Song Lesson: China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider by The Grateful Dead

Learn How to Play "China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider" by Grateful Dead on Guitar with Tab, Video Lessons, and More!

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Song Lesson: China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider by The Grateful Dead

About this course

Taught by our top educators, TrueFire’s Song Lesson System is a hands-on contextual music-making experience designed to accelerate the learning process and simulate a full-band setting. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced player, you’ll find a rhythm or lead guitar part in this lesson that fits your skills and sounds fantastic in a full band context.

This 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider' Song Lesson, as performed by The Grateful Dead, is presented by Dave Isaacs, one of TrueFire’s top educators.

This Song Lesson Series Includes:
2 Electric Guitar Parts
1 Easy Guitar Strum-Along Part
1 Improv Part

The Backing Track Includes:
Bass
Drums
Guitar
Keys
Vocals
Click Track

What you'll learn

  • See how rhythm guitar supports vocal melody
  • Study phrasing and timing in a performance context
  • Learn both rhythm and lead guitar parts for this classic Grateful Dead pairing
  • Understand how to transition between accompaniment and solo sections
  • Develop skills for playing complex multi-part arrangements
Release date: 05/07/2024 • 2h 13m runtime
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Sample lessons

What's included

12 lessons • 7 charts • 3 Jam Tracks

China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider by Grateful Dead
Hi folks, I'm Dave Isaacs, and I'm very excited to bring you this lesson on a psychedelic voyage. The Grateful Dead's 'China Cat Sunflower' is ultimately a simple song. It features a repeating chord cycle, typical of a full song. It has what you might think of as a refrain, but for the most part, it's almost a blues.

It's a wonderful pairing. It is challenging to play, to get all the parts together. There are many notes going by. But at the same time, there is so much to be learned in a nutshell. So we're going to go in depth into this pairing, first with an easy strum lesson. Moving on into a deep look at the Garcia and Weir parts.

So this is a lot of fun to dig into. It's challenging. There's a lot to look at. But I'm ready. Hope you are too.
Full Song Performance
In this lesson, Dave will play through the tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider' by The Grateful Dead in its entirety, demonstrating all the guitar parts that you will learn in this course
Easy Guitar | Lesson
In this lesson, Dave Isaacs will show you how to learn easy chords and strumming for The Grateful Dead tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.' Be sure to utilize TrueFire's learning tools, such as tabsync and the ability to speed up or slow down the video, to optimize your learning experience.
Easy Guitar | Practice Session
In this lesson, Dave Isaacs will show you how to learn easy chords and strumming for The Grateful Dead tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.' Be sure to utilize TrueFire's learning tools, such as tabsync and the ability to speed up or slow down the video, to optimize your learning experience.
Easy Guitar | Playalong
In this lesson, Dave Isaacs will show you how to learn easy chords and strumming for The Grateful Dead tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.' Be sure to utilize TrueFire's learning tools, such as tabsync and the ability to speed up or slow down the video, to optimize your learning experience.
Guitar 1 | Lesson
In this lesson, Dave Isaacs will show you how to play the first guitar part to The Grateful Dead tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.' Be sure to utilize TrueFire's learning tools, such as tabsync and the ability to speed up or slow down the video, to optimize your learning experience.
Guitar 1 | Practice Session
In this lesson, Dave Isaacs will show you how to play the first guitar part to The Grateful Dead tune 'China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.' Be sure to utilize TrueFire's learning tools, such as tabsync and the ability to speed up or slow down the video, to optimize your learning experience.

+ 5 more lessons

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Reviews

2 results

BradBBass1

Verified buyer

09/04/24

China cat sunflower good look at the Grateful Dead

Great lesson. Dave Isaacs has a lot of insight and knowledge that helps to learn the song and remind you that it’s a starting point. He reminds you that you don’t have to memorize it note for note since the Grateful Dead liked to improvise.

AZ

Verified buyer

08/18/24

Very Nice

Dave is the hippest. This song lesson is so good. Once you (pretty quickly) get Dave's instruction and the sentiments from so many shows and tapes down, you really get the feeling like you're back in the late 60's and early 70's learning the basics and intricacies of what eventually became the China->Rider second set opener. Once Dave said (early in the course), "You're either on the bus or off the bus" you get your head and fingers and smiles doing all it can to get on the bus. This is a lot of fun and a lot of satisfaction being able to do something that's been experiences so many times. Hands down best course out of 100+ purchased from TrueFire over the years. Thanks a lot!

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