AWESOME 4 PAGE Professional Chart. IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD AND EMAIL. AVAILABLE HERE $2.49. goo.gl/UymAap Includes How to implement all that is covered in this video in 3 different places on the guitar (Chords, Arpeggios, and Scales) and how to do all the Bonus Stuff discussed as well!. Hope you enjoy!
Oh boy, now you've made me wanna actually start memorizing scale notes. You are kinda like an acid hit.... opening up a whole lot of closed doors. Thanks brother.
Don't memorize too much. Gerry's style was almost purely improvised. The notes sound memorized, but if you listen and watch close, he sometimes lands flat or sharp of the chromatic progression, but evens it out by using tasty quarter step and half step bends. ( that's what I'm finding at least)
@@shawnharris9486 It was purely improvised but he was improvising while knowing the chord tones and a couple other tricks. Pretty hard to hit those notes that consistently just messing around. Accidently hitting a flat or sharp will happen regardless of how much theory you know. Memorize away 'cause it sure does help.
Althea is the tune that caught John Mayer's ear and started his deep dive into the music of the Grateful Dead. And that started his deep dive into humility, kindness and sobriety. The Grateful Dead made John Mayer a better person. And as an old Deadhead myself(65) first show in Tampa in 73 I welcome him to the fold.
Mayer was the PERFECT FIT for Dead & Company. He manages to preserve Garcia's "signature sound" while adding his own signature twist on top of it -- it's REALLY fantastic!
The moment that really has stuck with me from the first Grateful Dead concert I saw was Jerry singing the line "Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing." Not about guilt, but about us all being pretty much the same. Jerry connecting with the audience in that way he had.
As a long time Deadhead who attempts to play guitar I just wanted thank you again for these videos. I never have been interested in learning other people's songs note for note, but the "In the Mind Of" lessons have given me the tools to make a big breakthrough with what I do.
And all this time I've been trying to solo on a mutated B minor scale and thinking "wtf, how do I nail this?!" You are god sent man, and the strange thing is that from the first video I have an odd feeling I know you from some strange "before" time. I've been looking for this teaching so long. Thank you so much.
I'm a self described metal head. Never liked the Dead. But, because of your channel I gave the Amazon series a shot last night. Loved the first episode. Learned a bunch I never knew. Like the Doc says, there's so much baggage with the Dead it can block people from getting to music. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the series. Thanks Ian.
I have been playing guitar for 17 years. I've been addicted to your videos for about a week now. You're definitely my favorite teacher on the internet! Thank you so much!
This lesson is incredible. Everything is explained so well, yet in simple terms, and you tie it all together nicely. Thanks for this. Love the guitar btw.
Thanks Stitch. Very clear, and I think you expressed something important when you said how Jerry would play a 6th a lot simply because it makes you smile. It is a good goal for all of our guitar playing. It might be also worth mentioning that Jerry always referred his solos to the melody. You can almost always hear the melody, and pick any tune from just listening to a segment of his solo. Really nice clear and warm Jerry style tone from your guitar, too!
First Stitch - fantastic lesson. Very clear explanation on a relatively complex topic. @Dingo - Glad you mentioned Jerry’s solos are always melodic to the underlying song. You can always hear the main theme in his solos when he plays. I love that. And that’s what I’m trying to put into my playing now.
Been playing for many years, have a minor in music theory. Major just never CLICKED. Could shred all day long in minor modes, you're bring it all together for me on guitar - and not in just in a conceptual way. YOU THE MAN!
Fantastic video. I really love your energy and enthusiasm and it's easy to see how much it all means to you. You're not trying to sell us anything but you're doing it as if you're doing it for yourself. And I appreciate the honesty of it, something youtube could use more of these days.
I'm a bass player, so I love watching these types of videos just to understand a bit more about what's going on "on top" of the songs. After reading a while ago that it was Althea that turned John Mayer onto playing Dead tunes, which obviously sent him to a place none of us would have expected with Dead&Co, and having recently seen Oteil sing the lead for Althea on the recent Voodoo Dead shows ... I've got a huge appreciation for Althea that I never had when I was following Jerry Garcia and the boys around on tour. Thanks for giving this tune some bonus in my mind!
I watch a lot of guitar tutorials on RUclips, though you'd never know that by the quality of my playing. Anyway, your videos are among the best! So clear, easy to understand, good audio, good video production -- top notch all the way. I particularly enjoy your easy-going style and sense of humor. Thank you!
I've been working on this tune for a while now (especially after watching the documentary), and this lesson & the chord charts just blew it wide open for me! It's finally starting to "click"! Thank you so much for all you do!
FANTASTIC. Just learned that I'm going to be playing lead on this soon. I've never taken time to learn about Jerry's approach. I quickly learned that riffing in B Dorian is insufficient. This is a huge help.
this has been my warm-up song for the longest time. I've found that attempting to play the melody in a single-note style solo (with no backing track, all on my own), while lining up your melody line with the chord changes that usually are in the background, allows my phrasing to sound more like when Jerry plays it. Great warm-up practice. Great Lesson!
