Saw my first Phish show the other night...

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

The whale thing is pretty cool I think, I actually posted here about it after I went to the come back shows at Hampton. Gives him the ability to bend in very non traditional sounding ways. Lets him work those partial bends, kind of an eastern vibe to things.

I just drove from FL to NJ and caught the July 4th show on XM. It hit me that the whale thing really gives Trey a very Coltrane-esque quality to his soloing and phrasing. That influence has always been there but it was never as fluid as a horn player due to the "limitations" of a stringed instrument like a guitar. The whale thing smooths it out just enough to take it to a very horn-like dimension.

Wish i was at that show, only caught one of the summer tour dates.

[Rusty the Scoob]

Ok, I'm not much of a guitar player but a huge Phishead since 1994 or so, so help me out... he's had the Digitech Whammy for years, what's so new about it?

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

I'm not even sure the whale thing is coming from the Digitech unit. If it is, it's a completely different setting than he used to use. Before it was major pitch shifting and bending, this is different, hard to describe.

[paulinnc]

I think I went to my 50th show the other night in Charlotte. It was fun and they were really on that night, I think it was the best of the 5 shows I went to on this tour.

[jeffm725]

I'm not even sure the whale thing is coming from the Digitech unit. If it is, it's a completely different setting than he used to use. Before it was major pitch shifting and bending, this is different, hard to describe.

he has had it for years, but he found a new application for it, and starting with the Fenway Park show it was placed in a position of prominence for easy of access right under his mic stand. His 'old" primary use of the whammy was usually to sample a phrase into the boomerang for the funk siren. (think 97-00).
Now he uses it for note bending and while he may be over-indulging, to my guitar playing half of the brain what he is doing with it is mind blowing. It is hard enough to improvise in an interesting manner for the periods he does. Now add to that the fact that he has to play his phrases in different positions (usually either a 1/2 step to a full step above or below the target note) and then uses the whammy to bend up or down to the target note. The sheer technical ability and skill needed to pull that off at the speed he does simply makes me want to stop playing guitar! He is not just using it to bend up to a single note or chord like Jerry would do on Corrina, but playing whole scales and modes where he is bending up and down to every note! AND WITH SPEED! Think about that!

It gives it a fretless sound sometimes. A slide type sound others, and as previously mentioned an eastern flavor (sitarish?)

oh ,
first show:
Summer of 1988 (they opened for Max Creek!)
last show 6/17/10

[bodiddley]

Does Trey ever play slide?

[Capt Rosebuddy]

here's maybe a good example of what's Trey's up to with the Whammy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJApFHVy ... re=related

around 5:35 or so he really starts leaning on it hard/ I actually like the tones he's getting out of it, the thing is that it just I think gives kind of a "wobbly" feel to the solo's/jams. Also it kind of throws off Trey's usual authoritative phrasing . Like I said it's a new toy, and overall it's a plus but sometimes enough is enough. Actually the solo from Farmhouse that night might be a better example but they kind of butcher the first section and it might not be such a good buttress to my argument of the awesomeness of 2010 Phish.



And this is a pretty good example of what the band as a whole is up to in 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jnN-2pp ... re=related
I was down close that night and it was absolutely crazy! So good to see the guys relaxed and enjoying themselves again.

and finally since we're measuring..
7/18/92 first show. I was 16

[Capt Rosebuddy]

Does Trey ever play slide?

No

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

Jeff that's a great post, thanks. Fretless is a good way to put it. It does sound like that. I remember when I went to Hampton for the reunion shows, I posted a thread here and I think I was raving about his application of the bend pedal which I know realize was his trusty digitech whammy.

It's funny, I was poking around the net and it's now such a hot button topic for criticism. Some phans love it, some rip Trey for over indulging. I think it's outstanding and as you mentioned, it takes a pretty high skill level to pull it off like he does.

For me it gives him a very Eastern vibe, partial tones, things like that. It is so hard to be original on the guitar, it's such a derivative thing playing guitar, we accumulate licks and try to mimic tones and styles from various players. I am amazed if I go a day without playing at least 4 Albert King licks. It's hard to do something unique. Kind of why guys like Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead just blow me away.

Trey has always had his own sound and this is just another example of him reinventing the way he plays. For those who have been on the fence with Phish or haven't seen them since the collapse, find a way to hit a show or two.

[bodiddley]

One more silly noob Phish question: Does anyone in the band ever play any type of horns? The only reason I ask this is because I was talking to some dude that claimed a family member knew the horn player from Phish, and the whole time he was telling me this I was thinking, "Either one of them is completely full of shit, or they are confused with some other band".

[Capt Rosebuddy]

One more silly noob Phish question: Does anyone in the band ever play any type of horns? The only reason I ask this is because I was talking to some dude that claimed a family member knew the horn player from Phish, and the whole time he was telling me this I was thinking, "Either one of them is completely full of shit, or they are confused with some other band".

Could be one of two things, in the summer of 1991 Phish took "The Giant County Horns" on the road with them. The GCH where a three piece horn section consisting of: Dave "The Truth" Grippo, Carl "Gears" Gerhard and Russell Remmington (alto sax, trumpet, and tenor sax respectively). There have been some other appearances of horns throughout the years but they are rare, Michael Ray and the cosmic country horns in '94, some of the original GCH for a show at the Flynn in Burlington in '97 and Gerhard came out at a Hampton show in '98.

Secondly Fishman has been known to, in lue of a vacuum solo take the occasional trombone solo, but he's a long way from a virtuoso on the instrument.

[Rusty the Scoob]

Fishman's trombone playing was mostly a precursor to the vacuum, before he had his "technique" down. (It does sound like it takes some practice to control it like he does, even though he's just being silly with it.) It came in the same part of the show, some silly cover near the end of Set 2, with Trey taking over the drums.

Besides the one-off shows mentioned above, Trey also had horns for almost every one of his tours. (his first one or two short tours were trio or duo only) A lot of non-phishheads make no distinction between a TAB tour and a Phish tour - so your dude's friend might know one of those horn players.

[paulinnc]

I don't understand why all the Furthur wooks hate on Phish. Can anyone help me out with that?

[bodiddley]

I don't understand why all the Furthur wooks hate on Phish. Can anyone help me out with that?

Because when their not busy rippin' on Bob or Phil, Phish is the next easiest target.

[paulinnc]

I don't understand why all the Furthur wooks hate on Phish. Can anyone help me out with that?

Because when their not busy rippin' on Bob or Phil, Phish is the next easiest target.

If they don't like it, why go then? I suppose when you are not living right it is easy to lash out at other things.