- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Do any of you know the style or scales that Jerry Garcia uses? While he is not the household word like Clapton, Santana, Hendrix, Gary Moore and others, he did have a style that was different. Does anybody ever play his lead lines? His solos almost sound like he is flattening certain notes. Also, in some articles it is said his timing
is like a pedulum swinging????
Thanks, fresnojohns -
Hi Fresno
Jerry was a great player. He played rock, Bluegrass, jazz, country etc. He appears on many albums of other great players. His “New Riders of The Purple Sage” project are some of my favorite recordings. He plays the pedal steel)
John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman were big influences on his playing and that may be what your hearing.
If there is a recording that demos your interest maybe I can help more.
Gordon
P.S. I saw ‘The Dead’ a number of times and “The Bear” was a friend of mine. Google “Grateful Dead, the bear”
-
Gordon,
Thank you for getting back to me. You know which Grateful Dead album I really like?????? The very first one on Warner Bros. Its the one with Sitting on Top of the World, and Cold Rain and Snow. I got the tab for Cold Rain. Man, Garcia was just really good. My fave solo is on Sitting On Top of the World. You know that the first album was really in full speed. They did stuff they liked too. Old Folk and Blues stuff. They really played it great. That album could hold up very well today also. I love the New Riders too. For awhile I tried the pedal steel, I could not grasp it at all. I had a Sierra 10 string E9 tuning. I took lessons from Peter Grant in Roseville, Ca. Do you know or remember him???? He played Steel on Teach Your Children Well, by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Peter had one of the Zephor Resonator guitars???????????? It was odd. Like an 8 string. He was a good teacher, but after a year or so I just quit the Steel Guitar. Anyone who can play a Lap Steel or Pedal Steel has my respect to the max. And there is not many who teach it either.
Thank you Gordon……………..fresnojohns -
-
You can get a pretty good “Jerry sound” using the major scale , Dorian mode to the primary root, and the harmonic minor scales. When someone suggests a jam and they want that particular flavor these are the go to scales and modes that will get you partially there. The next isn’t a technique but a feeling you need to feel the flow of the jam and what your fellow musicians are doing at any given point during an extended jam.
-
A few things to think about:
Jerry’s rhythmic style is swinging for sure – lots of triplets and swing feel – not always of course but it’s there a lot
You have to know the melody – Jerry really played the melody and embellished it quite a lot – I’m talking about the vocal melody or the main hook whatever
Flat third to Major third – lots of this as well as many other chromatic moves and embellishments
Mixolydian scale (mode whatever) but include the minor 3rd – another possibly easier for some way to think of this would be the major pentatonic scale with the addition of the flat 3 and the flat 7
Pretty much have to let it all hang out – don’t be afraid of “wrong” notes – this is kind of the jazz influence I think
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
