Grateful Dead Music Forum

Thanks for the linky -link !
Cool version ....

Hey Crazy 9.5 thanks for the tab tid bit. I've always loved that little melody but've never gotten around to trying to figure it out. I've just been playing along with that 73
Vancouver show. Nice!

I dunno... i'm still thinking A...

D----------------5---5------------
A------5-7-5---5---7---9-------------
E--5h8-------8--------------------

(please forgive my tab making skills)

Look at the first post I put up earlier today. The notes are part of the A minor pentatonic scale. That last note in your tab is the major third of D, (F#) it works, but mostly as a harmony note. The rest of it is right, I tabbed it out down in the open position because I was going off the "Garcia" recording.

Sorry, i'm not that much into the music theory yet... still learning you know?

Well you have the innate part of it down in that you have a great ear. That goes a long way. There are cats out there that can study theory all day and night but their ear never develops.

There is a ton of great info on this forum and a lot of very chill people who are more than happy to help with it. Good luck with it all.

Another vote for E

It's always been E for me too.

Me E too.

For the record an acoustic Reckoning era vid I watched on yt has jg playing it here:

(/) Slide Up (\) Slide Down (h) Hammer On (p) Pull Off (b) Bend (r) Release (v) Vibrato

E|----------------------------------
B|----------------------------------
G|----------------------------------
D|----------4-----------7--4--------
A|-----4h5-----7--5--7--------5--7--
E|--7-------------------------------
http://www.guitartabcreator.com

I think.

Here's the vid

Yet another vote for E. Check out the Dick's Picks 11 Version Stanley theater i believe nice version of the harmonized parts of Jerry and Bobby.

I am learning this also in E. I had my guitar teacher tab it out from a live recording, not sure what show off the top of my head, though.

tigerstrat wrote:Another vote for key of E. That was always the live performance key of the song, even the early versions.

I believe you are incorrect, TS. The vast majority, yes....but I think if you listen to Closing The Filmore East 4/29/71, you'll find it in D.

I MUCH prefer E. I also used to do that "swingy" intro sometimes...still do in rehearsal sometimes, but mostly play it a la 80s/90s.

That Vancouver '73 is sickleberry - I have that whole show somewhere. Bobby's guitar is LOUD for the day and he plays some of the sickest shit I've ever heard in the "Deal" from that show.

There was a Bird Song in Spring 91 I saw (Greensboro, maybe? Landover, maybe?) where they peaked 3 distinct times in the jam (took it to that D-D...D-D-D-D...D-D-D-D...D-D-D-D...D-A...E.... peak). Must have easily been 14-15 minutes long and one of the best post-Brent jams I saw. Cap Center 90 w/ Brent was a great one, too.

Bird song from Giants stadium--august 94, very impressive, Jerry runs thru his midi patches like a swiss watch,
and of course Houston 11-11-72? 71?
with the piano(fender rhodes) going thru a wah !!, nicey..nice

Huge fan of that Houston '72 Birdsong. Maybe the formative tune and version for my endless love affair with GD.

These are my favorites!

Seriously, this thread got me listening to alot of these and the Vancouver one still really has the sickest "deep space nine" treatment. Listen to the 10/17, 10/18 and 10/19/72 St. Louis shows. Sounds like 3 different bands. The Houston 72' show is legendary in so many ways, the Birdsong included!

07/18/72- Roosevelt Stadium - Jersey City, NJ
07/22/72- Paramount Northwest - Seattle, WA
07/25/72- Paramount Theatre - Portland, OR
08/12/72- Sacramento Memorial Auditorium - Sacramento, CA
08/20/72- Civic Auditorium - San Jose, CA
08/22/72- Berkeley Community Theater - Berkeley, CA
08/24/72- Berkeley Community Theater - Berkeley, CA
08/27/72- Old Renaissance Faire Grounds - Veneta, OR
09/03/72- Folsom Field (University Of Colorado) - Boulder, CO
09/09/72- Hollywood Palladium - Hollywood, CA
09/10/72- Hollywood Palladium - Hollywood, CA
09/15/72- Boston Music Hall - Boston, MA
09/16/72- Boston Music Hall - Boston, MA
09/17/72- Baltimore Civic Center - Baltimore, MD
09/19/72- Roosevelt Stadium - Jersey City, NJ
09/21/72- The Spectrum - Philadelphia, PA
09/23/72- The Palace Theater - Waterbury, CT
09/24/72- The Palace Theater - Waterbury, CT
09/26/72- Stanley Theater - Jersey City, NJ
09/27/72- Stanley Theater - Jersey City, NJ
09/30/72- American University - Washington DC, DC
10/02/72- Springfield Civic Center - Springfield, MA
10/17/72- Fox Theater - St. Louis, MO
10/18/72- Fox Theater - St. Louis, MO
10/19/72- Fox Theater - St. Louis, MO
10/21/72- Vanderbilt University - Nashville, TN
10/26/72- Music Hall - Cincinnati, OH
10/27/72- Veterans' Memorial Auditorium - Columbus, OH
10/30/72- Ford Auditorium - Detroit, MI
11/19/72- Hofheinz Pavilion - Houston, TX
11/22/72- Municipal Auditorium - Austin, TX
11/26/72- Civic Auditorium - San Antonio, TX
12/10/72- Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA
12/12/72- Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA
02/17/73- St. Paul Auditorium - St. Paul, MN
02/22/73- Assembly Hall (University Of Illinois) - Champaign-Urbana, IL
03/16/73- Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY
03/22/73- Utica Memorial Auditorium - Utica, NY
03/30/73- War Memorial Auditorium - Rochester, NY
06/10/73- Robert F. Kennedy Stadium - Washington DC, DC
06/22/73- P.N.E. Coliseum - Vancouver, XCanada
06/30/73- Universal AmphiTheater - Universal City, CA
07/27/73- Grand Prix Racecourse - Watkins Glen, NY
08/01/73- Roosevelt Stadium - Jersey City, NJ
09/07/73- Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY
09/12/73- William and Mary College - Williamsburg, VA
09/15/73- Providence Civic Center - Providence, RI