Conference napalm::guitar

    I LOVE the Dead. I just bought a Mu-Tron III envolope follower.
    Now I can play Shakedown Street and Uncle John's Band!
    
    -Dave

    
    
    I used to play in a bluegrass band and we did "Friend of the Devil"
    as well as some of the Old and In The Way stuff like "Midnight
    Moonlight".
    
    I've heard other bluegrass bands doing "Ripple", "Uncle John's Band",
    "Me and My Uncle", etc.
                                  
    

    Re. .1, Where did you buy the Mutron envelope follower ? I am
    assuming that it is used, is this correct ? How much did it set
    you back ?
    
    I saw Jerry Garcia and Bob on David Letterman last Thursday night.
    If I am not mistaken, I believe Jerry was using a Twin Reverb. I
    know Jerry was using twins years ago, but I thought he had started
    using other amps the last several years. I read somewhere where
    he was using Mesa Boogies, but that was at least 5 or 6 years ago.
    
    I read another article in Macworld magazine. It talked about how
    the Dead were using Macs with musical notation software, and were
    also using them to program Jerry's and Brent's synthesizers. It
    almost makes me want to buy a Mac computer for home. I finally
    could find some use for one. 
    
    
    							Mark J.
    
    

    I bought it from somebody here at DEC (thanks, Guy!). I paid 
    $50 for it, used of course.
    
    -Dave

I am new fan (c. 1yr) of the Dead (though not because of the new albumn). I am
also a new Bass player, and trying to learn some of Phils licks. The
stuff sounds really good on CD too! I'll keep you guys posted if I learn
anything useful.

greg

    Re. Phil's Licks. Are you familiar with Phil's custom made 6 string
    bass? This instrument has the usual 4 bass strings, plus 1 added
    on the treble side, and 1 added on the bass side. The net effect
    is that he can get bass notes lower and higher than a conventional bass.
    Some manufacterers offer 6 string basses, but they always have two
    extra strings on the high end, tuned like a guitar. I believe his bass
    was built by Alembic, and is tuned B E A D G B. 
    
    Take these ultra low notes he can play, and crank them out at about
    50,000 watts, and you can shake stadiums like no other bass player!
    
    I like his bass playing on the album Eorope 72 the best, especially
    on tunes like Cumberland Blues, and Truckin. It is a perfect matchup
    with Jerry's style.
    
    		
    							Mark J.
    
    

    
>    Take these ultra low notes he can play, and crank them out at about
>    50,000 watts, and you can shake stadiums like no other bass player!
 
    Yeah, at the recent Madison Square Garden show, those low notes
    came out in full force.  I didn't notice he had a 6-string, and
    I wondered how a 4-string could possibly produce those notes.  They
    were the lowest notes I ever saw come out of a bass.  In my opinion,
    though, such notes are too low to be "musical".
    
    What kind of frequencies are we talking about here, with the 1 extra
    low string?  Some of Phil's notes sounded like 20-30 Hz.
    
    Adam
    

    Actually, while 5 and 6 string basses built in the 60s tended to
    add higher pitched strings (B and E), the common practice nowadays
    is to add a B below E for the fith string and a B or C above G for
    the sixth.  
    
    The reasoning is that modern amplification can properly reproduce
    such low frequencies ....an open low E is 44 Hz, so the B must be
    down in the 30's somewhere.
    
    Try getting 30 Hz out of an old 50's vintage 4-10 Fender Bassman!!!!

I had heard he played a 6-string. And nope I don't have one. I'm still
learning to play the 4 i've got. If i ever get good I will probably
invest in a 6-string, and an amp that can produce the notes.

I guess when I play along with the albums (CD's actualy) I am just trying
to get the rythm right, and a 'good approximation' of the notes, or atleast
something that sounds close enough so that I feel like I am jammin'
with Jerry and the boys.

greg

    In order to handle these low notes which are probably around
    25-30 hertz, you need an amp with the frequency response to
    produce this signal, plus I believe you have to use at least
    a 15" speaker if not 18" to produce a signal with the long
    wave length. I believe Phil probably has some 30" drivers in
    his setup as well. In order to produce these frequencies with
    a high SPL (sound pressure level) it takes all kinds of power.
    The last writeup I read claimed that the Dead packed about
    50,000 watts of power, but this was a long time ago, and I'm
    sure they have added additional power since then. Phil has
    probably got 50,000 watts just for his bass !!
    
    	As far as the musical value of these notes. I believe that
    music is meaningless unless you can FEEL it ! While these notes
    may be near the threshold of audibility you can still feel the
    vibrations from these notes resonating throughout the concerthall
    and it adds a lot to the overall power of the band. Phil does not
    usually sit there and rattle the speakers (and the rafters) all
    night. He usually just uses a few well placed notes, just to 
    show the crowd how much power he has at his disposal. It also
    brings the crowds attention to him briefly, without actually 
    going into a "Bass Solo".
    
    						Mark J.
     

    Re: Power.
    
    The boyz use Mac amps.  You can see a rack of 3 or 4 behind Jerry.
    I don't know if they are the only amps.  They may only be for Jerry
    and Brent.
    
    I think its pretty classy for them to use Mac amps.  That stuff
    is pretty reputable (and powerful!).  Are they MC 2002's or something?
                                       
    Iko Iko,
    
    Adam
    

    I have a writeup on their equipment from 10 years ago, They were
    using Macintosh (I believe they were MC2500's. 2500 watts each)
    They had about 20 of them at the time, but I would imagine they
    are using more than that now.They were also using Alembic Speakers
    exclusively. I wonder what type of speakers they have suspended
    up on staging above the Band. The cabinets are all angled to form
    an arch. It's definately not the same type of speakers that made
    up their "Wall of sound" they used years ago. I haven't seen the
    band at an outdoor concert in years. Do they break out a different
    sytem when they play outdoors ?
    
