Agreed re. the bluegrass influence. Garcia was also an excellent banjoist - I imagine you might have heard him, but in case not, here he is playing some great licks on banjo in a bluegrass context - a classic album, well regarded by the fans: ua-cam.com/video/9kC4Sx-WuNE/v-deo.html
This video has been a revelation for me!! I've been having trouble with the mixo mode just like you described it. You can easily get playing mixo all the time without really thinking what chord goes underneath your playing. I really like how you explained it and I see how this aproach makes you play with intention and really think what are you trying to say with each chord. Thanks for the lesson!
Hit it out of the park yet again Jack! I remember the rather scant times Garcia was ever covered or "taught" in Guitar Mags throughout the 80s and 90s, this same overly generalized and flat-out lazy miss-the-mark concept of distilling Garcia's style to just play the Mixolydian mode was trotted out over and over. Talk about taking players down a proverbial dark hollow to flailing aimless noodling. The sculptor of sound that was Jerry G, had the flawless ability to thread phrases together by playing the changes, or that is how I see it and that is what I hear here in your fine approach to breaking down his style of soloing. Truthfully, not only here but in pretty well all your Garcia focussed soloing videos and really beyond. The approach is much like the thinking in jazz and bluegrass, both styles of which Garcia was clearly an erudite student. Now perhaps the Dead repertoire did not always plumb the depths of the sophistication of changes like a Lush Life, Giant Steps or All the Things You Are etc. on the bulk of their tunes. Nonetheless, the thinking of how to approach a Bertha or Estimated Prophet jam was fairly similar to how jazzers and obviously bluegrass musicians do the same. Each chord of let's say a longer duration is treated as a change and deserves its own scale/tailored pool of notes. Slap together some chromatic passing tones you are well on your way to threading the needle to what it was Jerry was up to much more than just play the Mixolydian mode. In essence, mi amigo Jack, what you have done again so well in highlighting here and thankfully putting another nail in the Garcia soloing = Myxolidian myth. To your credit, you have successfully done this over and over as demonstrated in a slew of your videos on both the perhaps simpler 2 and 3-chord jams and moreover on the advanced tunes like Crazy Fingers. I mean even looking at the Garcia Chuck Berry interpretations (which I absolutely loved, and I never could really wrap my head around what he was up to until I saw your excellent detailed take on the style despite the CB tunes being just mostly I IV Vs), Advancing on of course and as much of your material highlights time and again each chord major, minor, dominant or diminished is its own universe and the key is to cull your lines from what best fits each chord and threads to the next in the changes of the song. This lesson is superb in providing a simple 2-chord jump-off for the beginner to the intermediate players to wrap their heads around. I have been playing for 30-plus years this music and I also got something out of it and moreover being reminded of how misguided the Garcia = Myxolidian myth used to be and all too frequently lazily brandished about. Again I cannot thank you enough Jack for your superb content. One of these days when I muster up a thought on what it is I want to learn from you beyond your 100s of videos I will ask you for a lesson. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying Delaware, absolutely love your videos coming from there and overall in general this is my favourite channel to learn this style of music. Keep up the great and very generous work. Many thanks again, from the fires on the mountains of Spain. Paco
Great lesson. I've watched it multiple times. True of several of your lessons tbh. This gets at such a crucial aspect of soloing well that I am continuing to work towards. The concepts your teaching are consistent with both bluegrass and country guitar lessons Ive taken. Thanks for all you do!
@@amoblahblah thanks…oddly enough there aren’t any actual Jerry licks here. It’s just what I hear as his approach from 69-72 which is some of my favorite stuff. More sophisticated/chromatic ideas by 73-78 and then on it’s full a blown combo platter.
Choosing your lessons on here to learn soloing and improvising was one of the best choices I've ever made. It was intimidating at first and i had no idea what you were talking about for a while, but trying to keep up and not taking the easy route has made all the difference in my playing now. And you're so right about tabs being a waste of time, which is something i probably would've used as opposed to figuring things out on my own. Thanks for everything.
Hey…I read this earlier today, but had a few things to knock out. Really wonderful to read comments such as yours. I’m so happy to think of players out there putting things together that eluded them in the past with some help from these lessons. Keep going!
The history of adding the flat 3rd to the major pentatonic scale or the mixolydian scale goes way back many years before Garcia. We are talking early blues music and a lot of slide guitar too.
Thank you for an excellent lesson - the major pentatonic add b3 is a great color to add one’s pallet ⚡️🎸🎶 super choice of Bertha as an example of its application 💀🌹
Wow, okay the buck stops right here. This is exactly what I've been looking for after wading through countless videos and opinions which have been so far off it's absurd. Thank you so much for the clarity.
I learned how to think/play this way you are describing when I learned to play country lead guitar 25 years ago….alot of country is very very similar in thinking…. COOl!!!!
Respect for using the middle pickup position on your Strat. The least talked about position, but frequently the "Goldilocks" position of round and glassy (neck) and bright attack (bridge)!
