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How to play like Phil Lesh?
- Thread starter Lobster11
- Start date
but that was in his later years, well after the creative fires had burnt out.
O.K., back to the question, how to play bass like Phil Lesh. Learn music theory and harmony inside out and don't get stuck in the typical bass player "root note/lock with the drummer" mentality. Phil sees the bass as an equal voice in an ensemble where every instrument is equally responsible for rhythm, melody and harmony. Phil was originally a trumpet player who was into avant garde classical music and jazz and he started playing bass when he joined the Dead. At that time rock music was not as formulized as it is now, so his peers were guys like McCartney, Jamerson, Casady, Entwistle, Jack Bruce, etc., players who were also pretty complex harmonically.
I love how Phil takes charge of the jam between Scarlet and Fire on the Barton Hall show.
yes it is an old thread...but I was wondering...does anyone know what kind of strings Phil uses now...I know he used flats in the 70's and then D'addario Half rounds after...some folks say he plays what Mike Gordon uses..the Ken Smith Slick Rounds....it sounds like he is using nickel rounds though, I've heard Ken Smith Burners?I don't think its the Slicks because with the latest Furthur tour pics the strings do not have the purple wrap.
The album Live Dead is a great introduction to the band really jamming. The songs St. Stephen and The Eleven have some amazing Phil moments.
Here is a link to the free jam of the week:
Invalid Link Removed
Here is a link to the free jam of the week:
Invalid Link Removed
Hey why not keep an ancient post rolling...just like the spirit of the Dead?!
Just kidding....to the OP: Can't help with Phil's style, since I'm just picking up the bass myself, but this thread does give some good advise on where to start, hoping that you did start seeing that you posted it two years ago! What I can say though is that Phil is not a "pocket" player, like some have suggested. I've even heard him say of his tenure in the Dead as "an experiment in music", and I agree. And I will say on his behalf (and point of this post) is that when I have seen the Dead, sometimes he really was the anchor that held all of the other stuff together, especially the jams (not necessarily the space stuff), and that to me is one of the signs of a good bassist. Plus, in my opinion, his solo efforts (Phil and Friends) always seemed to me to be the most "musical" of all the spinoff bands. I caught him once with Robben Ford on guitar where they went off on a jam of St. Stephen, then came out of it doing a Coltrane style My Favorite Things...the only true gripe I had was when they (or someone) let him sing....sorry, but Wish you Were Here 2 octaves low and somewhat in tune with something just doesn't cut it!
Just kidding....to the OP: Can't help with Phil's style, since I'm just picking up the bass myself, but this thread does give some good advise on where to start, hoping that you did start seeing that you posted it two years ago! What I can say though is that Phil is not a "pocket" player, like some have suggested. I've even heard him say of his tenure in the Dead as "an experiment in music", and I agree. And I will say on his behalf (and point of this post) is that when I have seen the Dead, sometimes he really was the anchor that held all of the other stuff together, especially the jams (not necessarily the space stuff), and that to me is one of the signs of a good bassist. Plus, in my opinion, his solo efforts (Phil and Friends) always seemed to me to be the most "musical" of all the spinoff bands. I caught him once with Robben Ford on guitar where they went off on a jam of St. Stephen, then came out of it doing a Coltrane style My Favorite Things...the only true gripe I had was when they (or someone) let him sing....sorry, but Wish you Were Here 2 octaves low and somewhat in tune with something just doesn't cut it!
The band I'm in is playing "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire On The Mountain" and yes, it's like that. I feel like I'm just solo riffing the entire time.
I used to play a lot of Dead. I'm no musical genius, but I used to pick a few of my favorite versions of songs. China Cat -> I Know You Rider, They Love Each Other, Bertha, Scarlet -> Fire etc. Then I would pretty much just copy what he did note for note on certain parts of the song, and then other parts of the song, where they're jamming, or transitioning, or both, I would play my own thing. Usually, by the time I've worked through the songs progression, I'm ready for that jam. The jam is my favorite part of the song, and while Phil definitely did wonders with it, I've always felt that each jam is unique and it's shaped by the sound of your band, the players playing, and the thoughts they're having that day. This is why I always kind of approach no jam with a plan. I would just play what I feel and what I hear everyone else around me playing. I surf. I find this kind of playing a lot like surfing. When you're paddling for a wave, you've got an idea of the direction you're going to head, and you have a bag of tricks and approaches depending on the board your riding, but the wave will determine how you ride it depending on how it breaks. It could be a fast, hollow, down the line screamer, or a mushy soft wave that requires a mellow approach to maintain your ride, or everything between. You just have to paddle in and commit.
