Editing Grateful Dead (section)

==Musical style==
[[File:Grateful Dead at the Warfield-02.jpg|thumb|An [[Acoustic music|acoustic]] performance at the [[Warfield Theatre]] in [[San Francisco]] in 1980. Left to right: Garcia, Lesh, Kreutzmann, Weir, Hart, Mydland.]]
The Grateful Dead formed during the era when bands such as [[the Beatles]], [[the Beach Boys]] and [[the Rolling Stones]] were dominating the airwaves. "The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock 'n' roll band", said Bob Weir. "What we saw them doing was impossibly attractive. I couldn't think of anything else more worth doing."<ref name="Jackson2000-p.67">{{cite book|first=Blair|last=Jackson|title=Garcia: An American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w3y3PbFPNe4C&pg=PA67|year=2000|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-029199-5|page=67|access-date=December 5, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223131423/https://books.google.com/books?id=w3y3PbFPNe4C&pg=PA67|archive-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref> Former folk-scene star [[Bob Dylan]] had recently put out a couple of records featuring electric instrumentation. Grateful Dead members have said that it was after attending a concert by the touring New York City band [[the Lovin' Spoonful]] that they decided to "go electric" and look for a "dirtier" sound. [[Jerry Garcia]] and [[Bob Weir]] (both of whom had been immersed in the [[American folk music revival]] of the late 1950s and early 1960s), were open-minded about the use of electric guitars.

The Grateful Dead's early music (in the mid-1960s) was part of the process of establishing what "[[psychedelic music]]" was, but theirs was essentially a "street party" form of it. They developed their "psychedelic" playing as a result of meeting [[Ken Kesey]] in [[Palo Alto, California]], and subsequently becoming the house band for the [[Acid Tests]] he staged.<ref>[[Tom Wolfe|Wolfe, Tom]] (1968). ''[[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]'', Farrar Straus & Giroux</ref> They did not fit their music to an established category such as pop rock, blues, folk rock, or country & western. Individual tunes within their repertoire could be identified under one of these stylistic labels, but overall their music drew on all of these genres and, more frequently, melded several of them. [[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham]] said of the Grateful Dead, "They're not the best at what they do, they're the only ones that do what they do."<ref>{{cite web|author=Bjerklie, Steve|url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sfmetro/03.97/rock-art-97-3.html|title=What are They Worth?|publisher=Metroactive.com|access-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515181358/http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sfmetro/03.97/rock-art-97-3.html|archive-date=May 15, 2011}}</ref> Academics Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell argued that the Grateful Dead were "not merely as [[proto-prog|precursors]] of [[progressive rock|prog]] but as essential developments of progressiveness in its early days".<ref name=Hegarty>{{citation|last1=Hegarty|first1=Paul|last2=Halliwell|first2=Martin|title=Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock Since the 1960s|year=2011|publisher=The Continuum International Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8264-2332-0|author-link1=Paul Hegarty (musician)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taA2AqdCAJ0C |page=11}}</ref> Often (both in performance and on recording) the Dead left room for exploratory, spacey soundscapes.

Their live shows, fed by an improvisational approach to music, were different from most touring bands. While rock and roll bands often rehearse a standard set, played with minor variations, the Grateful Dead did not prepare in this way. Garcia stated in a 1966 interview, "We don't make up our sets beforehand. We'd rather work off the tops of our heads than off a piece of paper."<ref name="The Grateful Dead p. 17">The Grateful Dead: Playing in the Band, David Gans and Peter Simon, St Martin Press, 1985 p. 17</ref> They maintained this approach throughout their career. For each performance, the band drew material from an active list of a hundred or so songs.<ref name="The Grateful Dead p. 17"/>

