Phil Lesh

[Garrett]

Happy Birthday to Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead)



March 15, 1940

One of the strongest intellects and most extraordinary musical talents in rock history, Phil Lesh re-defined what the bass could sound like, and in so doing heavily influenced what the Dead sounded like. Instead of being part of the rhythm section, Phil's bass was a low end guitar, and his improvised interplay with Garcia and Weir made the Dead rock band that it was. Raised in an eastern suburb of San Francisco, he began his music studies with classical violin before switching to "cool jazz" big band trumpet a la Stan Kenton. Later he studied with Luciano Berio and composed avant-garde music in the realm of Stockhausen. In 1965 he attended a Warlocks show at a pizza parlor in Menlo Park, and afterwards his friend Garcia informed him that he was the new bass player in the band. Fortunately for future Dead Heads, he said, "Why not"?

Source: http://www.dead.net/band/phil-lesh

[bobyoung]

I was not crazy about Phil's playing but I always thought he had a nice clear deep sound, I think like a lot of us his playing has mellowed with age.

[hieronymous]

I like Phil Lesh. Certainly not the best "traditional" bass player, but a very innovative, outside-the-box player. Certainly his involvement with what became Alembic and their explorations in sound had significant impact on the bass guitar. Happy birthday!

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

I wasn't a deadhead but saw 'em every few years & loved 'em!!!!

[clankenstein]

go phil.i cite him and jack cassady as primary reasons for me getting interested in them notes other than the root note.also their tones made me sit up and pay attention.

[hieronymous]

also their tones made me sit up and pay attention.

Nicely put!

[uwe]

Someone has to say it and with all due srespect for the man and his work with the Dead, but his sound on that first vid is the epitome of horrible to me! I don't care what he plays (the more the merrier), but that sound is crap. 

Second vid is a nice song though and his bass is pleasantly inaudible on that!

[bobyoung]

Someone has to say it and with all due srespect for the man and his work with the Dead, but his sound on that first vid is the epitome of horrible to me! I don't care what he plays (the more the merrier), but that sound is crap. 

Second vid is a nice song though and his bass is pleasantly inaudible on that!

I guess i should have listened to the videos before I commented, i think he would have sounded better if he had stuck to the lower register on the first video.

[hieronymous]

I'm not really an expert, but Phil's sound can be divided into several phases - early on he's pictured with a Jazz Bass, also a Gibson EB (O or 3, can't remember!). Then he starts using Guild Starfires, maybe concurrently with Jack Casady. Those get modified by Alembic, then Alembic starts building instruments for them. (The Gibson gets the mod treatment too - Bi Sonics and custom electronics.) Late-'70s he starts using a bass built by Doug Irwin, and at some point after that he moves over to Modulus (with a few stops along the way). In recent years he started using a Ritter, though he seems to still switch between that and the Modulus's (Moduli?).

I think many people prefer the Guild/Alembic phase - here's a video with some nice shots and the sound is pretty decent. Equipment-wise, it's the Alembic-modded Starfire, with flats played with a pick: