Grateful Dead-Style Soloing with Michael Palmisano

[@nickanastasi4209]

This literally just happened to me. Spent my whole life playing bluesy in the same key, riff oriented. Got into the Grateful Dead and boom, opened up the whole fretboard. Great video.

[@SeanEXtommy]

Same

[@daveguitarnowski4402]

@@SeanEXtommy Same!

[@bertlindsay]

Same here. Fell in love with Jerry

[@shawnstarks1743]

Same. Just bought some Grateful Dead material to learn. Because, of my lack of “tasteful” playing.

[@johnpaullalonde]

same

[@TomoFujitaMusic]

Triads!!

[@danitz56]

Listening to Dead for a year.... that puts you at about 4 songs all the way through

[@andtothewestamerica]

that's when you earn your first grilled cheese

[@captainkangaroo4301]

I lived on those $1 grilled cheese sandwiches sold on Shakedown Street for one whole spring tour.

[@Guitargate]

I mean. Kinda :)

[@gar949]

who's got my veggie burrito

[@morganghetti]

Thats exactly 2 dark stars.

[@ericcarpenter3263]

Michael is the greatest. He does such a great job of breaking things down so it’s much easier to understand. His channel is so great, and full of tons of stuff like this.

[@Guitargate]

Eric Carpenter thank you Eric!!

[@dylanodonnell4503]

I've been playing guitar for a long while and mostly learned through listening to The Dead. I mostly have no idea what notes i'm playing but everything you said makes total sense and might throw me down the rabbit hole of actually "learning" the fret board. Thank a ton for the awesome video and giving Jerry and the dead the credit on their talents as they deserve.

[@AustinPierce7526]

Same. Can play and keep up with the dead records, but ask me to explain what I’m doing in technical terms I’m at a complete loss

[@chrispaton9143]

Great lesson Michael! I will not soon forget to “be a third hunter.”

[@Guitargate]

Chris Paton Never!! Thirds for life!

[@svsugvcarter]

Brilliant! So much cool content coming out with regards to the Dead’s music. Wish I could have my 10,000 hours back when I was a bored teenager.

[@Guitargate]

svsugvcarter well, do it now. I am!!

[@watchassassin1014]

Me too

[@brandon.4451]

This might be the most important lesson I've watched on youtube! Time will tell. Thanks

[@Guitargate]

Brandon. Yes! Thank you Brandon!

[@lamusica3361]

Hey! I LOVE the Dead and Garcia. Until exactly a year ago...I been playing the same ole same ole RnB phrases in a few bands for a while feelin a lil flat...until I stumbled across Dead vids on YT - Mayer and Garcia. It was Bertha and I was floored - a jazz approach in RnRoll - playing through the changes. Singing melodies and a crystalline flowing flute - like guitar tone over great grooves. And...the lyrics are often about the great joys and sorrows of life amidst the chaos of everything. I have been woodshedding for moths now utterly inspired. Thank you Michael :))) You are a gifted dude. BTW I ALSO woodshedded on Bluegrass too and utilise many runs in tunes such as Franklin's Tower.

[@Jeff4090]

Jery does a lot of 3 fret walkups within the scale range. So instead of going 5 to 7, he will quickly walk up and throw the 6 fret in. Just like Altheas opening, only faster...nice lesson. Thanks sir

[@dylanthomas261]

Brown eyed women comes to mind

[@johncip]

totally. lots of chromaticism, especially on ascending lines. and lots of moving 4-note cells around.

[@acebates1341]

Thank You for this and we all think about scales UNFORTUNATELY. This was a great lesson and we will never know Jerry’s magic

[@WALSTIB107]

You've been playing for so long and you "just" discovered Garcia "about a year ago"??!! I'm not sure whether to slap you or hug you. Congratz. Your universe of endless creativity just opened.

[@Guitargate]

Jason Marck I feel the same way :)

[@VixCrush]

I saw Jerry Garcia play live 65 times... Good stuff..

[@morganghetti]

Good to see Michael on here. I think Garcia is a much more important figure than many in the guitar community give him credit for. Which you guys would do more lesson videos too.

[@jackstraw1634]

Agreed

[@adamkrauss303]

Great stuff Michael. Congrats on your premier guitar lesson for Premier Guitar.

[@colo5260]

KZbin guitar lessons are creating a wealth of knowledge and exposure to incredible teaching styles. I am in the process of signing up in a rotational process with you Tomo and Paul. So thankful for your enthusiasm and open mindedness to so many musicians, and helping so many of us find our tone by first learning the essentials that make us better musicians.

