Grateful Dead Essay - 1500 Words

Throughout history there have been many musical quot;influencesquot;. One extremely important influence to modern music is The Grateful Dead. The group was formed in 1965 by bluegrass - enthusiast Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Ron quot;Pigpenquot; McKernan on vocals and organ, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, classical music student Phil Lesh on bass and vocals, and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. From the beginning, they brought together a variety of influences, from Garcias country background to Pigpens feeling for blues (his father was an Ramp;B radio DJ) and Leshs education in contemporary seriousquot; music. Add to that, the experimentation encouraged at some of the groups first performances at novelist Ken Keseys†¦show more content†¦Grisman is a still a renowned mandolinist, but while with Garcia, they both explored the bluegrass scene. This was Jerrys quot;foundationquot; for his musical contributions to the Grateful Dead. Without Jerrys influence, the Grateful Dead would not have its distinct earthy timbre or feel that has been extremely significant in attracting their particular following. Another contribution to the Deads style was bassist Phil Lesh. With only formal jazz training on the trumpet, Lesh picked up a bass and learned as he went while playing with the Grateful Deads then nucleus, The Warlocks. Lesh is famous for his jazz improvisational style. This particular style usually finds his fingers running up and down the neck of a five or six string bass (seen right), dropping what are affectionately known to fans as quot;Phil Bombsquot;, furiously low frequency notes that tend to rumble in auditoriums and can only be created with a five or six string bass. As one can well imagine, these two aforementioned styles together could create somewhat of an interesting style. Well, it only gets better. Bill Kreutzmann, the quot;heartbeatquot; of the Grateful Dead, had been behind a kit since the age of eleven when Jerry Garcia met him in 1962. His early love of drums allowed him to be heavily involved in the quot;rock and rollquot; scene. As a teen, Kreutzmann even created rock in roll bands in which to play, as the interest was barely there. After meetingShow MoreRelatedEssay on Grateful Dead1540 Words   |  7 PagesGrateful Dead The Grateful Dead, the most popular so called underground band of all time. This band has underwent many changes, some good and others bad throughout their thirty or so years of performing. I plan to prove that a band that has remained together for thirty plus years isn’t as easy as many would assume. In fact I would have to say the â€Å"down† times in the band almost equal the outrageously great time they had. 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