[Django]

I'm glad that this iteration of Bob's comments about hand gestures spells out that it wasn't used by him in the Grateful Dead. Guitar Player magazine had an article about it and it made it sound like a trick or something. The use of the hand gestures certainly would help to make the 'improvised' parts conclude faster and maybe that's also why he made the comment about it taking other jam bands too long to get from point to point.
But imho I believe the Dead made the leap of faith and used their ears and rare gift for musical communication to create their connective jams and spaces.

[Pete B.]

Wow, i thought this thread was about the GD Playboy TV bit, and didn't read it till now.
Great stuff! Good points!
fwiw, I thought the guitar player from JGB could have gotten to the point ALOT faster, and then passed the solo's to Melvin. That was out of wack for me.
Saw the Flying Other Bros recently and their Stella Blue was great but took a helluva long time to get there, also.
The points about predetermined solo's (to prevent the dreadded "Who's turn to is it to solo" while no one is soloing) is key.
Common signals to direct upcoming modulations, etc... "Key".
I loved Phils use of the in ear monitors to direct the band. I have considered having a mic on stage that only goes to the monitors for similar use.
POLISH!!! My pet peeve. We don't have the luxury of being Jerry G. We can't allow ourselves to go out there and basically... suck!... Just cuz our hero's sometimes did.
Jerry could fuck up a solo umpteen times in a row, and when he finally hit it on the final pass, the crowd went nuts.
I can't reccomend anyone else assume that same luxury.
One thing I didn't see anyone in that article say... Continuous improvement of your own (and your bands) overall ability/musicality should be an ongoing individual/group endeavor.
Also, I would reccomend some system of Leadership. It could be whoever is the lead singer at the time is the band leader at the time, or a permanent leader, or whatever.
No ship sails with two captians.
It's O.K. if you disagree, it's just my 2 cents in the here and now.
Share thoughts... maybe we can all widen our perspectives.
Good article!

[Tennessee Jedi]

i like to yell " yo !" at critical times ....
it has many meanings ...

[tigerstrat]

I'm glad that this iteration of Bob's comments about hand gestures spells out that it wasn't used by him in the Grateful Dead. Guitar Player magazine had an article about it and it made it sound like a trick or something. The use of the hand gestures certainly would help to make the 'improvised' parts conclude faster and maybe that's also why he made the comment about it taking other jam bands too long to get from point to point.
But imho I believe the Dead made the leap of faith and used their ears and rare gift for musical communication to create their connective jams and spaces.

Watch a video. Bobby may not have had as developed of a vocabulary, but he for sure used hand signals w/ the GD. A lot of it would be him watching for Jerry, as he wrapped up an open-ended solo, to signal the signaller with a nod or an eyebrow or whatever (since his hands were busy soloing) that he was ready ("get me outta here!"), then Bob would turn around and overtly signal the whole band with a big wave of the arm... and BAM, they sound like a tight band. Songs like Music Never Stopped, Let It Grow or Estimated would have trainwrecked everytime otherwise.

[Shuxter]

i like to yell " yo !" at critical times ....
it has many meanings ...

lol In my band it means the LA ending is finally over ...almost

[tigerstrat]

LA ending?

[Shuxter]

LA ending?

long assed ending

[bodiddley]

"You're either playing away from a note or playing towards a note."

Yes, and sometimes your just plain lost and stuck in a holding pattern...noodling. The Dead did tons of this, no one can tell me otherwise.

[Django]

Watch a video. Bobby may not have had as developed of a vocabulary, but he for sure used hand signals w/ the GD. A lot of it would be him watching for Jerry, as he wrapped up an open-ended solo, to signal the signaller with a nod or an eyebrow or whatever (since his hands were busy soloing) that he was ready ("get me outta here!"), then Bob would turn around and overtly signal the whole band with a big wave of the arm... and BAM, they sound like a tight band. Songs like Music Never Stopped, Let It Grow or Estimated would have trainwrecked everytime otherwise

I saw the GD a number of times, but I could watch a video. Certainly I remember the Garcia look and band members obviously interact with physical movements, the Guitar Player feature had him signaling chords, soloists, and dynamics; the works, for Ratdog.
But I conceed. I once thought the Not Fade Away into Going Down the Road connective jam on Grateful Dead was all improvised, I thought the singing on Europe '72 was live, I thought those noodling holding patterns were music. This site has been a great resource but my high regards for my boys has been tarnished over and over.

[strumminsix]

I haven't listened to any of these new jam bands, but it strikes me as more than a little ironic that someone from the Grateful Dead would call for less noodling.

Noodling is not soloing. It is not going down a path. Many jambands noodle. Jerry solo'd. His notes were intentional. He was speaking in sentences > paragraphs > pages > books. Too many jamband solo instruments just go nowhere.

Yes, I know that, but c'mon. In spite of music that has inspired all of us when it all came together, can you honestly think of any major band that noodled more than the dead? I loved them dearly, but sometimes there was macaroni being flung about.

Are you seriously disagreeing with me about what many jambands do that my ears hear when you admittedly haven't listened to them?!

I read other people's posts who address this eloquently as well. Jerry, for the most part, was an intentional player. He had ideas and themes and a plot. That cannot be said for many other jamband lead guitarists who just let it all hang out and figure it out as they go along. That might be great to your ears. But it is what set Jerry aside... Trey is conceptually similar where he carries themes, has his key hooks, and sounds very hot and intentional with his notes. But both of them have that same flaw.... When they start noodling, people say they are off!

[Pete B.]

Within my group of Dead show buddies, we often noted that when Jerry pushed his glasses up on his nose (with his right hand) towards the end of a long jam, that that was a "signal".

[bodiddley]

Noodling is not soloing. It is not going down a path. Many jambands noodle. Jerry solo'd. His notes were intentional. He was speaking in sentences > paragraphs > pages > books. Too many jamband solo instruments just go nowhere.

^Sorry, I'm not even sure who wrote that anymore there are so many posts with sequintial quotes attatched, BUT....

Wow, I don't want to start a fight/arguement, but come on. To say Garcia was never lost or in a holding pattern until an idea struck him and every note was intentional sounds a little more than elitist and impartial. You mean to tell me one of the worlds biggest druggies never lost his train of thought or made a mistake from time to time. Shit, just look at all the botched lyrics. The Dead noodled just as much as anybody

[strumminsix]

Noodling is not soloing. It is not going down a path. Many jambands noodle. Jerry solo'd. His notes were intentional. He was speaking in sentences > paragraphs > pages > books. Too many jamband solo instruments just go nowhere.

^Sorry, I'm not even sure who wrote that anymore there are so many posts with sequintial quotes attatched, BUT....

Wow, I don't want to start a fight/arguement, but come on. To say Garcia was never lost or in a holding pattern until an idea struck him and every note was intentional sounds a little more than elitist and impartial. You mean to tell me one of the worlds biggest druggies never lost his train of thought or made a mistake from time to time. Shit, just look at all the botched lyrics. The Dead noodled just as much as anybody

WHAT?! When did I say he never noodles. When did I say he always is precise?

We are talking about his style.

Sorry to the folk who approach solos's like noodling. You are missing out on the greatness of the improvisation masters.

[tigerstrat]

Noodling is ridiculously subjective.

[Tennessee Jedi]

Sometimes the communication breaks down though.
I've heard Estimated's for example where Jerry is all a solo and Bob steps to mic to sing .... and Jerry just keeps a ripping ....

Bob is the master of hand signals ...