I was just going to request a lesson of this nature: "playing the changes" in songs less complex than finger-busting jazz standards. Now I don't have to. Fabulous!
wow - thanks, Jack - pretty simple concept once someone explains it as clearly as you did...super helpful ! I'm just getting "good" enough to start exploring some of these soloing ideas and you described me to a tee - smothering stuff with mixo throughout and it just never really sounding like that sweet spot mix of organized yet improvised... your idea observations of tension / resolution really describes the missing pieces so often for me... So appreciate your awesome Dead lessons !
The pro's always make it understandably simple to understand, then harder to play. I guess that's why man created practice!? Great channel, great teacher!
Hi Jack. Thanks for your tutorials. I stumbled across your site after watching A Long Strange Trip. I’ve always been confused by a I IV vamp and as to which is the correct key. Mixo in C or G did not produce the sound I wanted to hear. Now, your tonal centres clears that up. I’m using your tutorials to inform my Emando playing (after learning some violin as a kid I couldn’t get a grip on the guitar fret board). I’m grateful that you refer to notes and not only fret positions (which are useless to me)? Garcia’s playing and the major pentatonic including a b3 is very much a part of Niles Hokkanen’s bluegrass teaching which you now affirm and show how Jerry uses it. Thanks again.
Yes! To some extent it’s just a color…it doesn’t belong to any one player. But I do think it’s more heavily favored by JG and to some extend the Allmans. Hope you’re well! J
This is great. as someone newer to improvisation, painting some song with mixo makes it harder for me to think about the building blocks of being melodic, which is really just using the pentatonic scale. I’m more focused on just playing the “correct” notes in the scale or mode. This is a great way to think about it and as you become an expert in this approach I bet you have a much better understanding of when to add those extensions.
you’ve earned my sub! great lesson sir. I was just thinking this week how i have only really ever pour the G Mixo gravy on the whole thing, particularly pentatonic at the 12th. Always comes out sounding lost. Going to shed this one again. This really helped, thanks dude! Love the sweet and salty metaphor too
Or image being wonderfuly wisked away too Deleware ??? , HI I'm in Deleware ..... just kidding I'm super greatful for your tasty Snacks !!! They are absolutely Divine , Jack thanks so much for this and tons of love ❤ from Philadelphia!!!
@@jacksnax4guitar460 Thank you sir !!! You are my go to channel for Dead /Garcia playing style !!!! Hey could you do a lesson on playing in the pocket ??
@@jamesjones-rp6cl Hi James…we’ll, that’s not something you can really teach. You can work on your time, inner clock and time feel a lot with a metronome and a looper. I for one love getting lost in playing a groove or figure for 5-10 minutes without changing a thing. Just keep playing it over and over while focusing on NOT changing any elements, only deepening your commitment to the tempo. Once you can consistently do it like that you’ll know when your playing is out of the groove. Then it’s just a matter of staying dialed into the rhythm. Move your body, a little physical connection is required in my experience…and simplify what you’re playing until you can lock into the groove.
The Dead have a good amount of chord progressions that center around the 5 chord which is why everyone defaults to mixo. Bertha is not a song centered around the 5 chord. Mixo works to solo on some of their songs but it is not a 1 size fits all approach. Focusing on chord tones/intervals is always going to sound better no matter what the chord progression is. I like your approach to add in some tension with the flat third. It sounds good!
@@therealpg777 That’s the beauty of this system…there’s an ease to it. I use a few stock licks and expand and contract them in various ways to keep it fresh…but sounding like it’s coming from the same place.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 whatever ur doing. Fire brother. 🔥. Been playing a decade or so on and off for the last year and this a little inspiration to pick it bsck up
Thank you, you are an excellent teacher. I appreciate ya a lot. Garcia followed Clarence White a lot in the early days… he just loved Bluegrass. So it makes perfect sense that he evolved improvisational lines the way you’ve described in this lesson.
Excellent lesson, subscribed right away. I have been playing for a long time but post covid spent last few years learning so much more. I became the major scale noodler way too fast lol. I just tried this (and have dabbled before per some other lessons from Nashville guys) and man its still hard for me. I can visualize and get around the fretboard pretty well. Ive been using the caged system and modes and major scale mostly. My issue with following chords is Im always thinking too much, meaning I play a run, think of the next position/note then make that run. Im often behind or early or my phrasing suffers and it just doesnt sound great. I have found that b3 slide helpful for some added flavor. Ive also used it before in mixo. I did like the idea of leading into the next chord but I just cant make that sound as good as the better players like yourself and part of my issue listed above when Im playing catchup. Ill keep plugging away though because I understand its ultimately better and more musical.
@@sunandthesea563 Thanks for the comment. Try not to think of each note as you play it. Instead concentrate on starting the next chord on its third (major or minor) or its root on the downbeat. Slow down the backing track until you can connect the chord you were on to the one where you’re going. Then and only then speed it up and still use the same lick that works. The next step is to make other licks that use the same winning strategies you used over the last change. Make copies of copies of the initial idea. Allow them to differ slightly and the next this you know you have a library of ideas that help connect the chords of a tune.
