My transpose mode is slower than slow.

[old man down]

I am all confused.

I thought for sure on Garcia that Sugaree was B to E. I'll check it tonight after tuning up against my Peterson tuner.

But way back when, I would tune my guitar to songs off of Europe '72, the base notes in Sugar Magnolia, which is at least 10 Hz sharp, so maybe I would tune up sharped and then Sugaree would sound like B to E.

[tigerstrat]

Studio is usually a little clearer for a tuning reference. U.S Blues or Loose Lucy are a couple of go-to's for the living room acoustic jam.

[Emoto]

yeah I hate it when that happens. This happened to me with BIRDSONG . My transpose mode is slower than slow.

I played Sugaree with some guys last weekend and they all knew it as B > E, whereas I learned it in C > F, so we played it as B > E. Yeah, a half step down is not such a big deal, but I'd get confused when soloing and hit some really nasty bad notes. I am always visualizing chord notes on the neck as I solo and I will choose some of those notes to play for parts of any solo, trying to weave in other notes around them. When I have to think about what chord is being played, it takes away from my already limited bandwidth, and things suffer. Even with a 2-chord instrumental like Sugaree.

[tigerstrat]

It's SO much better in E. Open strings!

[Emoto]

It's SO much better in E. Open strings!

Yabbut, the C and the Dm had open strings that I used to take advantage of before. I don't mean to sound like I am whining because E might end up better; I just have to get used to things in a different place is all. I am having to overcome instinct that I built up over a number of years.

[myoung6923]

Yes, it's easy enough. I was just kind of curious if anyone knew the story is all. I also wonder how many more of these I'll run into...

Here's a couple...

- Brokedown Palace. It was in A throughout the 70's and then by the 90's it had switched to G.
- Brown Eyed Women. Started as Dm and eventually changed to C#m.

[RiverRat]

.

[Emoto]

I believe anecdotal evidence suggests that Jerry's voice changed over the years... Probably from the ravages of smoking and drugs.

It was most likely easier for him to sing the songs in certain keys.

This is what I suspect.

Now quit whining and work on Sugaree...

Yeah, I spent a little time on it last night. Found my basic riffs again.

...Is my blue kickback crate still in the rehearsal space? They say that as you get older, three things start to go on you... Your memory goes first, I forgot what the other two were! Now that I think about it, Did I leave my head there as well?

Just ran downstairs, and nothing was left behind. They're not in the room between the rehearsal space and the door either. You don't have them?"