Not the best guitarist, but hands down my favorite. I still feel the loss. 54 was way too young
Interesting post, Cogs.
I wouldn't begin to speculate who is the "best" but Jerry was one of my favorites. And his music I enjoyed the most was played on a stratocaster, as far as I know.
What makes a favorite? For me, a player who has a unique "style". Jerry certainly had that. Mark Knopfler is another.
Maybe it's the fact that a particular "style" appealed to me more than others, so I listened to them more and there are others that have a unique style that I don't recognize.
Like many, I do miss Jerry. Also Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, and George Harrison.
Roy and Danny probably because I like the sound of a telecaster.
George mostly because I think he was underrated, regardless of what guitar he was playing.
Thanks for a good thread, Sergio.
Jerry is certainly one of the 3 players that made my life better.
I play more like a 70s Keith Richards, I’ll most likely never sound like Jerry at all, but I cannot imagine my aesthetic sense without the Grateful Dead.
Interestingly enough, I was never a Deadhead. But Jerry Garcia was a major influence on my guitar playing. I developed my technique of string "pinging" based on hearing Garcia do much the same. He probably did it differently (using a pick), but I learned how to strike/snap a string with my fingernail to create that ring.
I have his Live At Keystone album double-LP on vinyl, with Merl Saunders, John Kahn and Bill Vitt. I haven't listened to it in a long time. I'm going to remedy that right now...
Striving to be ordinary
Proud to be a TFF Dumbass!
What exactly do you mean by string pinging? I am curious.
It's the term I've used for nearly fifty years. More accurately, it's a "ringing" note, kind of like if you'd played a harmonic, but fully pressed on the fret and struck the string. It was a sound that to me immediately identified Jerry Garcia. He guested on a lot of other bands' albums, like Jefferson Whatever-aircraft-they-were into, David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name (a personal favorite), and pretty much any SanFranCali band of the time. It was/is unmistakable to me.
Striving to be ordinary
Proud to be a TFF Dumbass!
Oh, heck no, Sérgio! It's an admittedly imprecise term; something I've called it because I don't know what the technical term is. I am probably one of the least proficient guitar players on this board. I keep building a repertoire of songs that I like to play and imagine that some day I'll do so before an audience.
The only audience (other than the church congregation) I've played to are the people walking by my house as I sit on the front porch and play.
And none of them stop to listen.
(Incidentally, your English is by orders of magnitude greater than my command of Portuguese. Which is to say, none).
Striving to be ordinary
Proud to be a TFF Dumbass!
Great players you mentioned. George is my fave. I'm a Beatles nut. I love his solo stuff too--a lot of underrated songwriting and playing on those albums.
There are players so much "better" than George or Jerry, but often their playing leaves me cold. I love Zappa and Neil Young--once in an interview, Zappa sent a message to Neil Young: Tell him he can't play guitar. I don't know, man, but that one note solo of Cinnamon Girl sounds pretty cool to me.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
Jerry doesn't get his due as a player because he jammed a lot and it was all recorded. A lot of the songs were terrible.
But when he was in the studio - he was on. He had impeccable timing and was the most adept player i've ever heard at slipping in and out of modes.
His solo on "Touch of Grey" may never be eclipsed. It's perfect in every way. The way it weaves around the melody with such ease while two drummers on full kits are laying down a slippery beat is inspiring. And it was done in his personal style with no copping anybody's stuff.
Yes, there is a lot of not-so-good Jerry recordings, but pick through them for the gems and you'll be pleasantly surprised. He was to bluegrass what Jimi or EVH are to rock.
Not a big Dead fan myself, but credit where credit is due.
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim