Grateful Dead Music Forum

Just looking for some feedback.

Thanks!

Very nice !
Playing was excellent singing too nice and tight
Great camera work
Good recording
Too bad those folks left in the middle of the guitar solo ( which was tasty ) !
I love this tune ...
Where was the F / C at the End , though ?
Very cool !

- Tom

Tell me you didn't ask about the F/C at the end!! Is there only one way to play this song? You mean even the Dead played it, and the rest of their repertoire, incorrectly so often? We get it right, they didn't??

I hope my point is made without offense!

ugly rumor wrote:Tell me you didn't ask about the F/C at the end!! Is there only one way to play this song? You mean even the Dead played it, and the rest of their repertoire, incorrectly so often? We get it right, they didn't??

I hope my point is made without offense!

I've noticed that cover bands often don't fuck those things up as much as the Dead did...but then again, they don't do some of the other things the Dead did: not only including the hard drugs, but also the quality of some of the playing.

Looks like a fun group to play in. The lead player has a lot of space to fill in with little phrases, which is great.

I cannot resist this, as it makes my point so cogently.

Morning Dew is one of my favorite songs. Can you tell me which version is the "correct" one? Is it the studio version? Therefore, all other versions are wrong? Or is there a version where Phil got it right, another where Keith got his part right, and another where jerry got it right? Did Brent never play it right? Was the version that Phil did in the key of "c" or "G" (I can't remember) for Joan to sing incorrect, then? Is there a reference to the correct versions of songs?

My point is that music is alive, and shouldn't be boxed in to a "correct" way of interpreting it. The Grateful Dead never meant for a song to only be played one way, and as musicians, we should play the song the way we interpret it. When we try to "be" Jerry, Phil, Keith, Bobby, etc., we fail twice. We cannot be them, and trying to keeps us from being us. It stifles creativity, and effectively kills the song. Listening to the Dead since the early 1970's, you could tell when a song got stale and lost it's freshness. They either rushed through it, played it perfunctorily, or refrained from playing it. To take the music of the Dead seriously, and give it the respect that it deserves, and show love for it, should be an exercise in how we as musicians bring the same spirit of creativity and our own interpretations to the songs, so that it remains fresh and unboxed. Otherwise there only becomes one version of the song that is acceptable, and all others are inferior.

Vive la difference!!

ugly rumor wrote:My point is that music is alive, and shouldn't be boxed in to a "correct" way of interpreting it. [...] we should play the song the way we interpret it.

Couldn't agree more

ugly rumor wrote:Tell me you didn't ask about the F/C at the end!! Is there only one way to play this song? You mean even the Dead played it, and the rest of their repertoire, incorrectly so often? We get it right, they didn't??

I hope my point is made without offense!

To me, little details like that F/C are what separated the GD from bands who weren't as interesting and faded into obscurity. It's part of Jerry's songwriting, and therefore really part of the song. They may not have always nailed it live but really, more often than not they did play it.

You can change the beat, change the instrumentation, change the feel of the song, etc, and still be true to the music, but 99% of the time that bands drop things like that little F/C it's because they just didn't spend the time to learn it. Audience members do notice these things, even if it's only subconciously.

ugly rumor wrote:Tell me you didn't ask about the F/C at the end!! Is there only one way to play this song? You mean even the Dead played it, and the rest of their repertoire, incorrectly so often? We get it right, they didn't??

I hope my point is made without offense!

Not implying there is a right way to do anything - that is my fav change in that tune is all .... Loved their version !
Hope I didnt offend you either

It's all good. It is the little things that make the music, to me. If Phil always placed a bomb in the same place, it would maybe have been "correct", but the music would have lost the element of surprise and freshness that, to me, made it. Or a surprise segue into a completely unexpected song, where often it was accomplished before it was recognized, added a dimension of pleasure that could not be accomplished by, for instance, taking the F to C every time. To me, music is a language that expresses the deepest part of a human being, and leaves it open to examination, which is best accomplished by being yourself, and not hiding behind what others have done. Expressing yourself through music is like removing the veil of silence that protects a fool from discovery, and exposing the most vulnerable parts of your soul to examination. The Dead have walked out on that limb for over 40 years, a feat which requires respect and honor from any true musician. Nothing safe, nothing sure. Like a great acid trip, unduplicatable and unpredictable; in the moment. It is why I love them.

I do agree - and it wasnt my intention to knock anyone or the way they do things - maybe it came off that way - my bad - obviously they are very talented and capable musicains.

For the record, we are not offended in the least. We love feedback of all kinds.

We approach Dead songs the same way we approach jazz standards; We regard them as successors. The outline of the songs belongs to the Dead, the rest belongs to us.

I will admit, however, that in an effort to get this band "gig ready" we learned 40 tunes very quickly. Now we are revisiting them to look for improvements to our hasty arrangements. So, this is great feedback!

I just listened to the first time The Ouija Brothers played Candyman and the tempo was really really slow. Now I'm not sure which way I like it more. I can guarantee, however, that over the next several years, each time we pull out this song and perform it, the tempo, the intensity, the color, will all change depending on the venue, the audience, our personal moods, and everything else. This is the lesson I learned from being a Gratful Dead fan.

More covers at:
http://youtube.com/OuijaBrothers

ugly rumor wrote:which is best accomplished by being yourself, and not hiding behind what others have done. Expressing yourself through music is like removing the veil of silence that protects a fool from discovery, and exposing the most vulnerable parts of your soul to examination.

I love it!

Murphy52 wrote:
I will admit, however, that in an effort to get this band "gig ready" we learned 40 tunes very quickly. Now we are revisiting them to look for improvements to our hasty arrangements. So, this is great feedback!

To this hack guitarist you guys sound like seasoned pros !
I do think the part in question is a great way to release musical tension/ add resolution to some other-wise static chord changes.
Good luck Murph and crew

OK, I've listened to a couple live versions on Youtube and I can't identify the change you are referring to. Can you help me pinpoint it?

Murphy
Http://Facebook.com/OuijaBrothers