The 1969 live album ''[[Live/Dead]]'' did capture the band in-form, but commercial success did not come until ''[[Workingman's Dead]]'' and ''[[American Beauty (album)|American Beauty]]'', both released in 1970. These records largely featured the band's laid-back [[acoustic music]]ianship and more traditional song structures. With their rootsy, eclectic stylings, particularly evident on the latter two albums, the band pioneered the hybrid [[Americana music|Americana]] genre.<ref name=billboard-amer>{{Citation|last=Willman|first=Chris|date=September 23, 2016|title=Bob Weir Grateful to Get Back in Touch With His Cowboy Side at Americana Fest|publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7518813/bob-weir-grateful-dead-americana-festival-country|access-date=October 24, 2016|quote='In all likelihood, without the Grateful Dead and without Bob Weir, there would not be an Americana community', said Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association...|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926052147/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7518813/bob-weir-grateful-dead-americana-festival-country|archive-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref name=guardian-mcgee>{{Citation|last=McGee|first=Alan|date=July 2, 2009|title=McGee on music: Why the Grateful Dead were Americana pioneers|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jul/02/mcgee-music-grateful-dead|access-date=October 24, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025121748/https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jul/02/mcgee-music-grateful-dead|archive-date=October 25, 2016}}</ref><ref name=no-depr>{{Citation|last=Isaacs|first=Dave|date=November 1, 2011|title=The Grateful Dead & The Band – original Americana groups?|publisher=[[No Depression (magazine)|No Depression]]|url=http://nodepression.com/article/grateful-dead-band-original-americana-groups|access-date=October 30, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031024234/http://nodepression.com/article/grateful-dead-band-original-americana-groups|archive-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>

=== Instrumentation and musicianship ===
[[File:TelStar featuring Phil Lesh, 2008 (1).jpg|thumb|[[Phil Lesh]] (left) performing with [[TelStar]] in 2008]]
As the band and its sound matured over thirty years of touring, playing, and recording, each member's stylistic contribution became more defined, consistent, and identifiable. Garcia's lead lines were fluid, supple and spare, owing a great deal of their character to his experience playing [[Scruggs style]] banjo, an approach which often makes use of [[syncopation|note syncopation]], [[accent (music)|accenting]], [[arpeggio]]s, [[staccato]] [[Chromatic fourth|chromatic runs]], and the anticipation of the [[Downbeat and upbeat|downbeat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Defining bounce, drive, syncopation, timing, accent. bluegrass time - Discussion Forums - Banjo Hangout |url=https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/206414 |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=www.banjohangout.org}}</ref> 

Garcia had a distinctive sense of [[tempo|timing]], often weaving in and out of the [[groove (music)|groove]] established by the rest of the band as if he were pushing the beat. His lead lines were also immensely influenced by [[solo (music)|jazz soloists]]: Garcia cited [[Miles Davis]], [[Ornette Coleman]], [[Bill Evans]], [[Pat Martino]], [[George Benson]], [[Al Di Meola]], [[Art Tatum]], [[Duke Ellington]], and [[Django Reinhardt]] as primary influences, and frequently utilized techniques common to [[country music|country]] and [[blues music]] in songs that called back to those traditions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2021 |title=The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia's 10 favourite guitarists |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jerry-garcia-grateful-dead-favourite-guitarists-playlist/ |access-date=February 28, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> 

Garcia often switched [[scale (music)|scales]] in the midst of a solo depending upon the [[chord changes]] played underneath, though he nearly always finished [[musical phrasing|phrases]] by landing on the [[Factor (chord)|chord-tones]]. Jerry most frequently played in the [[Mixolydian mode]], though his solos and phrases often incorporated notes from the [[Dorian mode|Dorian]] and [[pentatonic scale|major/minor pentatonic scales]]. Particularly in the late 1960s, Garcia occasionally incorporated [[melody|melodic lines]] derived from [[Indian classical music|Indian]] [[ragas]] into the band's extended, [[psychedelic music|psychedelic]] [[musical improvisation|improvisation]], likely inspired by [[John Coltrane]] and other jazz artists' interest in the [[sitar]] music of [[Ravi Shankar]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grateful Dead Blair's Golden Road Blog: On Ravi Shankar and the Dead |url=https://www.dead.net/features/blair-jackson/blair-s-golden-road-blog-ravi-shankar-and-dead |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=Grateful Dead |date=December 14, 2012 |language=en}}</ref>