Ken Smith strings (.035, .045, .060, .080, .100, .120), and he uses graphite picks
You want to hear some incredible Phil... Kimock really makes Trey look like a chump on these... : )
Phil & Phrends - Warfield Run 4/15/99 - 4/17/99
Trey Anastasio (Phish): Guitar, vocals
Page McConnell (Phish): Grand Piano & organ, vocals
John Molo (Other Ones): Drums
Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead, Other Ones): Lead Bass, vocals
Steve Kimock (Zero, SK&F, KVHW, Other Ones): Guitars
http://www.archive.org/details/paf1999-04-15.sbd.18371.shnf
http://www.archive.org/details/1999-04-16.paf.sbd.miller.25296.sbeok.flacf
http://www.archive.org/details/phil1999-04-17.mk41.flac16
You want to hear some incredible Phil... Kimock really makes Trey look like a chump on these... : )
Phil & Phrends - Warfield Run 4/15/99 - 4/17/99
Trey Anastasio (Phish): Guitar, vocals
Page McConnell (Phish): Grand Piano & organ, vocals
John Molo (Other Ones): Drums
Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead, Other Ones): Lead Bass, vocals
Steve Kimock (Zero, SK&F, KVHW, Other Ones): Guitars
http://www.archive.org/details/paf1999-04-15.sbd.18371.shnf
http://www.archive.org/details/1999-04-16.paf.sbd.miller.25296.sbeok.flacf
http://www.archive.org/details/phil1999-04-17.mk41.flac16
I think he uses the Burners being that compressors and slicks don't come in those gauges.
I've always thought of Dead music as a mix of different counter-melodies of varying numbers of measures in a subconsciously mathematical formula and when they get it right, it really works.
It's like Frere Jacques gone mad.
This example is exaggerated, wrong, and way too convenient but hopefully illustrates it... You have Kreutzman on a random song as a pocket drummer tapping out a 4 bar melody, you have Weir on rhythm guitar doing 8 bar off-beat melodies, you have the latest keyboardist on a 16 bar melody, and then you have Phil doing insane 64 bar melodies with Jerry dancing around them all. And Mickey Hart banging on whatever the heck feels good at that moment.
The thing I see in Lesh's style is he really uses a lot of tension and release with the low root, dancing around it and toying with your expectations, then dropping an almost subsonic boom that rattles your ribcage at an occasional convergence of a few of the aforementioned melodies - which punctuates them all musically. Then he just rolls back into the groove like nothing happened.
He's thinking a few levels beyond everyone it seems, even the rest of the band. When Jerry said Phil's playing made sense to him at double speed, I think that is why.
I hope my terminology isn't terribly insulting, surely I got something wrong...
It's like Frere Jacques gone mad.
This example is exaggerated, wrong, and way too convenient but hopefully illustrates it... You have Kreutzman on a random song as a pocket drummer tapping out a 4 bar melody, you have Weir on rhythm guitar doing 8 bar off-beat melodies, you have the latest keyboardist on a 16 bar melody, and then you have Phil doing insane 64 bar melodies with Jerry dancing around them all. And Mickey Hart banging on whatever the heck feels good at that moment.
The thing I see in Lesh's style is he really uses a lot of tension and release with the low root, dancing around it and toying with your expectations, then dropping an almost subsonic boom that rattles your ribcage at an occasional convergence of a few of the aforementioned melodies - which punctuates them all musically. Then he just rolls back into the groove like nothing happened.
He's thinking a few levels beyond everyone it seems, even the rest of the band. When Jerry said Phil's playing made sense to him at double speed, I think that is why.
I hope my terminology isn't terribly insulting, surely I got something wrong...
Just went across the line to Bellingham on Wednesday to see DSO. Great crowd. Great show.
Yes, Kevin Rosen gets deep, resonating sound from the low notes with his setup.
Now I'm again keen to find some folks to jam with here in Vancouver and join the list of Uncle John's bands!
Yes, Kevin Rosen gets deep, resonating sound from the low notes with his setup.
Now I'm again keen to find some folks to jam with here in Vancouver and join the list of Uncle John's bands!
I remember reading about their marathon practicing as Warlocks and into the Dead. They came to a conclusion that everybody knows where 1 is so forget about 1 and play around it. something like that. a small tidbit but worthy.