Really great lesson. It's helping me push forward from feeling stuck. I've gotten around to changing over chords and not just playing in a mode, but I was using triads and chord shapes (nothing wrong with that but I was feeling stuck on it). Thinking of the major pentatonic with a flat third just really nailed it for me. I have heard that all over Garcia's playing and just thought of it as chromaticism. That opened things up for me, but it felt kind of wild. Thinking of hunting the flat third has clicked with me. Funny thing is learned to play too many notes by practicing modes. Now I have to undo the muscle memory and try and drop the four and seven more, right? Not sure I got that right. Anyway, when I do, it sounds much more musical. Thanks for the help!
Great lesson, Jack! It sometimes seems like Garcia rarely played a major third without approaching it from a half step below, though that is probably overstating it a bit. Interesting thought about his tendency originating from the bluegrass G-run. Never quite made that connection, but it totally makes sense.
@@BlackMath69 I guess someone may use that term. Either way, it’s a really essential part of the Garcia playbook. Thanks for your supportive comment! Very kind.✌️😊👍
Hey would you do a one-on-one lesson with this material? Would love to see fingerings for the scale in a few different positions to be able to play up and down the neck
great stuff, i was beginning to come to this realization. its really about the notes in the chords themselves, you dont need anything else ahahaha. its so hard to see the notes when jamming, i can see how it takes years to get good at this hahahah.
Hey, I heard ya say you’re in Bethany beach at the end there & was wondering if ya wanna try an jam sometime & I might be interested in learning some scale idea’s from ya too. I been playing for 30 years now but never took a lesson, learned theory or learned all those scales. I more or less will usually get chords to a song & kinda play it my own way & as far as leads go, I learned a blues scale watch a “learn to play guitar overnight” VHS vid for 5 min once. Then one night sleeping out for Pink Floyd tix in ‘94, someone taught me on the B & the high E some scales with minor’s/half step patterns (just on those 2 stings) & the rest I took on my own from there. I mostly play in the same kinda pattern area on different parts of the neck to get a blues or country sound depending on the song. I’d like to learn a lot more & have some original’s if ya wanna hear “Ride or Die” & “Read between the Lies” on my channel. Those vids are the first time ever playing the songs at 4am, after I just finished writing them that night. Not sure how to message ya my number but lemme know if ya wanna try to get together one of these days. My mom lives at Bethany. I’m in California but moving back any day now. ✌️🤡☝🏼❤️
another great lesson. In hindsight you could have started with the lester runs. No doubt getting comfortable with that sound is quite key to the approach you are suggesting.
Hi Jack, your guitar sounds great, you are a gifted player, but I can't stop staring at the bridge on your guitar Haha!and wondering about the intonation, it sounds spot on, is it? It sounds good to me, you have Garcia down on an exceptional level, very high level, remarkable
Dude thanks for the food analogies....my brain just clicks with your teaching style. How can I get more involved in your lessons? got a patreon with stuff i can download?
I've been digging your videos. You've given me a bunch of different ideas of how to approach soloing. It never comes off as good as you, but it gives me a strong platform to start from. I'm curious what rig you have that strat plugged into? Sounds really nice! I love your playing man, keep posting videos
This is awesome! Great stuff you've got in here, and you sound fantastic. There's this though: Bertha is absolutely in the key of G, and what you've got happening here, to my ear, makes it sound like it's in C. Thoughts?
Can you link to the other Bertha lesson? I am also interested in Althea (and as I think of it, Cassidy...maybe you could create a GD women playlist haha). Mainly want the prior Bertha lesson to link up the ideas in this lesson. Sorry about the tangent
This is a really great video. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to filter through the modal conversation with this soloing approach. Just to clarify, you are saying you would play the major Pentatonix scale over each cord, with the exception of the third being flattened. Right?
I feel like I understand exactly what you're saying but what I think is interesting is I would use every single lick you play for Bertha to show someone how to play like Trey To me the note that you're hammering on and trying to teach here really makes that Vermont jam band sound, and I always felt that Jerry didn't fall into that category of that simple let's add this note lesson Wow I don't think it's as simple as mixolydian either I certainly don't think Jerry was living on this note you keep bringing up Over the years certainly you can hear that that note doesn't matter at all to him I mean the later years he got pretty lazy but you definitely have a certain year down pat but I would not put it on the overall lesson until people realized it was necessary to play like somebody else, Because really that is just a handful of Trey licks over and over
I don't mean it disrespectfully at all I just mean that if I kept doing what you're doing I wouldn't be in a grateful Dead cover band I would be in a phish band, because it doesn't matter that you're doing it on a Stratocaster it really is that lesson I think you should relabel this video for that it sounds like everything tray does in one lesson at least that lesson to sound like that particular version of Trey but I think that's in the back of the mind of a decent Jerry player LOL No ill will I'm just saying from my point of view
@@jacksnax4guitar460 be that as it may I will be applying this lesson to how to play Caspian a little bit better.. and I don't mean that in a bad way I'm wrong about a lot of things, but like I said even on that strat I hear some of the ginger
I'm just saying if I put that up when I was jamming I would have lead into the something that was going to link something with something else and had nothing to do with the dead. This is where you tell me a date to listen to
But the chords in the song are D C G Am a chords in G major. The beginnig chords a GG CC G GG CC. Then the verse goes into C which is the 4 it resolves to the G which is the one, or at least thats how I here it.
