Bob Weir

@goofyfoot 

The only way to explain this is to delve into music theory and this doesn't seem the right place to do that.

What I can say is that is you were to listen to Weir's rhythm guitar in isolation, it might sound "off" to you, compared to somebody just strumming the basic chords.

In practice, how C# is perceived does actually change, depending upon where you put it, if we are talking about chords. 

@stuartk 'In practice, how C# is perceived does actually change, depending upon where you put it, if we are talking about chords'

I started paying attention to the Grateful Dead in the late 1960's so I always knew what I was in for. Bob's chord inversions, suspensions and whatever else just seemed musical, I never made any more out of it.

'What I can say is that is you were to listen to Weir's rhythm guitar in isolation, it might sound "off" to you, compared to somebody just strumming the basic chords.'

I try making it a habit of not to make comparisons. GD is so incomparable, making comparisons would be rather pointless, wouldn't you agree?

@goofyfoot 

Bob’s chord inversions, suspensions and whatever else just seemed musical, I never made any more out of it.

 

Same here, as a listener. Eventually, as a guitar player, I became very interested in the use of chord inversions and once my ear began to hear them, I started noticing them all over the music I liked, whether the Dead, Dylan, The Band, Allmans, etc. I began to watch out for opportunities to  to slip them into songs even when the original guitar parts didn’t use them. My (perhaps idiosyncratic) idea of fun. 

I try making it a habit of not to make comparisons. GD is so incomparable, making comparisons would be rather pointless, wouldn’t you agree?

Yes, I agree. BTW, I didn’t mean you, personally. I was suggesting what people who subscribe to the "Weir is a weird guitarist" perspective might experience. In online guitar playing circles, I’ve often come across the phrase "Weir’s weird chords" and when I read Dylan's comments I thought "he's just perpetuating this mistaken perception".  I guess it's become somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. 
 

@stuartk Those guitar charts are generally pretty awful. If it were me, I'd look at the notes on the staff and then write in my own fingerings. There's always a guitarist who plays and sings at my local supermarket. Its pretty generic and pretty bad. No, I never took anything you said personally. All in all, the Grateful Dead appeals to musicians because its original and interesting. Not that you have to be a musician to like them but its not a hindrance either. I do believe that the Grateful Dead's legacy will continue to influence music and musicians long after any of us are still around. 

If you are playing in a band with a bass player and a keyboard player, then you don't really need to play the root of a chord.  I always thought Weir was playing off Phil Lesh more than harmonizing with Jerry Garcia.