Bob Weir

First of all, while Hornsby has stated that he was concerned about Garcia's drug use and health in general, I don't believe he's said that was the reason he "left" the Dead. Bruce was a pretty big star on his own at the time and it was always understood that he would just stay long enough to help with the transition to Vince Welnick on keyboards. He had his own career and band to get back to.

I'm not sure how Bruce would have fit with the band had he become the permanent keyboard player. He only played the grand piano with the Dead (and occasional accordian), so I'm not familiar with his othe keyboard/synth abilities. But I'm sure his chops are probably just fine. On piano, I found Bruce to be a more melodic player than Godchaux while Brent's forte was the organ. He also did a lot more soloing than other Dead keyboard players. Hornsby would often engage in extended jams into the drums/space segment with various combinations of band members. I remember one from MSG in '90 where he, Jerry and Vince did a gorgeous jam out of Fooish Heart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOqKSpd_pv0

@ezwind 

You'd have to provide specific examples, regarding Bruce being more melodic. As I mentioned, what I enjoy about Keith's playing is his ability to play convincingly in different styles. It was sad how his playing went way downhill, eventually. 

I'm generally not a fan of synths, so that's a moot point with me. Well, Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood and Pete Townshend being the three exceptions. 

Maybe you could recommend a particular show for the Bruce era...

@stuartk 

Not being a musician my use of terms to describe styles might not be technically precise. But to me, Keith, in his best years, was more of a rock and roll, boogie woogie type player. Hornsby's playing style, to my ears, was more elegant and flowing with a lighter touch, which I interpreted as melodic. Bruce seemed more polished and reliant on technique but Keith played with more soul. Those were some of my impressions with my untrained ears.

But if you want to judge for yourself, this was one of my favorite Hornsby shows from 3/31/91 in Greensboro NC (the next night there was also excellent). The Eyes of the World is stunning. The Spring and Summer tours from 91 were imo the last great tours in the Dead's history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSRsDwvjjjU

@ezwind I too think that Bruce’s playing is more polished or rather refined than Kieth’s. However during that time when Keith and Donna joined the Grateful Dead, there were a lot of drugs being passed around. And a lot of those drugs came in to the family from fans and people outside of the circle. From what I read, Keith wasted no time getting wasted and according to Donna, it got pretty bad pretty quick. That being said, Keith had some chops and he could adapt to what was going on musically with agility. I do perceive Bruce Hornsby as coming from a later generation and adding to what had been pioneered by Pigpen, Tom, Keith and Brent. Not so much Vince because his membership in the band seems more like an anomaly to me. Anyway, when I saw the Fare Thee Well shows, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti took on the piano and organ duties. I can say that I was very impressed and still believe that the combination of the two, sounded better than anything previously, though of course that’s my bias. I will add that without Jerry, I personally have a hard time saying that the Fare Thee Well shows were performed by the Grateful Dead. 

@ezwind , @goofyfoot 

Interesting how our perceptions differ. Keith’s background was actually in Jazz. I very much hear him as a chameleon. When Pig Pen sang one of his Bluesy tunes, Keith was there with the stylistically appropriate parts. Same with Country tunes such as You Win Again or Sing me Back Home or Jerry Lee Lewis style riffing on rockers like One More Saturday Night or Sugar Magnolia. However, when it came to the more exploratory, spacy stuff, he also responded appropriately. He most certainly did not play Boogie Woogie on those tunes or on the modal, Fusion influenced material from Blues for Allah. The further the music strayed from basic Roots styles, the more clearly I hear the jazzman in him step to the fore. 

On this same topic, Garcia changed quite dramatically. In ’71, ’72, his playing was stylistically much more diverse. On Country tunes, he employed the traditional vocabulary of Country players. Ditto with Blues tunes. On Johnny B. Goode, he played the hell out of the Chuck Berry licks. When they played The Other One, Dark Star or PITB, he utilized his more abstract, atonal, psychedelia bag of tricks. By ’77, he’d shifted quite a bit in his approach. He was much less constrained in terms of adhering to each particular tune’s style/genre. Without going into music theory, you could say he "just played Jerry". At least, this is how I hear it. 

I’m not a pro player but have played guitar for 50 years and this has no doubt influenced how I listen.