What about Jam bands??

[Plutonium244]

I used to belong to a fly fishing forum where everyone knew everything about a certain area. I guided out west for 10 years to pay for college, but they knew everything about it. No I don't know the bands you listed sorry. Just like you probably don't know to much about being a fly fishing guide out west.

Did you catch of lot of bass?



I crack myself up sometimes.

 

[hobosong]

I always associated jam bands with hippies, drug addicts, and cults. I allowed that to keep me from ever really opening my mind to them. Sad, doncha think?

Well, you're not wrong to make that association. I tolerated it for many years, being a Deadhead that wasn't a hippy could be challenging at times, especially after they actually had a "hit" in 1987 with Touch of Grey. Then there were no more empty seats, and as more and more Phish kids started showing up, the scene just completely crashed.

 

[hobosong]

I was a dead head in high school and college. Used to go to the Wetlands in the late 80s and early 90s. Saw the first Horde Tour with Col Bruce and my first Phish show was downstairs at a college bar. Back then it seemed like something vital and exciting was building. It was like lightning in a bottle. Something that was unpolluted by the mainstream. I just don't feel that with the jambands coming up today. I can't really put my finger on it. I'm not sure if the genre exhausted itself or if my taste changed. Probably a bit of both. But I did see Kung Fu a few months back and they blew me away. And JRAD with Phil last year was the best post-Jerry thing I've heard.

Yeah the Wetlands was great. That's the only time I saw Phish.... I think it was 1991 or so

 

[Max Blasto]

Right- Casey Jones, Alabama Get Away, and Touch of Gray didn't garner much airplay. What bridge did you crawl out from underneath of? Must not have had great radio reception under there. You do realize you're condescension is positively offensive, right?

Furthermore, now I hear Uncle John's Band, Eyes of the World, Friend of the Devil, and even Ripple getting played on modern format FM radio, on stations that never, for example, play String Cheese Incident. (They do play the new Widespread Panic single, and it's a very good song too, maybe even great).

I forgot Sugar Magnolia, another Dead song that garnered air play on release and continues to do so until today, and Scarlet Begonias is something you hear a lot of nowadays, including a number of excellent covers of it.

Must've had better station managers in your town, I'm familiar with all those songs but not from the radio. Wouldn't be the first time I thought that local radio sucked. I am sometimes astonished when I'm on the road and turn on the radio and hear something that would never be played back home. Ah well.... As for being offensive, I suppose that you're supporting my point that Dead fans can be loyal to the point of brittleness. Bagging on the Dead offends Dead fans, even when you're not really bagging on them. Sorry I got your dander up, but being offended is one of your constitutional rights.

Back to the OP's original topic, I can show some love for Phil by thanking him for his pioneering work on the six string bass, his very creative approach to amplification and sound reinforcement, and for helping put Alembic on the map. This, of course, gave us........ wait for it......


Active Pickups!!!!!! <---------- Heh, this'll screw up the Talkbass search algorithm.

And if you think we can argue about the Dead's popular relevency, wait till we start talking about active vs passive pickups.
Someone should start a thread about it....

 

[Plutonium244]

A sure-fire conversation starter of a bumper sticker I saw recently:

"Jerry's dead, Phish sucks, get a job."

 

[HolmeBass]

Must've had better station managers in your town, I'm familiar with all those songs but not from the radio. Wouldn't be the first time I thought that local radio sucked. I am sometimes astonished when I'm on the road and turn on the radio and hear something that would never be played back home. Ah well.... As for being offensive, I suppose that you're supporting my point that Dead fans can be loyal to the point of brittleness. Bagging on the Dead offends Dead fans, even when you're not really bagging on them. Sorry I got your dander up, but being offended is one of your constitutional rights.

Back to the OP's original topic, I can show some love for Phil by thanking him for his pioneering work on the six string bass, his very creative approach to amplification and sound reinforcement, and for helping put Alembic on the map. This, of course, gave us........ wait for it......


Active Pickups!!!!!! <---------- Heh, this'll screw up the Talkbass search algorithm.

And if you think we can argue about the Dead's popular relevency, wait till we start talking about active vs passive pickups.
Someone should start a thread about it....

I'm all for active pups, and passive too. I think you hit on something really big with Phil's technical innovations. It was the Dead as a whole that really pushed musical technology, as much FOH and lighting tech as instrument and amplification technology. They were pioneers of amplified musical concert technology.

 

[JMacBass65]

Active Pickups!!!!!! <---------- Heh, this'll screw up the Talkbass search algorithm.

Trouble maker! LOL!

A sure-fire conversation starter of a bumper sticker I saw recently:

"Jerry's dead, Phish sucks, get a job."

This is awesome!

 

[jerry]

Delay towers were also credited to the Dead!

 

[Frank Tuesday]

 

[DeaconBlues09]

I'd like point out that from a technical and theoretical position, Jam Band bassists are tasked with creating interesting and dynamically appropriate bass lines that shift and meld to match the mood and feel of the song as being played by every other instrument as it noodles its way into eternity.

Jam bands rarely play the same song the same way twice. And their bassists need to be adaptable in that respect.

Take the groove in the video posted below.

It is the only video of me playing that I posted to FB, and I shot it in response to a TBers question regarding how to compose a bass line over power chords in metal without merely pedaling roots and fives ad naseum, so I had my stepson chug away at an open E power chord in a metal style and laid down some grooves over it.


FWIW, I'm not trying to posit that my is exemplary, or even particularly good. However, it does illustrate the way a bassist might try to breath life into a 'chordally' repetitive groove that has shifting dynamics...

 

[StudioStuntz]

Never cared for them then, I'm liking them more now.

For me, it's OK when everyone is on the same page, supporting each other with every note or fill they use.

What I don't like is when one (fender bender) or all (train-wreck) members are trying to show you every lick and trick they know in that very one song.

 

[hobosong]

... members are trying to show you every lick and trick they know in that very one song.

I feel like you're talking about me here....because that's what I do

 

[StudioStuntz]

I feel like you're talking about me here....because that's what I do

I tried that live only once. It was on a Steinberger.

I was doing OK, in fact the audience was digging us, but once I started building up momentum, my left hand kept falling off the end of the neck.

Lucky for me iPhones and the internet were decades away.

 

[Basshappi]

Anyone playing in/listening to Jam Bands these days?
This would include improvisational music in general and not just the usual Grateful Dead/Phish style music.
If you are what is the current scene in your area, any luck with gigs? Where are you finding new bands?