Jerry’s first solo from China Cat, 5/19/74, Portland Memorial Coliseum. This solo is short and sweet and every note fits perfectly – nothing wasted, it’s punchy and it follows the chords perfectly.
Jerry kicks things off with a really tangy bend over the G chord, from the 5th of the scale to the 6th (this bend is reprised right before he heads to the D chord in measure 4).
The little rhythmic phrase in measure 3 is really catchy and would be a great lick to lift out of this solo and plug in just about anywhere. It should be pretty easy to transpose it to other positions as well.
Over the D7 chord Jerry gets a little spicy, as usual, with a nice little run up the flat 7 of D before he starts to climb the neck again, winding his way up to the 15th position before laying it down for a soft landing over the C to D chord transition that takes us back to the verse.
Crazy to think that such a perfectly constructed solo was fully improvised!
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