Solo Acoustic Althea
PostPosted:Mon May 05, 2008 3:50 am
I decided to take on this song for the first time ever, even though it is 28 years old. Never even gave it a thought to attempt it, but I had a bootleg CD in my car stereo and I listened to it on the ride home from work Friday and I wondered what it was all about.
Then I went to the TABs and found some of the chords and some finger picking, or so I believe, versions of how to approach it. Sort of a turn off since I don't finger pick, but I figured I could get around it with my flatpicking technique.
In the back of my mind I kept remembering the studio cut that had some of the most tasty Garcia riffs, especially the ending fade out, so I thought it might be fun to try.
Looking at the TABs, I thought, OK, I'm going to have to start on the 6th string low E, but I cued up my Go to Heaven CD, and Garcia actually was starting right in much higher up. So it actually started for me at the 9th fret B string with the chromatic launch.
What a gas this song is! So easy to get the feel after only an hour. But that first hour is a bit rough to find the groove.
Looks like the key of A mostly as others have stated.
This song has given my playing a major boost and I needed something like this to jumpstart my Spring playing.
So, I'm psyched to see where I'll be on it after a week. By then I'll have the words down, the back and forth between chords and notes, and those trippy high note renderings that I was fooling around with will start to get real legs, have that Jerry sound. (So far I've found a great acoustic technique that involves bending a passing note into the key way up high around the 17th fret on the B string; works great!)
Forget the finger picking approach! This song kicks out with punch and bravado with a flatpick and rings out so well on acoustic with those sliding-up-two-frets meanderings right in key. So much fun and on the money.
What a sleeper that I never even tried because I thought it would be too hard.
The chords in the TAB seem right on the money with only embellishments of sus4 on the A chord not mentioned.
Then I went to the TABs and found some of the chords and some finger picking, or so I believe, versions of how to approach it. Sort of a turn off since I don't finger pick, but I figured I could get around it with my flatpicking technique.
In the back of my mind I kept remembering the studio cut that had some of the most tasty Garcia riffs, especially the ending fade out, so I thought it might be fun to try.
Looking at the TABs, I thought, OK, I'm going to have to start on the 6th string low E, but I cued up my Go to Heaven CD, and Garcia actually was starting right in much higher up. So it actually started for me at the 9th fret B string with the chromatic launch.
What a gas this song is! So easy to get the feel after only an hour. But that first hour is a bit rough to find the groove.
Looks like the key of A mostly as others have stated.
This song has given my playing a major boost and I needed something like this to jumpstart my Spring playing.
So, I'm psyched to see where I'll be on it after a week. By then I'll have the words down, the back and forth between chords and notes, and those trippy high note renderings that I was fooling around with will start to get real legs, have that Jerry sound. (So far I've found a great acoustic technique that involves bending a passing note into the key way up high around the 17th fret on the B string; works great!)
Forget the finger picking approach! This song kicks out with punch and bravado with a flatpick and rings out so well on acoustic with those sliding-up-two-frets meanderings right in key. So much fun and on the money.
What a sleeper that I never even tried because I thought it would be too hard.
The chords in the TAB seem right on the money with only embellishments of sus4 on the A chord not mentioned.
Thanks for posting those vids...that helped add a lacking dimension to my campfire version.