Six Ways That Jerry Garcia Has Been An Influence on Me

In honor of Days Between, here's another Jerry Garcia themed post.

I'm a hobbyist, adult learner who plays in Irish sessions, so it would be a stretch to say that I have much musicality in common with Jerry Garcia. However, I would like to think that he's one of my biggest influences, at least in the following ways.

Melody
Jerry's playing is very melodic. Yes he is a master improviser who is always aware of the chords of the moment which is informing his note choices. But, you can almost always hear the foundation of the song's vocal melody line in any of his solos, even as he builds and builds to a higher crescendo with each chorus. I know of no other guitarist quite like this. When I finally chose to start playing music, I chose a style(s) of music such as Irish trad that was all-melody, all-the-time.

Choice of Instrument

If the text-book definition of guitar flatpicker means Tony Rice, Doc Watson, or Norman Blake, then I don't know if you'd strictly call Jerry a flatpicker, per se, but he definitely used a pick to pluck solos and melodic lines. He wasn't just a strummer or finger player. He was a picker. And before he was a guitarist, Jerry was an accomplished 5-string banjo player, a role he reprised in the early 70's while a member of the short-lived yet highly influential traditional bluegrass band Old and In the Way. When you look at it this way, my choice to play tenor banjo makes a little bit more sense. It's an instrument that's tuned like a mandolin, flatpicked like an acoustic guitar, but is indeed a banjo.

Play By Ear - Be In the Moment

Jerry was not an illiterate musician by any means. He would peruse guitar theory books as they came out, and I'm pretty sure he could read music if he needed to, but Jerry was by and large an ear player. If he could sing it or hum it he could play it and that was his preferred way of going about it. It's taken me a long, long time to come around to this way of thinking, but I'm starting to embrace that same philosophy and I'm trying to do the ear training to get there. I don't like sessions where people are looking at sheet music because there is no interaction between the musicians and nobody is listening to one another. I like sessions where people are active and engaged, listening and adapting that day's version of the tune, even if it is a tune like Out on the Ocean that you've played hundreds of times before. What's something new, some new intention, that you can bring to that tune today? I think that's the approach Jerry would take.

Never Play the Same Setlist Twice

The Grateful Dead, and to some extent The Jerry Garcia Band, were famous for never playing the same show once, let alone twice! Jerry was well practiced (he knew his scales which we'll get to in a moment), but he was refreshingly under rehearsed and ready to take chances even if that meant pulling out a song that he may or may not be ready to play. I'm kind of the same way in sessions. I don't like the same old sets of three tunes back to back for all time, although the Dead did have their own dependable "medleys" such as Scarlet/Fire and China/Rider. I also like to mix it up and I'm just as likely to call a tune that I don't really know yet as one that I have down pat. Fortunately, Irish sessions seem to have this spontaneity built into their format. There's never like a setlist for an Irish session. You never quite know what you're going to play or how you're going to fill the two or three hours. Even making one change, such as changing Morrison's > Kesh > Swallowtail to Lilting Banshee > Kesh > Swallowtail can breathe new life into a tired set of tunes. Like when the Dead would do Mississippi Half-Step into Franklin's Tower.

Scales and Modes

Jerry knew his scales and modes inside and out and was especially fond of the Mixolydian and Dorian modes found in the folk and traditional music that was a big influence on him. I also like dwelling in these worlds and fortunately the repertoire of tunes that get played in Irish sessions has a generous dose of Dorian and Mixolydian. I know that this is partly because of the limitations of diatonic instruments like the flute, whistle, and pipes, which dictates that a lot of tunes have to conform to the notes of the D-major and G-major scales like E-Dorian, A-Dorian, D-Mixolydian, and A-Mixolydian. Hey, I'll take it!

