Grateful Dead Bob Weir isolated guitar "China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider" Veneta, OR 8/27/1972

[@DorseyShaw]

KZbin algorithm picks up a rare W here

[@pdimar171]

We all love Jerry solos. We all danced to Bobby's rhythms.

[@dspangler777]

Never heard it put this way, but that is as poignant as it gets. Speaking truth. Thank you for that perspective!

[@dannydine5263]

Well put.

[@ramblinwes7853]

Bob's rythems definitly get you out of your seat, but Jerry's lead is soulful, funky, and always has this underlying boogie going on so...Phil is funky and dance-able as hell too sooooo... It is interesting to study Bob's stuff and realise he is freaken brilliant.

[@sloopcamotop502]

I was late 80's/early 90's so we couldn't hear Bob most times at all. I danced to Phil.

[@beagler4234]

That was Billy and Mickeys rhythms you heard.

[@tbone8723]

You could almost say this is "lead rhythm" ... so unique

[@timsayer1492]

There are a few GD tracks that transcend genre. You could walk into the middle of this jam and wonder? Jazz? Country? Blues? experimental art rock? Always loved this riff w/ modulation.

[@hubertsumlin9697]

What a treat! Bobby's is one of the most original and unique guitarists of all time.

[@tomdanielson2860]

I was often surprised to find licks and runs I had attributed to Jerry played by Bob on the rare occasion I could get close to the stage like at Hampton Coliseum. Neat Isolation.

[@seanhennessey9869]

Garcia would have had a hard time singing while playing this China riffage figure, lol...

[@tomdanielson2860]

@@seanhennessey9869 Maybe, though somehow this syncopation carried out by the whole ensemble gets me boogying every time for the last fifty years. I love it I guess I'm not as sophisticated musically as I like to think of myself🙃.

[@mk546194]

Yep! This intro being one of those. I think I was at a DSOrchestra show when I saw “fake”Bobby playing that lick which triggered me to investigate further. Had been listening to The Dead for 20+ years without knowing that!

[@geschickt]

This is so cool! Weir's genius is impossible to encapsulate, but he carved out his own sonic/harmonic space between Garcia's guitar and Godchaux's piano, and brilliantly supported/anticipated Jerry's lead playing, all while grooving with Kreutzman! And Lesh's approach to bass made it very natural for Weir's playing to underpin things in such a unique way. One of the beauties of the GD is how each individual part holds up when scrutinized like this--and how the whole of their musical alchemy is truly greater than the sum of the parts!

[@michaelafillmore8751]

Nicely said ✌️

[@deweypug]

There are enough riffs, lines and chordal fragments that Bob plays here to create dozens of songs!!! He really creates a colorful tapestry of sound!!!

[@stevenmcdevitt6510]

Was sitting here thinking if I could transcribe this one track it would improve my playing exponentially. So many genres and techniques covered.

[@vd7692]

Never heard Bobby isolated like this. Fascinating to listen to. Thanks for posting !

[@george.s.8491]

Here’s a cool one too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kH25Xmppi6tpisk

[@berkeleybernie]

And he's also often buried in the mix- you feel him more than hear him. China Cat is one of the few songs where you really hear his parts more prominently. Like Phil, he also plays a lot of staccato and leaves a lot of space. All three are such unique players. This sound called The Grateful Dead doesn't exist with any of them missing.

[@robsteinberg4973]

Just genius!! Completely original. Accompanies and leads Jerry and the boys through an epic moment in a year of epic moments!! 1972 was the best!!

[@ashleyupshall7641]

It seems recently people are waking up more to Weirs contribution to the overall Grateful Dead sound. He’s a unique rhythm player.

[@DavidAcevedoAlvaro]

Never understood all the braggin about him, he´s an equally genius rhytm player to Garcia´s leads

[@kevinb2720]

I always figured he was because much of the time it’s very difficult to tell who’s playing what when it’s not a solo, but these isolated tracks are fantastic for finally pulling back the curtain to let his brilliant contributions take center stage

[@vincentparrella5668]

Bobby studied McCoy Tyners comping on the piano with Coltrane to almost act as a piano next to Jerry’s soloing,Bobby was such a great rhythm guitarist.

[@jamespuleo3269]

THE most underrated guitarist in rock. Thanks for posting !! These syncopated lines in China Cat ~~~ make me want to hear a version transcribed for mbira or kalimba.

