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How to play like Phil Lesh?

#61
great to hear that dead bands still exist. a lot of the young jam bands i see here in the midwest lean heavy on dave mathews, phish, panic, etc.

absolutely nothing wrong with it. and certainly what they grew up seeing, but i miss dead bands. i guess that is what i grew up seeing.
 
#65
R D Maynard said:
And bass players play like...?

I suspect someone said these same words about Jamerson, McCartney, Entwistle, Chris Squire and Stanley Clarke at some point.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that wasn't quite what I meant...
My main point is that I don't really like his playing, *I* don't get out of it what *I* want to hear. To *my* ear, he doesn't groove.

As to whether Bootsy would have been a more appropriate choice of bass player for the Dead - I'm not trying to offend anyone, I guess I just don't get the Dead aesthetic, even though several of my friends in high school (even the one that is now my wife) were staunch deadheads, going out on tour and everything.

Phil may have been an accomplished violinist before picking up the bass (as was I BTW), but I don't hear what he hears. Then again, I don't care for the Dead all that much, so maybe I should disqualify myself from comment...

And don't even get me started on Bobby...
 
#66
smeet said:
Yeah, that wasn't quite what I meant...
My main point is that I don't really like his playing, *I* don't get out of it what *I* want to hear. To *my* ear, he doesn't groove.

As to whether Bootsy would have been a more appropriate choice of bass player for the Dead - I'm not trying to offend anyone, I guess I just don't get the Dead aesthetic, even though several of my friends in high school (even the one that is now my wife) were staunch deadheads, going out on tour and everything.

Phil may have been an accomplished violinist before picking up the bass (as was I BTW), but I don't hear what he hears. Then again, I don't care for the Dead all that much, so maybe I should disqualify myself from comment...



And don't even get me started on Bobby...
Click to expand...


Bobbie! Don't you think it takes a special talent to play in tune and sing out of tune at the same time?
 
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#72
EBodious said:
now there's some memories!

i was never a bobby type, but i try to cut him some slack. imagine being fifteen, living/playing with the dead, and dropping acid daily.

now what would that do to your head?
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It made me the paragon of mental acuity that I am today.

All seriousness aside, I think Wier is one of the most under-rated rhythm guitar players of the 60s. He could come up with these wiered chords that just somehow fit. Didn't Ibanez once make a Bob Wier Signature model?

2739306920_2e67558862_m.jpg
 
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#73
personally, i've got no regrets :cool:

the rhythm gtr in a dead band i was in long ago got an ibanez artist cause bobby had used one. he never got what he wanted out of it though and traded it off.

and, ok, i will admit that it is easy to pick on bobby (i understand that phil and jerry did it mercilessly). i like a lot of his song writing and, as we all know, the dead's sound and style came from how all those particular musicians came together. it could be no other way. that is, of course, part of the beauty.
 
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#75
Been listening to a lot of Dead lately and I think you have to look at Phil's playing in the context of the era when he began to play. He was trained in classical composition, and was a semi-serious jazz trumpeter, when Jerry asked him to play bass. This was the early 60's, so "rock bass" as we all know it was just starting to take shape. I doubt Phil listened to much pop music at that time, so his take on bass playing was completely open and unhindered, IMO. He had no preconceived ideas of what the bass should do in a rock format. Although he certainly realized the bass has to provide some sort of foundation through roots and basic chord tones, I think he also viewed his bass lines as a sort of counterpoint to the melody and harmonic structure of the tunes. No doubt he studied counterpoint pretty heavily in school and he definitely brought all that into his playing with the Dead. I don't think anyone else could have played what he did at that time. And, certainly if anyone else had been the Dead's bassist, they would've been a totally different band.

But, I also think the LSD helped... a lot.
 
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#77
MR PC said:
Phil used to comment on Scott LaFaro's bass playing with Bill Evans as well........
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Now we're getting somewhere! A bass player with good intentions, comes from a good family, ends up with a gig nobody really explained to him. I can hear LaFaro (and Eddy Gomez for the same reason) and Lesh thinking to themselves "well I damn well better come up with a new way of playing the bass because the 3 triad pocket groove ain't gonna cut it. This guy Evans (or these hippies) is/are playing sh*t I only read about in school. And he said "relax and try to stay in the pocket" and I'm trying to figure out which pocket. Relax. That's a good one! So i asked Bill/Jerry "about this pocket thing, since the song is in Emaj I assume i should just hang around the I-Iv-V chord progression until I feel like I've got the song down?" Bill/Jerry lights up, "I-IV-V progression? I like that! I would never of thought of it that way. Very clever strategy. It kinda cloaks the modal nature of the song. I heard you doing that earlier. Playing the second inversion when everyone expects the mixolydian mode. You know Paul Chambers used to do that when I was with Miles on "So What." So I can assume you feel comfortable playing with a modal feel even if the song isn't really modal in the technical sense?"
Scott/Phil has to be thinking, let's see. What did I learn on my first day on the job? 1. The boss assumes WAY more that he ought to. 2. I still don't even know what chords I'm supposed to be playing off of. 3. There is mounting evidence that if there is a "pocket" they keep it well hidden. 4. Assuming that there is a pocket, and by dumb luck I stumble onto it: It will turn out to be a very deep pocket, longer than my arm "deep." 5. Thus losing a few necessary things to really qualify as a pocket.
Conclusions drawn from today's lesson? The boss is either the smartest guy in the world or the dumbest. Because? He thinks I'm relaxed. And he thinks I'm doing a great job so far and will be leading the band in no time flat so he can pursue other musical quests.

BTW, who started this thing about the REAL bass player is REAL because he plays a four bar groove you could teach a second grader?
Now I'm no free thinker but, that thought is worse than free. It has hidden costs and tax surcharges that would even frighten the President.
Sneaky way to bring up the Pres thing. Is it true that Phil played for the First Couple at the inaugural ball? Way Cool. How would you like to get that phone call?
Other than that I can only hope that all of the suggestions about chemical inspiration are meant to be jokes. I was hoping that everyone knows that the idea is a non-sequitor. The logic of that idea being that being, I.e., Samuel Taylor Coleredge was a great poet of the Romantic Period, arguably the greatest. STC was a junky. Junk makes you a great poet. If true I should think we would have produced a larger number of great poets given the number of junkies. The dangerous part is that it is not that far off from the person who says "I actually drive better after I've had a few."
 
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#79
Buster's Bust;
Scott/Phil, Bill/Jerry, Junky poets, Inaugural balls, modal, frightened presidents and chemical inspiration.
OK class, now who can tell me the difference between substance and substances?

PS:
I can see that Phil, who started out on trumpet, a melodic instrument with somewhat limited range, would approach and play bass in a similar manner. With a lot of staccato chromatic runs.
 
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#80
Phil Lesh recipe (makes one serving):

Combine smart/creative/antiestablishmentarian with trumpet.

Slowly add copious amounts of classical training; stir until fully blended.

Simmer for several years until avant-garde composer begins to appear. Bring to full boil.

Add several hippie-freak musician friends; stir thoroughly.

Add electric bass, all at once. Return to full boil.

Season generously with psychedelic drugs to taste.

Serving suggestion: Consume with additional side of fresh psychedelic drugs.
 
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