Grateful Dead bass question - please help!

[glocke1]

That's the missing piece of the puzzle. You should transcribe some Phil bass lines, note-for-note. (And for extra credit, transcribe what Jerry is playing, too!)

This will build your skill set to follow your guitarist when he goes off on a musical tangent.

I play a lot of Dead music and this is what I would recommend.

Pro tip: If you are just starting out with Phil, 70's era Phil Lines are a lot easier to learn/transcribe than early 80s and beyond Phil lines. I generally find anything beyond the early 80s to be generally inaccessible from a playing standpoint. By that point he had been playing with two drummers for many years and was really throwing some crazy bass lines out there.

Listen to some 72-77 Phil and draw ideas from there. What I usually would do is just pick a section of the song, loop it and play along with it till i figured out what he was playing.


Im not sure whats going on in that recording but something sounds off initially. I don't think it's you either. It sounds like he changed keys than switched back.

Easiest thing to do is just ask what key he's improvising in before you start playing.

 

[glocke1]

I've been thinking about doing a Phil Lesh video series for a while so I made this yesterday. First video ever! Playin in the Band -

Nice. Would love to see your interpretation of Row Jimmy. I find that one to be one of the most quirky and challenging tune in their catalog out of the tunes they played on a regular basis.

 

[cosmicevan]

I made it about 7 minutes into the jam before I clicked onto page 2 and lost the sound

I have to agree with the other posters that you guys sound great and you are doing Phil justice with your grooving. Accepting critical feedback is always tough and whether warranted or not, I always TRY to take something from it and learn and grow. If there was a musical disconnect that the ears couldn't pick up, then it's time to have a plan B in a live situation to be able to alert someone that you feel that they are off (I heard nothing off in the amount of the clip that i listened to, but someone mentioned that off part was after).

As for practicing, put on music and jam with it...develop your ears as much as you can. Scales are fun, and knowing theory never hurts, but nothing replaces good ears since the other musicians might not know scales or theory. Great stuff!

 

[Vincent Paul]

Thank you for contributing to this discussion. I've learned so much more since originally posting the question. I've finally started singing lead while playing, which I haven't done since I used to sing lead while playing mandolin years ago. That said, my true passion remains with finding that sound and being inspired by Phil's style.

Thanks again!