Various Grateful Dead songs explained - videos

[Rusty the Scoob]

Phil Lesh is a very polarizing bassist. He's not a great technical player and he's far from a a tight pocket groove guy, but he puts forth a nearly endless stream of interesting ideas, has a great melodic sense and uses a great deal of pretty advanced theory in his playing.

I've had a chance to really study his style in depth since I've been in a top-notch GD tribute band for the past couple of years, and some guys on another website asked for some help learning a few of the songs. I thought the videos would be worth sharing here for people who may be searching for this kind of info.

Cassidy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtpCk3OqUFg

Cassidy 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkdfCgOmIvo

Estimated Prophet - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vm9fMbsoKk

The Music Never Stopped - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-eBYy1rCRE

Help on the Way > Slipknot! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eof76NtOHy4

[zillo]

Nice, Rusty. thanks for the pointers.

[Rusty the Scoob]

I made a few more by request on another board, mostly easier tunes:

GDTRFB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMnnIr9hfbI

Bertha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4LFvmj5V4I

Fire on the Mountain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQhSZkvI2z0

Iko Iko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiOn58h2xKY

[FretlessMainly]

Phil Lesh is a big reason why I've been playing bass for over 30 years. He could really hang that band on a shoestring and drop it into the abyss at his leisure. As you said, not technically brilliant, not really a groove guy, but a marvel in innovative texture. Beauty in the unconventional and he still held it together. Loose and tight; something I now almost always strive for.