[@suzetteanne]

Thank you for posting this! I had no idea that Bob Weir’s playing was so intricate and melodic!❤

[@boomerdell]

More and more, as I really listen to Bob Weir’s incredible work over the decades, he sounds to me like a complete stand-alone chord-melody artist rather than what is a sometimes - and erroneously - dismissive label of “rhythm guitarist”. He was and is so much more.

[@michaelshearer3559]

He truly had a beautiful role and tone center in the Dead. Jerry certainly loved his parts and was a launch pad for Jerry and the band really had an amazing rhythm section. Bobby was a true rhythm guitar player, and unlike any other. Amazing work and tone to fill in the sound of arguably the best touring band in the world.

[@sanfordsanford295]

I would say the greatest touring band was probably Motorhead by far

[@glennpaquette2228]

If you want to witness the emergence of a true artist, follow Bobby's evolution from 1965 to, say, 1971. He really created his own very unique style. Nobody like him. I can imagine him sitting in his room there at Haight-Ashbury practicing hour after hour while the craziness was playing out all around him.

[@wakeupcall49]

smoking lots of great shit and living large

[@davehendricks2236]

He apparently hated to practice, from what I've heard...

[@glennpaquette2228]

@@davehendricks2236 He apparently got over that hatred somewhere around 1967.

[@davehendricks2236]

@@glennpaquette2228 he had to start at some point since he figured out all those crazy inversions. Although it doesn’t sound like he ever was practice scales, modes, or much single note technique. Odd unless he realized that he wouldn’t be playing those kinds of parts. We all adapt to our surroundings or we die.

[@george.s.8491]

This China/Rider is superb! I always loved Bobby’s playing on this version. Almost like a jazz player! Thank you for this isolation of Bob!

[@NebulaStudios1]

This works with the amazing band behind him, but it is so interesting to hear how it can stand on it's own and still carry the momentum and lyrical nature of the song. Not your chug chug, or one two, three, four. Heard them for the first time circa 1972 and never looked back. Aside from jazz the Grateful Dead make up the bulk of my record collection.

[@jonhultman2338]

This has always been one of my favorite Bobby shows - awesome to hear this.

[@NorthWriter]

Thank you!! I’ve been looking for this for a long-ass time. I love how at 7:50 the distortion comes on and then gets turned off just as quickly. 😆 You can almost hear Bobby going, "Nope!"

[@smartluck100]

BEST RHYTHM GUITARIST IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDED MANKIND

[@sanfordsanford295]

Chuck Schuldiner

[@keef7224]

Love Bob Weir, but Pete Townshend and Keith Richards might have the edge over him.

[@smartluck100]

@@keef7224 nah. For 30 years he kept the rhythm for Jerry Garcia! Townsend and Richards were lead guitar, not rhythm.

[@keef7224]

@@smartluck100 I’ve been playing guitar for 40 years. I played Pete in a Who tribute band for years, and played Keith in a Stones tribute band for years. I know their music and their specific guitar parts pretty well. Yeah, they both take some leads here and there (and so did Bobby, btw 😉), but they are both almost universally recognized as being among the finest RHYTHM guitar players ever. Not to take anything away from Weir, who I also rank among the very best, but can you name one signature rhythm guitar lick that he’s widely known for? I mean outside of the Deadheads? Because Townshend and Richards have dozens of rhythm licks that are iconic milestones in rock history. 🎸💥

[@dlau5775]

That's the whole point about Bobby's playing. It was more like jazz, not focused on a riff, unlike in rock

[@billfroelich2570]

Love this it allows me to understand the orchestral nature of the band

[@johnrothenberger1668]

I WAS BLOWN AWAY HEARING BOBBY PLAY THIS IN CHICAGO AMPITHEATERE 73'SO GLAD i GOT ON THE BUS!!

[@michaelkearns8499]

Great video. And a tremendous source for all guitar players to give insight/ideas into what can be done riffing around 1 chord!!!(talking about the transition in D). And my opinion, but it was much better in these early years as opposed to when he saturated his tone in effects in later years.

[@KevinElliot-ni4lb]

This is some of the best playing I've ever heard

[@michaeldematteis3409]

Bob was a beast,when he was young

[@williejump]

Listen to an isolated track in the 90s or with dead and co you'll hear a variation of this creativity.. his volume may not always be front and center but if you listen close enough, he's essential to the groove.