Such a great work of art by Jerry. No matter how many times I hear this song, or where he plays it on numerous shows his solo always leaves me memorized. Great lesson!
So helpful! I have always loved so much music, but never got into the Dead, despite so many friends telling me how great they were... until I tried to play along with some tracks, particularly Althea -- and I had no idea what was going on. I didn't even know where to begin. Now, Jerry is one of my all time favorite guitarists. Thanks for one of so many fantastic lessons/instructionals!
You can hear shades of St. Stephen in there the 1st time you solo over it. Well and the 2nd attempt. I goota go, im watching the Stich Method. Love the Dead. Family since 87
I've seen the Grateful Dead over 30 times. I'm 49 yrs.old and have been playing guitar about 35 years. I just started seriously getting into Jerry's playing style. I am totally lost! Lol! Your help has been second to none and I can't thank you enough for teaching us the Stitch method!
Hands down the best guitar lessons on the entire internet. My playing had hit a plateau over the last several years, this lesson in particular has started to make my improvising more dynamic. Excited to watch the rest of the lessons.
Your passion is infectious and your teaching style is fantastic. A good teacher gives you tools. There’s so much information in these lessons. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Jerry's style of playing was very unique. He loved throwing in those chromatic notes, which made his playing sound very playful and jazzy. The more I listen to Grateful Dead, the more I realize how much you need to have a solid understanding of music theory in order to follow along with some of their songs. Especially when they throw in random key changes... I would love to see you do a video of China Cat Sunflower. That song has and interesting chord progression with a key change and some amazing lead guitar parts by JG.
Another awesome example of this is Mississippi Half-Step, so many chords and lots of dominant ones too. Plus a bunch of key changes. I agree 100% Jerry truly is a master.
Well done, brother! I am smiling like a goof right now...Althea is just one of those songs that has that intangible factor that you can't quite explain..like it's on the tip of your tongue but you can't vocalize "it." I got back into guitar and have been focused on playing at least an hour a day...it's 10:47 in Wyoming and I started at 7:00 this morning, so this was a perfect way to end the session. The little Garcia tricks were huge! Love it! Thanks, man!
I only got into the Dead in the past couple years, having never realized how amazing their catalog was. I had boxed them in as a psychedelic hippie band with some pretty cool tunes, but that was it... Man, have I have been overwhelmed with how amazing they are! The Skull and Roses and Europe 72 albums just opened my mind and made me ravenous for all things Dead and Jerry related. Thanks for all your lessons (and especially the Dead ones)! My passion is for Dead and Allmans music (among other things), so it almost seems like your videos are a gift from the heavens. Sorry for carrying on, but thanks again!!
It's never too late to get on the bus. Yes, Jerry was very special. He and the band turned concrete buildings into cathedrals of divine light. Welcome.
fantastic guidance. I was in a jazz coma for a long time - and many of your tips are fantastic as well as targeting a lot of bebop practices. Jerry obviously knew a lot of this stuff. thanks again bro
Thank you very much for taking the time to make this wonderful video. I often find teachers on RUclips too fast and too much heavy technical stuff it makes it hard for me to comprehend I’m 57 years old and been to several dead shows and my mind doesn’t work quite as well as it used too! Your pace and calm demeanor make it easier for me to comprehend what you’re trying to say thanks again and keep up the good work!
In this video it kind of all came together. I have been watching your videos for about a year now and it never clicked like it just did!! SO much fun and now I feel like I have a blueprint to explore songs on my own thank you Mr. Stich.
Dude, what an awesome video! Just found your channel. I really love the joy and enthusiasm that you bring to your teaching, and... it actually makes sense! As someone who's been playing the guitar (mostly by ear) for almost 30 years and has always struggled with theory - I really appreciate what you are doing here! Thanks!
I'm really liking how you broke this down. It was really cool how the more you broke it down, the more you could start to hear the "Jerry" in the soloing. Subscribed!
For about 47 years I didn't understand why I liked Jerry Garcia's guitar playing so much (especially on Not Fade Away and Me and My Uncle). Then, after seeing Long Strange Trip and listening to Althea about 20 times, I watched the Branford Marsalis 1996 interview on RUclips about playing with the Dead. And after that I watched this video by StichMethod. Now I am beginning to get it! Thanks for posting this. I feel enlightened. If the existential gloom and darkness of the Trump era was not dragging me down, I would be elated. Long Strange Trip indeed. A great quote from Marsalis: "it's about the music!". And - go Al! SF Peninsula fan ~1970.
Garcia is definitely one of the most underrated guitarists of his era. "Althea" is one of my all-time favorite jamout songs. I could improvise over it for hours on end. I VERY STRONGLY suggest watching some videos of John Mayer playing this song with Dead & Company for some really interesting lead ideas! He manages to preserve Garcia's signature sound while bringing freshness to the song as well.
