John Mayer never talks just to talk. He always has something insightful to say. He really is a massive fan of music and curious. That has led him to be one of the best musicians alive today. His work with Dead & Co is so impressive.
I’m 70 now so I grew up with it all back in the day. John explains it all well here.All the pyrotechnic type guitar players have shrunk in significance for me over time and my favorites are predicated on taste, phrasing, nuance…aesthetics in general. So I find myself more drawn to Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour and Peter Green than other players from back when. And of those three what Jerry had that the other two didn’t, aside from the fact that he’s an American, is his connection to bluegrass and country music that influenced him and his style. They all had the blues and rock and roll love in their playing but Jerry synthesized it all in his indomitable way. I miss him still as I suppose most everyone who watched this video does too. Thanks for posting this and thanks to these guys for keeping the circle unbroken.
Jerry was the most empathetic player and vocalist ever. His playing and singing always precisely conveyed the emotion of the song and the story within. A masterful storyteller.
@@jamescerone very intelligent in a spiritual way. Jerry was a hard working guitarist. Don’t let the heroin fool you. Many accounts of him constantly practicing. John Mayer is a great guitarist. Great feel and extremely knowledgeable about his craft. The best technical/feel guitarist today. Jerry was one of the best technical/feel guitarists of his time. Others better technically but none with his feel. Both well spoken and insightful
From a Guy who plays guitar for years and listened to all the classics and never dug the Dead until recently I can say every guitarist should study Jerry's playing as it will make you a more complete player. As his style is less is more, nuances, layering, understanding chordal notes while playin over changes. You can take a song like fire on the mountain and learn how to play over a Vamp switching between the B and the A and challenge your thinking playing chords, inversions, extension, maybe substitutions and mixolydian. Once you have concurred that then you can expand to a slow song like Morning Dew and now you can't just blindly use a scale as the song changes keys but its slow enough and the chord structure is simple enough that you have time to think until you don't have to think anymore.The Dead is honestly a walk through how to play guitar melodically and challenge yourself to stop thinking scales and think about the lyrics and feel the notes. If you cannot play a solo on your guitar that is interesting without someone playing bass or rhythm behind you then you are not playing guitar. Lastly, Jerry uses effects but his guitar is very clean not over distorted so you cannot hide behind noise you're playing has to work and sound crisp. Jerry is a very important study for a guitarist.
@@fmellish71 Like it or not, Jerry was an incredibly sloppy player. He had the knowledge of his instrument, but he just couldn’t keep it together. I mean hell, he misses the high root note at the end of the walk up in almost every morning dew… literally the most important note of the song. Also, none of them gave a single fuck about their singing voices and it painfully shows.
@@jamescerone Sure, he was sloppy, but most Dead shows I've heard are from between '66-'78 and I have seldom heard him miss that note in Morning Dew. He did hit the G string by mistake A LOT, though and sometimes he would get a little lost in a solo. Apart from the odd mistake here and there being done by a guy who at times is on LSD playing two 90-minute sets, that's not too bad even if his band's on Warner Bros. Nobody's listening to the Grateful Dead for a perfect performance, anyway and if they are, they will be disappointed. The indirect point that I was adding on to is the culture of gatekeeping that I picked up on with the guitar teachers that I had. The ones I had all dogged on Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin for being sloppy instead of acknowledging not only the spirit of those players, but that they're being paid to teach this kid guitar who loves those players.
@@fmellish71 Okay. I'm just saying Jerry was a sloppy player and that's why many guitar teachers don't like to encourage their students to emulate him. I'm not arguing that it's not somewhat narrow-minded, but it does make sense and is a totally reasonable attitude.
@@FirstdaysRthehardest go listen to any professional jazz player improvise, and you may change your tune. Jerry was constantly making mistakes almost every bar of everything he played (sometimes because he was also on acid lol), which is not something most professional improv musicians do
From a guy who never learned how to play any kind of instrument or anything about music during the 60 years that I've been listening to ALL the classics. I'm never going to understand the technical talk about music, although I like listening to Keith Richards talk about music. I fell in love with Jerry's guitar playing when I was around 11 years old. It resonated with me from the instant I first heard it and for the rest of my life. That's all I can say about Jerry's guitar playing because that's all I know. I've always felt a mystical connection. I can't explain it.
One thing that is so refreshing about Jerry is that he wasn’t a lick-based player like so many others (especially blues players). He was really able to flow through songs and jams without being repetitive or choppy, like a river just moving. John makes a really good point in this about how his playing is almost like a piano but upwards and with a guitar. Totally agree.
Oteil nailed it. "Jerry's guitar is remarkably healing". He takes us to a spiritual journey through his solos. That's why Jerry will forever be my no.1
It's funny hearing John Mayer talk about Jerry having a Freddie King "moment." Jerry always said Freddie King was one of his really big influences on the electric guitar. I'll bet Jerry had lots of Freddie King moments!
This discussion, no doubt went over a few heads, but if you got chills, or your emotions welled up suddenly, you understood what Oteil, John and Bill are talking about.
Began listening to Jerry Garcia in 1972, and was always stuck by his “choices”. It’s wasn’t always about the choices he made playing licks and phrasing from moment to moment. But it was just as mesmerizing to hear the choices that were the pauses and spaces between.
