Help>Slip>Frank is one of the most iconic segues in Dead history. There have been mixed emotions about having John Mayer on guitar. Without going to deep into this topic I’d like to just scratch the surface.

On one hand you’ve got the guy who wrote “Your Body Is A Wonderland” assuming the role of Jerry Garcia. That in concept seems absolutely ridiculous. However, one could easily posit that even if John Mayer’s pop music is lame, he’s still an incredibly gifted guitarist. For anyone who knows about his work with John Mayer Trio you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Watch this cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold As Love” if you need further proof.

Comparing Mayer to Trey Anastasio at this point in time is pretty counterintuitive. They’re still rehearsing for their tour. Also, Fare Thee Well run was only 6 shows, this is an entire tour. Thus, it is very possible that these rehearsal sessions are going to be much longer than the ones for a 6 night run. As any good guitarist knows rehearsal is a time to explore and try out what does and doesn’t work well within a song.

This is just a very small glimpse into a much larger picture. It is interesting nonetheless. I’ll let you be the judge. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks to Jambase.com for bringing this recording to light that originally came from the RatDog.Org twitter account.

Update: It appears the soundcloud recording has been deleted by the original hosting user.