Editing Grateful Dead (section)

=== 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>