So well spoken ….I also analyze and try to peer deeply into his music and how Jerry’s and all of our energies together created this wonderful thing we shared and lived …right? Great post my friend 🙏
This is really fantastic we could sure stand for more of this. I'm like many a massive Jerry lover and it's hard to accept anything else but I really like John Meyer, he seems to be a cool guy and I can appreciate that. Hearing him talk makes me want to give dead and co a go. How times have changed. The old days shine like the sun lighting up the world with a vision of what can be.
I’ve had the same …hmm…dilemma (?) for years at D & C…. Maybe it’s not what you intended to share but probably , like yourself , having lived on and off the road in the GD life experience from very early 80s - 95…idk that seems to be my reality and only very recently have I come to accept things today being as they are - ok I just totally confused myself!! So I’ll shut up!!Lol
@@staggerleee1053 its strange, like it turned from the renaissance to the renaissance fair. But that's always the case, we go out to a show and and its a mere logo, hanging on to something while ticket prices soar and the music doesn't. From the haight to this? That's just the nature the system I guess.
my dad was a deadhead and i was literally hearing jerry in the car on the way home from the hospital when i was born, im a deadhead from birth (1987). jerry sure did supply me with a hobby i love, i love the tone chasing and all the gear, i was fascinated learning music theory, and i love picking up my guitar and floating away with the sounds, thanks uncle jerry❤
Here's my contribution to the discussion of the excellence and timelessness of Jerry's guitar playing. For everyone's information I'm viewing this video for the first time on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. In my personal collection of GD albums it seems I have 36 live performances of Dark Star (which is my current listening fascination). My observation, first conceived today, is that the best of the long improvisations typical of that song provide me the same range of musical appreciations and feelings of beauty I experience while listening to some of Mozart's later works (particularly the second movements of concertos and similar musical forms (like divertimenti). The point here is Jerry's music really is that timeless and evocative, right up there with other great composers and musicians.
The one thing many overlook is Jerry's refusal to exert discipline over himself. As with so many entertainment 'gods,' his prodigious talent got him massive goodwill, enablers, free time and money to live (with the exception of mastering his arts) an undisciplined life which shortchanged fans and band mates. He didn't have to die at 53-going-on-70...
Hey now, let’s not lie to each other, Jerry let loose for a couple years before he saw the value of that refined articulate approach he grew into. Some of the Lovelights and Good Lovin’s from 68-70 were blazing.
I couldn’t have picked a better example to illustrate my comment! There are a handful of Lovelights from ‘69 that are the musical equivalent of molten lava…
That’s true, like the shredding at the end of Viola Lee Blues of the early years. He made a conscious choice to move away from the psychedelic freak out guitar, and into the melodic journey.
It’s part of the reason why Jerry is still such a fascinating musician to me. It’s not often that you get to “check in” with a virtuoso like Jerry 150-200 times a year, year after year for a couple decades. Sure, other artists put out an album every few years and they tour to promote the album, but that’s nothing compared to 200 shows that are loosely structured but designed in such a way to leave room for improvisation. We got to watch Jerry evolve, not just see snapshots of the evolution. One night he’d play a particular line, a few nights later that line would have progressed into something new and it continued throughout his life. It was a new way for me to interact with the music and it wasn’t just Jerry, it was the band that continually metamorphosed. That symbiotic relationship is what I believe made the Dead so special. They all “sharpened” one another, similar to athletes pushing each other for a new PR and that led to some of the most interesting and impactful music in human history. ❤️
Jerry's playing on Eyes, Playin', others I don't think was excessive or over the top. Just a different era/phase... he was younger and had more energy (granted some was chemical), he was reacting to the jazzier more fluid playing of Keith (vs Brent)... listen to the (1st!) Eyes at my favorite show, Stanford 02.09.73. This is "fast Jerry," but every note sounds intentional. One of the best rock guitar solos I've ever heard.
I’m 45 and grew up on heavy / shredding stuff but as I’ve got older listening to the nuance of players like Page, Beck, Harrison, Hendrix, Ry Cooder, Lowell George, even Brian May and Billy Gibbons is an eye opener
Brian May is absolutely a great example of making the most of each note. Never using notes as speed devices, but as expressions that should be savored more in terms of tone
“A man leaves his fingerprint through his choices” …that was a really good quote from JM…he was speaking of JG bc he only knew JG via his music he left behind for us. I honestly just got a small admiration for JM…he never knew the thing we knew - he was too young - we were touring in the 80s-90s and it lives in me. And JM just shared, unintentionally, his humility and I think that was just so great and it was like the thing I had always wanted to know for him … (I totally have to learn to do shorter comments too…ugh. Just my OCD or perhaps the lasting effects of much LSD where I think and explore too deeply in ideas and theory and music or whatever lol) I’ve done plenty of D&C over the years and never could connect w JM (honestly cannot even look at him when they’re playing) but this thing he just said gave me a nod of respect for him - so maybe going forward I’ll accept more - the door is open now …but who the f am I anyway right ? All the things I planned to do I only did half way ….and my life has been sadly a theme of broken dreams and shattered years …especially since 95
To Billy’s comment about Jerry’s playing after everybody left the stage as the truest Jerry. Check out 2nd set of 5/13/77 Chicago Auditorium Theater. Perfect example of that playing.
Jerry was the best at what he did + nobody could do what he did or come close to sounding like him ,one of a kind who he was+ will b 4 ever ! 🩷🐰🐇☠️💀👽🛸🩷🥳🫣🤩love him until I die ! In death do us part !
Some people were put on this earth to amazing things like, doctors, specialists, Neuro sergeons. Jerry was a heart surgeon... People go to a Dead show hurting, worried, scared, and they would leave healed. People would leave with answers, and a solution sometimes. Jerry was a heart surgeon.
Oteil summarized my experience w/ the Grateful Dead and my obsession w/ Jerry Garcia's guitar playing very well, I needed to mature a little more to appreciate it. As Mayer was saying, you almost have to experience them all to come back and appreciate how special Jerry's playing was and how graceful, layered, elegant in his approach. As a player, I found myself growing up wanting to sound raw and menacing, like Tommi Iommi, Johnny Ramone, Ron Asheton, Jimi, Eddie, etc. Powerful, loud, aggressive. Now, the most music I play is the Grateful Dead and trying to imitate Jerry has advanced my playing ten folds.
Fluidity and moment to moment choices are what always fascinated me about Jerry Garcia's playing. And all housed within the fluidity and moment to moment choices of a great band of musicians. What a beautiful and wonderful thing to experience.
Jerry knew the instrument front to back and played differently everytime. Took you on a journey. There will never be another. Richie Kotzen seems to be the modern day player who’s lyrics n music take me.
Jerry's playing was always interesting. The notes he played were melodic and told a story. Perhaps playing so often under the influence of LSD in the early days gave shape to how he approached guitar. His playing was tailor made for people high on psychedelics.
My experience of Jerry was that of some multiple heads and arms Hindi deity. In on night ya would get a spicy gumbo mix of Doc Watson, Jango Reinheart , Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Scotty More, Frank Zappa, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins , Miles Davis, John Coltrane and a rock the house crunch and stomp and boogie of Jimmy Page….and that was just the first set!🎸
You know, early John Mayer was too pop and not very fun to listen too. However when I saw him playing with the Dead, thst got my attention. I now believe he is one exceptional guitar player. Watching him evolve has been a pleasure.
Jerr took his playing SO Serious & From His Heart - at each concert he made love to the 1000's present - AND HE MEANT IT ! The bent notes and tones are very touching, and the quiet moments in mid song accentuate it so well. The Jerr Garcia Band is Very Deep & Emotional - Reaching Out to the Lord Himself at times ! Thank You Jerr, For a Real Good Time ! (~);}
I played the Mosque Dave's Picks 1 They Love Each Other solo for a talented pal of mine, and he said it's like you're an infant being cradled and quietly sung to and there's no fear of being dropped.
Garcia , with the dead and his own Garcia albums along with his Blue Grass compilations and Banjo influences, has made him great and his mix of all worlds in his music made his cosmic country sound.
If you're lucky, aging changes your perspective. Crash Landing is one of my favorite Hendrix albums. Every artist that endures, changes. The others fall by the wayside. Some die young and never get to learn about the changes that come with age. Johnny Winter was everything I wanted to be, then I discovered Muddy Waters who introduced me to Robert Johnson. The songs I wrote 10 years ago are completely different from those I write now. It's cliché but change really is the only constant.
Don't forget he paved the way for all kinds of Allman brothers double stop and pedal steel style riffs and he was doing Mountain Jam on they're second album (Anthem of the Sun) He layed down the law and others ran with it.
I particularly like Jerry's guitar lines in between vocal phrases. My favorite of his guitar solos are when he isn't a lot louder than the band but mixed in at the same loudness level. He knew how to blend his guitar in so nicely. Hopefully that makes sense lol
Yes. I agree @sgg6927. I was just listening to the Garcia-Grisman piece "Grateful Dawg" and the way Jerry moves from lead playing to backing up David Grisman is amazing. His lead playing is great, but his accompaniment to Grisman's lead is fascinating. It blends perfectly.
"Jerry is gone in one form, but like the magician that he is, he has explosively been transformed into a million Jerrys-one improvising in each of our hearts." - Ram Dass
When jerry sounded like another instrument, he stopped playing guitar, and started playing another instrument. I saw an interview quote once where someone told him he sounded like he was playing a trumpet in a song, and jerry said "thats because I AM playing a trumpet, man". Its things like that that change how I think about music and guitar. He isnt just changing tones and trying to make a guitar sound like a trumpet, he was actually in that moment as a trumpet player. RIP Jerry.
Singable lead lines. Like on “Candy Man”… ELEGANCE, a great way to explain it… healing, YES! Laments…. YES… 4:38 And he plays WITH the band… Wharf Rat… these songs get me every time.
4:27. “Hints at the blues, but not the blues.” I would remind people that he thought of his music as what happens when you start with serious bluegrass playing.
For me, Jerry didn’t play notes, he released notes. His notes are hardly imbued with his own character, and instead they exist in their own universe and context. It’s a very unique feeling and must be very deep
I dunno Oteil, Jerry never struck me as all that feminine. I never felt like his playing was feminine either. And John, Jerry played quite bombastically sometimes as well. Every Dead song isn't Eyes of the World, and it is possible to play a faster tempo then a waltz. What I hear when I hear Jerry playing is a guitar player with a seemingly limitless pallet of style, skill, and technique expressing the full scope and range of human emotion at will.
Valiant attempt by many. But no one has duplicated his sound or ability to take us to another world..nor have they been able to open the "crack" to let out the rivers
Everyone must have their own "greatest guitarist" favorite, or top three, or top ten. It's all so subjective. There are guitarists, surely, who played faster than Jerry. There are guitarists who played in a more disciplined way. There are people in the jazz world and classical world who do this in their sleep, they are so good. Jerry, if he had had more self-discipline and less self-indulgence, could have been all that. But what I hear when I listen to Jerry play is that, to me, he is the most MUSICAL guitarist. When he was good, before the ravages of heroin, he could be spellbinding. His playing could just apprehend me, grab me, and pull my ear in, and it was so FELT. It could rip your head open like a split cantaloupe. It had power. Sometimes he was a "noodler," but most of the time he would do things, and you would think, "WHAAT? He's going deep!" And his vocals: Jerry wasn't a Bennett or Sinatra caliber singer. His voice was kind of reedy and a little thin (cigarettes?), but he was a great singer of his songs. His delivery, phrasing, empathy, breathing and voice control were all phenomenal.
Was Jerry having a Freddy King moment because you hear Freddy King? Or was he reflecting a common influence between the two? Remember, they were nearly contemporaries; Freddy was only 8 years older than Jerry. Plus, do we ever really know who all our influences are? There's so much music that's gone by in the background, in the womb, maybe in our DNA...
My style of guitar soloing is almost entirely coppe'd from Jerry Garcia and Eric Clapton. Jerry is more for the modes, Clapton more on the blues scales. Great dudes
Jerry was at his best in the 80 s while I was around to c the downfall of Jerry so when he as happy it showed because he cared more for his music than anything else includiing his wife’s o children , not that he didn’t love them but music was all his life ! That is one reason while I left him 😢😥😫😰🥵😔❤️🐰🐇🩵💀☠️🩷👽🪐🛸🚀my favorite emojis !
I so want to understand the Dead, but up to now, I haven’t “gotten” it. I’m a JM fan which drew me to follow them on TH-cam, and while I respect it, I don’t yet get it. Maybe that will change. Althea is the only tune that hooks me in. If any Deadheads have other suggestions for me to progress into, please share.
Jerry's playing was original but not exceptional, imo. More kudos because he was a great sympathetic player. Perfect in any GROUP of musicians. His acoustic playing was always my favorite.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
John Mayer never talks just to talk. He always has something insightful to say. He really is a massive fan of music and curious. That has led him to be one of the best musicians alive today. His work with Dead & Co is so impressive.
Yeah/ really articulate observation.
I’m 70 now so I grew up with it all back in the day. John explains it all well here.All the pyrotechnic type guitar players have shrunk in significance for me over time and my favorites are predicated on taste, phrasing, nuance…aesthetics in general. So I find myself more drawn to Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour and Peter Green than other players from back when. And of those three what Jerry had that the other two didn’t, aside from the fact that he’s an American, is his connection to bluegrass and country music that influenced him and his style. They all had the blues and rock and roll love in their playing but Jerry synthesized it all in his indomitable way. I miss him still as I suppose most everyone who watched this video does too. Thanks for posting this and thanks to these guys for keeping the circle unbroken.
Santana and others also. Emotional content.
Jerry’s guitar playing touches my soul it’s something special no other musicians warms my heart like he can
Oteil used the word "healing" and I feel that's perfect.
John Mayer ,a most thoughtful individual.@@MrVinman711
Jerry was the most empathetic player and vocalist ever. His playing and singing always precisely conveyed the emotion of the song and the story within. A masterful storyteller.
Standing on the Moon
"In the end there's still that song, comes crying like the wind, down every lonely street, that's ever been". ✌
@@MrWallybones
YESSSS!
Exactly😊
John Mayer is SOOOOOOO smart. He always says interesting things in interesting ways.
Mayers shitpost account?
Yeah you can really tell he has a highly intelligent analytical mind combined with an ability to communicate it eloquently.
Eerily similar to Jerry
@@nickdarbenzio1681 in what possible way lmao
@@jamescerone very intelligent in a spiritual way. Jerry was a hard working guitarist. Don’t let the heroin fool you. Many accounts of him constantly practicing. John Mayer is a great guitarist. Great feel and extremely knowledgeable about his craft. The best technical/feel guitarist today. Jerry was one of the best technical/feel guitarists of his time. Others better technically but none with his feel. Both well spoken and insightful
What John said in this clip is spot on. I just don't ever hear ANY other guitarist that gets discussed at this depth!
"Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near as it were your own?"
Standing on the moon - But I would rather be with you
Somewhere in San Francisco - On a back porch in July
not a fan of mayer's music but I could listen to him talk about guitar shit all day
He would be happy as long as they've played good quality 🎶🎵😊
From a Guy who plays guitar for years and listened to all the classics and never dug the Dead until recently I can say every guitarist should study Jerry's playing as it will make you a more complete player. As his style is less is more, nuances, layering, understanding chordal notes while playin over changes. You can take a song like fire on the mountain and learn how to play over a Vamp switching between the B and the A and challenge your thinking playing chords, inversions, extension, maybe substitutions and mixolydian. Once you have concurred that then you can expand to a slow song like Morning Dew and now you can't just blindly use a scale as the song changes keys but its slow enough and the chord structure is simple enough that you have time to think until you don't have to think anymore.The Dead is honestly a walk through how to play guitar melodically and challenge yourself to stop thinking scales and think about the lyrics and feel the notes. If you cannot play a solo on your guitar that is interesting without someone playing bass or rhythm behind you then you are not playing guitar. Lastly, Jerry uses effects but his guitar is very clean not over distorted so you cannot hide behind noise you're playing has to work and sound crisp. Jerry is a very important study for a guitarist.
