This is all pretty abstract, not sure how to make a video of it. Words will have to do. 
Row Row Row Your Boat (RRRYB?) is a very specific type of counterpoint - it's a Round, or a very simple Fugue. A fugue is a piece of music where two or more instruments play the same melody but starting on different beats, so each one echoes the other. It takes some pretty careful composition for the various voices not to clash with each other. Trey used this technique a lot in his early years, the most notable example I can think of off the top of my head is "It's Ice" but there are a ton more, usually between him and Page or sometimes various vocal lines. Bach wrote a ton of them especially for pipe organs, usually in the form of a Toccata and Fugue, meaning a jaunty lighthearted opening movement followed by a big powerful fugue, where the organist would have three or more versions of the melody going and often underlying chords too, all juggled between his/her hands and feet. The highest line usually goes first and serves as the main melody (Jerry) followed by a middle voice (Bobby/Keith) and the bass voice or pedals (Phil). Often later the higher voices blend into a texture while the bass voice serves as a big melody underneath.
Ordinary counterpoint is similar in idea, the main difference being that the voices are playing different melodies rather than the same one. It's way easier to improvise, of course. Phil definitely had all this knowledge before the Dead formed and consciously used it to make himself sound different than other bass players.
Most rock bands are Vertical while the GD are primarily Linear. The passage you're describing is one of the few examples where they do something specifically Vertical and in a very Bach-like way. It could be a voice-leading exercise in any theory book.
Row Row Row Your Boat (RRRYB?) is a very specific type of counterpoint - it's a Round, or a very simple Fugue. A fugue is a piece of music where two or more instruments play the same melody but starting on different beats, so each one echoes the other. It takes some pretty careful composition for the various voices not to clash with each other. Trey used this technique a lot in his early years, the most notable example I can think of off the top of my head is "It's Ice" but there are a ton more, usually between him and Page or sometimes various vocal lines. Bach wrote a ton of them especially for pipe organs, usually in the form of a Toccata and Fugue, meaning a jaunty lighthearted opening movement followed by a big powerful fugue, where the organist would have three or more versions of the melody going and often underlying chords too, all juggled between his/her hands and feet. The highest line usually goes first and serves as the main melody (Jerry) followed by a middle voice (Bobby/Keith) and the bass voice or pedals (Phil). Often later the higher voices blend into a texture while the bass voice serves as a big melody underneath.
Ordinary counterpoint is similar in idea, the main difference being that the voices are playing different melodies rather than the same one. It's way easier to improvise, of course. Phil definitely had all this knowledge before the Dead formed and consciously used it to make himself sound different than other bass players.
strumminsix wrote: Phil talks about this in his book with an example, sorta like:He's describing a Hemiola there, more of a rhythmic device than straight-ahead counterpoint.
One guy is playing a line in 4, the other in 6, the other in 8 and the mega counterpoint resolution on 24.
then there is the contrary motion (one goes up, one goes done) - like in the pre-solo progression in Morning Dew! My favorite Philism!The one before the first solo? That's closer to a voice-leading kind of thing - again involving good old Bach. Before Bach, music was almost nothing but counterpoint, with only a few casual guidelines to make sure the voices didn't clash too much or run in parallel motion. It was Bach who reorganized music so that all voices served a harmonic purpose first and a melodic purpose second. In theory terms they call Bach's music Vertical meaning Harmonic and pre-Bach Horizontal or Linear meaning that all the voices were primarily Melodic.
Most rock bands are Vertical while the GD are primarily Linear. The passage you're describing is one of the few examples where they do something specifically Vertical and in a very Bach-like way. It could be a voice-leading exercise in any theory book.
