Grateful Dead Music Forum

I love this song when they used to bring some of the NRPS on stage to play with them. Anyone have the chords or the mando intro redone for guitar? Thanks.

Jim

Hope the formatting holds...

COLD JORDAN

A D A
Oh sinner as you tread life's journey, Take Jesus as your daily guide
A B7 E
Tho you may feel pure and saintly, Without Him walking by your side
A D A
But when you come to make the crossing, At the ending of your pilgrim's way
A E A
If you ever will meet your Savior, You'll surely meet Him on that day


A E A
Now look at that cold Jordan, Look at its deep waters
A D A E A
Look at that wide river, Oh hear the mighty billows roar
A E A
You'd better take Jesus with you, He's a true companion
D A E A
For I'm sure without Him, That you never will make it o'er


That awful Day of Judgment, Is coming in the by and by
We'll see our Lord descending, In Glory from on high
So let us keep in touch with Jesus, And in his grace the Love of God
That we may be ever called ready, When He calls us over Jordan's Tide

Now look at that cold Jordan, Look at its deep waters
Look at that wide river, Oh hear the mighty billows roar
You'd better take Jesus with you, He's a true companion
For I'm sure without Him, That you never will make it o'er


A
Oh what, what you gonna do
E A
Oh what, what you gonna say
D A
Oh how, how you gonna feel
A E D A
When you come to the end of the way

the 71 wooden set album has a beautful version of this, as does the film festival express with jerry tackling it solo acoutstic

G C G
Oh sinner as you tread life's journey, Take Jesus as your daily guide
G A7 D
Tho you may feel pure and saintly, Without Him walking by your side
G C G
But when you come to make the crossing, At the ending of your pilgrim's way
G D G
If you ever will meet your Savior, You'll surely meet Him on that day


G D G
Now look at that cold Jordan, Look at its deep waters
G C G D G
Look at that wide river, Oh hear the mighty billows roar
G D G
You'd better take Jesus with you, He's a true companion
C G D G
For I'm sure without Him, That you never will make it home


That awful Day of Judgment, Is coming in the by and by
We'll see our Lord descending, In Glory from on high
So let us keep in touch with Jesus, And in his grace the Love of God
That we may be ever called ready, When He calls us over Jordan's Tide

Now look at that cold Jordan, Look at its deep waters
Look at that wide river, Oh hear the mighty billows roar
You'd better take Jesus with you, He's a true companion
For I'm sure without Him, That you never will make it o'er


G
Oh what, what you gonna do
D G
Oh what, what you gonna say
C G
Oh how, how you gonna feel
D C G
When you come to the end of the way

G
Oh sinner as you tread lifes journey, take jesus as your daily guide
G C
though you may feel pure and saintly,
G D
without him walking by your side

G
But when you come to make your crossing. at the end of your pilgrims way

G C
If you ever will meet your saviour
G D
It'll surely be on that day

G
Now look at that Cold Jordan
G D G
Look at its deep waters
G C G
Look at that wide river
D G
Oh hear the mighty billows roar

Listening to Cold Jordan

Grateful Dead
Fillmore West
6-7-70
Disc 1 Track 6.
MP3 from archive. org.

The mandolin intro is your basic G Major Pentatonic scale with a B D doublestop tremelo thrown in for color.

Here is the intro:

Mandolin:

All notes are downstrokes with the exception of
/// = Tremolo

E|----------3-7///-3-------3---5-3-3-3-3----------
A|------2-5---5///---5-5-5---5-----------5-3-2----
D|--5-5----------------------------------------5--
G|------------------------------------------------

Lets look at the notes for a second.

....G.G.B.D.G.B&D..G.D.D.D.G.D.A.G.G.G.G.D.C.B.G

Transposed to guitar:

E|----------3-7///-3-------3---5-3-3-3-3---------
B|--------3---3///---3-3-3---3-----------3-1-----
G|------4------------------------------------4---
D|--5-5----------------------------------------5-
A|-----------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------

Mandolin kick offs are usually a series of downstrokes ala Bill Monroe. With the exception of the tremolo which is a fast down up motion used to create a tremolo effect on mandolin.

I hope the guitar transciption is correct. All I have in front of me at the moment is a mandolin.

does anyone have the strum pattern for this song? I am learning guitar and trying to find a relatively easy dead song to start with, also what key is this song in? I am trying to learn how to improv a bit but don't ever know what key the song is in. Is it the first note that is played? Thanks for your help.

Looks like it is in the key of G.

I would fool around with the G pentatonic scale and switch over to C and D pentatonic with the chord changes.

The basic strum in bluegrass music is the same one that has been used throughout American country music. It is known as the boom-chicka rhythm. A cleanly picked bass note followed by a down-up combination on the treble strings.

The interesting thing about pentatonic scales is if you combine all the notes of the G, C and D pentatonic scale you end up with the G major scale.

ok so for the g i would pick the 6th string and then the up down stroke on the remaining strings correct? How would this work for c and d

For the G, hit the bass note of the G on the 6th string. Then use a down, up for the strum.

For the C you are going to use the open C chord and play the C bass note on the 5th string. Then down up for the strum.

Likewise with the D, play the open D chord and use the D string (4th string) as the bass note. Then down up for the strum.

The open D string will ring a little different then the other bass notes that are being fretted. Don't worry about it, when you get better at this you will figure out how to mute it at the appropriate time.

It helps if you thinkg boom-chicka while strumming. It will help you get the timing down.

thanks for your reply, ill give it a whirl and see what i can piece together

try to alternate you base notes:
for g change between G and B, for d between D and A and so on...
sounds better