...yet every guitar teacher I ever had was dismissive of him. Shows that you can only learn so much from teachers.
@@fmellish71 Like it or not, Jerry was an incredibly sloppy player. He had the knowledge of his instrument, but he just couldn’t keep it together. I mean hell, he misses the high root note at the end of the walk up in almost every morning dew… literally the most important note of the song.
Also, none of them gave a single fuck about their singing voices and it painfully shows.
@@jamescerone Sure, he was sloppy, but most Dead shows I've heard are from between '66-'78 and I have seldom heard him miss that note in Morning Dew. He did hit the G string by mistake A LOT, though and sometimes he would get a little lost in a solo. Apart from the odd mistake here and there being done by a guy who at times is on LSD playing two 90-minute sets, that's not too bad even if his band's on Warner Bros. Nobody's listening to the Grateful Dead for a perfect performance, anyway and if they are, they will be disappointed.
The indirect point that I was adding on to is the culture of gatekeeping that I picked up on with the guitar teachers that I had. The ones I had all dogged on Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin for being sloppy instead of acknowledging not only the spirit of those players, but that they're being paid to teach this kid guitar who loves those players.
@@fmellish71 Okay. I'm just saying Jerry was a sloppy player and that's why many guitar teachers don't like to encourage their students to emulate him. I'm not arguing that it's not somewhat narrow-minded, but it does make sense and is a totally reasonable attitude.
@@FirstdaysRthehardest go listen to any professional jazz player improvise, and you may change your tune. Jerry was constantly making mistakes almost every bar of everything he played (sometimes because he was also on acid lol), which is not something most professional improv musicians do
I could listen to three hours of these guys on this topic
From a guy who never learned how to play any kind of instrument or anything about music during the 60 years that I've been listening to ALL the classics.
I'm never going to understand the technical talk about music, although I like listening to Keith Richards talk about music.
I fell in love with Jerry's guitar playing when I was around 11 years old. It resonated with me from the instant I first heard it and for the rest of my life.
That's all I can say about Jerry's guitar playing because that's all I know. I've always felt a mystical connection. I can't explain it.
Jerry lived in timelessness, and his music is a portal to that amazing world. 🙏 GOAT
Perfectly said
One thing that is so refreshing about Jerry is that he wasn’t a lick-based player like so many others (especially blues players). He was really able to flow through songs and jams without being repetitive or choppy, like a river just moving. John makes a really good point in this about how his playing is almost like a piano but upwards and with a guitar. Totally agree.
Yes the "Big River"
It's enjoyabe trying to emulate the piano parts on guitar when figuring out cover songs.
Oteil nailed it. "Jerry's guitar is remarkably healing". He takes us to a spiritual journey through his solos. That's why Jerry will forever be my no.1
1977 Barton Hall solo in "Loser", I think I hear that with every ounce of my being.
Healing vibe🧡True Jerry!🧡
Loved the glance over the glasses.
John is so wise, brilliant and articulate. I hope he writes a book sometime. Very deep soul.
John Mayer’s music mind is incredible
It's funny hearing John Mayer talk about Jerry having a Freddie King "moment." Jerry always said Freddie King was one of his really big influences on the electric guitar. I'll bet Jerry had lots of Freddie King moments!
This video is Sooo Friggin Fantastic! Thank You for sharing Mr. Mayer 👍💯
This discussion, no doubt went over a few heads, but if you got chills, or your emotions welled up suddenly, you understood what Oteil, John and Bill are talking about.
Absolutely. Was just about to say the same thing.
I’m not even kidding 4:20 was when it really started for me, when Bill starts talking about his personality coming through. What a guy.
Intense !
Still choking up a bit…
Began listening to Jerry Garcia in 1972, and was always stuck by his “choices”. It’s wasn’t always about the choices he made playing licks and phrasing from moment to moment. But it was just as mesmerizing to hear the choices that were the pauses and spaces between.
So well spoken ….I also analyze and try to peer deeply into his music and how Jerry’s and all of our energies together created this wonderful thing we shared and lived …right? Great post my friend 🙏
This is really fantastic we could sure stand for more of this. I'm like many a massive Jerry lover and it's hard to accept anything else but I really like John Meyer, he seems to be a cool guy and I can appreciate that. Hearing him talk makes me want to give dead and co a go. How times have changed. The old days shine like the sun lighting up the world with a vision of what can be.
I’ve had the same …hmm…dilemma (?) for years at D & C…. Maybe it’s not what you intended to share but probably , like yourself , having lived on and off the road in the GD life experience from very early 80s - 95…idk that seems to be my reality and only very recently have I come to accept things today being as they are - ok I just totally confused myself!! So I’ll shut up!!Lol
@@staggerleee1053 its strange, like it turned from the renaissance to the renaissance fair. But that's always the case, we go out to a show and and its a mere logo, hanging on to something while ticket prices soar and the music doesn't. From the haight to this? That's just the nature the system I guess.
my dad was a deadhead and i was literally hearing jerry in the car on the way home from the hospital when i was born, im a deadhead from birth (1987). jerry sure did supply me with a hobby i love, i love the tone chasing and all the gear, i was fascinated learning music theory, and i love picking up my guitar and floating away with the sounds, thanks uncle jerry❤
Fantastic insight/point Mayor made regarding JG playing more like a piano. Just stated the obvious that really hit home.
