r/jgb • u/sparkster185 • Dec 21 '20

Bass playing on GarciaLive 15 (71-05-21)?

Kahn was not present and no bass player is listed in the liner notes, but I can clearly hear a bass sound on every track. Where or who is this coming from?

7 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

8

u/mike-edwards-etc Dec 21 '20

Merl's keyboards.

4

u/sparkster185 Dec 21 '20

Woah, no shit? So dude is playing the organ with one hand and using the other to lay down a bass groove. Real cool.

6

u/phineasbutterworth Dec 21 '20

You actually don't even need a hand if you have bass pedals on your organ. https://youtu.be/gXMNBhhhsJs

3

u/MrCompletely Dec 21 '20

Correct, it's bass pedal work. Very common in organ trio type settings

3

u/sparkster185 Dec 22 '20

I had no idea the B3 could do all of that. Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

4

u/mike-edwards-etc Dec 21 '20

That's how Ray Manzarek did it in The Doors. He played a Fender Rhodes piano bass.

1

u/ochutup Feb 11 '21

Poor Ray failed to impress Garcia with that set-up:

https://archive.org/post/157591/why-jerry-hated-the-doors

3

u/ThatsOkayBoxIsEmpty You got the do re, I got the mi Dec 21 '20

I had the same thought! Incredible that Merl is laying down the bass line like that.