One of those highlights was 1995’s biggest bust-out, “Unkroken Chain”, the holy grail for Lesh lushes that had never been played live despite its inclusion on the From The Mars Hotel LP in 1974. The rare jam on the riff of their 1965 song “Caution: Do Not Stop On Tracks” served as the alley-oop pass, and Lesh’s “Other One” intro was a slam dunk that shattered the backboard Moses Malone-style. Brent Mydland – keyboards (1979-1990) To my knowledge he was playing a heavily modded Guild Starfire bass with two guild humbucker pickups through a few macintosh amps. Then, a PA overload resulted in some of Lesh’s loudest-ever blasts during the “fly away” section of “Wharf Rat”, which Weir followed by throwing any remaining restraint overboard and delivering a maniacal “Sugar Magnolia” complete with a short rap about dreams and Aborigines and some near-primal screams at its conclusion. Connor: bsee Senior Member Username: bsee Post Number: 2497 Registered: 3-2004 Youtube. By the time the band was coming out of the “Space” segment, it had gotten to the point where Weir saw fit to try out his “Bob Star” ditty for a second and final time as a lead-in to a shorter but forceful version of “The Other One”. I would have to guess boost the Mids and add some treble to get some of his Dark Star/other ones/Playin' sounds. The first set’s highlights came from the faster, electric version of “Friend Of The Devil” and the extended jams on “Bird Song” and “Playing In The Band”. For the better part of 50 years, non-Deadheads living in Deadhead-adjacent locations have been learning all about Phil Lesh’s rumbling bass introduction to “The Other One”—whether they wanted to or not. Phil and Dan met (photo) at the June 22 “Phil Lesh & Friends” show in Gilford NH. The band had limited the use of the MIDI technology to the “Space” segment of the show until that year’s fall tour so they could experiment more freely, but on this day Lesh went wild with his new toys about halfway through the segment and generated a truly brain-bending segment of sound overload. As the string of choice for Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna bass legend Jack Casady and the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh during the heyday of the ’60s, Pyramid Golds were part of the psychedelic San Francisco sound. Dan notes, “Phil arranged for my wife and me to come backstage during their intermission. Shortly thereafter, Phil ushered in the second-ever versions of “Eyes Of The World” and “China Doll” to keep things moving for another 25 minutes. Ritter TV. Even the folks that can’t remember being there haven’t forgotten about this one. eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'liveforlivemusic_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',140,'0','0']));Garcia’s gorgeous re-entry three minutes later came in the form of three of the sweetest notes he ever played onstage. The show is vintage 1972 non-Pigpen Grateful Dead, but it’s long been overshadowed, unfairly, by two earlier nights from this run as well as the next show on August 27th in Veneta, Oregon. Once again, we’ve linked to an audience recording here because the crowd’s cheering after each line is as much a part of this performance as the band’s singing and playing. CX-3 strings can be used on any bass where a flexible sounding string is required. Famed for his three-decade stint as the bassist with the Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh was born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, CA; rooted in jazz and classical performance, he initially explored the violin and trumpet, and while attending Mills College studied avant-garde composition and electronic music under the tutelage of Luciano Berio. The original Guild Starfire Bass II was introduced in 1967, at the height of the psychedelic rock era, and the bass found its way into the hands of two of the scene’s most prominent players: Jefferson Airplane’s Jack Casady and the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh. Also, by the time Alemibc was done with the modding, the only part of that bass that was still Guild would've been the wooden body itself. I believe he was mainly using the Alembic star bass during that year. This is from disc 2 of Dick's Picks vol.34. The run’s opening night on June 14th got off to a strong start but had to be halted after five songs because of technical issues. She was the girlfriend of Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, and introduced the two of them — Rick had done an inlay on a bass for Jesse Colin Young, so she thought they’d have something to talk about. However, we’re probably just as bummed out as he is about the COVID-19 crisis prompting the postponement of this weekend’s run of three Phil & Friends shows at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY to celebrate the successful installation of Phil Version 8.0. Phil Lesh and his short scale Series II 6-string bass « Reply #24 on: February 18, 2016, 04:12:54 PM » Yeah, you would probably be more likely to see The Dead - that's the other three surviving members of the Grateful Dead, currently with John Mayer on guitar and Oteil Burbridge on bass. Phil Lesh with The Grateful Dead live in 1974 with Custom Alembic In the late 1970s Lesh briefly played a Fender Jazz and a handmade Doug Irwin bass (Irwin had built Jerry Garcia’s iconic Tyger and Wolf guitars amongst others). PHIL LESH & THE TERRAPIN FAMILY BAND - "Uncle John's Band" (Terrapin Crossroads 2017) #JAMINTHEVAN - Duration: 8 minutes, 13 seconds. Among today's players, Phil especially likes the playing of Weather Report's Jaco Pastorius. It also helps that the recording that does exist is an amazing one, and it was engineered by Owsley “Bear” Stanley* who, fresh out of federal prison after serving two years for manufacturing LSD, caught lightning in a bottle on this night. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy. I saw most of these forums and interviews also, I was hoping to find some generic knowledge, meaning I don't literally need to sound exactly like him, but how do I get my bass to sound "equal" across all the strings anywhere on the neck? 29, and quickly sold out. Phil Lesh would not have reached the age of 80 without the liver transplant he received in 1998, and if you’ve seen him perform live since then you’ve heard him advocate for becoming an organ donor ahead of the encore at every show he plays: “All you have to do is tell your family: ‘If something ever happens to me, I want to be an organ donor.’” Lesh’s printable donor card can be found here. He also used a Fender Dual Showman. It’s difficult to find an entire show from these two years that holds up compared to earlier years, but there were still parts of shows that were strong, along with individual highlights to be found here and there. This show finally received its long-awaited official release in 2019 as Dave’s Picks Vol. At this point some, of you may be thinking: “Hey man! Ritter Swordsteel strings. Twitter. I'm talking about the actual tone of the instrument and stack, not the playing...luckily I grew up on Phil and can play like him (sorta), [–]Ferniff 1 point2 points3 points 5 years ago (0 children). What we can do, however, is take a stroll back through his 30 years and 2,314 shows with the Grateful Dead and find 10 shows containing some of our favorite Phil Lesh moments. A Lakland four string has been used during sessions for the Kottke duo albums and a Gibson Thunderbird featured heavily on the 2014 solo disc, Overstep. So far, so normal, but after around 15 minutes, the band backed off to create an on-the-spot opportunity for Lesh to deliver one of the most gloriously unkempt bass solos in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Phil Lesh Modulus Mini 6 String Bass Replica The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh’s Modulus 6-String Bass Replica Collectibles were commissioned when they toured with Furthur. They also have great tone - not too bright since our basses are very responsive in the upper frequencies. Rick Beato Recommended for you. The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. Mult-screw neck joint. Other highlights of this show included the “Here Comes Sunshine” that kicked off the second set and the “Box of Rain”, which had been added back into the live repertoire in the wake of Pigpen’s departure. Not for the first time, the combination of New York and an exceptional guest musician brought out the best in the Grateful Dead. Sadly, this little classic was retired from the Grateful Dead’s repertoire after only four performances, so we can think of this one as the “deep cut” from this list. The modded Guild saw most of its action during 72 but was used on occasion throughout the 70's as a backup I think. *It would be very difficult to overstate the influence that Owsley “Bear” Stanley (1935-2011) had on the Grateful Dead. Oh, and apologies in advance if we left out your favorite Lesh moment from the ’60s or from the ’74 Wall of Sound shows. But this show has a lot more to offer than just “Keep On Growing”: Garcia would bust out the first “Stagger Lee” since 1982 as the very next song, and later he’d start the second set with “Morning Dew” for the first time since 1973 before busting out the first “Comes A Time” since 1980 just two songs later. The most visually striking bass in Gordon’s arsenal is his Moiré bass, built by Ben Lewry of Visionary Instruments. Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals (1965-1995) So much of a players sound comes from them and the way the play more than what they play. Anyway, enough with the preliminaries. This legendary version from Cape Cod Coliseum during Mydland’s first year with the band, however, is the one that makes just about everyone’s shortlist. Whatever “it” was, it prompted one of the most over-the-top second sets in the Grateful Dead’s 30-year history—and “it” may well have been Lesh, who responded to all of the above by dropping a week’s worth of bass bombs in 100 minutes. 