[@zekereed9608]

Michael ... I think it’s about time you had some of those “Third Hunter” Tee Shirts made up!

[@Guitargate]

Zeke Reed yup.

[@davidsberta]

Here it is www.behance.net/gallery/108736203/Third-Hunter ;)

[@jasonevans9360]

He flies all over the fretboard then says "look for thirds." Awesome vid. Totally explained. I can quit my job now because I can solo just like Jerry now.

[@TeleCaster66]

Really great lesson. I'm embarrassed to say after many years of playing I didn't see this thanks!

[@capriconstructiondesigninc8833]

Michael is the best. Everyone should subscribe to his channel. An unexpected benefit to being a subscriber is that I have discovered tons of unbelievable artists I’ve never heard of before thanks to his channel.

[@Guitargate]

Jeremy Gervasini that’s what it’s all about!! Thanks!

[@benyschonfeld]

I was so happy when I saw your face on the thumbnail and then, Premier Guitar? Good for you man! Well deserved, and amazing lesson. 🤟🏻

[@Guitargate]

Beny Schon thank you Beny!

[@canesd]

Great lesson. Did not expect to hear the word ‘behooves’- an added bonus.

[@Guitargate]

David Canes yup. You’re welcome.

[@Goontone13]

Hey!! That's my guitar teacher!! Guitar gate for life!!!

[@Guitargate]

Justin Black yessssssss

[@jordhepner9816]

MichaelPalmisano you and I are two peas in a pod🙌The main key of "Althea" key is A Major. You would TECHNICALLY use B Dorian, as the song starts on the ii. There is a great song lineage for this trick, a famous one of which is Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance." If you listen to live versions of "Althea," Jerry in particular was very fond of climbing A Major in his famous slurred sequences. Great lesson, and a fantastic example of using key centered and chord tone soloing.

[@Guitargate]

Jord Hepner thanks Jord! Agreed!

[@JB-yk4bf]

Thank you for the lesson. Improvising is like talking to a woman..,you know what you want to say, but through bravery and chance, the words you end up saying are not always what you expected, but sometimes end up better than you thought.

[@overtonesnteatime198]

I am a tough critic and I am sorry for that, I will just thank you for giving lessons and insights whilst keeping us all (your audience) smiling and thinking about the good times. cheers Michael!

[@patrickrudback9016]

Thanks for sharing your musician journey and what you learned along the way. Finding Jerry is key! And every Jerry influenced guitar player who teaches online reinforces the same concept: it's about knowing the melody and your triad/chord tones. And by golly, I'm working on that! And you must have had a similar upbringing to mine: Patrick, don't end a sentence in a preposition. "It's something up with which I will not put!" Remain calm, and carry on.

[@igordewit7357]

Deadhead 4EVER! Love them...especially Anthem of the sun album..and listening to Box of Rain in some of my personally darkest days absolutely changed my life. . .Some people just hear a band playing country music.But it is sooo much more . Not everybody gets it.But those who do REALLY get it!! Nice to see you spreading the word....Great stuff!! Really enjoyed this.Thanks!

[@johnjames77]

I was telling someone today that there is jazz,rock, progressive and The Dead and there is nothing like them!

[@brizzmartin7612]

Thanks for what you do brother! The enthusiasm, appreciation and execution you bring is infectious!

[@BackstageMusicChannel]

Keep bringing the Michael Palmisano videos, this guy is the Shizzle!

[@kenny3485]

Thank you so much, Michael!!

[@mboyer68]

I'm stuck in riffland. So frustrating! I'm moving to third hunter land. Thank you for the video.

[@mantashaft]

Congrats on the new gig

[@mazb2528]

FANTASTIC premier performance, Michael! Great tutorial, LOVE The Dead, mostly the guitar style of Garcia (I know, I'm the ONLY one!). ;D Thanks for breaking it down.

[@KilltheGuitar]

Awesome! So glad Michael is with PG!

[@jeffb5661]

What a great insight! thanks Michael, I will try this

[@sunjamrblues]

Very cool, thanks! I never thought of it this way before. I subscribed.

[@whistlemusic8572]

Preaching the gospel brother

[@karliebellatrixyoung6359]

Great lesson, loved this, can't wait to see more.

[@NMS40]

Just for using the word “behooves”, subscribed!

[@bourbonzcaches8493]

man, love those inlays.

