I Know You Rider Arranged for Solo Guitar Accompaniment

"I Know Yous Rider" Grateful Dead Guitar Chords and Scales

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In this gratuitous guitar lesson you have a await at the chords and scales used in the Grateful Dead's version of "I Know You Rider" every bit featured on the album Europe '72 (listen to the runway in the embedded video in a higher place). This includes a discussion about the vocal'due south central and chord progression, besides as a wait at how to approach the chord changes every bit a atomic number 82 guitarist like Jerry Garcia.

I Know You lot Passenger Chords

The chords used in "I Know You Rider" are very unproblematic and consist of but four basic major chords, D, C, G, and F, with D functioning as the chief chord as yous see in the chart below. What makes the progression catchy, though, is the fact that its chords don't all fit into the key of D.  The key of D consists of the notes D East F# 1000 A B C# and the chords D Em F#m G A Bm and a C#mb5 (a.k.a diminished triad). So where then do the chords C and F come from? Go along reading for the respond…

While it'due south true that the primary chord in "I Know Y'all Rider" is D, and the song is said to be in the key of D overall, the notes and chords are non actually fatigued from the D major calibration. Instead, they are drawn from the G major calibration, but centered on the 5th degree, D, making what's called D Mixolydian mode. In this style, the notes are D E F# G A B C (natural) and the chords are D Em F#mb5 Grand Am Bm C. This covers the first half of the progression, but you withal oasis't fit in the F chord in the adjacent half. Keep reading…

When the music changes to the F chord, the calibration changes to C major, which consists of the notes C D E F G A B and the chords C Dm Em F G Am Bmb5. If you lot still think about D as being your tonal center, and so this is the C scale's 2nd way, D Dorian.

All together, "I Know You Rider" uses a composition technique chosen modal interchange or modal mixture. This is when notes and chords from parallel scales are combined to form one melody or chord progression. In this instance, you combine D Mixolydian and D Dorian. With a little exam, yous see that the simply difference between these two scales is the F. D Mixolydian features an F#, and D Dorian features an F natural. In both cases F is the 3rd of D, but F# is a major 3rd and F natural is a pocket-sized 3rd. So the music toys with a major and minor tonality, and so does Jerry Garcia'south guitar solo, which you learn more about in the next lesson department beneath.

I Know You lot Rider Scales

As detailed in the previous section on chords, "I Know You Rider" interchanges two types of D scales, D Mixolydian and D Dorian. These scales are then used to add melody and lead lines. In addition to thinking about scale patterns, you can too target chord tones in your solos by using related arpeggio patterns. Both of these, scales and arpeggios, are illustrated for yous below in a serial of guitar neck diagrams. Hither is how each case is applied:

1. The first diagram illustrates the D major pentatonic calibration, which corresponds to the primary tonality of the music, D major. Pentatonic scales are extremely popular on guitar, and are often used as base patterns while other types of scales and arpeggios are in use. You hear Jerry Garcia play a lot of D major pentatonic licks in this track'due south recorded guitar solos. While there are other positions and patterns that tin be used for the same calibration, yous focus on this, the most common pentatonic pattern i, for at present. Be sure to notice where the tonic notes D are, and start your scale from one of these tonic notes in lodge to properly hear the D major pentatonic audio.
2. The second diagram adds the notes C and G, which complete the D Mixolydian scale. You might recognize this blueprint as being Yard major scale pattern 1 from my book,Fretboard Theory. Call up, the D Mixolydian way is drawn from the M major calibration. To hear this modal scale played tonic to tonic, play D to D. Y'all tin can freely use this blueprint over the first half of the chord progression, D-D-C-Grand-D-D-D-D. You lot tin can actually employ 1000 major/D Mixolydian scale patterns in any position, but, again, I'thou focusing merely on this area of the neck to go you lot started.
3. You come across the aforementioned D Mixolydian design in the third diagram, but this time with the notes of the D chord highlighted in black. When you play over chords, information technology's good to know where related chord tones are located and practiced to emphasize chord tones as you grade phrases in the scale. While y'all're not limited to playing merely D related notes over the D chord, you can connect your lead lines more closely to the D chord by targeting chord tones now and and then, like at the offset of measures, and especially at the beginning of each chord change. In this position, the notes of D form what's called a "K form" chord shape in the so-chosen CAGED organization, because they take on the shape of what y'all know every bit G in the open position. Information technology's a skillful idea to play through this arpeggio design ascending and descending like a calibration in order to familiarize yourself with the course and the location of the D notes.
4. When the progression changes to the C chord, you however stick with the same D Mixolydian scale, but now if you want to target chord tones you must know where the new related notes are located. Playing an "E form" chord shape and arpeggio pattern volition enable you to hitting on notes related to C while staying in the aforementioned position as your base of operations scale. To strongly necktie your lead line to the C chord modify, hit a C arpeggio note right on the downbeat of one in the get-go C measure.
5. The 5th diagram continues to follow the chord progression, this fourth dimension past illustrating how to target notes of the next chord, G, as you play in the base scale of D major pentatonic/D Mixolydian. Keeping with CAGED chord forms, this one is in "C grade," merely, in this position, consists of notes related to G.
6. Things get a picayune catchy when the music changes to the F chord. In diagram six, all the F# notes demand to be lowered a half-step to F natural. When this happens, the D Mixolydian scale pattern changes to a D Dorian scale pattern. Call back that these modes are drawn from G and C major, so information technology might be easier for you lot to think most Thousand major scale pattern three irresolute to C major scale blueprint i (at least, that's how I number the patterns when I teach them in Fretboard Theory). On top of this, you can target the notes of an F chord by using an "A form" arpeggio pattern.
7. Finally, in the seventh diagram, you go on with D Dorian/C major scale notes, but this fourth dimension targeting C chord tones again using an "E form" arpeggio pattern. When the music returns to D, you lot return to diagram 3 (and this is a good time to hit on the F# note in club to bring the tonality back to D major).

I Know You lot Rider Music Theory

The use of modes (particularly Mixolydian), modal mixture, and chord tone soloing is prevalent in the Grateful Dead's music and Jerry Garcia'due south guitar style.  As you tin can run across, the elementary chords and progression used in "I Know You Passenger" really make for a somewhat complicated approach to music composition and improvisation because of the utilise of these techniques. These techniques also make the music sound more interesting and the song more than fun (or more challenging) to play. I have outline for you i manner to approach "I Know You Rider" as a lead guitarist, but you're free to explore other options, like playing the same scales in other positions and targeting chord tones using other chord forms.

I Know You Rider Arranged for Solo Guitar Accompaniment

Source: https://www.guitarmusictheory.com/i-know-you-rider-grateful-dead-guitar-chords-and-scales/

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