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Grateful Dead Essay

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Throughout history there have been many musical "influences". 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 "Pigpen" 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 Garcia's country background to Pigpen's feeling for blues (his father was an R&B radio DJ) and Lesh's education in contemporary serious" music. Add to that, the experimentation encouraged at some of the group's first performances at novelist Ken Kesey's …show more content…

Grisman is a still a renowned mandolinist, but while with Garcia, they both explored the bluegrass scene. This was Jerry's "foundation" for his musical contributions to the Grateful Dead. Without Jerry's influence, the Grateful Dead would not have it's distinct earthy timbre or feel that has been extremely significant in attracting their particular following.

Another contribution to the Dead's 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 Dead's 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 "Phil Bombs", 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 "heartbeat" 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 "rock and roll" scene. As a teen, Kreutzmann even created rock in roll bands in which to play, as the interest was barely there. After meeting

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