Yet another amazing video Ian! Keep fighting the good fight! I've heard you say that you don't like most youtube music education videos, I have to completely disagree with you. While there are a lot of channels lacking quality, and just plain bad teachers and musicians, there are also many amazing channels, just like yours. All musicians, of all stages, are so lucky to have you and all the other people who share their musical wisdom for anyone, who has access to youtube, in the world.
Honestly, that is probably the best music doc I've ever seen, not being biased. So well done and thank you for this lesson. I produced a doc with Al Franken (not yet released) in Feb of 2016 and wish I knew he was a deadhead at the time. Thanks again man...you've taken my guitar skills from a 20 year plateau to me playing mindlessly all over the neck, everything makes sense, as I know you've now received that comment a hundred times. I'm literally playing for hours after work everyday. Love the blues master class, would love a part 2, and would love an in depth lesson on the Dorian mode (if I've missed it, my apologies), and would love to see a lesson showing a 1 killer lick from each position of the pentatonic, as well as mixolydian and dorian. Anyways, keep it up man!
Matt Bradley you never saw the Grateful Dead PBS special in the 70’s. Al was back stage doing comedy bits with Jer and the boys. Way before he ran for office, at that point he was a writer for SNL. What is Al doing now that the MeToo movement stripped him from office. Scary days we are living in.
Jerry died the year I was born so all I've been lucky enough to see is dead & co. This sounds a lot like how John Mayer plays it. He's got some sweet tricks too but I don't think we'll ever come across another to do it exactly like Jerry, no matter how hard they try. Great video
the more I watch your video's.and learning about chord tones.I can really hear Jerry nailing them he's really awesome at it.makes it sound so easy he really knew his shit
i wish i would have had direction like this when i played. this is exactly the style of instruction i needed but didnt receive. its been like 12 years since ive played one but im motived to pick up a guitar again soon.
Wow.... I eared this out yesterday for a friend. You are right it’s a great tune. Thanks for confirming my ear. You seem like a nice guy. Keep up the great work.
Thanks a great video to watch and to learn some of the tricks. I love Jerry's solos. Althea was never a big song for me but after the documentary I went back and listened to it. Thanks
Stumbled on you channel recently. I saw Dead & Co. in San Diego this summer. Changed everything I ever did as far as approaching the guitar. I grew up in the Bay but somehow never got into, or really exposed to The Dead even. So anyways, found you after I started my search. Love what you do. Your passion and insights on Jerry has really helped me to stretch myself and try to become a better player. Thanks man!
Oh, the troubles Franken saw only a few months after this video was posted, lol! Another great video Stich. After watching quite a few of your In The Mind Of videos I am seeing a pattern or template on how to analyze any song's chords for purposes of soloing over the chords. Find your key, your mode, decide if you want to keep things more pentatonic or diatonic, target the chord tones, find any outside notes to throw in when certain chords come around, working with key changes etc. You really put it all together in a clear and concise way that has really taught me things that I perhaps already kinda knew, but now see with a little more logic and cohesion. And I've been playing since i was 8 yrs old in 1971.
@@StichMethodGuitar I have daughter named Altheah quick lead me to having a guitar named Altheah...which I then used to learn how to play Altheah on youtube....I hope to one day meet her and impress her mom with all the Jerry skills I learned since August on your channel...it blows my mind how good these master classes are and how good I've gotten....it took months of endless sucking balls....but here we are now where I'm actually attempting your master classes...wow
thanks for the video man.. awesome! i always tried to understand how jerry moves through the scales, chords and notes but never could.. please dont stop the "in the mind of jerry garcia" videos, im having a lot of fun! congratulations, long live the deadheads!
Could never wrap my head around the modes and relating to chords until I saw it in terms of the Grateful Dead, always kind of "bs'd" my way through. Wonderful job, playing, and explanation. Wish I could've seen this video during my college days struggling through the jazz curriculum. Thanks for posting!
Great video. Another thing that's noticeable about Jerry's solos is the way he incorporates the melody from the lyrics into the solo. This is especially the case with songs like Peggy-O and Althea where the solo sounds a lot like the melody that he just sung, albeit with some subtle differences and improvisations.
You are the coolest dude ever. I've learned how to play all chords and the pentatonic in most positions after a a few weeks of readig/YT vids at 30, which I was told wouldn't be possible at my age and was wasting my money/time etc but I think that posed a challenge to prove them wrong. It's the best hobby I ever had. I am tone deaf however I have to test a chord against a song before I get the rhythm. I know I have years to go but I'm really proud to progress like I have :) Oh and Jerry's style is my inspiration so this is the best video so far on my long strange trip :)
I don't know your video came up in my list while listening to GD this evening but I felt compelled to let you know that this is one of the best guitar explanations of Althea I have seen. Well done! Saving your channel to turn my son who is a beginning guitarist in his freshman year in HS. Thanks for your channel!
I love the music theory explanation, terrific, I wish everyone did this. I studied music theory and it is critical for my understanding a song. Great work! Showing the movable chords is fantastic, I am going to utilize the use of moveable chords without using a capo. I sometimes use them, but I am going to practice substituting more often. Bob Weir always mentioned throwing in different chords voicing to accent what Jerry was doing. Humble Pie, in Thirty Days in the Hole does an E chord at the 7th fret as a movable A chord and just uses the movable C chord to get the fourth which is the A chords. Basically Keith Richards open G tuning uses these forms all the time.