[@Tipjarstarband]

Another cool trick they both do in Althea is play with that third of e by by bending from the minor third G to G# especially going into the chromatic movement to the Bm.

[@messer81]

would love to see you break down some of the phrasing and rhythmic stuff as well, thats one thing thats super hard to cop

[@Guitargate]

Matthew Esser oh it’s gonna happen. One step at a time.

[@adamhowardschneider357]

Fantastic video and playing! Always glad to hear great players giving Jerry some love. I also hear a bit of that other jamband icon from Vermont in your playing... have any videos on him?

[@drgreene1013]

Love the sound! Unfortunately there will never be another Jerry Garcia he’s one of the few guitarists you can tell just by his sound

[@tonyjabroni7205]

Great lesson! I'd love to see more along these lines. Very well done :)

[@JohnDoe-ub8fq]

Great info and a KEY reason, the solos were never the same. And the same song, had a different feel every night. You could listen to 10 Althea's and ALL are different.

[@D_sull93]

I love how this grateful dead soloing style video leads off with a non grateful dead or anywhere close to jerry solo style on franklins

[@rajawatts1141]

Correct, can't find Jerry anywhere...sad!

[@johnmundie6674]

Garcia was a super duper melodic genius-

[@javaimhoff]

Very insightful! Thanks.

[@williammartin3915]

Great lesson! For Franklin’s Tower on the album version from Blues for Allah, Jerry actually plays mostly the A Pentatonic scale with chromatics and some arpeggios.. but I took your course on Jamplay and think this is an awesome approach and I am getting much better as a result so thanks!

[@alexkatsanos8475]

So much back and forth between GD and ABB I know they played together a few times and Dickie wrote “Ramblin’ Man” after listening to Franklin’s Tower I believe?

[@tomwipf9637]

Thank you

[@berniedreasure6878]

best lesson i saw on youtube!

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Reminds me of a story I like to tell. I think it was Guitar World magazine, someone had this contest for best shred solo. The winner got to tour and play with these guys. I'm sure it included some kind of recording deal too. The winner was awesome. Fast. Dude could play right? But then I saw him jamming with this band and, dude couldn't jam. He's this pro guitarist but he can't jam. Everything was like "Lick number 1, Lick number 2. ..." He could write solos. He could play tricky stuff but he couldn't jam. If I ever taught guitar, I'd teach people how to jam.

[@SpaceCafeMusic]

wow great lesson

[@Millerfivestar]

Beautiful guitar, got my eye on it only found one online rest sold out.

[@GuitarSoloReactions]

great playing.

[@adamhager5041]

"How to play like Trey Anastasio playing a grateful dead song" Fixed that for you

[@dr.josephjive2507]

Great Video! Thanks so much!

[@timtim-hf3ut]

That's pretty good. Way to keep Jerry alive

[@walt4670]

11:11 Don't worry, Jerry's done it too. Love this lesson, come back to it often when I need a little more discipline with the changes...

[@watchassassin1014]

BRILLIANT lesson. ps. I would kill for these backing tracks.

[@YEM_]

Just wanted to say I'm taking Michael's Jerry Garcia course on guitargate.com. If this was too fast for you, he really takes it in small steps in the course. $10... You can't go wrong!

[@deeplypresent]

The chord connection makes sense to me and I think I do this while playing naturally, but damn it’s hard to process this while you play. Do you have any practice techniques for this? I’m thinking maybe creating a roadmap ahead of time of the notes and try to come up with riffs that connect them synchronized with the chord changes.

[@mongoarts]

GOAT

[@mflee6590]

So did I catch this correctly? The G# mention at the end, we would think G# because we are thinking in A major over the A chord rather than A Mixo scale in general?

[@billycarter4832]

Very Warren Haynes ish.. And ABB as well. Right up my alley

[@vacationrichard974]

Are you only playing the notes in the Bm A E triads?

[@acebates1341]

Just found your channel Subscribed

[@EveryTwistWL]

Where can the jam tracks located?

[@waynegram8907]

When connecting chord tones and connecting 3rds of chords you're playing "outside" the Key Center and Scale?

[@joshuamontgomery2637]

Wait so you hit the third on the change of the chords? What about on the up beats cause I noticed Garcia starts on the up beat a lot of the time so is he using the third as a suggestion of the chord?

