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.
Bob Weir
I just discovered that Bob Weir has passed. I’m really getting old. It seems like yesterday that I was at a show watching Bob, Jerry and Phil mixing it up on stage.
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Yes but that's generally where folks start. The big shift for me came when trying to learn Stevie Wonder tunes. I could tell the supplied guitar chords weren't accurate and out of desperation I began painstakingly counting "every good boy does fine" and "all cows eat grass"; identifying the notes in each piano chord and trying to play those voicings on the guitar. Eventually I bought a copy of Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" that proved to be exactly what I needed to move forward. No, you don't but if you play solo, it sure sounds better (to my ears, anyway), to incorporate slash chords for two reasons: one, it ensures smoother voice-leading and two, the chords more closely follow the melody. These are subjective preferences, of course. YMMV. Also, varying voicings instead of just hanging out on one voicing for an entire bar can keep things sounding fresh. As can judicious use of diminished chords. BTW, most guitar playing buddies of mine have steadfastly refused to learn any theory. They've just played the most vanilla root voicings and believed anything else is up to the bass player. My efforts to try to get them to appreciate what slash chords can contribute have come to nought. You can lead a horse to water but . . .
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@stuartk For Rock/Pop/Jazz I believe its beneficial to learn an instrument by ear and then after some time, incorporate reading music. I was reading about Bob Will's and His Texas Playboys. Half of Bob Wills band were studied musicians who read music and the other half weren't. He intended that and hired his musicians accordingly. As far as the Dead are concerned, I believe everyone looked at Phil as being the scholarly musician in the group. I absolutely loved how Phil played bass. Anyway, the Presto website offers books on Popular/Jazz Music Theory versus the standard music theory that I took in college. It makes sense because I hear things in Rock or Jazz that are done repeatedly to affect. Try making sense out of what Wayne Krantz plays on guitar! |
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