Hey man, thanks for pointing out the psychology of the music. I feel that's an important point that even fancy-pants players have seemed to shrug off when I bring it up... but I mean, music is emotion/psychology, so why the heck would you ignore that? Love your channel!
Great video. Really enjoyed it, gave me some additional lines of thought for soloing in this song. Took me a long time to find anything useful to do during this. Such a beautiful song though....frigging Jerry....love it.
KISMET! Just saw Dead & Co at Boulder and they played Althea on Friday, one of my all time favorite Dead songs. Was playing the chords and noodling around and wondering if you had any new videos up on RUclips - I was going to ask if you could do an Althea lesson....and lo and behold! Awesome! Thank you again! I know what I'll be working on this weekend.
Hi Ian, I love your style! Been into the Dead forever and Althea is one of my favorite jamming songs. Love your observation of incorporating the minor 3rd - Bluegrass style - just before the close... definitely adds a lot. One thing I like to do when trying to be Jerry-like is throw in passing chromatic tones outside the key signature, on the way to target chord tones.... eg on the turnaround from the E to the Bm, I might play a 16th note run like this: B (5th of the E chord), C (chromatic passing note), C# (note in B dorian), D(3rd of Bm chord). And of course chromatic note options are endless, as long as one doesn't hang on them them to long :-) Your passion for this stuff shines through! Keep doing this!!
You do something that I do when I play solos. Your pick attack at the start of each phrase is pure Garcia.I don't see that in most other Dead lesson videos. Thank you.
Okay man this video made me find you. I appreciate how much you love jerry and I just recently discovered the dead and their amazing music (I’m 21). I just started to play guitar after a couple years on the ukulele. Thank you so much for what you do i appreciate you
I HAVE to subscribe to you! I've never seen anyone here who has such an infectious joy about them come through the computer monitor! The lesson was awesome as well. What a treat!!
Love the Dead and love your channel more than any other guitar-oriented channel. Your attitude and choice of songs makes me want to pick up my guitar even more everytime!
AWESOME 4 PAGE Professional Chart. IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD AND EMAIL. AVAILABLE HERE $2.49. goo.gl/UymAap Includes How to implement all that is covered in this video in 3 different places on the guitar (Chords, Arpeggios, and Scales) and how to do all the Bonus Stuff discussed as well!. Hope you enjoy!
Hi I purhased but after payment, nothing happened. can you email me? I may have even paid twice
What is your email? I’ll send it to you
@@StichMethodGuitar Hi, thank you - I received it via email (I guess through PPal). You are fantastic - thank you.
Why the hell you have only 296k subs???
I always wanted to play like this, but before this lesson I was lacking in some direction! :)
Cause I dressed myself in Green.
Then got thrown in the Jailhouse by a Chick named BERTHA.
BUT ALTHEA WAS HIS TRUE LOVE.
Cool down boy.
Easy Jim…
Oh boy, now you've made me wanna actually start memorizing scale notes. You are kinda like an acid hit.... opening up a whole lot of closed doors. Thanks brother.
Don't memorize too much. Gerry's style was almost purely improvised. The notes sound memorized, but if you listen and watch close, he sometimes lands flat or sharp of the chromatic progression, but evens it out by using tasty quarter step and half step bends. ( that's what I'm finding at least)
Don't be such a bollox
@@shawnharris9486 It was purely improvised but he was improvising while knowing the chord tones and a couple other tricks. Pretty hard to hit those notes that consistently just messing around. Accidently hitting a flat or sharp will happen regardless of how much theory you know. Memorize away 'cause it sure does help.
Althea is the tune that caught John Mayer's ear and started his deep dive into the music of the Grateful Dead. And that started his deep dive into humility, kindness and sobriety. The Grateful Dead made John Mayer a better person. And as an old Deadhead myself(65) first show in Tampa in 73 I welcome him to the fold.
Mayer was the PERFECT FIT for Dead & Company. He manages to preserve Garcia's "signature sound" while adding his own signature twist on top of it -- it's REALLY fantastic!
The moment that really has stuck with me from the first Grateful Dead concert I saw was Jerry singing the line "Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing." Not about guilt, but about us all being pretty much the same. Jerry connecting with the audience in that way he had.
Paul Perkins Same Offense
This is just great. I smiled and laughed all the way through because it gives me so much joy. Your teachings are a light in a world of darkness.
As a long time Deadhead who attempts to play guitar I just wanted thank you again for these videos. I never have been interested in learning other people's songs note for note, but the "In the Mind Of" lessons have given me the tools to make a big breakthrough with what I do.
The first thing I realized when I started watching this video was how similar your voice is to Jerry’s!
Yes he really does!
and he looks like him😎
I'm sensing a tribute band...
