Grateful Dead Music Forum

I'm hearing Eb+ (Eb augmented, which is the same as G+ and B+), with the Eb as the top note.

Starting from the low E string, I play B/Eb/G/B/Eb.

ace

playingdead wrote:It is the same chord as the opening chord to Steely Dan's "Don't Take Me Alive" -- and that's a killer song

Bitch of a chord to make but you can do it. Larry Carlton strums it at the beginning of the song.

G7#9

Notes are G D F B F B-flat

E A D G B E
3 5 5 4 6 6

I think maybe you meant to say:
E A D G B E
3 5 3 4 6 6

Like a big G7 chord, except that you smash your pinky down over the 1st two strings to add a Bb on top. Pretty sure this is also the voicing Hendrix used in "Foxy Lady" FWIW (in F#).

However C7#9 sounds more right to me (on the studio version), but to my ears there's still some other stuff layered on top of it that I can't quite pin down.

It's G Augmented(G+)...you can hear the interval between the B and the D#, against the G. Especially the way Garcia slams it. I used 3/21/70 for reference. For added weird tension it sounds like Lesh is playing a Root/5 Phil Bomb in C against the G Augmented.

lovetoboogie wrote:It's G Augmented(G+)...you can hear the interval between the B and the D#, against the G. Especially the way Garcia slams it. I used 3/21/70 for reference. For added weird tension it sounds like Lesh is playing a Root/5 Phil Bomb in C against the G Augmented.

We agree as G+ = B+ = D#+. (Yes, technically, it's D#+, not Eb+).

G+ has G and B, which are also in G and G7. The D# adds the weirdness.

ace

mkaufman wrote:

lovetoboogie wrote:It's G Augmented(G+)...you can hear the interval between the B and the D#, against the G. Especially the way Garcia slams it. I used 3/21/70 for reference. For added weird tension it sounds like Lesh is playing a Root/5 Phil Bomb in C against the G Augmented.

We agree as G+ = B+ = D#+. (Yes, technically, it's D#+, not Eb+).

G+ has G and B, which are also on G and G7. The D# adds the weirdness.

ace

Good ear! It was after I read your take on the Augmented chord that I gave it a listen... It's a sick opening chord. I listened to the Dead and Company doing it in Niagara Falls last year, and lo and behold, they nail that chord as well. You can see John Mayer's grip on the augmented chord....good video on you tube.

According to John K:

"Its called 'the Big Ugly chord' ...every body picks a different chord rooted on f,g,b,c, & d... Type of chord (maj, min, etc) & inversion up to the various musicians in the moment... My chord in futhur was d... Same chord that opens viola Lee blues and ends Golden Road"

+1 on the Lesh theory book.