Modes are not the way to play over chords, because following changes means taking away notes from the key that are irrelevant to the shifting tonal centre. Modes contain all the notes of the key and all the ear hears is "key of c" or whatever. It sounds bland and unmusical. Less is more
Not really…it’s a bit more of a challenge because we have an extra step of developing a way of communicating the ideas and sounds. So that’s what theory is good for, establishing a vocabulary that helps us specify what we’re discussing. Once that nomenclature exists…if the player is doing their part things fall into place quickly. I tend to use theory as a way of explaining WHY something sounds the way it does rather than using it to guide me towards a sound or series of notes. That stuff I try to feel and hear rather than think my way through.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 I appreciate the response. I'm self-taught and only played the blues for a while. Don't know much music theory, but when I watch your videos, there are moments where I piece together what I do know with what you're articulating. You are a brilliant teacher and brilliant guitar player. 🎸⚡🤘😎
Great lesson. First time I've heard Garcia's approach explained in this way and it makes perfect sense. 100% bluegrass inspired.
Do you give lessons in Brooklyn?
@@drogba4evah672 yes as well as on zoom
Agreed re. the bluegrass influence. Garcia was also an excellent banjoist - I imagine you might have heard him, but in case not, here he is playing some great licks on banjo in a bluegrass context - a classic album, well regarded by the fans:
ua-cam.com/video/9kC4Sx-WuNE/v-deo.html
This video has been a revelation for me!! I've been having trouble with the mixo mode just like you described it. You can easily get playing mixo all the time without really thinking what chord goes underneath your playing. I really like how you explained it and I see how this aproach makes you play with intention and really think what are you trying to say with each chord. Thanks for the lesson!
That’s great!
I had a backstage pass one night in Oakland and heard Jerry ripping 8 tone dominant patterns to warm-up
Dude, this is a badass lesson. So generous of you to do these.
Thanks for saying that!
Yea thanks a lot for taking the chance to help us get closer to the goal of playing the style of Jer
Nice lesson. Jerry's solo for Bertha on Skull and Roses is one of my favorites.
Yes…so if you’d like to see more of that, look up my Bertha lesson very connected to that solo
Brother you are such a beast of a player and an absolute gem of a teacher. Thanks so much for these! 🎸🤘✌️
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback
Hit it out of the park yet again Jack!
I remember the rather scant times Garcia was ever covered or "taught" in Guitar Mags throughout the 80s and 90s, this same overly generalized and flat-out lazy miss-the-mark concept of distilling Garcia's style to just play the Mixolydian mode was trotted out over and over. Talk about taking players down a proverbial dark hollow to flailing aimless noodling. The sculptor of sound that was Jerry G, had the flawless ability to thread phrases together by playing the changes, or that is how I see it and that is what I hear here in your fine approach to breaking down his style of soloing. Truthfully, not only here but in pretty well all your Garcia focussed soloing videos and really beyond.
The approach is much like the thinking in jazz and bluegrass, both styles of which Garcia was clearly an erudite student. Now perhaps the Dead repertoire did not always plumb the depths of the sophistication of changes like a Lush Life, Giant Steps or All the Things You Are etc. on the bulk of their tunes. Nonetheless, the thinking of how to approach a Bertha or Estimated Prophet jam was fairly similar to how jazzers and obviously bluegrass musicians do the same. Each chord of let's say a longer duration is treated as a change and deserves its own scale/tailored pool of notes. Slap together some chromatic passing tones you are well on your way to threading the needle to what it was Jerry was up to much more than just play the Mixolydian mode.
In essence, mi amigo Jack, what you have done again so well in highlighting here and thankfully putting another nail in the Garcia soloing = Myxolidian myth. To your credit, you have successfully done this over and over as demonstrated in a slew of your videos on both the perhaps simpler 2 and 3-chord jams and moreover on the advanced tunes like Crazy Fingers. I mean even looking at the Garcia Chuck Berry interpretations (which I absolutely loved, and I never could really wrap my head around what he was up to until I saw your excellent detailed take on the style despite the CB tunes being just mostly I IV Vs), Advancing on of course and as much of your material highlights time and again each chord major, minor, dominant or diminished is its own universe and the key is to cull your lines from what best fits each chord and threads to the next in the changes of the song.
This lesson is superb in providing a simple 2-chord jump-off for the beginner to the intermediate players to wrap their heads around. I have been playing for 30-plus years this music and I also got something out of it and moreover being reminded of how misguided the Garcia = Myxolidian myth used to be and all too frequently lazily brandished about.
Again I cannot thank you enough Jack for your superb content. One of these days when I muster up a thought on what it is I want to learn from you beyond your 100s of videos I will ask you for a lesson. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying Delaware, absolutely love your videos coming from there and overall in general this is my favourite channel to learn this style of music. Keep up the great and very generous work. Many thanks again, from the fires on the mountains of Spain.
Paco
What an incredible comment!
I love Spain… heading to San Sebastián in August.
