RIP Bob Weir

MikeK · January 10

How sad it is to hear that Bob Weir died today. 78 years old, and he beat a cancer diagnosis last year. What a man, what a talent. I know he wasn't a gypsy jazz guy but he (and the Dead) did more to bridge traditional types of music (country, jazz & bluegrass) with rock than any other band I can think of in American history. They mixed all those influences together and brought the results to the masses for decades, with that infectious spirit of jazz improvisation as only they could do. I think it was Elvis Costello who said "if it wasn't for the name The Grateful Dead, they would be considered the greatest jazz band in the world". And of course Jerry Garcia was a huge Django fan, so those influences were all over their music. RIP, Bobby Weir.

Buco · January 10

I just saw, sad news.

MikeK · January 11

I read somewhere that Weir modeled his rhythm guitar playing after McCoy Tyner's left hand. What a gift he gave Garcia to be able to have that to solo over.

Buco · January 14

He was incredibly granular about the job of rhythm guitar

https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/artist-lessons/bob-weir-rhythm-guitar-principles

MikeK · January 15

Legend has it that he knew 50 ways to play an A chord. We can all learn a lot from that notion.

Buco · January 15

I have never heard of this before:

"Overtones;

Given the nature of electric instruments, there's often a fair bit of distortion involved. The nature of that distortion will generally supply additional notes of the chord you're playing."

“If you're playing the root and fifth and getting a lot of distortion and overtones, a subharmonic will supply the missing third of the chord. That's psycho-acoustics.

“Often times it's just the physics of acoustics. When you go to a root and sixth the subharmonic goes to a fourth below, which will also give you your chord. This is dense harmonic stuff, and given the nature of electric instruments, all of this is always happening anyway."

Does this really happen? It's brilliant to even think in these terms.

MikeK · January 15

Super smart guy and monster player. And a friend once brought to my attention this little tidbit: since Weir joined (formed) the band that became the Dead at around the age of 17, he probably never worked a day in his life (save for the 1000's of gigs he played over 60+ years of doing it). Never flipped a burger, mowed a lawn, waited on a table for a buck, etc. A true lifetime musician who has left a legacy of music behind for all of us (and generations to come) to enjoy.

paulmcevoy75 · January 16

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/124148#Comment_124148

I don't think that's psycho-acoustics, just acoustics.

Every note you play has overtones, you get a weird scale of overtones but yeah, you do get a third, if I remember it's a bit flat. You also, oddly, get a very flat minor 7th, which always strikes me as odd.

There's a bit about that in the Miles Okizaki Fundamentals of Guitar book. Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu is pretty much entirely about this whole idea, it's probably the best book about music I've ever read, by a long shot. Both practical and theoretical at the same time. Really beautiful experience going through the first third of the book.

I believe that's why "power chords" work.