Less Is More - Be a Feel Player Not a Shredder

I strongly dislike the type of guitar playing known as shredding. I guess Jerry could shred too when he wanted to, but to me he's more a taste and feel player. Why play three notes when one note will work just fine? Jerry was more about having a musical conversation, letting the notes flow and tell a story. He wasn't just regurgitating licks and riffs. With that in mind, I try to approach "Irish" tenor banjo from a similar perspective. So much of what is mistaken for good banjo playing is just pyrotechnics and rapid fire notes. That doesn't appeal to me. Part of it is that I don't have the skills or technique to pull that kind of playing off. But another part is I don't like the sound of it. Sure a well played, well placed triplet sounds great, but you can quickly overdo it. Rather than wonder "how would a banjo player play this?", I sometimes think more along the lines of "how would a flute player play this?". A flautist has to take breaths, so their version of a tune is going to likely be more sparse and less notey by default. I think you can potentially make more beautiful music from a less is more approach. Leaving space between the notes. The space between.

Fun fact: This post was originally titled "Six Ways That Jerry Garcia Has Been An Influence on Me". When I finished writing the post I counted and it came out to six. I didn't even have to go back and revise the title.

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Irish Fixed Do Solfège - D instead of C

I used an AI prompt to create this image

Solfège is a musical system that uses distinct syllables for the notes in a scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti). A great thing about solfège is it relates everything back to the major scale. If you are a musician, the major scale has a sound you are probably already familiar with. Whenever a note is flatter than the major scale, the solfège syllable rhymes with "ay". Whenever a note is sharper than the major scale, the solfège syllable rhymes with "ee".

For example, normally note 4 of the major scale is Fa, as in Do, Re, Mi, Fa. However, when the four is sharpened, like in the Lydian mode, the Fa (fah) sound becomes Fi (fee). This made me wonder if the Phish song Fee had a sharp four and Google says yes, Fee by Phish features a sharp four chord in its harmonic progression. Very clever Trey Anastasio!

One type of solfège is fixed do solfège where each syllable is permanently assigned to a specific absolute pitch. Normally C is always Do, D is always Re, and E is always Mi, regardless of the key or musical context. However, as an ear training method for Irish trad, I thought it would be fun to base the fixed do around the note D since D plays such an important role in Irish trad. D being the lowest note on the D-whistle and Irish tunes being so fundamentally diatonic.

Doing it this way, D is always Do, E is always Re, F# is always Mi, G is always Fa, A is always So, B is always La, and C# is always Ti. The other notes you have to remember are F is Me (may), G# is Fi (fee), Bb is Le (lay), and C is Te (tay). Using this form of notation, the first two measures of Swallowtail Jig would be Fa-Re-Re, La-Re-Re, Fa-Re-Re, La-So-Fa.

D-Ionian (AKA the major scale, key signature two sharps)

D = Do (doh)

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E = Re (ray)

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F# = Mi (mee)

G = Fa (fah)

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A = So (so)

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B = La (lah)

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C# = Ti (tee)

D = Do (doh)

D-Dorian (flat 3, flat 7, key signature no sharps or flats)

D = Do (doh)

●

E = Re (ray)

F = Me (may)

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G = Fa (fah)

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A = So (soh)

●

B = La (lah)

C = Te (tay)

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D = Do (doh)

D-Lydian (sharp four, key signature 3 sharps)

D = Do (doh)

●

E = Re (ray)

●

F# = Mi (mee)

●

G# = Fi (fee!)

A = So (soh)

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B = La (lah)

●

C# = Ti (tee)

D = Do (doh)

D-Mixolydian (flat 7, key signature one sharp)

D = Do (doh)

●

E = Re (ray)

●

F# = Mi (mee)

G = Fa (fah)

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A = So (soh)

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B = La (lah)

C = Te (tay)

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D = Do (doh)

D-Aeolian (flat3, flat 6, flat 7, key signature one flat)

D = Do (doh)

●

E = Re (ray)

F = Me (may)

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G = Fa (fah)

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A = So (soh)

Bb = Le (lay)

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C= Te (tay)

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D = Do (doh)

D-Harmonic Minor (flat 3, flat 6)

D = Do (doh)

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E = Re (ray)

F = Me (may)

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G = Fa (fah)

●

A = So (soh)

Bb = Le (lay)

●

●

C# = Ti (tee)

D = Do (doh)

Here's an exercise my music teacher Brad Overton gave me. Find a D drone on YouTube and try playing and singing these scales over the D drone. When doing a scale other then the Ionian/major scale, listen for the "weirdness" of the notes highlighted above.