Holy shit it's true
Didn’t pick up on it until I read your comment. Now it’s all I hear
And all this time I've been trying to solo on a mutated B minor scale and thinking "wtf, how do I nail this?!" You are god sent man, and the strange thing is that from the first video I have an odd feeling I know you from some strange "before" time. I've been looking for this teaching so long. Thank you so much.
I'm a self described metal head. Never liked the Dead. But, because of your channel I gave the Amazon series a shot last night. Loved the first episode. Learned a bunch I never knew. Like the Doc says, there's so much baggage with the Dead it can block people from getting to music. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the series. Thanks Ian.
Excited for you my friend
Check this out, you might like it, ruclips.net/video/zq8sp6WF3bQ/видео.htmlm16s
Huge thrash metal fan here. I bought a dead album one day while record shopping, fell in love with them
listen to live/dead
It’s been a while since you posted......how far down the rabbit hole have you fallen?....if you’re like the rest of us pretty far I bet, lol.
In the mind of Jerry Garcia : dark star please!!!! Nothing on RUclips nearly as good as your lessons stitch!!
I have been playing guitar for 17 years. I've been addicted to your videos for about a week now. You're definitely my favorite teacher on the internet! Thank you so much!
This lesson is incredible. Everything is explained so well, yet in simple terms, and you tie it all together nicely. Thanks for this. Love the guitar btw.
Thanks Stitch. Very clear, and I think you expressed something important when you said how Jerry would play a 6th a lot simply because it makes you smile. It is a good goal for all of our guitar playing. It might be also worth mentioning that Jerry always referred his solos to the melody. You can almost always hear the melody, and pick any tune from just listening to a segment of his solo.
Really nice clear and warm Jerry style tone from your guitar, too!
First Stitch - fantastic lesson. Very clear explanation on a relatively complex topic.
@Dingo - Glad you mentioned Jerry’s solos are always melodic to the underlying song. You can always hear the main theme in his solos when he plays. I love that. And that’s what I’m trying to put into my playing now.
Been playing for many years, have a minor in music theory. Major just never CLICKED. Could shred all day long in minor modes, you're bring it all together for me on guitar - and not in just in a conceptual way. YOU THE MAN!
The song gives me Goosebumps from days past. Still one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard.
The amount of endless hours the greats played for years on end is what always amazed me.
Fantastic video. I really love your energy and enthusiasm and it's easy to see how much it all means to you. You're not trying to sell us anything but you're doing it as if you're doing it for yourself. And I appreciate the honesty of it, something youtube could use more of these days.
I'm a bass player, so I love watching these types of videos just to understand a bit more about what's going on "on top" of the songs. After reading a while ago that it was Althea that turned John Mayer onto playing Dead tunes, which obviously sent him to a place none of us would have expected with Dead&Co, and having recently seen Oteil sing the lead for Althea on the recent Voodoo Dead shows ... I've got a huge appreciation for Althea that I never had when I was following Jerry Garcia and the boys around on tour. Thanks for giving this tune some bonus in my mind!
I watch a lot of guitar tutorials on RUclips, though you'd never know that by the quality of my playing. Anyway, your videos are among the best! So clear, easy to understand, good audio, good video production -- top notch all the way. I particularly enjoy your easy-going style and sense of humor. Thank you!
I've been working on this tune for a while now (especially after watching the documentary), and this lesson & the chord charts just blew it wide open for me! It's finally starting to "click"! Thank you so much for all you do!
FANTASTIC. Just learned that I'm going to be playing lead on this soon. I've never taken time to learn about Jerry's approach. I quickly learned that riffing in B Dorian is insufficient. This is a huge help.
this has been my warm-up song for the longest time. I've found that attempting to play the melody in a single-note style solo (with no backing track, all on my own), while lining up your melody line with the chord changes that usually are in the background, allows my phrasing to sound more like when Jerry plays it. Great warm-up practice.
Great Lesson!
Probably the happiest guitar lesson I've ever been given. Thank you
Such a great work of art by Jerry. No matter how many times I hear this song, or where he plays it on numerous shows his solo always leaves me memorized. Great lesson!
So helpful! I have always loved so much music, but never got into the Dead, despite so many friends telling me how great they were... until I tried to play along with some tracks, particularly Althea -- and I had no idea what was going on. I didn't even know where to begin. Now, Jerry is one of my all time favorite guitarists. Thanks for one of so many fantastic lessons/instructionals!
Welcome to the club!
Dude you literally sound JUST LIKE JERRY when you talk ! The hell and kinda have the look! Right on man great upload.
you really sound like jerry man.. i thought the same kkkkkkk
You can hear shades of St. Stephen in there the 1st time you solo over it. Well and the 2nd attempt. I goota go, im watching the Stich Method. Love the Dead. Family since 87
Great lesson dude its a little over my head but not so over my head that I get nothing from it. Its getting me out of my comfort zone thanks
I've seen the Grateful Dead over 30 times. I'm 49 yrs.old and have been playing guitar about 35 years. I just started seriously getting into Jerry's playing style. I am totally lost! Lol! Your help has been second to none and I can't thank you enough for teaching us the Stitch method!