Great lesson. I've watched it multiple times. True of several of your lessons tbh. This gets at such a crucial aspect of soloing well that I am continuing to work towards. The concepts your teaching are consistent with both bluegrass and country guitar lessons Ive taken. Thanks for all you do!
Great way to look at things. First time I've heard it, too. Thanks, man.
This is the most faithful Jerry-style playing I have heard from anyone and I have been searching for answers high and low.
👏👏👏👏👏
@@amoblahblah thanks…oddly enough there aren’t any actual Jerry licks here. It’s just what I hear as his approach from 69-72 which is some of my favorite stuff. More sophisticated/chromatic ideas by 73-78 and then on it’s full a blown combo platter.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 Yeah, that’s what I’ve been looking for. You understand his style like no one else.
Choosing your lessons on here to learn soloing and improvising was one of the best choices I've ever made. It was intimidating at first and i had no idea what you were talking about for a while, but trying to keep up and not taking the easy route has made all the difference in my playing now. And you're so right about tabs being a waste of time, which is something i probably would've used as opposed to figuring things out on my own. Thanks for everything.
Hey…I read this earlier today, but had a few things to knock out. Really wonderful to read comments such as yours. I’m so happy to think of players out there putting things together that eluded them in the past with some help from these lessons. Keep going!
I remember when I figured this out, it ruined my guitar playing for about a year because I had to rethink my whole approach. But I sure am glad I did
What a great approach to not getting lost in the sauce and a tether to the chord tones....so you can explore without missing the changes ❤️
That’s exactly the point👍😊✌️ Happy you found this useful!
The history of adding the flat 3rd to the major pentatonic scale or the mixolydian scale goes way back many years before Garcia. We are talking early blues music and a lot of slide guitar too.
Thank you for an excellent lesson - the major pentatonic add b3 is a great color to add one’s pallet ⚡️🎸🎶 super choice of Bertha as an example of its application 💀🌹
GREAT lesson man. Easily one of the best breakdowns of Garcia's approach. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, okay the buck stops right here. This is exactly what I've been looking for after wading through countless videos and opinions which have been so far off it's absurd. Thank you so much for the clarity.
Hey! Thanks for the comment. I hope it helps you on your journey.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 It really has, thanks again
I learned how to think/play this way you are describing when I learned to play country lead guitar 25 years ago….alot of country is very very similar in thinking…. COOl!!!!
100 %
Respect for using the middle pickup position on your Strat. The least talked about position, but frequently the "Goldilocks" position of round and glassy (neck) and bright attack (bridge)!
Agreed…overlooked it myself for many moons! Thanks for the comment🎸🎸🎸
Yeah, but there's nothing better than neck pickup
I’m watching all of your lessons, thank you for the free content, seriously 😊
I was just going to request a lesson of this nature: "playing the changes" in songs less complex than finger-busting jazz standards. Now I don't have to. Fabulous!
I have a bunch of those on a playlist called “Making The Changes”
wow - thanks, Jack - pretty simple concept once someone explains it as clearly as you did...super helpful ! I'm just getting "good" enough to start exploring some of these soloing ideas and you described me to a tee - smothering stuff with mixo throughout and it just never really sounding like that sweet spot mix of organized yet improvised... your idea observations of tension / resolution really describes the missing pieces so often for me... So appreciate your awesome Dead lessons !
That’s really what I’m hoping to do!!! 😊
This spoke to me and will help me break out of the overlay gravy in my playing. Thank you.
I had no idea how many folks would latch onto the “gravy” metaphor!
The pro's always make it understandably simple to understand, then harder to play. I guess that's why man created practice!? Great channel, great teacher!
Thanks for the kind words!
Strong opinion is fine, the sounds I'm hearing in this lesson fit a perfect JG GD performance.
Hi Jack. Thanks for your tutorials. I stumbled across your site after watching A Long Strange Trip. I’ve always been confused by a I IV vamp and as to which is the correct key. Mixo in C or G did not produce the sound I wanted to hear. Now, your tonal centres clears that up. I’m using your tutorials to inform my Emando playing (after learning some violin as a kid I couldn’t get a grip on the guitar fret board). I’m grateful that you refer to notes and not only fret positions (which are useless to me)? Garcia’s playing and the major pentatonic including a b3 is very much a part of Niles Hokkanen’s bluegrass teaching which you now affirm and show how Jerry uses it. Thanks again.
Hey! Thanks a ton for the feedback…good to know it’s making an impact. I’m happy to hear my approach is making sense and isn’t too out to lunch.
Hey Jack, great lesson. Certainly applicable to us Allman fanatics too.
Yes! To some extent it’s just a color…it doesn’t belong to any one player. But I do think it’s more heavily favored by JG and to some extend the Allmans.
Hope you’re well!
J
Very well explained -- awesome stuff. Thank you for sharing.
This is great. as someone newer to improvisation, painting some song with mixo makes it harder for me to think about the building blocks of being melodic, which is really just using the pentatonic scale. I’m more focused on just playing the “correct” notes in the scale or mode. This is a great way to think about it and as you become an expert in this approach I bet you have a much better understanding of when to add those extensions.
Yes…100% my thought.