My favorite guitarists: Jerry Garcia and Robbie Robertson. Now they're both gone.😢
Here's my contribution to the discussion of the excellence and timelessness of Jerry's guitar playing. For everyone's information I'm viewing this video for the first time on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
In my personal collection of GD albums it seems I have 36 live performances of Dark Star (which is my current listening fascination). My observation, first conceived today, is that the best of the long improvisations typical of that song provide me the same range of musical appreciations and feelings of beauty I experience while listening to some of Mozart's later works (particularly the second movements of concertos and similar musical forms (like divertimenti). The point here is Jerry's music really is that timeless and evocative, right up there with other great composers and musicians.
He went for emotions and beauty. He said "For me, it's always emotional".
I couldn't agree more. I always say Jerry is up there with Mozart and Miles. Transcendental and timeless.
dark star mm
Bla bla bla you love to hear yourself .a lot of big words that didn’t add to anything 😂
Actually I thought the comparison to Mozart was very insightful. In some jams the Dead sounded very symphonic.
Jerry literally saves ,his music is medicinal…Thank you Jerry ❤
Jerry's always tasteful licks have brought a huge grin to my face countless times and when it's really good goosebumps and sheer bliss😊
Love is Real 🌹 Thank You 🌻
The one thing many overlook is Jerry's refusal to exert discipline over himself. As with so many entertainment 'gods,' his prodigious talent got him massive goodwill, enablers, free time and money to live (with the exception of mastering his arts) an undisciplined life which shortchanged fans and band mates.
He didn't have to die at 53-going-on-70...
Hey now, let’s not lie to each other, Jerry let loose for a couple years before he saw the value of that refined articulate approach he grew into. Some of the Lovelights and Good Lovin’s from 68-70 were blazing.
you're right... I'm currently learning this '69 Love Light Jerry solo. His speed actually amazes me. th-cam.com/video/Kyn36mHokpQ/w-d-xo.html
I couldn’t have picked a better example to illustrate my comment! There are a handful of Lovelights from ‘69 that are the musical equivalent of molten lava…
That’s true, like the shredding at the end of Viola Lee Blues of the early years. He made a conscious choice to move away from the psychedelic freak out guitar, and into the melodic journey.
It’s part of the reason why Jerry is still such a fascinating musician to me. It’s not often that you get to “check in” with a virtuoso like Jerry 150-200 times a year, year after year for a couple decades. Sure, other artists put out an album every few years and they tour to promote the album, but that’s nothing compared to 200 shows that are loosely structured but designed in such a way to leave room for improvisation. We got to watch Jerry evolve, not just see snapshots of the evolution. One night he’d play a particular line, a few nights later that line would have progressed into something new and it continued throughout his life. It was a new way for me to interact with the music and it wasn’t just Jerry, it was the band that continually metamorphosed. That symbiotic relationship is what I believe made the Dead so special. They all “sharpened” one another, similar to athletes pushing each other for a new PR and that led to some of the most interesting and impactful music in human history. ❤️
Jerry's playing on Eyes, Playin', others I don't think was excessive or over the top. Just a different era/phase... he was younger and had more energy (granted some was chemical), he was reacting to the jazzier more fluid playing of Keith (vs Brent)... listen to the (1st!) Eyes at my favorite show, Stanford 02.09.73. This is "fast Jerry," but every note sounds intentional. One of the best rock guitar solos I've ever heard.
I’m 45 and grew up on heavy / shredding stuff but as I’ve got older listening to the nuance of players like Page, Beck, Harrison, Hendrix, Ry Cooder, Lowell George, even Brian May and Billy Gibbons is an eye opener
Brian May is absolutely a great example of making the most of each note. Never using notes as speed devices, but as expressions that should be savored more in terms of tone
@@hermixtonen BM has that special tone style that is only his, much like how JG was so unique.
“A man leaves his fingerprint through his choices” …that was a really good quote from JM…he was speaking of JG bc he only knew JG via his music he left behind for us. I honestly just got a small admiration for JM…he never knew the thing we knew - he was too young - we were touring in the 80s-90s and it lives in me. And JM just shared, unintentionally, his humility and I think that was just so great and it was like the thing I had always wanted to know for him …
(I totally have to learn to do shorter comments too…ugh. Just my OCD or perhaps the lasting effects of much LSD where I think and explore too deeply in ideas and theory and music or whatever lol)
I’ve done plenty of D&C over the years and never could connect w JM (honestly cannot even look at him when they’re playing) but this thing he just said gave me a nod of respect for him - so maybe going forward I’ll accept more - the door is open now …but who the f am I anyway right ? All the things I planned to do I only did half way ….and my life has been sadly a theme of broken dreams and shattered years …especially since 95
What does, “we were touring in the 80’s-90’s” refer to, were you in the band?
@kevinelliott5823 It means going to see lots and lots of Dead shows.