[@shawnstarks1743]

Man!!! You explained and expressed exactly what I’ve been feeling about my guitar playing as far as playing for “taste”. Because I come from that “riff shit background” and it’s grown “tiresome” So I bought some Grateful Dead books just to inspire me. Thanks

[@BST501]

❤❤❤

[@rstuartcpa]

Vamp Michael, Vamp...great lesson...have a ball - use your ear.

[@2000om28v]

What AWARD did you win at GIT?

[@shanelofton5857]

Woah woah, since when is John Mayer a Grateful Dead legend?

[@zaneramey5937]

What kind of guitar is that?

[@TDarv]

I don’t get the theory fully, why not just play in B Aeolian- arent those the same notes?

[@walt4670]

MP: "We're gonna do Franklin's Tower" Me: *Grins and nods* MP: Then we're gonna do Althea" Me: *Grins bigger and nods* The Dead, man.

[@ninjaowl9881]

I am a beginner guitarist, and this video blew my mind. I have been working on chords and scales. I need to learn how to do this, this makes a lot of sense to me, and I dont know why I did not think of that. Question for you though, if you are playing over a certain progression underneath like C G D. When you are soloing, do you have to strictly stay in those key scales? I could do a minor pentatonic C bit, and then go to G natural minor just fine. But what about going to something like A? Can you do that?

[@sidcooperrider2607]

Third Hunter

[@danielsanford260]

thanks mikey parmesan

[@williamhalstead3488]

You said "behooves"

[@michaelfox2738]

Damn, I feel like I’m almost in a place to understand what Michael’s getting at, but I’m not quite there. I’m with him through the 1,3,5 and chord tones in the A and D triads I know. But immediately when he solos he leaves the shapes I know (and he highlighted) and then goes further up the neck returning only at the end. Once he’s left those shapes he loses me. I don’t know what map he’s using there. Again, maybe my skill/theory/brain just aren’t in the zone of proximal development. Maybe someday...

[@Tex-el7kk]

I get ya. We just study the chords and the notes on the neck. Learn/practice what the 1 3 5 of each chord is. And then know where it is on the neck. He isn’t just staying with the chord shape because he wants to be able to slide and embellish.

[@michaelfox2738]

Tex 21133 Thanks. Again, I feel so close to a conceptual epiphany...just not quite. Correct change in the vending machine, pushed D3, the Zagnut is just snagged and won’t drop. Cheers.

[@Tex-el7kk]

Michael Fox ahh yes the Zagnut snag. Most unfortunate. I wish you the best my man. 😂😂

[@krausewitz6786]

As a starting point you can switch between A major and D major scales for Franklin's Tower. On the side, start working up your arpeggios. This'll help you visualise things better.

[@alibis7097]

@@Tex-el7kk If we use the A triad which has A, C#, E as an example. Are you saying he just plays other A's, C#'s, and E's not necessarily in the same shape he demonstrated/highlighted?

[@DeclansMusic]

Me learning guitar "hey i'm getting decent at soloing over keys, lets try some Dead" Michael "keys aren't shit when you're playing dead"

[@JB-yk4bf]

Someone once said that many (very many) bands were better and more consistent than the Grateful Dead, but nobody has ever topped them.

[@thejamnasium6447]

opening jam is 100% Dickey Betts

[@thejamnasium6447]

which, ya know, Dickey and Jerry play very similarly. both coming from bluegrass backgrounds.

[@christopherlevy6369]

He sounds more like trey! I love it. Using the jerry techniques but not being tied to playing his exact phrasing Hell yeah

[@daveryan2148]

Wow dude... Good year, no?

[@ianjnanthavong]

I had to get stitches on my thumb and 4th finger on my left hand and can't play guitar for weeks why am I watching this

[@jerry-st7rc]

It's impossible to fully imitate the Garcia style.

[@fulksy8092]

Starting listening a year ago which means he started smoking a year ago. Welcome.

[@SubtractiveMoves]

That maybe John but it ain't Jerry

[@ferlottes]

Please, next time, turn your cellphone off before recording your tutorial, because we can hear it catching the radio tone !

[@fivemountains]

Playing sort of like Trey is not the same as sounding like Jerry.

[@pshearer80]

This is a great lesson and theoretically I get it; but am I the only guy in the world who thinks this is very, very difficult to do? You’re having to listen to the chords, ID the changes and flip your entire note choice every few seconds? Unless you’re a session player that ain’t worth it to me.

[@OhanaFilms]

I quit.

[@benbruhns192]

I’m not hearing too much Jerry sounds more like John Mayer🤷🏼‍♂️

[@mountainsun1]

Tone sounds more like Trey...