16:10. As was so often the case, the centerpiece of this show was the big jam in the second set, which kicked off with a beautiful “Dark Star”. This version remains our favorite and gets the nod here because this was one of the nine shows Hornsby played with the Grateful Dead band after leaving as a full-time member after the Spring Tour in 1992. We’re going to finish up and send you on your way with one more “Other One intro” show, but one that’s a little less widely known. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'liveforlivemusic_com-banner-1','ezslot_5',132,'0','0'])); Once Lesh began singing again in 1984, it didn’t take too long for parking lot speculation on whether his signature song “Box Of Rain” might make its return to Grateful Dead shows. While Doug Irwin built for Phil as well, he mainly used Alembic and six-string Modulus basses for the rest of his years with the Grateful Dead. Can anyone point me in the right direction to achieve this sound? It's an interview with Phil about his tone We spent about twenty minutes discussing everything from bass strings to the challenges – and joys – of raising sons. As you can hear, his tone is extremely well balanced and cuts through the guitars and keyboards...something that I cant seem to do with my Frankenbass precision with Lollar pickups. The momentum carried through to a rip-roaring version of “The Other One”, complete with a great 6-string version of his bass intro and Weir’s manipulated vocals courtesy of soundman Dan Healy. At the beginning of the song’s closing jam, he made an unexpected creative decision to start popping his strings funk-style (at about the 8:15 mark of this recording) to the surprise and delight of his bandmates, who responded in kind. The song was in regular rotation by the time the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with a run at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre in June, but now Phil needed another one to go with it. Mickey Hart – drums (1967-1971, 1975-1995) http://www.rukind.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=7431, http://www.jambase.com/Forums/Thread.aspx?topic=1&thread=37476. The opening “Shakedown Street”, however, featured Lesh’s new Modulus bass and its looser string tone prominently. Tom “T.C.” Constanten – keyboards 1968-70 They can allow a guitarist  to pluck a string and have it sound like a woodwind or brass instrument, or whatever else they wanted, essentially turning a guitar or a bass into a portable synthesizer that could also “play” stored sound samples. The trapezoid pickups (which I believe we're even touch sensitive and actually connected to a computer on the output side) were made by Alembic and/or The Bear. Lesh provided bass, with Ross James and Grahame Lesh on guitar and vocals. Hi all, recently I've been learning my favorite Primus tunes again and I noticed that I'm probably not using the best strings for it. In honor of Phil Lesh's 80th birthday on Sunday, we present an expanded version of Dave Schools’ conversation with Phil from our February-March 2009 Best bass strings for strumming? New Bass Day (NBD) and Gear posts go into the weekly threads. Unfortunately, the source material here cuts out 16 minutes into “The Other One”, but the minutes it includes are the 16 minutes you’d most want to hear. Ok, so I'm wondering how to get Phil Lesh's tone with my current setup. We’ve included an audience recording here so you can hear the crowd cheering when Phil starts to sing his solo lines in the second verse. [Audio: Jonathan Aizen]eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'liveforlivemusic_com-box-4','ezslot_4',133,'0','0'])); One of the best “post-coma” era shows from 1986 to 1995, prompted by jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ third appearance with the band in 18 months. Requests for tab should be made in /r/basstabs and will be removed from /r/bass. The fact that it leads into one of the Grateful Dead’s biggest and best songs certainly doesn’t hurt, either, though whenever folks try to determine a “best-ever” or even a “definitive” version of Phil’s bass intro, things can get slippery. Get an ad-free experience with special benefits, and directly support Reddit. It’s always been one of those things that just seemed to make people stop their cassette, rewind it 30 seconds or so, and then turn the stereo up louder before playing it again. How can I still drop bass bombs but not muddy up the low register? The band only waited two shows (until the tour’s next stop in Charlotte) to play it again. "It had telephone poles for strings. Isn't that what a compression pedal is for? I have one on my multieffects pedal but can not get to work right but it sounds like to me that's what you'll need to get more balance. New bassists, please listen to James Jamerson. 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