An ixi-style read of the jam window, 0:28 to 4:58, tracked player by player. This is the barn-burner of the run, a bright G-major rocker that just charges. Mike pins G, Fishman drives the hardest groove of any jam here, and Trey climbs steadily from the first bar to a peak at the close. Every claim traces to a per-stem chroma and spectral-flux pass over the demucs lanes. The staves are transcribed off the guitar and bass stems with librosa pyin, Trey above Mike. Mike's busy G-E-D-F# bass walk and Trey reaching the A, the ninth, at the peak are read straight from the audio.
Chalk Dust Torture (jam, 0:28 to 4:58) — Phish · 2025-04-25 Hollywood Bowl
G major launch · Trey out front (0:28 to 1:36) · the rocker charges from the jump
No slow build here. Mike pins G from the first bar and Fishman is already slamming, the hardest-driving groove of any jam in the run. Trey leads on the G major triad, G, D, B, the bright major stated plainly. Page comps on the organ, doubling B, G, D underneath. The jam opens at full charge, a clean major key with no ambiguity and no patience, all four players locked into a forward drive from the downbeat.
favorite momentThe jam launching at full energy, Fishman already at the hardest groove of the run while Trey states a plain bright G major, no slow build, straight to the charge.
Trey climbs · the 9th opens (1:36 to 2:43) · the line reaches up over the fixed G
Trey starts climbing, his line adding an A, the ninth, reaching above the G major triad, his activity rising. Mike holds G rock-steady, the anchor under the climb. Page's organ stays in the comp, G, D, B, A. Fishman keeps the heavy drive. The harmony does not change, the energy does, Trey pushing higher over a floor that will not move, the rocker gathering steam.
Trey takes over · the keys recede (2:43 to 3:51) · the guitar dominates the climb
Trey surges, his activity jumping as he takes full command of the jam, the guitar now well clear of every other voice. Page's organ recedes, stepping back as Trey rises, the keys ceding the room. Mike stays on G with a passing C. Fishman drives on. This is the guitar's climb, the rocker narrowing to a single rising line over a fixed root, the band clearing space for Trey to push toward the peak.
the peak · Trey crests (3:51 to 4:58) · the highest energy of the jam over an unmoved G
Trey reaches his peak, the busiest playing of the window, driving G, D, B, A at full tilt. Mike never leaves G, the root holding firm under the crest. Fishman keeps the groove at full power, and Page's organ is a thin presence behind the guitar. The jam crests on pure G-major energy, no chord change needed, the whole arc having been one rising line over one fixed root, a straight major-key rocker taken to its ceiling.
favorite momentTrey's line cresting at full tilt over Mike's unmoved G, the entire jam having climbed from launch to peak without ever changing the chord, energy doing all the work.
Chalk Dust's stems carry bass, guitar, other, drums, and vocals, no separated piano lane, so Page is read from the synth/organ ("other") stem. The vocals stem is nearly silent across the window, so this is the instrumental jam throughout. Fishman's groove is the loudest of the run, measured from the drums-stem energy. Lead from a per-stem spectral-flux pass, Trey climbing 648 to 993 across the window. Key G major at 0.915 correlation.