[Gr8fulPickr]

Just getting into guitar. I'm still very early, but really want to spend a few days per week just focused on learning songs and solos rather than just doing exercises.

I'm still not smooth switching between chords yet, but seem to do a lot better at solos.

What are some easier Dead songs with relatively easy & fun Jerry solos I should start with?

[MattMan]

Franklin's Tower. Two chord song with endless opportunity to learn Jerry style. Here's a great training video. Watch all of his stuff. Great teacher:

[Incaroads77]

Franklin's Tower. Two chord song with endless opportunity to learn Jerry style. Here's a great training video. Watch all of his stuff. Great teacher:

This man has to be the best instructor for Jer chops hands down at the moment. He also incorporates a lot of basic theory as you go along. His transcriptions are very good as well. No way i'd have the patience to do what he does creating those videos.

[ShinyAntelope]

Another guy does a bunch of lessons for Jerry/Dead tunes and is entertaining is Stichmethod and below he shows a Jerry chord soloing technique.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0XHQfGWhGo

The intro to St Stephen really gives a nice concise bite of Jerry's scale movement to practice and get a feel for. It helped me a lot to understand how he moved when jamming in a scale when I first started. Hope you find those helpful.

[chinacatbundaberg]

Amarguitar does a nice job with Deal. The basics of the song are quite playable - the lead guitar studies take a bit more work

[strumminsix]

Just getting into guitar. I'm still very early, but really want to spend a few days per week just focused on learning songs and solos rather than just doing exercises.

I'm still not smooth switching between chords yet, but seem to do a lot better at solos.

What are some easier Dead songs with relatively easy & fun Jerry solos I should start with?

I'd recommend starting with acoustic and jamming out the Reckoning album.

Classic songs, most have few chords, they'll help your left and right hand coordination.

Regarding solos, Jerry starts from the melody. Those old tunes have that beautifully.

Copy solos are easy. But Jerry played the changes so knowing the changes, the timing, the rhythm of it, when to play some notes and avoid others. Gotta learn your foundation. That's the chords. The shape. The timing. The substitutions. It's a wonderful journey!

[Gr8fulPickr]

Thanks guys. Really gr8ful I found this board. So much great info to dive into and I expect to post fairly frequently, so bare with me.

I've tried to learn guitar a few times over the years, but always got frustrated and quit before getting to a place where I felt like I was making headway. I think part of the problem was trying to learn stuff that I like, like bluegrass, but don't love in the same way I love music like The Dead.

This time I am making learning the music I truly love the main priority and I've already managed to make far more progress than in my last two attempts. It really feels like I'm going to get there this time.

I've run across most of these online videos. It's just a challenge to understand which are going to be easy enough for someone at my level.

Had a couple of a-ha moments this weekend and can finally switch between 10-12 chords somewhat smoothly 65% of the time. Going to spend the next few weeks getting that to 90%+.

While I'm doing that, it would be cool to have one or two solo runs that aren't too hard to work on. I haven't started learning about hammer-on's or pull-offs yet.

Any tabs of easy solo segments you can point me to so I have something to pick on when I'm bored with strumming chords?

[gr8fullfred]

For the top 5 solos to learn to play,
1)Touch of Grey solo, YouTube lessons are great
2)Box of Rain Solo. (Believe it or not, I think that David Nelson played the solo on the original recording).
3)Bertha
4)Eyes
5)Alabama Getaway

I would also recommend that you study ARPEGGIOS. I think you need them to play like Jerry. And Study the Mixolydian Mode.

[Jeff S]

Ship of Fools was one of my first guitar solos that I learned. Any version will do but I used the Steal Your Face version. I believe it is out of print. The band hated that album. If you can't get the album, google the show dates and it can be down loaded from bt.etree.org. Also the opening (and repeated) riff from Tennessee Jed is a quick and satisfying first thing to learn.

[Jeff S]

For the top 5 solos to learn to play,
1)Touch of Grey solo, YouTube lessons are great
2)Box of Rain Solo. (Believe it or not, I think that David Nelson played the solo on the original recording).
3)Bertha
4)Eyes
5)Alabama Getaway

I would also recommend that you study ARPEGGIOS. I think you need them to play like Jerry. And Study the Mixolydian Mode.

Yes. I agree. When people hear the word arpeggio, they often picture some jazz fusion or other virtuoso type stuff. But Jerry used them differently in my opinion. A great (almost all arpeggiated) example of this is Scarlet Begonia'a (any live version) or Touch of Grey. I recommend greatfulguitarlessons.com. Seth is a great teacher and the lessons are dirt cheap. If he goes too fast for you, I recommend a video player that you can slow down the video.

[Feedback11]

For specific songs, I'd say Franklin's Tower, Fire on the Mountain, Bertha, Not Fade Away, and Sugar Magnolia are some good ones to start. If you can play the F chord, Morning Dew isn't too bad. I'd also recommend playing with recordings or backing tracks. Jeff Williams Guitar on YouTube has some really good backing tracks that show the chords and scales, and he's got some cool lessons. My biggest piece of advice is just copying stuff. If you hear a line or a solo you like, try and learn it. I'd recommend trying to learn by ear, but tabs and video tutorials are cool too. Music, especially improvising, is like a language. The more vocabulary that you learn, the more stuff you can say. Also while not a Dead tune, I'd recommend learning so what by Miles Davis. That song is really great to get a grasp on improvising and there are a ton of videos and lessons on that one. (I think the Dead did play it once)

[Cumtax]

For the top 5 solos to learn to play,
1)Touch of Grey solo, YouTube lessons are great
2)Box of Rain Solo. (Believe it or not, I think that David Nelson played the solo on the original recording).
3)Bertha
4)Eyes
5)Alabama Getaway

I would also recommend that you study ARPEGGIOS. I think you need them to play like Jerry. And Study the Mixolydian Mode.

at one point I realized that most Cornell solos I absolutely loved like crazy were just arpeggios lmao

[Chocol8]

Here are a couple more Franklin's resources.

Stitch explanation of scale, chord tones, and adding the country/blue grass special sauce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9q3f8VDX8

This video might seem like a steep hill for a beginner without much music theory background, but break it down into pieces and learn this stuff, and it will pay dividends in many many other songs. Learn the major and mixolydian scales in different positions. Learn to find the chord tones in different positions and how to use them over the chord being played. Finally learn how to add in passing tones like a minor third or flat five and use them to add color or chromaticisms. It takes time and effort but the payoff will be much more valuable than just learning to copy licks from tab.

Jeff's backing track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J3zPdKl-4k&t=360s

[Slewfoot2000]

I'll add the following as nice and straightforward songs to play once one has first position and barre chords down.

Basically, if I can play them, anyone can play them!

Row Jimmy
Brokedown Palace
He's Gone
Candyman
Estimated Prophet
Jack-a-Roe
Black Throated Wind
Minglewood
One More Saturday Night
Ramble On Rose
US Blues

Then there are songs like Uncle John's Band, Sugar Magnolia and Eyes of the World that one would think would be pretty easy, but they move along very fast with the chord changes making them kinda tricky.

[natebernstein]

Iko Iko/Man Smart, Woman Smarter are each two chords and a Bo Diddley beat. Good for building your rhythm chops/timing. Throw in a little major pentatonic with a touch of chromaticism when you're ready to do a little soloing over it.

Brown-Eyed Women has a fair amount of changes but not too many chords all in. Same with He's Gone, which I think someone else suggested.

Agree with the others who have suggested Franklin's, Fire and other of the Dead's simpler fare.

The "jam" part to Sugaree also fits this bill (just B and E major) though the verses/refrain are a little more complicated.