Hands down the best guitar lessons on the entire internet. My playing had hit a plateau over the last several years, this lesson in particular has started to make my improvising more dynamic. Excited to watch the rest of the lessons.
Your passion is infectious and your teaching style is fantastic. A good teacher gives you tools. There’s so much information in these lessons. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Fantastic lesson! I have grown in leaps and bounds since watching your Jerry Garcia videos. Thanks so much man!
Jerry's style of playing was very unique. He loved throwing in those chromatic notes, which made his playing sound very playful and jazzy. The more I listen to Grateful Dead, the more I realize how much you need to have a solid understanding of music theory in order to follow along with some of their songs. Especially when they throw in random key changes... I would love to see you do a video of China Cat Sunflower. That song has and interesting chord progression with a key change and some amazing lead guitar parts by JG.
Another awesome example of this is Mississippi Half-Step, so many chords and lots of dominant ones too. Plus a bunch of key changes. I agree 100% Jerry truly is a master.
Well done, brother! I am smiling like a goof right now...Althea is just one of those songs that has that intangible factor that you can't quite explain..like it's on the tip of your tongue but you can't vocalize "it." I got back into guitar and have been focused on playing at least an hour a day...it's 10:47 in Wyoming and I started at 7:00 this morning, so this was a perfect way to end the session. The little Garcia tricks were huge! Love it! Thanks, man!
I only got into the Dead in the past couple years, having never realized how amazing their catalog was. I had boxed them in as a psychedelic hippie band with some pretty cool tunes, but that was it... Man, have I have been overwhelmed with how amazing they are! The Skull and Roses and Europe 72 albums just opened my mind and made me ravenous for all things Dead and Jerry related. Thanks for all your lessons (and especially the Dead ones)! My passion is for Dead and Allmans music (among other things), so it almost seems like your videos are a gift from the heavens. Sorry for carrying on, but thanks again!!
It's never too late to get on the bus. Yes, Jerry was very special. He and the band turned concrete buildings into cathedrals of divine light. Welcome.
Jeff Johansen Amen. Glad to be abroad. And, hey, it's fun having so much to discover, so it's like a delayed gift. Lol
Aob better late than never. I soaked it all up also. I knew truckin and Casey Jones from the radio. In 1976 I got turned on to a new way of life
fantastic guidance. I was in a jazz coma for a long time - and many of your tips are fantastic as well as targeting a lot of bebop practices. Jerry obviously knew a lot of this stuff. thanks again bro
Thank you very much for taking the time to make this wonderful video. I often find teachers on RUclips too fast and too much heavy technical stuff it makes it hard for me to comprehend I’m 57 years old and been to several dead shows and my mind doesn’t work quite as well as it used too! Your pace and calm demeanor make it easier for me to comprehend what you’re trying to say thanks again and keep up the good work!
In this video it kind of all came together. I have been watching your videos for about a year now and it never clicked like it just did!! SO much fun and now I feel like I have a blueprint to explore songs on my own thank you Mr. Stich.
Dude, what an awesome video! Just found your channel. I really love the joy and enthusiasm that you bring to your teaching, and... it actually makes sense! As someone who's been playing the guitar (mostly by ear) for almost 30 years and has always struggled with theory - I really appreciate what you are doing here! Thanks!
Thanks Anthony, so glad you enjoying the channel! Hope you enjoy the rest of the stuff on here! Rock on
I'm really liking how you broke this down. It was really cool how the more you broke it down, the more you could start to hear the "Jerry" in the soloing. Subscribed!
Thank you so much! Garcia guitar neophyte here. You have unlocked the seals - now I must practice. I dig your lessons - very informative.
Your Jerry chops are so awesome and you are so helpful on getting jerry's mindset at LEAST graspable for a guy like me!! Thank you so much!
For about 47 years I didn't understand why I liked Jerry Garcia's guitar playing so much (especially on Not Fade Away and Me and My Uncle). Then, after seeing Long Strange Trip and listening to Althea about 20 times, I watched the Branford Marsalis 1996 interview on RUclips about playing with the Dead. And after that I watched this video by StichMethod. Now I am beginning to get it!
Thanks for posting this. I feel enlightened. If the existential gloom and darkness of the Trump era was not dragging me down, I would be elated.
Long Strange Trip indeed.
A great quote from Marsalis: "it's about the music!".
And - go Al!
SF Peninsula fan ~1970.
Garcia is definitely one of the most underrated guitarists of his era. "Althea" is one of my all-time favorite jamout songs. I could improvise over it for hours on end.
I VERY STRONGLY suggest watching some videos of John Mayer playing this song with Dead & Company for some really interesting lead ideas! He manages to preserve Garcia's signature sound while bringing freshness to the song as well.
Yet another amazing video Ian! Keep fighting the good fight!
I've heard you say that you don't like most youtube music education videos, I have to completely disagree with you. While there are a lot of channels lacking quality, and just plain bad teachers and musicians, there are also many amazing channels, just like yours. All musicians, of all stages, are so lucky to have you and all the other people who share their musical wisdom for anyone, who has access to youtube, in the world.
