[old man down]

Here is the way I play this song and transition into Rider.

China Cat:

Jerry's intro bass notes to kick it off.

Intersperse Weir's 12 fret G chords.

Transition into Weir's signature riff until the vocals start.

Sing the vocals with the G and F chords at the 3rd and 1st frets.

Garcia's first solo way up high and let other open strings ring a little since they're essentially the open G chord which adds resonance.

Next set of lyrics with the G and F chords.

Garcia's 2nd lead which can be extremely hot even on acoustic guitar.

Last set of vocals with G and F chords.

Bobby's lead into the feeling groovy jam.

Bobby's chords and interspersed fills.

Settle to the 10th fret D chord and begin Jerry's takeover which will pull you up to the 12th fret region as he notches it up. (This can be killer hot, so play it forcefully, and don't worry about other strings getting played a little, just hit that lead line hard and it will carry the day.)


I Know You Rider:

Come into the familiar Garcia lead line off of his killer hot set up, and then settle down for Rider with the D chord anywhere below the 10th fret D chord.

Sing the lyrics and do each of Jerry's leads after each set of lyrics.

Skip the second Jerry long lead and close out the song early with the I know you rider gonna...lyrics with the chords backing your vocals rather than singing with nothing behind your voice.

On the final D (ar ar ar arm armsssssss) play the open D, then 5th fret D, then 10th fret D, and finally the 14th fret D

End with the final F C interchange and the G D, and wrap up with the lingering Jerry lead line.

A great way to play the song, you get all the identifier-markers played (a little Bobby, a little Jerry), and if you're feeling very "kind" this way of playing it will have you smiling afterwards.

[jck_strw]

You don't by chance have a recording of you doing this? Aud or vid would be nice. I'd like to hear this.

[GratefulPat]

i second jack straw

[Rev_Roach]

Sounds like some cool ideas of mixing the various parts for a solo piece. I sometimes have a hard time picking out which parts are most appropriate to play.

You make no mention of the modulation (C-D-E) after all the vocals are done, are you skipping it?

This sounds pretty cool and I would love to hear (and see) you play it.

[old man down]

I have no taping equipment. Don't even own a computer yet. It's always just me, my acoustic, my CD collection, and a CD player with a nice rewind to an exact spot capability. My version is based on Europe '72. If I tried to incorporate all the versions out there, I'd never get anything done.

Yes, have the C-D-E (in the middle of Jerry's second China Cat lead) but I've watched a U tube of China Cat (the one with the two dancing little girls at the start, great vid) and I've found that Jerry does the E jam at a position two frets below my position, which worries me, since it means my technique is different, and may wind up being an eventual stumbling block for me to really master his style. Jerry is based at the 7th fret and relying on a little pinky action whereas I am based at the 9th fret and everything works linearly across the fingerboard, and then I'll drop down the whole position to the 7th fret, just for a second before going back up to the 9th fret anchor again, just before the final move to the high E string where Jerry and I would once again be working it the same.

Now, remember, I am not playing with the flair that Jerry does, but I get close enough to pull it off with bravado. It sounds really good. When I pull it off after having warmed up on a few other songs, well, when I'm done with the whole thing, ending with Jerry's lingering note lick after Rider, I try not to touch any of the lower strings so that they ring as I lift the guitar away from me and rest it in a wing chair, still resonating.

I have incredible reverence for this song. I had known Weir's signature riff for over twenty years, but it wasn't until last summer, a year ago, that I set out on tackling Jerry's leads. Took me half the summer to work them in, and then a year to polish them up. Had to get a refret last winter trying to get a lot of Jerry's stuff down.

One tip: On Europe '72, calibrate your guitar tuner to 452 Hz = A 440 before tuning up. All of Europe '72 is 12 Hz higher than A = 440.