I feel as u do staggerleee because I haven’t been able to move on or care to when Jerry left us he took part of us with him ! 🩵🐇🐰💜👻👽🪐🚀🛸🖤😱💀☠️🤝
To Billy’s comment about Jerry’s playing after everybody left the stage as the truest Jerry. Check out 2nd set of 5/13/77 Chicago Auditorium Theater. Perfect example of that playing.
I’m 72 and listen to music. I remember listening to Garcia when I was younger and it felt really young to me then
It's cool to see what I've learned years ago to see John come around and master the licks
Jerry was the best at what he did + nobody could do what he did or come close to sounding like him ,one of a kind who he was+ will b 4 ever ! 🩷🐰🐇☠️💀👽🛸🩷🥳🫣🤩love him until I die ! In death do us part !
Watching the Dead throughout the ‘80’s was so amazing. Watching Garcia just do his stuff when he was laid back was unbelievable to see & hear!!!
Some people were put on this earth to amazing things like, doctors, specialists, Neuro sergeons. Jerry was a heart surgeon... People go to a Dead show hurting, worried, scared, and they would leave healed. People would leave with answers, and a solution sometimes. Jerry was a heart surgeon.
A buddy of mine had cover band at house last year.Crazy as it seems I felt Jerry there
"Peoples souls live in the variances between their performances" - John Mayer
I think John is an amazing guitarist. I love his art.
Thought John Mayer was lame when i was young, but now i'm glad he's still going strong
Oteil summarized my experience w/ the Grateful Dead and my obsession w/ Jerry Garcia's guitar playing very well, I needed to mature a little more to appreciate it. As Mayer was saying, you almost have to experience them all to come back and appreciate how special Jerry's playing was and how graceful, layered, elegant in his approach. As a player, I found myself growing up wanting to sound raw and menacing, like Tommi Iommi, Johnny Ramone, Ron Asheton, Jimi, Eddie, etc. Powerful, loud, aggressive. Now, the most music I play is the Grateful Dead and trying to imitate Jerry has advanced my playing ten folds.
Fluidity and moment to moment choices are what always fascinated me about Jerry Garcia's playing. And all housed within the fluidity and moment to moment choices of a great band of musicians. What a beautiful and wonderful thing to experience.
Jerry knew the instrument front to back and played differently everytime. Took you on a journey. There will never be another. Richie Kotzen seems to be the modern day player who’s lyrics n music take me.
Mayer’s take on Jerry’s “fingerprint” and meeting him musically is so amazing.
Jerry's playing was always interesting. The notes he played were melodic and told a story. Perhaps playing so often under the influence of LSD in the early days gave shape to how he approached guitar. His playing was tailor made for people high on psychedelics.
My experience of Jerry was that of some multiple heads and arms Hindi deity.
In on night ya would get a spicy gumbo mix of Doc Watson, Jango Reinheart , Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Scotty More, Frank Zappa, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins , Miles Davis, John Coltrane and a rock the house crunch and stomp and boogie of Jimmy Page….and that was just the first set!🎸
You know, early John Mayer was too pop and not very fun to listen too. However when I saw him playing with the Dead, thst got my attention. I now believe he is one exceptional guitar player. Watching him evolve has been a pleasure.
Jerr took his playing SO Serious & From His Heart - at each concert he made love to the 1000's present - AND HE MEANT IT !
The bent notes and tones are very touching, and the quiet moments in mid song accentuate it so well.
The Jerr Garcia Band is Very Deep & Emotional - Reaching Out to the Lord Himself at times !
Thank You Jerr, For a Real Good Time ! (~);}
Billy is unrecognizable without that mustache!
Definitely chills and deep moving emotions ... ummmmmmm ❤️🌹💥🌹❤️
For the shows in between this is when I knew John was a head
I played the Mosque Dave's Picks 1 They Love Each Other solo for a talented pal of mine, and he said it's like you're an infant being cradled and quietly sung to and there's no fear of being dropped.
Great! Jerry in 73 & 74 with just Billy on drums was pure magic!
Mayer is spot on about Garcia and Hendrix
Garcia , with the dead and his own Garcia albums along with his Blue Grass compilations and Banjo influences, has made him great and his mix of all worlds in his music made his cosmic country sound.
The fact that you hear Jerry play & you immediately kno “ thats Jerry Garcia”. Impresses me. One of the best
Totally!! I also get that with Mark Knopfler, immediately know it's him by just hearing, just like with Jerry Garcia, it's amazing!
Wow John that was really deep and really beautiful
If you're lucky, aging changes your perspective. Crash Landing is one of my favorite Hendrix albums. Every artist that endures, changes. The others fall by the wayside. Some die young and never get to learn about the changes that come with age. Johnny Winter was everything I wanted to be, then I discovered Muddy Waters who introduced me to Robert Johnson. The songs I wrote 10 years ago are completely different from those I write now. It's cliché but change really is the only constant.
Don't forget he paved the way for all kinds of Allman brothers double stop and pedal steel style riffs and he was doing Mountain Jam on they're second album (Anthem of the Sun) He layed down the law and others ran with it.
Do y’all have a discussion on the making of Shakedown Street? Would love to hear how it was to work with Lowell and Jerry together
I particularly like Jerry's guitar lines in between vocal phrases. My favorite of his guitar solos are when he isn't a lot louder than the band but mixed in at the same loudness level. He knew how to blend his guitar in so nicely. Hopefully that makes sense lol
Yes. I agree @sgg6927. I was just listening to the Garcia-Grisman piece "Grateful Dawg" and the way Jerry moves from lead playing to backing up David Grisman is amazing. His lead playing is great, but his accompaniment to Grisman's lead is fascinating. It blends perfectly.