How could anyone dislike this video? This man is awesome 👌
Great lesson, Ian. Love watching your old videos.
Well done, as a Garcia player, I can tell you I employ exactly the "tricks" you've highlighted here to help get 'that' sound.
Honestly, that is probably the best music doc I've ever seen, not being biased. So well done and thank you for this lesson. I produced a doc with Al Franken (not yet released) in Feb of 2016 and wish I knew he was a deadhead at the time. Thanks again man...you've taken my guitar skills from a 20 year plateau to me playing mindlessly all over the neck, everything makes sense, as I know you've now received that comment a hundred times. I'm literally playing for hours after work everyday. Love the blues master class, would love a part 2, and would love an in depth lesson on the Dorian mode (if I've missed it, my apologies), and would love to see a lesson showing a 1 killer lick from each position of the pentatonic, as well as mixolydian and dorian. Anyways, keep it up man!
Matt Bradley you never saw the Grateful Dead PBS special in the 70’s. Al was back stage doing comedy bits with Jer and the boys. Way before he ran for office, at that point he was a writer for SNL. What is Al doing now that the MeToo movement stripped him from office. Scary days we are living in.
Jerry died the year I was born so all I've been lucky enough to see is dead & co. This sounds a lot like how John Mayer plays it. He's got some sweet tricks too but I don't think we'll ever come across another to do it exactly like Jerry, no matter how hard they try. Great video
the more I watch your video's.and learning about chord tones.I can really hear Jerry nailing them he's really awesome at it.makes it sound so easy he really knew his shit
Dude your channel is absolutely amazing i love your videos
i wish i would have had direction like this when i played. this is exactly the style of instruction i needed but didnt receive. its been like 12 years since ive played one but im motived to pick up a guitar again soon.
Wow.... I eared this out yesterday for a friend. You are right it’s a great tune. Thanks for confirming my ear. You seem like a nice guy. Keep up the great work.
Amazing lesson, it’s always super nice when someone shares knowledge about Jerry’s playing
This video is absolutely amazing. Your passion for teaching this is palpable. Thank you!
“Go to Heaven” is one of my very favorite albums. Absolutely love it. Very Smokey album👌
Thanks a great video to watch and to learn some of the tricks. I love Jerry's solos. Althea was never a big song for me but after the documentary I went back and listened to it. Thanks
Great video! This is exactly how I like to break down my favorite songs and visualize the fret board while I'm playing. Keep it coming!
Stumbled on you channel recently. I saw Dead & Co. in San Diego this summer. Changed everything I ever did as far as approaching the guitar. I grew up in the Bay but somehow never got into, or really exposed to The Dead even. So anyways, found you after I started my search. Love what you do. Your passion and insights on Jerry has really helped me to stretch myself and try to become a better player. Thanks man!
Awesome to hear Jason! Glad you are
Enjoying it !
Any chance you'd do an "in the mind of D Boon?" The Minutemen are so darn great.
You are so correct, it is incredible. Minutemen Forever.
Oh, the troubles Franken saw only a few months after this video was posted, lol! Another great video Stich. After watching quite a few of your In The Mind Of videos I am seeing a pattern or template on how to analyze any song's chords for purposes of soloing over the chords. Find your key, your mode, decide if you want to keep things more pentatonic or diatonic, target the chord tones, find any outside notes to throw in when certain chords come around, working with key changes etc. You really put it all together in a clear and concise way that has really taught me things that I perhaps already kinda knew, but now see with a little more logic and cohesion. And I've been playing since i was 8 yrs old in 1971.
Best guitar lesson and explanation I’ve ever watched
THANKS!!!!!! Been trying for ever on my own to make sense of this. Cant
wait to practice this. Awesome video
This is bye far the best Altheah lesson on RUclips
Much appreciated
@@StichMethodGuitar I have daughter named Altheah quick lead me to having a guitar named Altheah...which I then used to learn how to play Altheah on youtube....I hope to one day meet her and impress her mom with all the Jerry skills I learned since August on your channel...it blows my mind how good these master classes are and how good I've gotten....it took months of endless sucking balls....but here we are now where I'm actually attempting your master classes...wow
thanks for the video man.. awesome! i always tried to understand how jerry moves through the scales, chords and notes but never could.. please dont stop the "in the mind of jerry garcia" videos, im having a lot of fun! congratulations, long live the deadheads!
Thank you! after like 5 minutes I'm already feeling the solo out so much better!
Love your videos! Bless you for not inserting commercials into them. :)
Could never wrap my head around the modes and relating to chords until I saw it in terms of the Grateful Dead, always kind of "bs'd" my way through. Wonderful job, playing, and explanation. Wish I could've seen this video during my college days struggling through the jazz curriculum. Thanks for posting!
Loved long strange trip, I had my guitar beside me because just seeing Jerry inspires me!
Thanks!
Great video. Another thing that's noticeable about Jerry's solos is the way he incorporates the melody from the lyrics into the solo. This is especially the case with songs like Peggy-O and Althea where the solo sounds a lot like the melody that he just sung, albeit with some subtle differences and improvisations.