This was a really cool lesson! I got a total perspective shift. I found myself using the flat 3rd to orient me when going up and down the scale.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you. Instant fan and subscriber.
@@doovie101 thnx!!!!
you’ve earned my sub! great lesson sir. I was just thinking this week how i have only really ever pour the G Mixo gravy on the whole thing, particularly pentatonic at the 12th. Always comes out sounding lost. Going to shed this one again. This really helped, thanks dude! Love the sweet and salty metaphor too
Thanks for watching… and for the comment. That’s what I was hoping would happen.
Or image being wonderfuly wisked away too Deleware ??? , HI I'm in Deleware ..... just kidding I'm super greatful for your tasty Snacks !!! They are absolutely Divine , Jack thanks so much for this and tons of love ❤ from Philadelphia!!!
Thanks for the nice comment! Please check out the other lessons in the playlist…all kinds of stuff here.👍👍👍
@@jacksnax4guitar460 Thank you sir !!! You are my go to channel for Dead /Garcia playing style !!!! Hey could you do a lesson on playing in the pocket ??
@@jamesjones-rp6cl Hi James…we’ll, that’s not something you can really teach. You can work on your time, inner clock and time feel a lot with a metronome and a looper. I for one love getting lost in playing a groove or figure for 5-10 minutes without changing a thing. Just keep playing it over and over while focusing on NOT changing any elements, only deepening your commitment to the tempo. Once you can consistently do it like that you’ll know when your playing is out of the groove. Then it’s just a matter of staying dialed into the rhythm. Move your body, a little physical connection is required in my experience…and simplify what you’re playing until you can lock into the groove.
Beautifully done! Thank you!
The Dead have a good amount of chord progressions that center around the 5 chord which is why everyone defaults to mixo. Bertha is not a song centered around the 5 chord. Mixo works to solo on some of their songs but it is not a 1 size fits all approach. Focusing on chord tones/intervals is always going to sound better no matter what the chord progression is. I like your approach to add in some tension with the flat third. It sounds good!
Agreed Donny
Top notch !
you can just go n go n go... bravo
@@therealpg777 That’s the beauty of this system…there’s an ease to it. I use a few stock licks and expand and contract them in various ways to keep it fresh…but sounding like it’s coming from the same place.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 whatever ur doing. Fire brother. 🔥. Been playing a decade or so on and off for the last year and this a little inspiration to pick it bsck up
Thank you, you are an excellent teacher. I appreciate ya a lot. Garcia followed Clarence White a lot in the early days… he just loved Bluegrass. So it makes perfect sense that he evolved improvisational lines the way you’ve described in this lesson.
Thanks Doug!
sick lesson, thanks
What a great lesson.
Great lesson thank you sir very nice
Excellent lesson, subscribed right away. I have been playing for a long time but post covid spent last few years learning so much more. I became the major scale noodler way too fast lol. I just tried this (and have dabbled before per some other lessons from Nashville guys) and man its still hard for me. I can visualize and get around the fretboard pretty well. Ive been using the caged system and modes and major scale mostly. My issue with following chords is Im always thinking too much, meaning I play a run, think of the next position/note then make that run. Im often behind or early or my phrasing suffers and it just doesnt sound great. I have found that b3 slide helpful for some added flavor. Ive also used it before in mixo. I did like the idea of leading into the next chord but I just cant make that sound as good as the better players like yourself and part of my issue listed above when Im playing catchup. Ill keep plugging away though because I understand its ultimately better and more musical.
@@sunandthesea563 Thanks for the comment.
Try not to think of each note as you play it. Instead concentrate on starting the next chord on its third (major or minor) or its root on the downbeat.
Slow down the backing track until you can connect the chord you were on to the one where you’re going. Then and only then speed it up and still use the same lick that works.
The next step is to make other licks that use the same winning strategies you used over the last change. Make copies of copies of the initial idea. Allow them to differ slightly and the next this you know you have a library of ideas that help connect the chords of a tune.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 excellent advice, thank you, I will try that
Really great lesson. It's helping me push forward from feeling stuck. I've gotten around to changing over chords and not just playing in a mode, but I was using triads and chord shapes (nothing wrong with that but I was feeling stuck on it). Thinking of the major pentatonic with a flat third just really nailed it for me. I have heard that all over Garcia's playing and just thought of it as chromaticism. That opened things up for me, but it felt kind of wild. Thinking of hunting the flat third has clicked with me. Funny thing is learned to play too many notes by practicing modes. Now I have to undo the muscle memory and try and drop the four and seven more, right? Not sure I got that right. Anyway, when I do, it sounds much more musical. Thanks for the help!
Basically yes…ditch the b7 and to some extent the 4th degree of the scale.
Great lesson, Jack! It sometimes seems like Garcia rarely played a major third without approaching it from a half step below, though that is probably overstating it a bit. Interesting thought about his tendency originating from the bluegrass G-run. Never quite made that connection, but it totally makes sense.
Right? Seems like it could be that…just kind of an understood modification he knew could take place
Awesome. Thx Very clearly communicated and helpful.