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My Grateful Dead Origin Story

The vinyl version of Reckoning contained the song Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie

I've written about this before, but my Grateful Dead origin story began in August 1992 when Eric Clapton's Unplugged CD came out. I was in the record store Digits on West Broad Street in Richmond to buy that Eric Clapton CD when the record clerk said "If you like that, you should check out the original unplugged, pre-MTV" and he handed me the Grateful Dead CD Reckoning, their live acoustic album culled from fall 1980 performances at The Warfield Theater and Radio City Music Hall. I got that CD then and there, and thus began my Grateful Dead journey.

Reckoning was a great way to jump into the Grateful Dead because it accustomed me the to the idea of live recordings and introduced me to their roots and influences. Not only did it have superb originals such as Dire Wolf, It Must Have Been the Roses, Cassidy, and Bird Song, but it also included covers and traditional songs such as The Race is On (country), Dark Hollow and Rosa Lee McFall (bluegrass), Been All Around this World (old-time/traditional), Jackaroe (Celtic folk), and Deep Elem Blues and On the Road Again (blues). This led me in all kinds of places as I started to check out artists ranging from Mississippi John Hurt to Elizabeth Cotton to Bill Monroe to Miles Davis and beyond. I was already interested in folk and Americana, but this really propelled that fascination.

The 2-CD live album simply called Jerry Garcia Band had recently come out (August 1991) so that was the first non-Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia CD that I got, followed shortly thereafter by the Garcia/Grisman CD Not for Kids Only and the self-titled CD by potent but short-lived bluegrass band Old and in the Way, featuring Garcia in a side-man role on banjo alongside Peter Rowan, David Grisman, John Kahn, and Vassar Clements. I also got the first New Riders of the Purple Sage CD since it had Jerry on steel guitar.

In 1992/1993, the idea of releasing entire, unabridged Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia Band concerts song for song, warts and all, had not hit yet so unless you had tape trading connections you relied on the officially released live albums such as Without A Net which were almost always comprised of a la carte recordings from different live shows designed to emulate the flow of a live concert but not actually tracked start to finish from one show. For the first couple years this was my only option, although I would sometimes tape episodes of David Gans' The Grateful Dead Hour off the radio. It took a couple years, but I eventually started accumulating tapes via the kindness of Deadheads through blanks and postage, including the famous 5/8/77 Cornell and 8/27/72 Veneta Oregon shows. After I transferred from Longwood to VCU, all my college friends and I did was listen to Grateful Dead music!

I got to see the Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia live a total of 6 times from 1994 to 1995, however, my first actual Grateful Dead related concert was The Jerry Garcia Band on 11/18/93 at Richmond Coliseum. I went to it as a complete noob (my only companion was a mate from the golf team) but I thoroughly enjoyed the music. Honestly, 1994/1995 Grateful Dead was not that good, but 1993 Jerry Garcia Band could be transcendent! Go back and listen. Later on I would see the John Kadlecik version of Dark Star Orchestra many, many times, as well as The Other Ones and Furthur. None of it was quite the same without Jerry. I kind of closed the book on The Grateful Dead with the conclusion of the Fare The Well shows in 2015 so I didn't ever really get on board with Dead and Co.

I still like to listen to the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band every once in a while, but it doesn't completely dominate my listening and world view like it once did. I think that's a healthy way to go about it. Jerry Garcia remains my favorite musician of all time. Listening to him sing and play guitar is as good as music can get, in my view.