That's the key!
This guy has it.ALWAYS learn the melody.
This is really really good, man. Jerry’s my favorite I love the way you break down this great solo
Just found your channel, Thank You for breaking down these beautiful songs with a technical eye. So excited to play and learn. Be well
You are the coolest dude ever. I've learned how to play all chords and the pentatonic in most positions after a a few weeks of readig/YT vids at 30, which I was told wouldn't be possible at my age and was wasting my money/time etc but I think that posed a challenge to prove them wrong. It's the best hobby I ever had. I am tone deaf however I have to test a chord against a song before I get the rhythm. I know I have years to go but I'm really proud to progress like I have :) Oh and Jerry's style is my inspiration so this is the best video so far on my long strange trip :)
Wonderful lesson, really improved the way I play the song. Thanks for the quality videos!
I don't know your video came up in my list while listening to GD this evening but I felt compelled to let you know that this is one of the best guitar explanations of Althea I have seen. Well done! Saving your channel to turn my son who is a beginning guitarist in his freshman year in HS. Thanks for your channel!
I love the music theory explanation, terrific, I wish everyone did this. I studied music theory and it is critical for my understanding a song. Great work! Showing the movable chords is fantastic, I am going to utilize the use of moveable chords without using a capo. I sometimes use them, but I am going to practice substituting more often. Bob Weir always mentioned throwing in different chords voicing to accent what Jerry was doing. Humble Pie, in Thirty Days in the Hole does an E chord at the 7th fret as a movable A chord and just uses the movable C chord to get the fourth which is the A chords. Basically Keith Richards open G tuning uses these forms all the time.
Just discovered your channel and loving it. That little minor 3rd slur on the E sounds like a bluegrass banjo move.
Hey man, thanks for pointing out the psychology of the music. I feel that's an important point that even fancy-pants players have seemed to shrug off when I bring it up... but I mean, music is emotion/psychology, so why the heck would you ignore that? Love your channel!
That might be a neat video. Examples of a variety of emotional progressions and chord tones! Thanks again! Exclamation points!
I know nothing about music theory, but I really enjoyed this.
Great video. Really enjoyed it, gave me some additional lines of thought for soloing in this song. Took me a long time to find anything useful to do during this. Such a beautiful song though....frigging Jerry....love it.
KISMET! Just saw Dead & Co at Boulder and they played Althea on Friday, one of my all time favorite Dead songs. Was playing the chords and noodling around and wondering if you had any new videos up on RUclips - I was going to ask if you could do an Althea lesson....and lo and behold! Awesome! Thank you again! I know what I'll be working on this weekend.
Just started playing Althea the other day and seemed like RUclips targeted me. Glad they did. Great video. Thanks!
Very well done, thanks. I was lucky enough to camp out at several Dead concerts, great times.
Hi Ian, I love your style! Been into the Dead forever and Althea is one of my favorite jamming songs. Love your observation of incorporating the minor 3rd - Bluegrass style - just before the close... definitely adds a lot. One thing I like to do when trying to be Jerry-like is throw in passing chromatic tones outside the key signature, on the way to target chord tones.... eg on the turnaround from the E to the Bm, I might play a 16th note run like this: B (5th of the E chord), C (chromatic passing note), C# (note in B dorian), D(3rd of Bm chord). And of course chromatic note options are endless, as long as one doesn't hang on them them to long :-) Your passion for this stuff shines through! Keep doing this!!
Really brilliant video. Love the delivery and your love of Jerry Garcia and the music is obvious. Keep it up!
You do something that I do when I play solos. Your pick attack at the start of each phrase is pure Garcia.I don't see that in most other Dead lesson videos. Thank you.
Okay man this video made me find you. I appreciate how much you love jerry and I just recently discovered the dead and their amazing music (I’m 21). I just started to play guitar after a couple years on the ukulele. Thank you so much for what you do i appreciate you
Thanks!! you have cleared up a ton on questions I had! Appreciate you Jerry Passion.
I could listen to Althea all day every day
Awesome video! Same type of chord progression for the solo in jack straw a major jamming! Thanks for all you do! Cheers!
I HAVE to subscribe to you! I've never seen anyone here who has such an infectious joy about them come through the computer monitor! The lesson was awesome as well. What a treat!!
You rock by the way, and you have inspired me to learn how to identify and understand what is going on on the neck of a guitar. Keep it up, Ian. :)
Love it!! I've been waiting for this video for a long time. Thanks Ian..... I'm forever grateful!!
Thank you man! You are a great teacher & have such good concepts of Jerry's playing. Thank you for sharing & making this video for the world.
My pleasure Thomas! Rock on!
Love the Dead and love your channel more than any other guitar-oriented channel. Your attitude and choice of songs makes me want to pick up my guitar even more everytime!
I really enjoy your videos! A lot of help...thank you! Althea sealed the deal for me as well!
"thinking a LOT about LESS and LESS, and forgetting the love we bring" That says it right there.