[@pjk]

@@williejump His playing was just as good if not better in the 90's! The problem was that on recording after recording, he was buried in the mix. in terms of recordings and really being able to hear the Genius of Bobby.... 1970-1977 is PEAK BOBBY, with 70-74 being the apex.

[@BednariksGhost]

Yesterday, I was having my first listen to the Iowa State Fairgrounds show from the Here Comes Sunshine 1973 box, and Bobby was putting on a show. Dazzling counterpoint, non-stop!

[@redbanismydaddy]

Blown away on my first listen yesterday. Ripping up a cornfield for 5 hours…to a crowd that seemed disinterested (based on the way Bobbert was pulling their leg)…taking home $50 or whatever…do it again tomorrow.

[@-TheRealBUCKET-]

This is live from The Oregon Country fair. There is a full video of the performance. I go to this festival every year. It’s amazing.

[@michaelgraham9774]

Dude has such a varied and diverse way of carrying a tune on guitar. Top player

[@sonomabob]

I had no idea he was this creative and skilled. I should have known. Thanks for the fresh look.

[@sh230968]

Thanks for this. Shows how important Bob's guitar work was for GD.

[@davidbreitkopf3603]

Love Bob Weir. And I love his work on China Cat, particularly during this era.

[@mrdefinitely8769]

so many sleep on Bobby...but he could play (in his own way) and he heard things ever so slighly differently that it really made the whole package a lot more interesting

[@yochevedbrachasimon4979]

Bobby transcends the label and makes it his own. Superb

[@ClueSign]

This riff (although it was written by Garcia and taught to Weir), Bob’s always interesting transition chording to IKYR, along with Bob’s solo part on Casey Jones are some of his most spectacular contributions. Go Bob!

[@JoshDanielMusic]

Bobs a badass - listen to that!

[@parttime9070]

Damn good guitar player, there's a reason Jerry played with him so many years..

[@kevinmurtagh4996]

Weir is definitely one of my favorite rhythm guitarists ever. He was essentially playing lead rhythm guitar, if that makes sense. Jerry was the lead/solo guitarist, but Weir was basically shredding rhythm guitar lol.

[@TK-fk4po]

I had no idea Bob played the main riff during the verse. 🤯

[@brandonweinmann5700]

They really were the most unbelievably creative players ever man. Like their stuff came from a higher power

[@42papyrus]

Please do one of these isolated Bob videos for Birdsong from this same show! These are so fascinating!

[@victorwong9622]

Yes, Veneta BIRDSONG. Please!!!

[@johnpetro9308]

Wonderful, simply Wonderful 😎

[@reeferking7103]

WOOW SO AWESOME TY 😊 Played Both Songs When I Seen Them On The Final Tour (D&C)

[@brett6786]

4:48 sounds like a homage, to the last part of Judy Blue Eyes, Suite

[@davidjordan2011]

I appreciate this video. All these years (decades, really) I thought it was Jerry's guitar work. I've been disillusioned (or "reillusioned" or informed de novo?; I'm not sure). But I have to make sure. I have the album (including DVD of some songs), and I'm going to check). It was played during a benefit concert for relatives of Ken Kesey who operated a dairy farm in Oregon, and on the album Sunshine Daydream.

[@meredithbarbieri7695]

The reason so many songs are catchy is Bobby. He’s also the one moving your feet.

[@steveg219]

He is such a better player than I knew back in the day!

[@ekalbkr]

Agree! I always liked his rhythm playing, but I never really understood how complex and inventive it was.

[@roobotix]

He did give credit to McCoy Tyner for major influence. More chords in a song than others in a life time.

[@timmurray1099]

Wow this is beautiful

[@tuanjim799]

I wanna learn how to do more of this kinda stuff on the guitar, but don't even know where to begin lol. Weir has such a unique, offbeat, loose-but-somehow-tight style with his playing. Such a groove.

[@starcloud4959]

Wow!!!!Thank you Lord. If i die tomorrow at least i will have learnt part of China Cat Sunflower.🌻

[@victorwong9622]

This is essentially a mandatory repertoire piece for ensemble playing!

[@briandippel6829]

Just when you think KZbin can't get any better...

[@johntenley8905]

This is what happens when a "Rhythm Guitarist" bases his playing off of jazz pianists: brilliant!!

[@michaelwilson4941]

Bob isolated here. Never heard this

[@dreamwell2020]

For those who want to sound like Bobby - good luck.