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My Takeaways After Reading DAILY RITUALS by Mason Currey

I've been reading the 2013 book Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. In the form of mini profiles, the author details the creative habits of writers, artists, composers, and other makers from the past couple hundred years or more. Everyone from Stephen King to Maya Angelou to Beethoven to Frank Lloyd Wright to Georgia O'Keeffe. The author scoured biographies, interviews, magazine articles, obituaries, and other sources to find descriptions of these daily routines. Not everyone was like this of course, but I did notice some common themes showing up again and again.

These artists and creative types...

-Are very routine oriented. They have very consistent and not very glamorous work habits.

-They don't wait for inspiration or the muse to strike. They show up every day and put in the work, honing their craft. Many have personal goals such as 2,000 words a day or three hours of dedicated focus.

-Most keep a strict schedule that varies very little from day to day, even going so far as to eat basically the same meals every day.

-They keep their plate clear so that there are not a lot of other interests or obligations competing for their time. They avoid things that would prevent them maintaining these daily patterns.

-They are often insomniacs or have trouble sleeping and use pills or other drugs to turn their mind off or on. Frequently they are also alcoholics or heavy drinkers. Sound familiar?

-They are totally dedicated to their art. It comes before everything else. Some are even guilt-ridden if they take a day "off".

-Even those who worked a 9 to 5 job on the side found time to be productive, perhaps with a concentrated three hours in the early morning before going to work, or from 8pm to 11pm after being at their day job.

-The repetition itself seems to be the important thing. It creates a pathway for one's mental energies to flow. 

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When I moved to the West Coast two years ago it totally disrupted my daily schedule - in a positive way for music practice and in a negative way for fitness and exercise. When I was living on the East Coast I didn't start work until 9am, and during the years of 2020 to 2024 I would exercise and strength train for about an hour every morning. I wasn't playing much music during this time but I got in the best shape of my life and lost over 40 pounds. 

Now that I am on the West Coast, my "9 to 5" is 6am to 2pm so now I get out of bed and immediately start working my day job. I don't set aside much time for banjo playing during the work day, but having afternoons off means that I've been able to keep a fairly consistent weekday practice schedule which allows me to put in an hour or two of dedicated music practice each afternoon. My practice consists mostly of learning and re-learning tunes while continuing to develop my ear. I don't work on technique or ornamentation all that much, except in the context of a tune. Because I go to a couple sessions each week, I can always think of tunes to better learn, re-learn, or review.

My West Coast Saturdays are actually pretty similar to how my East Coast Saturdays were. I try to keep weekend mornings entirely clear. My favorite way to start a Saturday is get up early and start working on music. I might play or practice anywhere from 7am to noon, with only a few breaks in between. It depends on whether I have any music sessions or jams that day. If I have a session or a jam to go to later that Saturday, I might limit my playing and practice time during the lead up so that I don't overdo it before going to the jam.

Sundays are pretty similar but I often play in a Sunday afternoon Irish session, so my Sunday mornings usually consist of a light practice session where I run through tunes I might want to play if called upon to lead or suggest a tune that day. I'm a list maker so I usually make a list of tunes before going to the session.

I think tune learning practice can be a form of creativity. Especially if you approach it with the routine of listening to an existing tune then creating a tune of your own that sounds like the existing tune. Rinse and repeat. You might start off with a version of the tune that doesn't share many notes with the source recording. Over time perhaps you can eventually match the source recording note for note. Or perhaps you simply trust your ear even though the notes you're playing may not be exactly as the tune is written. Once you have close to a 100% match, then you can veer off again, knowing that at any time you could go back to the original if/when you want to. I think it's as simple as that.

First Time Attending the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, OR

This is my third summer living in the Portland, OR area, but yesterday was the first time I had been to the annual Waterfront Blues Festival, which is held each summer around July 4th in South Hawthorne Waterfront Park along the Willamette River. 

The festival got onto my calendar this year because the famous (famous to me) Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia was going to be there on the 3rd day of the 3-day festival, but I procrastinated on buying tickets. Despite a strong Thursday lineup that included Rose City Band, Garcia Birthday Band, True Loves, and Cymande(!), we hadn't planned on going all three days, just Saturday, July 4th. Another reason for hesitancy was because my wife had major knee surgery four months ago and she wasn't sure until recently whether she'd be ready for all the walking and standing that comes with a music festival, but she was! When I found out earlier this week that Hailu Mergia wasn't going to be able to make it my initial reaction was "oh no!", but we decided to check it out anyway. 