Lesh was originally a classically trained trumpet player with an extensive background in [[music theory]], but did not tend to play traditional blues-based bass forms. He often played more melodic, symphonic and complex lines, often sounding like a second lead guitar. In contrast to most bassists in [[popular music]], Lesh often avoids playing the [[root (chord)|root]] of a chord on the downbeat, instead withholding as a means to build [[tension (music)|tension]]. Lesh also rarely repeats the same bassline, even from performance to performance of the same song, and often plays off of or around the other instruments with a [[syncopation|syncopated]], [[staccato]] bounce that contributes to the Dead's unique rhythmic character.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Collier |first=Rob |date=December 7, 2020 |title=Welcome to the Phil Zone: A Lesson in the Phil Lesh Style |url=https://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2020/12/welcome-to-the-phil-zone-a-lesson-in-the-phil-lesh-style/ |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=Bass Musician Magazine, The Face of Bass |language=en-US}}</ref>

Weir, too, was not a traditional [[rhythm guitar]]ist, but tended to play unique [[chord inversion|inversions]] at the upper end of the Dead's sound. Weir modeled his style of playing after jazz pianist [[McCoy Tyner]] and attempted to replicate the interplay between John Coltrane and Tyner in his support, and occasional subversion, of the [[harmonic structure]] of Garcia's voice leadings. This would often influence the direction the band's improvisation would take on a given night. Weir and Garcia's respective positions as rhythm and lead guitarist were not always strictly adhered to, as Weir would often incorporate short melodic phrases into his playing to support Garcia and occasionally took solos, often played with a [[slide guitar|slide]]. Weir's playing is characterized by a "spiky, staccato" sound.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 25, 2014 |title=Grateful for Bob Weir |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/grateful-for-bob-weir |access-date=February 28, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 10, 2015 |title=Watch: Bob Weir Talks His Musical Role in the Grateful Dead |url=https://relix.com/blogs/detail/watch_bob_weir_talks_his_musical_role_in_the_grateful_dead/ |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=Relix Media |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Jarnow |first=Jesse |date=March 5, 2018 |title=Bob Weir and Phil Lesh Get Thrillingly Loose at New York Tour Openers |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/bob-weir-and-phil-lesh-get-thrillingly-loose-at-new-york-tour-openers-197592/ |access-date=February 28, 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

The band's two drummers, [[Mickey Hart]] and [[Bill Kreutzmann]], developed a unique, complex interplay, balancing Kreutzmann's steady [[shuffle (music)|shuffle]] beat with Hart's interest in percussion styles outside the rock tradition. Kreuzmann has said, "I like to establish a feeling and then add radical or oblique juxtapositions to that feeling."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Kreutzmann {{!}} Regal Tip |url=http://www.regaltip.com/artist-roster/bill-kreutzmann |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=www.regaltip.com}}</ref> Hart incorporated an 11-count measure to his drumming, bringing a dimension to the band's sound that became an important part of its style. He had studied [[tabla]] drumming and incorporated rhythms and instruments from [[world music]], and later [[electronic music]], into the band's live performances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mickey Hart Biography |url=https://musicianguide.com/biographies/1608003421/Mickey-Hart.html |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=musicianguide.com}}</ref>