[@papagalooleo559]

This is so cool

[@naturalfinish]

that big sunflower riff was actually written by Garcia, if you listen to the monster NFA jam from 09-19-1970 Garcia rips this riff apart

[@MatthewSmithGuitarStudio]

One thing I'll never understand about the Grateful Dead story is that part where they try to say that Bob Weir was sat down by other band members and was told his playing had to be better...lol, when I listen to him playing like this ( and seemed like he was playing like this from the beginning) if you ask me I swear he sounds like the most talented member of the band

[@civilroman]

That was in 66/67 right when they were forming and Bobby was like 17. If you listen to their first shows from the 60's, Bobby's playing definitely isn't fantastic. He was used to playing acoustic and hadn't quite grasped how to play electric yet. But by the time of this performance, he stepped up his game and developed his own style.

[@MatthewSmithGuitarStudio]

@@civilroman it would have had to have been way back then. I remember that they said he learned guitar voicings and Catholic school and I'm pretty sure the curriculum for that would have been books published in the 30s and 40s where every voicing in the world was fair game... the oldest dad I can really admit to going back to and listening to intensely with two from the vault which was from 69 and even by then he was a virtual badass, it seems like in 72 he outplays Jerry quite a bit and when there aren't a ton of effects pedals to separate the two it actually gets hard to tell the two guys apart, Bob's playing was so melodically intense... now I get it, it's like he's saying oh so you want to kick me out of the band fuck you

[@weis1869]

Last show they ever did at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley has Bob isolated. Forget who’s channel, but you could use the keywords: Bob Weir Isolated / Greek Theatre 1989

[@weis1869]

This glows! So odd, so compelling ⚡️🌹~ 😼🌻/ 🐎

[@martyottmba]

This is amazing ✌️✌️✌️

[@mr.tibs1334]

Grateful Dead Do Nassau. China/ Rider 5/15,16/80 ☆☆☆☆☆

[@direwolf6234]

in an interview with dan rather he said he was heavily influenced by mccoy tyner's piano style who played with john coltrane ..

[@weighfaerer6198]

Can you upload this same song but with both Bill And Bob's parts. Everything but bill and bob isolated. That would be fire and much appreciated. Thank you for uploading these I listen to this video at least 2 times everyday. Thank you!

[@victorwong9622]

Even during the folksy chord changes of Rider Weir’s never strums the chords for more than a bar or two, he’s always throwing in filigrees, accents, stabs, inversions, and is basically all over that fretboard!!

[@michaeldematteis3409]

Damn who lays down rhythm like that

[@clarokcmusic]

always thought it was jerry playing this lead on china cat.

[@harischaudhry2037]

hey now! this is tight. Any chance you could post Phil's isolated tracks? or Phil & Billy's?

[@YaBoiRockstar]

I’ll get on to adding all isolated tracks on the tracks that were made available on the site but i'll get around to doing Phil first then maybe Billy then it’ll be Jerry and Keith

[@danielodom3839]

Extremely well thought out and rehearsed . Developed over years time im sure. No improve in his playing here . Incredible playing.

[@DukeRaul]

Bobby Weir pre whammy bar... 😁

[@davehendricks2236]

Bob played decent single-note (as opposed to 'lead') parts when they were scripted and he had a clear lane. His role in GD was more like Malcolm Young. Too bad Dan and Betty turned him down in the mix so much other than when he had these showcase parts. Bob, and I love him and his comping so much, could not improvise a real lead is his life depended on it. His left hand technique is great, but he cannot shred, or do scalar/modal runs. He never developed that, being paired with one of the most talented, inventive, and distinctive lead players in the history of guitar based rock. He evolved into a different player because of the circumstances. This is not a negative, it just is what it is.

[@Johnny1.0]

Stealing atleast 5 licks from this. Ty

[@dspangler777]

At least 5 for sure. Cheers!

[@itto7915]

actually ripping shit up

[@johnm3152]

Wood shedding worked

[@larrymarkowitz8386]

It’s a Jerry song, but . . . .

[@masonkanterbury3007]

When I was a complete Bobby head, I thought he was the shiznay. To me he was better than Jerry. Then I got into Brent big time. Later Jerry became the king.

[@billphipps453]

jer was really the rythmn and lead guitarist in the band. Bob was there as front man...pretty boy... and to share vocal duties.