I didn't know what to expect other than to expect it to be crowed, which it both was and wasn't. The festival entrance is a short walk from the Yamhill District MAX light rail stop so we took the train down. Very easy to get to. Not knowing what the food options or lines would be like, we didn't want to show up hungry so we stopped into Paddy's, a great Irish pub just across the street from the MAX stop, and got a late lunch and watched the first half of the France vs. Paraguay World Cup match before going in. Our plan was to just go to the festival from about 3pm to 8pm and be back home before the fireworks and we pretty much stuck to that plan.

There are three stages total and the way they have it set up is pretty cool. The two stages in the primary part of the festival grounds are angled at opposite ends of the same riverfront area, and it's timed so that when the music on one stage ends the band on the opposite stage begins almost immediately. If you position your chairs a certain way you can see both stages and have an idyllic view of the river. There's also a big video screen set up between these two stages. To get to the 3rd stage you simply walk under the Hawthorne bridge and there it is. The whole festival area is relatively condensed and they definitely make great use of the available space.

We saw full sets by Brittany Davis, Jujuba, and Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and most of the performances by Ural Thomas and the Pain and Jenny Don't and the Spurs. Due to overlapping stage times we completely missed The Seratones and Orquestra Pacifico Tropical but you can't be in two places at once. Even though it has the word Blues in the festival title, the music that we saw ranged from jazz to African to soul to Grateful Dead meets Motown to honky-tonk country. It was quite diverse. The Waterfront Blues Festival reminded me of the Richmond Folk Festival in Richmond, VA that I used to attend every year.

The weather was absolutely perfect and the overall vibe was very easy going, respectful and relaxed. You can bring in empty reusable water bottles or factory sealed water bottles. You're supposed to bring low-profile lawn chairs but after knee surgery Laura said that ain't happening, so we just brought a couple cheap-oh Dick's Sporting Goods folding chairs and that worked out fine. We were able to position our chairs near the Stay and Sway stage then walk over to the other two stages as needed. No hassles whatsoever. It got more crowded as the day went on but it was easy to get drinks and there wasn't even a line for the porta potties until right when we were leaving. I love a good city center music festival and next year I might plan for all three days. 

A lot of people come down to the Portland waterfront to watch the 4th of July fireworks, so the volume of people was increasing rapidly as we made our way out in the opposite direction of the foot traffic. We don't really care about fireworks, and it was time to get home to our dog, plus we've seen Tank and the Bangas before so I didn't feel compelled to stick around after dark. We got home just as the sun was setting. It was a perfect day.

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The Note D in Irish Traditional Music (jigs, reels, hornpipes, and such)

After a very unscientific observation I've determined that the note D is the most common note in Irish traditional music. I have a sort of half-baked idea built around this note that I'm hoping to flesh out by writing a post about it. Here goes.

First off, you have to know the pattern of the major scale: 1•2•34•5•6•71•2•34•5•6•71 and so on. For brevity, lets think of the major scale as this: 1•2•34•5•6•71.

OK, so the D-major scale looks like this: D•E•F#G•A•B•C#D. In other words, in the D-major scale D is the 1st note of the major scale. However, it is also common in Irish music for D to be the 5th note of the major scale. That looks like this: 5•6•71•2•34•5 or D•E•F#G•A•BC•D (one sharp key signature, also known as D-Mixolydian). Note that the only difference between these two is whether the C note is a C-natural or a C-sharp. D whistles can also play in this key.

A little less common, but D can also show up as the 4th note of the major scale: 4•5•6•71•2•34 or D•E•F#•G#A•B•C#D (three sharps key signature, better known as A-Major). D whistles might have to skip any G# notes in the tune. I've also seen D function as the 2nd note of the major scale: 2•34•5•6•71•2 or D•EF•G•A•BC•D (all white keys on the piano, this is called D-Dorian). Whistle players use a special whistle for tunes in this D-Dorian mode.

