Grateful Dead Music Forum

Why are there no dead bass tabs anywhere? I know there are a few websites with tabs but nothing to this or even close to this extent. So if anyone knows a good website that would be really appreciated!

i agree, though the few bass tabs they do have on here are very basic.

what i do is just look up the tune i wanna play, grab the chord structure, then hit up this post for the scale and key to play in.

it gets the job done, but then again, i feel its better to firgure out lesh's runs by ear rather than read them off a web page. though trying to play exactly like phil is like repainting the mona lisa stroke for stroke

I agree. I myself am not a bassist. Although I occasionally mess around with a bass i play 6 string but I have a friend that I jam with alot and he isnt the greatest just yet so he cant really pick up a song without some preface. And I have trouble comin up with bass riffs because i think too much about what i would play as a guitarist so yeah we should add a bass section to this site and have people submit some tunes. I could submit a live version tab of Loser and Morning Dew. Well at least the first couple verses of each. But that would be enough to get the feel.

I was always under the impression that the lack of tabs was because Phil improvised so much that -- he just found a key and scale and worked with it. Although really when you think about it, isnt that all that Jerry did?

you pretty much need to know your modes and scales and your set. ive only been playing bass for 2 years and ive had a 6 string for a year, a teacher showed me mixolydian mode and i just mess around with that all day...

but getting back on topic, just make up your own funky bass lines. i often listen to bluegrass, country, soul, etc. and incorporate the bass lines into dead songs. its pretty cool if you know what your doing and aren't flailing around.

CaptainTrips wrote:Although really when you think about it, isnt that all that Jerry did?

Yep. And we have plenty of (at least opinions of) specific tabs to specific Jerry parts of songs (even though he played so many things so many different ways at each performance), so why not Phil tabs too??? Plenty of fairly specific little runs and riffs for ALL of the hundreds of songs.

I'll bite: because a bassist with the know-how and ear and willingness and time to do it just hasn't shown up on this site and DONE it.

G|--------------------------------------
D|--------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------

or

B|--------------------------------------
G|--------------------------------------
D|--------------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------
B|--------------------------------------

I'm a bass player in a Grateful Dead cover band.

It's a mix of 1) having the time 2) getting it right 3) deciding actually *how* it should be played

Often it's far better to play over the chord structure (or against it, even) and jam like mad.

maximinus wrote:Often it's far better to play over the chord structure (or against it, even) and jam like mad.

That's great as an overall philosophy (inclusive of guitarists and all players) but frequently songs have signature passages that benefit greatly from knowledge of exactly how a certain piece of melody was typically played or harmonized. Examples off the top of my head might be Lazy Lighning, St. Stephen, Cassidy, Playin In The Band, Bird Song, Crazy Fingers...

I just think that for an earlish bass player a little bit of the song or all of it would help out alot

I hope someone does it - I know my brother, who plays bass in our band, could greatly benefit from it, and maybe even contribute to it.

LET'S GO BASS PLAYERS! STEP UP TO THE PLATE!

DON'T BE SHY!

i mean, i could tab out what i know for each grateful dead song i'm able to play, but that would include giving references and links to each individual song, and that could get frustrating.

either way, i'll start this as my new little side project. give me like a week and i'll start us off

pinkfloyd188 wrote:that would include giving references and links to each individual song, and that could get frustrating.

Not necessarily so imo, but then you'd know how people like ebick or J. Darks, etc. sometimes feel. Shit, for starters, I'll step up and bass tab one request... might take awhile. Any req's?

yay these last 2 responses is what everyone wants, personnaly i would request a pretty basic list of keys for the bass or The Other One on DP 28 or what ever you bass players wanna tab out

There is already a thread for keys and scales. The list will be the same for all instruments and voices. I thought we were talking about tabbing a song's particular bass lines and turnarounds, etc. (from which to freely deviate)

started a new post for some bass tabs, check it out and feel free to add/comment at will.

http://community.rukind.org/viewtopic.php?t=1640