Jerry Garcia’s (not steel) GUITAR style played on steel?

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

A lot has been written here about Jerry Garcia’s unique and quirky pedal steel style but, for obvious reasons, not much about his guitar stylings per se, which I think are equally unique and quirky. Such a discussion would not normally belong at the Steel Guitar Forum, except I’m wondering if anyone has transcribed or just has any guidance (or, dare I say, tablature) for playing any of his standard guitar parts or solos on steel guitar?

I’ll be sitting in soon with a Dead-style band and am casting around for suitable things to play and approaches to soloing that will not sound country, on tunes that originally had no steel guitar. I don’t want to “countrify” them and even typical blues lines don’t really get it done. Thoughts?

Thanks, y’all!
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John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

I'd be highly interested if this could be done. There is a lot of banjo playing DNA to Jerry's playing given his first love of instrument. Seems kind of counter intuitive to the long sustain of steel playing.
"Althea"
Those weird staccato phrasings to his playing are so uniquely Jerry.

This one would probably work well.
"Loser"
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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks for weighing in, John. I would just say that there’s plenty of very staccato pedal steel playing out there, anywhere from chicken pickin’ to bluegrass to bebop, so I wouldn’t rule it out.

I’ll bet we have some very accomplished members who played both guitar and pedal steel who may have tried this trick before.

I’d also be interested in how folks might describe the key elements of Garcia’s guitar style…
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Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

Throw in a lot of Mixolydian scales and you’ll have twirlers spinning up front near the stage and reefers thrown like confetti jamming up your volume pedal.😎
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Craig Stock · From: Westfield, NJ USA

Jim, You may want to contact Marc Muller, he plays in a dead band and is very knowledgeable about what you are talking about I'm sure.
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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks Craig! Smile

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K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

I recall seeing videos of Barry Sless playing pedal steel with Phil Lesh and recreating lots of Garcia’s guitar style. Maybe a search on him would yield some useful info.
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Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Garcia played the Mixolydian mode a lot on guitar, as Brooks mentioned. That was his signature sound.

It's a major scale with a flatted 7th. It sounds kind of exotic and very Grateful Dead. It works well in songs with 7th chords, and songs with chord patterns like A, G, D A... Dead songs like "Fire on the Mountain", "China Cat Sunflower", and many more.

Think of it as an altered major scale (flatted 7th). That's one way to approach it, especially if you already play major scales a lot. Just practice those scales with the 7th flatted. So the A major scale will become A Mixolyian mode.

And... there is a very handy shortcut for those who don't want to memorize a bunch of Mixolydian patterns... just play the normal major scale a 4th above the key. In other words, if a song is in the key of A, you play the D major scale. The D major scale has the same notes as A Mixolydian mode. Most guitarists would prefer to memorize A Mix. patterns starting on the A note, but for those of us who play mostly steel guitar, this is a quick way to find the mode on the fly.

Jim, there several YouTube videos covering Jerry's guitar style and the scale/mode approach he used.

Here's one ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS1bB8UeJ2s

There are also several backing tracks to practice Mixolydian ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFF0-gxRxRQ

The track above is in A, so try playing A major (with a flat 7) patterns over that track, and then try playing a normal D major scale over that track.

And don't forget to meander aimlessly around, with no particular beginning or end, the way Jerry did! Laughing

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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Thanks guys. Found a few Barry Sless videos and, Doug, you Da Man! Thanks for all that great info. I’m already putting it to work. 👍😊
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Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Jim, I guess I read your original posted too quickly and I didn’t notice that you’ll be playing Steel on the songs. Smile

I know that you also play guitar on some gigs and I thought you were looking for Garcia’s guitar sounds on regular guitar. Everything I posted would also apply to steel, but I was thinking in terms of standard guitar when I wrote it.
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Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Garcia’s style gets underestimated A LOT. His picking was very dynamic. The leads were melodic, and rhythmically interesting. It wasn’t just the scale he used that set him apart. Don’t get me wrong, at their worst, the GD were terrible. But when they were on, it was largely due to Jerry being on.

I think this guy explains it pretty well, if gushing a bit over the top here n there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_MsFdkxHSYI

Those chromatics might prove a bit challenging on steel. I would think all manner of blocking technique would be needed for all the single note definition.

E9 or C6? Hmm. What would Buddy do…

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Hehe.
Buddy calling somebody an amateur and me calling somebody an amateur, well that’s a few light years of difference. If Buddy was talking about Jerry’s steel playing, well that’s different than his guitar playing. I also try to keep in mind that there was a time in American music history when there was no love lost between Country and Rock genre giants, so that might explain Buddy’s comment to a certain degree, too.

Buddy was a jazzer who could play masterful country (or anything) and Jerry was a fine country player in a psychedelic rock band. I really don’t think either of them would have to unlearn anything to play in each other’s crossover styles. And it would have been great to hear them play together.

I'm listening to the 1991 Grisman/Garcia collaboration album as I’m writing this. There’s a good bit of Django in Garcia’s acoustic playing, which is the wellspring of his electric style.

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

I've recorded with Buddy in both studio settings and home recordings. Studio settings were mostly arranged songs with session musicians, and also in his basement recording on his Teac 8 track, on 10-20 minute songs.
Buddy was using an IVL Pitchrider with a DX7 module.
My favorite sound was a blend of the synth with the steel with the steel volume slightly higher. A great sound that also masked the latency of the synth sound.
He sure could jam.
A way to think about jamming is it's just like jazz, classical, new age, etc, is that it gives the listener time to think and the player time to explore..
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Thornton Lewis · From: New York, USA

I will be a little snark and say the best way to sound like Jerry is start all your phrases on the one of the bar. Also have multiple drummers while making recordings that don't seem to have any at all. The man did write wonderful melodies, but for me, as a soloist saying he lacked drama is an understatement.
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Fred Treece · From: California, USA

That’s more than a little snark. It’s even beyond foo-foo snark. That comment is the black hole of snark.

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