I can think of one more place where D might pop up and that is as the 6th note of the major scale: 6•71•2•34•5•6 or D•EF•G•ABb•C•D (key signature has one flat, maybe G-Dorian or D-Aeolian). This one is quite rare though and whistle player might just sit this one out entirely.

You're not going to have a D-natural note in the key of E-major (E•F#•G#A•B•C#•D#E) or the key of B-major (B•C#•D#E•F#•G#•A#B) for example, but those keys aren't really part of Irish trad in my experience. With me so far? I'm not even sure that I am! 

When D is the first note of the major scale, let's call that D-1. 4th note of the major scale = D-4. 5th note of the major scale = D-5. 2nd note of the major scale = D-2. And 6th note of the major scale = D-6.

Now let's add a slash to indicate the tonal center, because in Irish music the tonal center isn't always D. It can also be E, G, A or B. Maybe even F! 

• D-1/D = D is first note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Lady Anne Montgomery)
• D-1/E = D is first note of major scale and E is the tonal center (ex: Morrison's Jig)
• D-1/A = D is first note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: High Reel)
• D-1/B = D is first note of major scale and B is the tonal center (ex: Musical Priest)
• D-5/D = D is fifth note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Banish Misfortune)
• D-5/G = D is fifth note of major scale and G is the tonal center (ex: Far From Home)
• D-5/A = D is fifth note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: Lilting Banshee)
• D-5/E = D is fifth note of major scale and E is the tonal center (ex: Rights of Man)
• D-4/A = D is fourth note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: Boys of Malin)
• D-2/D = D is second note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Julia Delaney's)
• D-6/D = D is sixth note of the major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: The Sailor's Wife)
• D-6/G = D is sixth note of major scale and G is the tonal center (ex: The Golden Castle, Splendid Isolation)

I think that covers most of the scenarios except for maybe some Liz Carroll tunes!

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How Ben Franklin Improved His Writing (Putting Tunes Into Your Own "Words")

I recently went to Powell's and found used copies of the following self improvement and learning books:

-Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Rodiger III, and Mark A McDaniel

-Peak: Secrets from The New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

-Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

-Mindset - The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Fulfill Our Potential by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

I'll probably be sharing any tips or points that I extrapolate from these books, starting with something I read in Peak.

When he was a young man, Benjamin Franklin came up with a way to improve his writing. He was a fan of the British magazine The Spectator so he devised a way to teach himself how to write as well as the articles in that magazine.

Franklin's idea was to attempt to reproduce the sentences from an article he had read after he had forgotten the exact wording. He wrote down brief descriptions of each sentence - just enough to help him recall what the sentence was about. After several days of not looking at the articles, he would then try to reproduce the article from memory based on the hints he had given himself. He wasn't trying to recreate it word-for-word, but come up with his own reproduction in the style of the original. Then he compared the original article to his own sentences and made corrections and improvements as needed.  

This sounds like an excellent way to learn fiddle tunes! How would you go about this? Maybe just try listening to the tune for a few days. Then, without listening to it again, try to recreate it on your instrument. Make up your own tune that, phrase by phrase, sounds as close to the original as you can remember. Play your version for a day or two then go back and listen to the source recording and make refinements as needed. Over time you'll develop your own take of the tune! This is probably similar to how it used to be done in the days before recordings.

Bonus points: Franklin expanded upon his exercise in an effort to improve his vocabulary. After recreating the articles in prose he started re-writing them as poems conforming to a certain meter/rhythm and rhyme scheme. This forced him to search for words that he might not have normally used. What would be the musical equivalent of this? Maybe taking something that is in 4/4 time and converting it to a jig or waltz? Or maybe it's taking something that is pentatonic and making it diatonic? Or maybe it's trying to write a harmony line to go with the melody? I'm not sure! 

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