[Winterland]

Hi I am new here! Been a dead head for about 20 years.

I been playing guitar and I want to get that sharp note that jerry hits in his solos. does that make sense? Picture I know you rider. The jam from China Cat to the intro of Rider. In the solo between the two, he hits some of these notes that are very bright sounding. What is he playing? Is it a Mixo scale with an addded note?

[bodiddley]

Have you checked the posts here for the song in question? If not, you might want to check that first. Also highly recomended is JDarks.com with many extensive Dead tabs including solos

[strumminsix]

I hear alot of flattened 7ths or blues 7ths with a major scale aka Mixolydian.

But I've not studied Jerry's style per say.

[shakedown_04092]

I thought Bobby did the solo during the transition?

[caspersvapors]

I thought Bobby did the solo during the transition?

depends on what year youre listening to


and to the original poster, did he make these sounds on Loser solos too? you might want to look up "pinch harmonics"

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

You know, I think I understand what you are asking. Jerry often will hit the root note, and then bend up to it from a half step down and work some vibrato. That gives a serious twang and he does it all the time in Rider jams between 72-74. Maybe that is what you are talking about.

Bobby takes the first solo between the songs then Jerry brings it in to Rider. JDarks I think has a great tab of the Bobby solo which pretty much stays the same for years.

Here is a Jerry riff that incorporates what I think you are looking for and the Jerry classic move of reaching the root then quickly bending up to it from a half step below. It is in D7.


R --1-----2---+---3---+---4---+hold--
E|-------------------------------------
B|--15-- 13--15--13------15--14b15v-----
G|------------------ 14-----------------
D|-------------------------------------
A|-------------------------------------
E|-------------------------------------

The rhythm of it is tricky. The R Line is for the beat. Big accent on one, then fly through 2 and three and then hit the 4 as you hit the one. Stress the one and the four of the beat. I think it is called a paradiddle or something.

[Winterland]

Thanks everybody. I am trying to capture that meodic feeling when they segway/transition between songs. I used Rider as an example I was listening to a great show from 81 with a unreal transistion. Jerry was hitting those happy bouncing melodic notes that takes you out there and then drops you back in.

Did he rely on a particular scale to give him that sound? How about when the drop in to the jazzy jam after the second verse of Playin. 74 was a great year for those jazzy jams.

[shakedown_04092]

Thanks everybody. I am trying to capture that meodic feeling when they segway/transition between songs. I used Rider as an example I was listening to a great show from 81 with a unreal transistion. Jerry was hitting those happy bouncing melodic notes that takes you out there and then drops you back in.

Did he rely on a particular scale to give him that sound? How about when the drop in to the jazzy jam after the second verse of Playin. 74 was a great year for those jazzy jams.

I think he used D Dorian for at least the biginning of that Playin' jam you speak of. Then again, I could be wrong....someone else here will be able to confirm this, I'm sure.

[BlobWeird]

I think it is called a paradiddle or something.

A paradiddle is a term used in drums. In tabs Id imagine itd look like this:

E|---------------------------------------------
B|---------------------------------------------
G|---------------------------------------------
D|---------------------------------------------
A|--5--3--5--5----3--5--3--3----5--3--5--5-----
E|---------------------------------------------

[IamDocWatson]

u think what you are reffering to is just playing a lead well, u think they sound special but its really just good note selction...

just experiment with it man...

just record yourself playing a chord for a long time like 16 bars striaght and just pick every note over different patterns and lead into different ways and see how it sounds...and then just take note of everything

try hitting the 1, and the 5 and make a mental note of what it sounds like when you land back on the 5th of a chord right when u come back to that chord...

but try everything teach yourself what it sounds like when your going from the 3rd to the 5th over a chord then fool around go from the minor 2nd to the augmented 4th

just learn all your intervals and how they sound over a chords...

i dont know if there is a jerry note, he just knew the fretboard really well and how to apply his knowledge to each chord at any given moment

[LeeFullenkamp]

Jerry is simply playing with pure emotion in my opinion. Rather than spend time considering theories and specifics in regard to notes I would suggest working on what "feels" good to you and playing by heart so to speak. This, in my opinion is the essence of true musical language. However it only happens to me rather randomly, and I never know when. Murphys law is what jerry refers to it as. Optimal experience is what I like to refrence it to. Basically you know that you are playing incredible music yet at the same time are not giving the slightest thought to it, it is pouring directly from your soul and it matters not what you know of musical theory at all. If that makes any sense.

[caspersvapors]

Jerry is simply playing with pure emotion in my opinion. Rather than spend time considering theories and specifics in regard to notes I would suggest working on what "feels" good to you and playing by heart so to speak. This, in my opinion is the essence of true musical language. However it only happens to me rather randomly, and I never know when. Murphys law is what jerry refers to it as. Optimal experience is what I like to refrence it to. Basically you know that you are playing incredible music yet at the same time are not giving the slightest thought to it, it is pouring directly from your soul and it matters not what you know of musical theory at all. If that makes any sense.

yeah but you gotta learn the language before you can speak it, hence learn the scales, etc.

[jackaroe1276]

Jerry is simply playing with pure emotion in my opinion. Rather than spend time considering theories and specifics in regard to notes I would suggest working on what "feels" good to you and playing by heart so to speak. This, in my opinion is the essence of true musical language. However it only happens to me rather randomly, and I never know when. Murphys law is what jerry refers to it as. Optimal experience is what I like to refrence it to. Basically you know that you are playing incredible music yet at the same time are not giving the slightest thought to it, it is pouring directly from your soul and it matters not what you know of musical theory at all. If that makes any sense.

I gotta agree with caspors. It's very difficult to convey emotion if you can't understand the language. Now by no means does that mean you need an extensive knowledge on theory, but at least a bit will help. I I think I completely understand what you mean by the "true essence of music" coming only randomly simply because I used to have the same problem. The reason is you tend to not know where the next note is going to come from when you play, you kind of have an idea of the scale but it's not ingrained. What happens is you tend to hit some pretty bad notes at times because you're really not sure where to go next. The flip side is that "not knowing" allows for some pretty cool things to happen from time to time because you might hit a note that others who are vigorously following the language don't find. Occasionally you nail a nice solo within the box and drop a couple outside of the box note that really worked and really sounded great. The problem is you don't know why and alot of times when you try it again you don't really know what you did.

IMO, the key is to know the language fairly well, but when practicing make a conscious effort to go outside of it here and there. You will still find those cool notes to then apply when you are playing in real situations.

[CommonStranger]

I'm a self taught player, so excuse my improper musical language, but I consider Jerry to have been my teacher as I seldom listened to anybody else when first learning leads. Jerry jumps octave quite often during solos on the return to the root. For example Eyes in 16's, he'll actually jump multiple frets up the scale from 15th to 16th beat, if you will, rather than play the root at the next available place in the scale at different times, hence creating a really bright or accented root.

[CommonStranger]

I'm a self taught player, so excuse my improper musical language, but I consider Jerry to have been my teacher as I seldom listened to anybody else when first learning leads. Jerry jumps octave quite often during solos on the return to the root. For example Eyes in 16's, he'll actually jump multiple frets up the scale from 15th to 16th beat, if you will, rather than play the root at the next available place in the scale at different times, hence creating a really bright or accented root.