I hardly recognized Bill without the facial hair
Oteil described the experience really well
JG just magical
I dont understand how people could hate john when you see his reverence for jerry and the band.
"Jerry is gone in one form, but like the magician that he is, he has explosively been transformed into a million Jerrys-one improvising in each of our hearts." - Ram Dass
Great points
When jerry sounded like another instrument, he stopped playing guitar, and started playing another instrument. I saw an interview quote once where someone told him he sounded like he was playing a trumpet in a song, and jerry said "thats because I AM playing a trumpet, man". Its things like that that change how I think about music and guitar. He isnt just changing tones and trying to make a guitar sound like a trumpet, he was actually in that moment as a trumpet player. RIP Jerry.
The quote was "You sounded like a badass sax player"
"I AM a badass sax player, man." if I recall correctly.
From what I gather, Jerry probably knew EXACTLY how to steal a car.
Singable lead lines. Like on “Candy Man”… ELEGANCE, a great way to explain it… healing, YES! Laments…. YES… 4:38 And he plays WITH the band… Wharf Rat… these songs get me every time.
4:27. “Hints at the blues, but not the blues.” I would remind people that he thought of his music as what happens when you start with serious bluegrass playing.
in one little interview, Jerry mentioned Django--saying that each note should have a personality--I think that's the key
Check out 8-14-1994 Warfield,SF -Shining Star - Jerry Garcia Band. This is why I love Jerry!
There's times I feel like he shows up when you're in that moment.
I definitely think Jerry and the Dead are an acquired taste. The older i got the more I appreciated them. It seems many ppl are like that.
Standing on the moon - But I would rather be with you
Somewhere in San Francisco - On a back porch in July
Well that’s a quality reply
Love Billy!
Well said, John
"Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven." Walter Savage Landor
John is a god.
For me, Jerry didn’t play notes, he released notes. His notes are hardly imbued with his own character, and instead they exist in their own universe and context. It’s a very unique feeling and must be very deep
One man gathers. Once you know.
jerry was high when he played. just saying generally. i'm only a dead fanatic with their very first record, may, 1967. still sounds great to me.
I dunno Oteil, Jerry never struck me as all that feminine. I never felt like his playing was feminine either. And John, Jerry played quite bombastically sometimes as well. Every Dead song isn't Eyes of the World, and it is possible to play a faster tempo then a waltz.
What I hear when I hear Jerry playing is a guitar player with a seemingly limitless pallet of style, skill, and technique expressing the full scope and range of human emotion at will.
When I hear Jerry play, particularly in his JG Band, I hear a lot of Bill Monroe influence.
Valiant attempt by many. But no one has duplicated his sound or ability to take us to another world..nor have they been able to open the "crack" to let out the rivers
I sure wish John Mayer would let Billy talk. I'm a thousand times more interested in what he has to say. A million. A billion.
Everyone must have their own "greatest guitarist" favorite, or top three, or top ten. It's all so subjective. There are guitarists, surely, who played faster than Jerry. There are guitarists who played in a more disciplined way. There are people in the jazz world and classical world who do this in their sleep, they are so good. Jerry, if he had had more self-discipline and less self-indulgence, could have been all that. But what I hear when I listen to Jerry play is that, to me, he is the most MUSICAL guitarist. When he was good, before the ravages of heroin, he could be spellbinding. His playing could just apprehend me, grab me, and pull my ear in, and it was so FELT. It could rip your head open like a split cantaloupe. It had power. Sometimes he was a "noodler," but most of the time he would do things, and you would think, "WHAAT? He's going deep!" And his vocals: Jerry wasn't a Bennett or Sinatra caliber singer. His voice was kind of reedy and a little thin (cigarettes?), but he was a great singer of his songs. His delivery, phrasing, empathy, breathing and voice control were all phenomenal.
Was Jerry having a Freddy King moment because you hear Freddy King? Or was he reflecting a common influence between the two? Remember, they were nearly contemporaries; Freddy was only 8 years older than Jerry. Plus, do we ever really know who all our influences are? There's so much music that's gone by in the background, in the womb, maybe in our DNA...
Look at the bootlegs John has, he is on it
My style of guitar soloing is almost entirely coppe'd from Jerry Garcia and Eric Clapton. Jerry is more for the modes, Clapton more on the blues scales. Great dudes
Jerry was at his best in the 80 s while I was around to c the downfall of Jerry so when he as happy it showed because he cared more for his music than anything else includiing his wife’s o children , not that he didn’t love them but music was all his life ! That is one reason while I left him 😢😥😫😰🥵😔❤️🐰🐇🩵💀☠️🩷👽🪐🛸🚀my favorite emojis !
I so want to understand the Dead, but up to now, I haven’t “gotten” it. I’m a JM fan which drew me to follow them on TH-cam, and while I respect it, I don’t yet get it. Maybe that will change. Althea is the only tune that hooks me in. If any Deadheads have other suggestions for me to progress into, please share.
One man down and another to go...
Jerry's playing was original but not exceptional, imo. More kudos because he was a great sympathetic player. Perfect in any GROUP of musicians. His acoustic playing was always my favorite.