The Dead's live performances featured multiple types of [[musical improvisation|improvisation]] derived from a vast array of musical traditions. Not unlike many rock bands of their time, the majority of the Dead's songs feature a designated section in which an [[Break (music)|instrumental break]] occurs over the [[chord changes]]. These sections typically feature solos by Garcia that often originate as variations on the song's [[melody]], but go on to create dynamic phrases that resolve by returning to the chord-tones. Not unlike traditional [[jazz|improvisational jazz]], they may occasionally feature several solos by multiple instruments within an undecided number of [[Bar (music)|bars]], such as a keyboardist, before returning to the melody. At the same time, Dead shows almost always feature a more collective, [[modal jazz|modal]] approach to improvisation that typically occurs during [[segue]]s between songs before the band [[modulation (music)|modulates]] to a new [[tonal center]]. Some of the Dead's more extended jam vehicles, such as "[[That's It for the Other One|The Other One]]", "[[Dark Star (song)|Dark Star]]", and "[[Playing in the Band]]" almost exclusively make use of modulation between modes to accompany simple two-chord progressions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Malvinni |first=David |date=October 21, 2010 |title=The Grateful Dead World: The Modal Basis of the Grateful Dead's Jams and Songs |url=http://gratefuldeadworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/modal-basis-of-grateful-deads-jams-and.html |access-date=February 28, 2022 |website=The Grateful Dead World}}</ref>

=== Lyrical themes ===
Following the songwriting renaissance that defined the band's early 1970s period, as reflected in the albums ''[[Workingman's Dead]]'' and ''[[American Beauty (album)|American Beauty]],'' [[Robert Hunter (lyricist)|Robert Hunter]], Jerry Garcia's primary lyrical partner, frequently made use of [[motif (narrative)|motifs]] common to [[American folklore]] including trains, guns, elements, [[folk instrument|traditional musical instruments]], gambling, murder, animals, alcohol, descriptions of [[Geography of the United States|American geography]], and [[religious symbolism]] to illustrate themes involving love and loss, life and death, beauty and horror, and chaos and order.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Motif and theme index to The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics|url=http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/motif.html|access-date=February 24, 2022|website=artsites.ucsc.edu}}</ref> Following in the footsteps of several [[Music of the United States|American musical traditions]], these songs are often confessional and feature narration from the perspective of an [[antihero]]. Critic [[Robert Christgau]] described them as "American myths" that later gave way to "the old karma-go-round".<ref name="CG-myth">{{Citation|last=Christgau|first=Robert|title=Wake of the Flood (review)|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Grateful+Dead|publisher=robertchristgau.com|access-date=October 30, 2016}}</ref> 

An extremely common feature in both Robert Hunter's lyrics, as well as the band's visual iconography, is the presence of [[Dualism in cosmology|dualistic]] and opposing imagery illustrating the dynamic range of the [[human condition|human experience]] (Heaven and hell, law and crime, dark and light, etc.). Hunter and Garcia's earlier, more directly [[psychedelia|psychedelic-influenced]] compositions often make use of [[surrealism|surreal]] imagery, [[nonsense verse|nonsense]], and whimsey reflective of traditions in [[English poetry]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nonsense & Whimsy in Robert Hunter's Lyrics|url=http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/nonsense.html#english|access-date=February 24, 2022|website=artsites.ucsc.edu}}</ref> In a retrospective, ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described Hunter's verses as "elliptical, by turns vivid and [[Gnomic poetry|gnomic]]", which were often "hippie poetry about roses and bells and dew".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Paumgarten |first=Nick |date=November 26, 2012 |title=Deadhead: The Afterlife |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902013058/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/11/26/deadhead |archive-date=September 2, 2014 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/11/26/deadhead |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=July 7, 2015 }}</ref> Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally has described Hunter's lyrics as creating "a non-literal hyper-Americana" weaving a psychedelic, kaleidoscopic tapestry in the hopes of elucidating America's [[Culture of the United States|national character]]. At least one of Hunter and Bob Weir's collaborations, "[[Jack Straw (song)|Jack Straw]]", was inspired by the work of [[John Steinbeck]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grateful Dead Greatest Stories Ever Told - "Jack Straw"|url=https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-jack-straw|access-date=February 24, 2022|website=Grateful Dead|date=May 30, 2013 |language=en}}</ref>