Grateful Dead Music Forum

Could anyone suggest some cool chord changes for the Jam section in this song? I was trying E and Abm but, well, i'm not too sure..

first part: E7b5

I love doing the E jam for a good while - then on cue jump up to F#m for maybe 4 measures then back to the E.

I've done this many different ways - but my favorite is to go back to the E for 8 measures then back to the F#m 4 measure - back to E 8 measures - then to Abm for 4 measures with nice tight punches (good spot for bass bombs) then come out of this into the "flight of the seabird" part.

Divine!

There are 3 jams by my count:
#1 - E with hints modulation including: Es4, C#m, F#m
#2 - acoustic jam E7b5
#3 - 80s: E then E rock with F#, hold F#, 2nd time around Abm

Cool- cant wait to try some of them suggestions out...
Cassidys gotta be one of my favorites....
I usually just flub around in E till the flight of the seabirds....

Well, I can tell you that is most definitely (the 80s version, now) NOT plain ol' E. I used to think it was. My keyboardist, MTTOURPRO, showed me how I was incorrect. Play in straight E along w/ Without A Net. You will find many instances where it just doesn't fit. I THINK (and I'm still trying to get used to it) that it's Esus4(add9). SO, on guitar, that's more easily translated into F#m7 with an E in the bass. NOW, listen to Garcia - the mfer adds a F note in there to make it spacey!! So, you can really run a funky scale in F#m7 (make sure not to lead with the F# note, as it's really over an E bass), but adding that F in there is pretty cool! OR, you can run an Esus4 scale with both an F and an F# in it!!!

As I said, I'm still working on making it sound right.

NOW, as was stated earlier, once you run through that big bulk of the jam, you shift up to an F# for 4 measures. THIS F# is a MAJOR scale....then you go back down to that F#m7/E jam for a while longer (we jam it out some more, not 4 measures, but not as long as the first bulk of the jam), then all shift back up to F# for 4 measures, then up to G# (again, in a MAJOR scale) for 4 measures, then the seabirds fly.....

I love doing the E jam for a good while - then on cue jump up to F#m for maybe 4 measures then back to the E

are you sure you dont mean a G#m, and not an F#m?

LazyLightnin wrote:

I love doing the E jam for a good while - then on cue jump up to F#m for maybe 4 measures then back to the E

are you sure you dont mean a G#m, and not an F#m?

LL - it goes to F# first, then back down, then back up, THEN up to the G#

We do E Lydian for most of it, which is a B major scale starting on E. The bass is rooted in E.

F# pentatonic, B pentatonic and E pentatonic all work in this part -- I like F# pentatonic for making chords out of.

On cue, we go into 8 bars of F#m then 8 bars of G#m into flight of the seabirds.

The cue is important, because you might view it as a shift from F# major to F# minor.

I play Eb5. We play the late 70's version so we don't modulate to other keys...

E Lydian is right.

mk

Agreed mkaufman - for some added tension I'll flat the 7 in the E lydian - don't like to overuse those notes all bunched together but fun to play off.

mkaufman wrote:I play Eb5. We play the late 70's version so we don't modulate to other keys...

E Lydian is right.

mk

How do you voice your E with a flat fifth?

Cassidy jam fell off the tracks yesterday when we tried it.

E lydian is B major scale, C# dorian, D# phrygian, F# mixolydian, etc......so playing chords, chord tones, harmonized scales along these lines should sound good.

Without modulating (like the late 70's versions) may be a good way to bring the song along and when we get comfortable and add the modulations later.

Anyone else jam in E lydian?

Would really like to get this jam going right

Grateful Dad wrote:

mkaufman wrote:I play Eb5. We play the late 70's version so we don't modulate to other keys...

E Lydian is right.

mk

How do you voice your E with a flat fifth?

Cassidy jam fell off the tracks yesterday when we tried it.

E lydian is B major scale, C# dorian, D# phrygian, F# mixolydian, etc......so playing chords, chord tones, harmonized scales along these lines should sound good.

Without modulating (like the late 70's versions) may be a good way to bring the song along and when we get comfortable and add the modulations later.

Anyone else jam in E lydian?

Would really like to get this jam going right

Hey GD - well I do the jerry end of this but I do the chord thing at times and within the band and when solo acoustic

so a basic deal may be just back and forth in some kind of timing that suits you between the 5th and the b5th like this
constructing a chord line around that b5 just gives it a signature "cassidy" feel I'd say

One way: try playing an E chord on the 7th fret using the 'A' shape. Then play it again and using Bb instead of B. It's not hard.

mk

Thanks for the pointers Billbill and mk, I'll pick at it later when I practice and try your suggestions.