Glad you thought so…I get all spun up on coffee and then I’m prone to a good babble. Glad it didn’t go off the rails!😉
Really great lesson!
Appreciate your insights my man!
My pleasure!
thank you for making this one!
Of course
Favorite teacher alert! Love the food/flavor theme.. mixolydian gravy
Think sometimes it’s referred to as “country blues scale”
@@BlackMath69 I guess someone may use that term. Either way, it’s a really essential part of the Garcia playbook. Thanks for your supportive comment! Very kind.✌️😊👍
Bingo! That with a bit of chromatics and that is one sweet sauce.
Hi Ian! Thanks man.
great content here!
@@jeffallen542 thanks!!!
Hey would you do a one-on-one lesson with this material? Would love to see fingerings for the scale in a few different positions to be able to play up and down the neck
great stuff, i was beginning to come to this realization. its really about the notes in the chords themselves, you dont need anything else ahahaha. its so hard to see the notes when jamming, i can see how it takes years to get good at this hahahah.
The rip at 4:24 was sick
Hey, I heard ya say you’re in Bethany beach at the end there & was wondering if ya wanna try an jam sometime & I might be interested in learning some scale idea’s from ya too. I been playing for 30 years now but never took a lesson, learned theory or learned all those scales. I more or less will usually get chords to a song & kinda play it my own way & as far as leads go, I learned a blues scale watch a “learn to play guitar overnight” VHS vid for 5 min once. Then one night sleeping out for Pink Floyd tix in ‘94, someone taught me on the B & the high E some scales with minor’s/half step patterns (just on those 2 stings) & the rest I took on my own from there. I mostly play in the same kinda pattern area on different parts of the neck to get a blues or country sound depending on the song. I’d like to learn a lot more & have some original’s if ya wanna hear “Ride or Die” & “Read between the Lies” on my channel. Those vids are the first time ever playing the songs at 4am, after I just finished writing them that night. Not sure how to message ya my number but lemme know if ya wanna try to get together one of these days. My mom lives at Bethany. I’m in California but moving back any day now. ✌️🤡☝🏼❤️
@@hustlaron
Hey!
I’m not in Bethany this summer…sorry!!!
Great point here!
@@thewaywardtrio thank you!
👉 Jacksnax is the best 👍👍👍
Thanks for this! You had me at gravy.....
Thanks for the laugh. I appreciate a good sense of humor.
Let us not overlook the fine Bertha vocals.
Yeo the Skull n Roses version is really great...not sure how much studio work was done afterward.
Thanks
Tremendous video, Jack. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Are you available for remote lessons?
Yes
Jack_devine@hotmail.com
So good! And great playing as well! Great discussion. Now how do I learn to play the scales that way?
Try slowing it down using the speed control on YT until it becomes easy.
That's some spicy honey. Thank you!
Thanks!
another great lesson. In hindsight you could have started with the lester runs. No doubt getting comfortable with that sound is quite key to the approach you are suggesting.
I suppose…thanks
Hi Jack, your guitar sounds great, you are a gifted player, but I can't stop staring at the bridge on your guitar Haha!and wondering about the intonation, it sounds spot on, is it? It sounds good to me, you have Garcia down on an exceptional level, very high level, remarkable
Seems ok to me and my tech
Dude thanks for the food analogies....my brain just clicks with your teaching style. How can I get more involved in your lessons? got a patreon with stuff i can download?
For now I just teach privately
the maj pent plus the minor pent is th mixolidian minus th flat 3rd
What’s your point exactly?
I've been digging your videos. You've given me a bunch of different ideas of how to approach soloing. It never comes off as good as you, but it gives me a strong platform to start from. I'm curious what rig you have that strat plugged into? Sounds really nice! I love your playing man, keep posting videos
Thanks!
That’s a Kemper stage profiler
Great lesson. Am I correct in understanding this to mean playing major blues scale off of each major chords root?
I wouldn’t call it major blues scale. Major pentatonic w/an approach tone into the 3rd.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 so like an enclosure mindset? Downstairs neighbor.
This is awesome! Great stuff you've got in here, and you sound fantastic. There's this though: Bertha is absolutely in the key of G, and what you've got happening here, to my ear, makes it sound like it's in C. Thoughts?
@@jdguitar1040 thanks for the comment, common error…just because a song starts and ends on a G chord doesn’t make it in the key of G.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 Fascinating.
@@jdguitar1040 it’s not that big a deal… as long as the notes are right, the nomenclature is purely academic
Can you link to the other Bertha lesson? I am also interested in Althea (and as I think of it, Cassidy...maybe you could create a GD women playlist haha). Mainly want the prior Bertha lesson to link up the ideas in this lesson. Sorry about the tangent
It’s fine! There’s a GD lessons playlist here. But here’s a link to the Bertha
ua-cam.com/video/3CE6vj5tBwI/v-deo.html
Great lesson. Jerry does this a lot with the chord changes in Franklin's Tower. Is the b3 from a country blues scale?
I don’t think of it in those terms. Just an approach tone. It gives a nice bluesy sound, a little tension…before the release.
Jammie Pants? Aren't those illegal in Delaware? Thanks Jack. Great lesson!!
