I find it amusing how many so-called "defenders" of Garcia's legacy deem it necessary to immortalize "the '70s" [especially 1977] and go out of their way to dismiss the last decade of GD shows/Jerry's performances as solely the lamentable result of debilitating heroin [and, nebulously > cocaine(?)] addiction.. It's been well-documented by "insiders" [Scully, Parish] that Jerry's Persian habit began as far back as [the hyped to the heavens year of] 1977.. And certainly > sleepy, uninspired and mediocre performances are dotted here and there THROUGHOUT the Dead's thirty(30) year history.. This may be just one(1) man's/wingnut's opinion, but I'm gonna intone the unthinkable, nevertheless: 1985 to 1995 are strewn w/diamond-like performances by Garcia/the entire band [JGB, as well].. Admittedly, things got a little dire in '94-'95, but if one(1) is willing to dig, there DOES exist gold to be mined from even those dark days.. This missive is not intended to come of as some "thunderbolt from on high", but rather, just as a forum to posit a differing opinion from those which are passed off as the company line, time and again.. As always, feel free to ignore.. All the best > to anybody/everybody who's bothered to read this far!..
Garcia on his best, and even good nights, was brilliant. On his bad nights, which didn't begin to show up with any frequency until the 80s, due to the opiates and cocaine, were truly bad. He's still one of my absolute favorite guitar players, because he was fully dedicated to music in the moment. Not many musicians truly are. Even the best of them, many of whom I love and respect. My only complaint with this video is that, one, it's too short, and two, there are many other examples of his playing that surpass this one many times over. There is an abundance of evidence of his skill as a player that can just end the debate right there. Check out some of the Mississippi Halfstep from 1976/77/78. There are many nights where he navigated through those changes with the the skill of the best jazz players, rather than just playing over the top of the changes. Jerry could be as much a world class player as the best of them, which makes his drug induced descent all the more heart breaking. His saving grace was that his heart was *always* in his playing, and that always shone through.
Listening to redmans interviews about he's favorite albums he made on youtube, Redman's 'Dare Iz a Darkside, he rated 6, I was shocked 😱 he said it was a dark time in his life. He does'nt even proform any of the songs from the album. However this is the first album I bought from Redman back in the days and is my favorite Redman album of all times, No 1 to me. My favorite all time song, Sooperman Luva II💯💯💯💯
Dude's an incredible guitar player. What he didn't do, he didn't have these big showy solos like Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. He was more country inspired. But they're all great guitar players. They just have different styles.
Idgaf what people think cause last time I checked, people are cruel. Fucked up. And not even in the right way.. that’s why LSD is illegal. But Greatful dead saved me from a bad trip on my bike late at night ;)
I needed this video. My favorite dead show of all time was the Chicago Auditorium show from that run, but i thought it fascinating how it was part of a morphing exporation over several shows of the same basic material.
The whole 77 tour is kind of like that. There's not a ton of variation in the setlists, but they all bang hard and you can hear some of the newer material evolving onstage.
Jerry had a natural approach to playing guitar. It is very Zen like. His playing is distinguished, unlike any other musician. He developed his own method, which is really no method.
They say that until they try to play like that.....play those scales and modes while chord toning and hitting those exact notes that need to be hit at the exact right time....not easy
Excellent example of what made them so special: Jerry Garcia was virtuoso enough to deserve most of the limelight but, instead, he SHARED it, allowing those around him to elevate to the level of his musical peer. I grew up listening to Duane Allman do that for Dicky Betts. Like Gerry, Duane could have been the mega-star soloist but, instead, it was their DUELING guitars that made early Allman Brothers so special. Same goes for the dueling between Jerry and Bob Weir's guitars, and generally among all the interconnecting pieces of the Grateful Dead, as aptly exemplified here. While Jerry was the stellar core around which the others orbited, Jerry's humble philosophy gave the band its egalitarian brilliance.
Just when you think Jerry will zig, he zags. It’s insane how well he can play melody. He can come at any sort of melody from any direction, and yet, you still recognize it. HOW does he do this shit? Ive been playing for 5-6 years just to maybe kinda figure it out. Jerry is the best musical teacher out there. I could hear him play a throwaway blues lick while the band tunes up, and I wanna grab my guitar. THATS WHY HES THE GOAT. THE 🐐
I've always thought of it as playing around the melody and finding his way back at just the right time. Rock Scully's biography said he used to just pore over old guitar-exercise books and practice scale runs constantly. And that's not to say he didn't make mistakes, and I don't mean the drug-addled years. Sometimes he'd go for something and it didn't quite get there. But as a guitar player, I'd rather hear someone take the risk, especially when the rewards have proven to be so numerous over the years and years of GD tapes.
@@patrickvarine8476 I spent the first year listening to the Dead, just completely blown away by the fact that Jerry, ALWAYS has a new trick up his sleeve. Also something I think we look over, is how PERFECT this mans tone was. Not just his equipment, but his understanding of dynamics too. Some of his best playing, is him with his volume half way down, and just supporting the other musicians on stage. For instance, his rhythm playing in my opinion, really shines with JGB.
@@brandonvalentine2555 One thing I regret is that I have almost zero technical knowledge about my guitars. I have an electric Les Paul Studio I really love, and a Blackstar tube amp that I think makes it sound fantastic. But I don't have the know-how to make sure I'm getting the best possible tone and options out of them. Agree re: his dynamic awareness. I mostly play in bluegrass bands now, and in the jammier of the two, dynamics play a huge role in adding variety and drama to our sets.
many Guitarplayers play series of "prefab" licks. Not Jerry! Most Rockmusic is like driving on the Autobahn with a Navigation System while Grateful Dead Music is like walking the Desert without compass and map. Only the Sun and the stars guide you.
Not a Dead Head, but still Jerry's playing has always impressed me. He uses real phrases, not just licks, and he makes it seem effortless as speaking, walking all around the middle of the neck range that he likes so much. Unlike a lot of rock guitarists, it's clear he spent some serious time immersed some established tradition doing the hard work (I'm guessing bluegrass for one).
I had a friend who was a decent guitarist tell me something similar, so I played him the Dead all weekend long on a camping trip, no drugs involved. About a year later he moved to San Francisco for work. He randomly texted me one day that he now understood why I liked the Dead & Jerry so much. He likely ran into more Deadheads down there.
Couple shots of whiskey, women round here start looking good, couple more shots of whiskey, California women start looking good, and a few couple more shots of whiskey I'm going down to Minglewood.
What’s funny about this is this is not typical dead jam. This is funky. Phish gets there more often. I think the Dead gets me to an ethereal place usually. But this is not that it. This is fucking jamming and the band tight. I love it.
Europe 72 album: China Cat Sunflower jamming into Know You Rider. The Other One on the Bertha album. Mars Hotel. On and on it goes, countless examples of Garcia’s inventiveness and magical sense of melody….
That "China > Rider" combo from that album was what truly hooked me on the Dead when I first started listening. The way everyone's parts interlock in the China Cat riff is wild.
I think the towering specter of 1977 overshadows '76, '78 and '79 in a lot of cases. '76 is probably my favorite year because of how consistently in-the-pocket-funky things got, with a lot of jazziness mixed in and some of the best Billy/Mickey interplay.
This, to me, is the peak of what this band was capable of doing. Everyone's firing off at the same time, it's all locked in together. But that's also why I included a link to stream the full show -- it's a smoker!
Even that first example was pretty cool for what it was. Textural, atmospheric, psychedelic. Using the guitar as an instrument of overall broader sound not just confined to melody.