It seems there's been a lot of activity on the board about Phil's sound lately. I've been getting more into his early 70's sounds (Europe '72 being as good an example as anything). And listening to those early 70's shows in particular got thinking that a key part of Phil's sound is what's is played--and what is not played--around him.
Few of us will be lucky enough to be in a band that provides each member enough space to work with. I would suggest that a big part of Phil's sound is being able to hear him clearly without a rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist, and keyboard player stepping on his toes. In much of today's rock music the bass player hangs on the root, roughly doubling what another player plays. How could a bass have good, pure tone if it's constantly mixed in with another instrument? The Dead would often play so apart from one another that there was a wide highway for Phil to do his thing, and his bass was clearly audible. His tone was unpolluted by lots of competing sound. I also think that the contrast between Garcia's high-treble guitar and Phil's bass probably led Phil's bass to sound a little extra sweet.
I'm not saying Phil's basses, preamps, poweramps, etc. didn't matter, and Phil's hands, fingers, and heart matter a lot in his sound, too. But much like a photograph needs a subject and a background, good bass tone needs a great background, and for Phil it was the rest of the good ol' Grateful Dead.
Few of us will be lucky enough to be in a band that provides each member enough space to work with. I would suggest that a big part of Phil's sound is being able to hear him clearly without a rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist, and keyboard player stepping on his toes. In much of today's rock music the bass player hangs on the root, roughly doubling what another player plays. How could a bass have good, pure tone if it's constantly mixed in with another instrument? The Dead would often play so apart from one another that there was a wide highway for Phil to do his thing, and his bass was clearly audible. His tone was unpolluted by lots of competing sound. I also think that the contrast between Garcia's high-treble guitar and Phil's bass probably led Phil's bass to sound a little extra sweet.
I'm not saying Phil's basses, preamps, poweramps, etc. didn't matter, and Phil's hands, fingers, and heart matter a lot in his sound, too. But much like a photograph needs a subject and a background, good bass tone needs a great background, and for Phil it was the rest of the good ol' Grateful Dead.
...things we've never seen will seem familiar...