They’re beach pants! But I do occasionally sleep in them.
man your rig sounds great. How are you micing your amp for this video?
My phone! I’m about 2 feet from the speaker at very moderate volume…just a little louder than my voice
"why would I put that in my stew"
Just became the 8k sub
Wow! That’s cool…had no idea that’s how many folks are here.
Thanks!!!
This is a really great video. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to filter through the modal conversation with this soloing approach. Just to clarify, you are saying you would play the major Pentatonix scale over each cord, with the exception of the third being flattened. Right?
No…I’d ADD the b3 (of the root note)to the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. So that’s 1,2,b3,3,5,6….
@@jacksnax4guitar460 so for example. chord playing is Cmajor. You solo with 5 notes of cmajor pentatonic scale. C-D-Eb-G-A
@@jasonmlakar16 No add E natural as well
Good stuff cuz “don’t sound like Garcia”
I feel like I understand exactly what you're saying but what I think is interesting is I would use every single lick you play for Bertha to show someone how to play like Trey
To me the note that you're hammering on and trying to teach here really makes that Vermont jam band sound, and I always felt that Jerry didn't fall into that category of that simple let's add this note lesson
Wow I don't think it's as simple as mixolydian either I certainly don't think Jerry was living on this note you keep bringing up
Over the years certainly you can hear that that note doesn't matter at all to him
I mean the later years he got pretty lazy but you definitely have a certain year down pat but I would not put it on the overall lesson until people realized it was necessary to play like somebody else,
Because really that is just a handful of Trey licks over and over
I don't mean it disrespectfully at all I just mean that if I kept doing what you're doing I wouldn't be in a grateful Dead cover band I would be in a phish band, because it doesn't matter that you're doing it on a Stratocaster it really is that lesson I think you should relabel this video for that it sounds like everything tray does in one lesson at least that lesson to sound like that particular version of Trey but I think that's in the back of the mind of a decent Jerry player LOL
No ill will I'm just saying from my point of view
@@mrwatchthattone Agree to disagree
@@jacksnax4guitar460 be that as it may I will be applying this lesson to how to play Caspian a little bit better.. and I don't mean that in a bad way I'm wrong about a lot of things, but like I said even on that strat I hear some of the ginger
I'm just saying if I put that up when I was jamming I would have lead into the something that was going to link something with something else and had nothing to do with the dead. This is where you tell me a date to listen to
@@mrwatchthattone early 70s
Question: if the chord is minor, does the same logic apply but using the minor pentatonic instead?
Not really
NICE GUITAR
Hi G
Thanks amigo…I picked it up a little while back and had I tweaked to my specs.
"third seeking" behavior
Where is the bertha lesson you mentioned?
Nevermind me. Found it. Email will come for a lesson lol
@@MrGroot-nh2ny Glad you found it… was about to leave this here
ua-cam.com/video/3CE6vj5tBwI/v-deo.html
Are you using the flat third as a passing note? Seems like Garcia doesn't dwell on it.
Yep…just passing through. Use it instead of the 2 when heading towards the 3rd. Conversely on the way to the root use the b3 then 2nd.
How do you get that tone
Strat
Middle pickup
Thick pick
Lots of treble
Not too much bass
A little overdrive
Lots of reverb (with little bass content)
A little analog delay
What kind of strat is that?
It’s a partscaster
Warmoth neck Clapton profile. MJT ash body…distressed.
I think you wouldnt use the G mixolydian any way. Isnt the song in G ?
No it’s in C actually.:.just starts on G (V chord)
No it’s in C actually.:.just starts on G (V chord)
But the chords in the song are D C G Am a chords in G major. The beginnig chords a GG CC G GG CC. Then the verse goes into C which is the 4 it resolves to the G which is the one, or at least thats how I here it.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsostGWdWFths?feature=shared
Matter of musical preference really.
Dude
I think that’s a compliment…right?
If so… thank you👍
Yeah man. These lessons are amazing. Clarifies stuff that seemed mysterious.
Modes are not the way to play over chords, because following changes means taking away notes from the key that are irrelevant to the shifting tonal centre. Modes contain all the notes of the key and all the ear hears is "key of c" or whatever. It sounds bland and unmusical. Less is more
Agreed!
Do you ever find it frustrating to teach guitar players who have little knowledge of music theory?
Not really…it’s a bit more of a challenge because we have an extra step of developing a way of communicating the ideas and sounds. So that’s what theory is good for, establishing a vocabulary that helps us specify what we’re discussing. Once that nomenclature exists…if the player is doing their part things fall into place quickly. I tend to use theory as a way of explaining WHY something sounds the way it does rather than using it to guide me towards a sound or series of notes. That stuff I try to feel and hear rather than think my way through.
@@jacksnax4guitar460 I appreciate the response. I'm self-taught and only played the blues for a while. Don't know much music theory, but when I watch your videos, there are moments where I piece together what I do know with what you're articulating. You are a brilliant teacher and brilliant guitar player. 🎸⚡🤘😎
@@alexchng Hey! Thanks Alex. There are plenty of great players that don’t do the theory thing. It’s helpful though.