    
    						Mark J.
    

    I'll take a crack at this, but I don't remember any details.
    
    When I saw them at Silver Stadium in Rochester, NY, they had (on
    each side of the stage) several woofers stacked side to side and
    on top of each other to form a big rectangle.  Then, above that,
    on the scaffolding, were some more smaller drivers, and then some
    more even higher up on the scaffolding.  I guess they put the tweeters
    on top.  There were some more speakers on a huge mast by the sound
    board, for the benefit of the bleacher seats.
    
    Sorry I don't have too many details, but I do know that the sound
    was AWESOME.  The bass was tight and clear, and the midrange was
    nice and loud to punch the vocals through.  It was just as loud
    as I wanted it, and soft enough so you could talk to your neighbor.
    
    Definitely the best concert I have ever been to, as far as sound
    quality, and overall.
    
    Sorry I got off the track a bit.  Had to put in a plug for the boyz.
    
    Adam
    

    This is all well and good, but what about GRATEFUL GUITARS?
    
    I play guitar.  I listen to the dead.  Hence, I play the dead.
    Haven't quite been able to get Jerry's sound from my setup (although
    I haven't really had the time/money/patience to try too hard), so
    it usually gets relegated to one of my acoustics - doesn't really
    matter to me, in fact, it sounds pretty nice.  It kinda upsets my
    roommate, though, when I whip out a guitar whilst he is in the middle
    of listening to a dead disc and ruin his audio fidelity... but he's
    gotta understand, if you've got an opportunity to Jam with the dead,
    you take it, no questions asked.  He (my roomie) plays guitar as
    well, but he thinks I'm better than him.  I think he's better than
    me.  Maybe the only reason he thinks I'm better is because I taught
    him his first dead tune.  A gift from the gods, so to speak.
    
    Anyway, what was the question?
    
    Jon
    

    When you talk Grateful Guitars, your not just talking about
    one sound, or style. For instance Jerry has played Acoustic,
    Banjo, Slide Pedal, Strat (this was his main axe for the longest
    time), and lately his red custom made axe with the wolf inlay.
    If you want to capture Jerry's acoustic style, you can do it
    on any flattop, its mainly the technique that's a challenge.
    As for the electric stuff, it a different story. If you want
    his sound from 72-77 timeframe, you definately need a Strat (or
    Strat clone) with an amp comparable to a twin reverb. Jerry always
    had a lot of sustain, but never really used distortion until 
    recent years (1979-present). The sustain came from using custom
    wound (high output) pickups, with a Twin reverb turned up to about
    6-7. He is known for using an out of phase sound, but the sound
    is decieving, and is not really produced by being out of phase.
    He has played quite a bit of slide, but I would not describe him
    as a slide wizzard. Recently,his most prominent sound has been from
    his Mutron envelope follower, as well as his Guitar Synthesizer.
    When you hear him in concert, you can tell he's using a great deal
    of digi-delay. Even with all of the right toys though, Jerry's style
    is hard to master. He has a way of getting the guitar to twang to
    the point of making a kind of "Glug" sound. His present guitar
    sounds like a strat sometimes, even though it has dual coils on
    it. He has coil cuts which gives him the single coil Fender sound
    if he wants it. As far as his playing technique, he uses a certain
    minor scale a lot in his soloing, which makes him easily identifyable.
    For instance if you listen to the tune New New Minglewood Blues
    off of Shakedown St. he has a pretty distorted sound for a change,
    but his playing style shines through quite distinctively.
    
    	More on Jerry's playing later, got to get some work done.
    
    	
    							Mark J.
    

    I last saw the Dead at the Fillmore East back around 1971 or so.
     At that concert, Jerry was using a Gibson ES-125 3/4 guitar, the
    oddest little thing I'd ever seen.  It looked like a miniature
    Les-Paul, with no cutaway, and a single 'soap-bar' pickup.  I later
    played on one at Sam Ash on 48th., and it turned out to be hollow,
    but had no f-holes.  I wanted that little thing in the worst of
    ways, but couldn't cough up the bread, short of selling my strat
    (and I didn't like it THAT much).  Anyway, there's a historical
    tidbit from the answer grape.
    					joe

    by the way, guess who's on the cover of next month's GP?

    
    I've been playing guitar for 4 years now, and when I started I was
    heavily into the Dead.  I mean, when I wanted to listen to music,
    the question wasn't what do I want to listen to, the question was
    what Dead music do I want to listen to.  I played only acoustic
    for a long time, so acoustic Dead is all I really can discuss as
    far as playing Dead is concerned.  The first music book I got was
    a songbook of "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead", and that's
    a lot of great acoustic Dead material for a guitar player.  I was
    able to play "Ripple" pretty quickly, the chords and changes are
    pretty simple, yet still interesting and definitely beautiful. 
    With time I was able to fit the lead part in too.  Other easily
    playable songs are "Friend of the Devil", "Uncle John's Band", "Dire
    Wolf", "Box of Rain"(but only if you're playing with the album).
    
         If you enjoy playing by ear, "Reckoning" is a great album to
    get.  Just tune your acoustic to the first song, and you can play
    along with Jerry for the whole album.  Most of the tunes are pretty
    simple and easy to follow, and jammin' with the Dead can be a
    transcendental experience!
    
    Goin' where the water tastes like wine....
    
    Dave