[old man down]

I do that China Cat melody in E in the same position as Jer, mainly becasue I punch the C>D>E using the A-shape of the chord, which puts your index/pointer/pinky fingers right on top of the melody notes.

Pete, that may be why he does it there.

But more interesting is the fact that you do it this way intuitively. You may "have it." Some people do, have the ability to get the Jerry sound. I've listened to enough you tube clips of Jerry sound guitarists and some of them have it and others don't.

When I try to play the riff on the E chord the way you and Jer do, the melody gets caught up, snagged, for me. It is a mess. As soon as I try it where I learned it, intuitively, it comes out just fine, and I have all my senses about me, rather than feeling confused when at the position just below.

This is how my style and application differs from Jer. It could be an impediment that hinders my trying to get closer to his style.

Even knowing the way Jer plays the riff and then, for me, still having trouble to think that way, it explains why I stuggle to learn his stuff.

But half the fun is realizing, when you learn something, that what you thought it would be, and what it turns out to be, are two entirely different things.

[Pete B.]

fwiw, I would go with whatever is most natural for you/me/anybody. Just try not to box yourself in.

I find that when I try to play exactly like any of the great players whose style I enjoy enough to mimick, I condemn myself to sounding like a terminal intermediate level player.

For me, the CAGED thing has opened the door to a ton of Bob and Jerry style playing. I often think, Ohhhh, so this is what they were thinking when they came up with this lick.

Another one is Allman Bros. Blue Sky, Ramblin Man, Jessica (which is blatently played out of the C-shape), ect... all fall in line with the CAGED thing.

I seriously got back into guitar in Dec 1995 (Jerry on the cover of GP mag, Help/Slip tab inside) after about a 10 year period where 95% percent of my playing was dedicated to Pedal Steel.
The single best piece of advice I got was to learn the CAGED method of soloing out of the chord forms. That advice came from a local Django Rheinhart (sp?) stylist (this guy played some wild solos while I played the Emaj7>Bm>A "EyesOTW" rhythm part).
Before then I was a make up your own scales/patterns guy... looking back I had really painted myself into a corner.

I think avoiding the development of a favorite position is something I try to keep myself aware of.
Jerry speaks of practicing playing in awkward positions as a means a building dexterity in one of the articles I've read.

Whew!... the coffee is kickin' in!
~pb

[Pete B.]

Old Man Down,
In an effort to dispell the "Favorite Position" myth as it applies to Garcia, I submitt for your approval, Terrapin Station!
Jerrys favorite position on this number is the same as yours below!
The whole first solo, the segment after the last verse all the way through the 3/4 time sig section, all predominantly based out of your preffered position, with the Barre at the 12th fret!

|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|
|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|
|-x-|---|-x-|---|
|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|
|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|
|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|

[old man down]

No doubt, Jer liked several places to play from. For the longest time I thought this was his favorite position and I would learn his riffs from this shape. It had its advantages of not having to move within the position, too.

I guess I'm going to have to start a poll or something, and ask members to rate, like from 1 to 5, 1 being favorite, 5 being least favorite, what they think were Jer's favorite hang outs. It's a little rough to impose on everyone here because he many times would work out of two positions, then drop down to something significantly lower, and again work out of two positions.

The reasons for playing stuff at different places has to do with running out of notes just when you need them, and then when you shift it can throw you off. So you like to get to a position that is time tested for you, that allows you to not feel cramped with the notes you like to play.

But I like the poll idea. I'm thinking something like have the initial post have all 5 diagrams across the top, and a place below each to enter your number guess of his favorability, and you can only use one number once. Some positions might get really low vote totals. I know there are a few for me that when I get to them I don't linger long, or just work maybe two strings on them without bothering with the rest of the position.

Then each member could simply copy the original post, and then enter their five votes in the appropriate voting slots, and click Submit.

[BlobWeird]

I dunno guys. I heard it was doggystyle

[bucketorain]

now correct me if i'm wrong, but, when you reffer to mode in a certain position and you paste this:

|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|
|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|
|-x-|---|-x-|---|
|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|
|-x-|---|-x-|-x-|
|-x-|-x-|---|-x-|

well, it's all relative based on the song and what order you hit those notes, isn't it....? you just can't recklessly play the scale...you have to play the melody in that scale...

[Pete B.]

The 5 patterns of the CAGED concept allow you to play in all 7 modes.
Given that you know your starting point/mode/scale/pattern, you can then solo up and down 24 frets of the neck using the 5 CAGED patterns.
Check out an earlier post of mine in this thread where I point out 3 different songs, in 3 different modes, that all use the same pattern in the same position.
Extrapolate from there.

[old man down]

Yes, you have to play the melody in the scale regardless of what position you are in.

If you are very, very good, everything you play may sound reckless, however, meaning that you may delight in reckless melodies.

Reefer, too.

Gotta go, time to go home.

[strumminsix]

Jerry's Favorite Position

Answer: Missionary in the rain of course.


Okay, back on topic.

What has been left out is chord voicing. This is where JG & BW were masters, IMO. Jerry really liked working the simple triad allowing for quick fills. This yield a 1-3-5 sound in his strumming.

BW, alternately, was conscious when to use which fingering. Using the CAGED approach E A & D give ya 1-5-1-3 sound first. Very rockin' but not as smooth. Conversely C & G give ya 1-3-5 first!

I see these as some unique points to consider in this line of conversation.

[BlobWeird]

Jerry's Favorite Position

Answer: Missionary in the rain of course.

Damn haha that definitely beat my pun on words

[Mick]

ok, for ripple, being the 3 major chords are G, C and D, what position would you use the major scale from above at?

I've never played Ripple, so this is a bit of a swing, but.....

With those chords, the obvious guess at the key of the song would be G major. To use the pattern at the beginning of the thread (Dorian), you would start the pattern on the 2 of the scale, or the note of A. A on the low E string is on fret 5 (assuming a standard tune). Your arpeggio locations are on the D shape from the 5th fret (7th fret on string one, 8th fret on string two, 7th on string 3, 5th on strings 4 and 5), but you have two 3s that don't make it into the D shape, fret 7 on string 6 and fret 4 on string 3.

Because of the aforementioned, I don't particularly care for the Dorian shape as the arpeggio points that I picture in my head give me a 51513, as opposed to the Locrian shape that gives 51351. Just a personal preference.