Grateful Dead Music Forum

Yo Vic
Dude I'm picking up some nice riffs and stuff from the vid ... just watching where your hands go is great for picking out stuff ... you make it seem so easy !
thanks for taking the time to post the vid

playingdead wrote:Actually, eventually the Dead did the bombs in Bertha the same way every time:

Each verse has four lyric lines (1,2,3,4).

First time around on guitar solo:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 2
4) bomb on 3

Solo over chorus, then second time around:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 4
4) bomb on 5 (the "1" on the second measure)

Third verse:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 2
4) bomb on 4

So, it's 2-3, 4-5, 2-4. These are the little things that set apart the bands covering the Dead. It knocks me out when I see people picking up these subtleties.

We fumbled it a little bit here, but you get the idea (starts at 2:30 or so ... watch Jimbo, LOL):

Thanks! I'll give a later Bertha a listen with this in mind. I've been hitting them whenever Dan S cues them, but that sounds about right.

Interesting insight.... For me, I never really liked the way they settled into hitting the Bertha bombs a certain way. Personally I'd rather keep things loose and hit the bombs whenever I damn well please. It's the Dead, not a slick vegas show! Once your fingers know by muscle memory when you're all going to hit the bombs, there's no more reason to keep your brain engaged in the music. I like to keep things wild... rattle the cage... push the edge... shake it up just for the sake of chaos and see what happens. Sometimes I like to see surprise in the audience's face when I find the perfect spot to hit something neither they or I were expecting.

None of this is meant as criticism or anything like that of course.... I'm just always interested in different musical philosophies and approaches to playing.

playingdead wrote:My all time favorite Dead tune, first one I tried to learn on the guitar.

Really digging the bass starting at around 5:00.. Great job on the solo Vic - spot on. Jack Straw is also my favorite song to play. I could play the second (or first) solo all night long.

Rusty the Scoob wrote:

playingdead wrote:Actually, eventually the Dead did the bombs in Bertha the same way every time:

Each verse has four lyric lines (1,2,3,4).

First time around on guitar solo:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 2
4) bomb on 3

Solo over chorus, then second time around:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 4
4) bomb on 5 (the "1" on the second measure)

Third verse:

1) no bomb
2) no bomb
3) bomb on 2
4) bomb on 4

So, it's 2-3, 4-5, 2-4. These are the little things that set apart the bands covering the Dead. It knocks me out when I see people picking up these subtleties.

We fumbled it a little bit here, but you get the idea (starts at 2:30 or so ... watch Jimbo, LOL):

Thanks! I'll give a later Bertha a listen with this in mind. I've been hitting them whenever Dan S cues them, but that sounds about right.

Interesting insight.... For me, I never really liked the way they settled into hitting the Bertha bombs a certain way. Personally I'd rather keep things loose and hit the bombs whenever I damn well please. It's the Dead, not a slick vegas show! Once your fingers know by muscle memory when you're all going to hit the bombs, there's no more reason to keep your brain engaged in the music. I like to keep things wild... rattle the cage... push the edge... shake it up just for the sake of chaos and see what happens. Sometimes I like to see surprise in the audience's face when I find the perfect spot to hit something neither they or I were expecting.

None of this is meant as criticism or anything like that of course.... I'm just always interested in different musical philosophies and approaches to playing.

"Planned Spontaniety" can take the improvisational and intuitive nature out of your performance, sometimes the planned parts come out great when your're "gettin' it" as a band, but it can sound cheesy if you just are not on top of your game for whatever reason. What I do notice being a bass player is the ability to shift the direction of a jam, influence dynamics, etc. I miss playing the live jams.

I just need to find some like minded, talented, and Deadicated musicians in the Philly burb area to get back in the gig circuit again (my band recently broke up after going through different incarnations since 1993). All good things in all good time eh?

I think it's one of the coolest things about that song ... drum fills, organ swells, lead guitar solo all centered around a shifting accent. Absolute quintessential Deadness to that arrangement, it spices up an otherwise very rudimentary tune.