A place to talk about the music of the Grateful Dead
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By mkaufmanRe: Last night's show: the National Symphony Orchestra plays the music of Jerry Garcia Tue Sep 08, 2026 9:41 am -
By tdcrjeffRe: Last night's show: the National Symphony Orchestra plays the music of Jerry Garcia Tue Sep 08, 2026 7:35 am -
By TacosauceRe: Last night's show: the National Symphony Orchestra plays the music of Jerry Garcia Mon Sep 07, 2026 11:57 am -
By Jon S.Last night's show: the National Symphony Orchestra plays the music of Jerry Garcia Sat Sep 05, 2026 8:39 am -
By Darkstar860Re: Searching for a JBL K-120 Fri Aug 14, 2026 7:41 pm
I read some interview from maybe 78 where the question of lead playing was asked. I think his answer was basicly it wasn't his thing. It might be fun to try for a couple of gigs but playing lead for a whole tour would bore him. He is a fine slide guitar player and his licks and terrapin, minglewood, rooster, china cat and others lead me to beileve he would be great. I'd like to see the other ones get together as a basic rock quartet for a couple of shows and let bob play some lead/rhythm. I think he would handle it well.
I think that most of hte previous posters have got it- Bob doesn't play lead or rhythm, he plays guitar. He also does something very interesting, in that he plays partial chords that imply more notes than he's actually playing. He might play two or three notes yet you "hear" the full chord. If you listen to George Van Eps or Ed Bickert you'll hear much the same sort of thing in their chordal playing. (Actually, the whole Grateful Dead does this at times).
Most rock rhythm guitarists think in terms of fundamentals- they play the root and third and fifth, maybe a 7th. They use the CAGE chords and often play en entire song in a span of three frets. Bob plays up and down the neck, more often up, and tends to play leading tones rather than fundamentals. He plays lots of 9ths, 10ths, 11ths, b5ths, etc.
There was a great article in Acoustic Guitar a few years back that transcribed Jerry's abd Bob's parts on "Uncle John's Band" in which you see Bob playing extensions of the chords, often creating polychords momentarily and resolving them. That's part of what ofen makes it hard for people to transcribe Dead tunes correctly. Bobby thinks in jazz-type harmony a great deal of the time.
I've frequently been disappointed by Bob's tone- often thin and twangy and lost in the mix. He's playing this great stuff but you can barely hear him. At other times, what he's playing is so much of what you hear that it's hard to separate it out.
Most rock rhythm guitarists think in terms of fundamentals- they play the root and third and fifth, maybe a 7th. They use the CAGE chords and often play en entire song in a span of three frets. Bob plays up and down the neck, more often up, and tends to play leading tones rather than fundamentals. He plays lots of 9ths, 10ths, 11ths, b5ths, etc.
There was a great article in Acoustic Guitar a few years back that transcribed Jerry's abd Bob's parts on "Uncle John's Band" in which you see Bob playing extensions of the chords, often creating polychords momentarily and resolving them. That's part of what ofen makes it hard for people to transcribe Dead tunes correctly. Bobby thinks in jazz-type harmony a great deal of the time.
I've frequently been disappointed by Bob's tone- often thin and twangy and lost in the mix. He's playing this great stuff but you can barely hear him. At other times, what he's playing is so much of what you hear that it's hard to separate it out.
I definitely agree with Bobs tone being lost in the mix post 74, his tone was so thin that strumming a chord sounded like plucking a single note. I liked his 73-74 tone when he played that Gibson.
Bob not being in the mix isn't necessarily his fault. In fact it's not his fault at all. That is the sound guy. Plus if you look historically through the GD's gear Phil and Jerry were getting louder first and then Bobby.
However, his passion of the bridge pickup didn't help
However, his passion of the bridge pickup didn't help
Weir = unique player w/rare appreciation and extraordinary ear for harmony, physical good fortune of huge hands conspire w/harmonic gift to enable his fearless, adventurous sensibility to discover/invent all those never-before-played (and sometimes never again) voicings, leading notes, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, flatted fifths, etc, previous posters have mentioned. More a picker that a strummer, very unusual for a "rhythm" guy, that may have been his "chair" but actually something of a mischaracterization IMO.
All of which made him perfect foil for Gar, first and foremost a melody guy, and vice versa. No GD w/out both. Have heard it said GD was collection of lead players, def merit to that point of view. Suspect, though, that Weir's "lead" playing wouldn't really carry the day, except maybe in jazz setting; little evidence of requisite melodic sensibility. Never should've touched a slide, IMO.
And yeah, tone lamentable at times over the years, especially on that horrid plinky Ibanez (ca. late '70s-early '80s), long as he was playin that I'd have buried him in the mix too. (Not knocking Ibanez - Strat guy here but have mid-'80s Ibanez semi-hollow w/surprisingly hot orig pickups that I rather like.)
All of which made him perfect foil for Gar, first and foremost a melody guy, and vice versa. No GD w/out both. Have heard it said GD was collection of lead players, def merit to that point of view. Suspect, though, that Weir's "lead" playing wouldn't really carry the day, except maybe in jazz setting; little evidence of requisite melodic sensibility. Never should've touched a slide, IMO.
And yeah, tone lamentable at times over the years, especially on that horrid plinky Ibanez (ca. late '70s-early '80s), long as he was playin that I'd have buried him in the mix too. (Not knocking Ibanez - Strat guy here but have mid-'80s Ibanez semi-hollow w/surprisingly hot orig pickups that I rather like.)
i dont really know but at least post dead, the shows i,ve seen ,the other ones, the dead ,when Bob plays lead he goes way out there ,alittle out of balance. i have,nt seen ratdog ever , but i do have some vague memories of Weir in short shorts,playing a pink gutiar, with the collar up on his polo shirt, screaming his head off at the edge of the stage, being roped in by a thunderous phil bomb, or a rushed Garcia intro
