Teach me to love Jerry Garcia's lead playing

Over in the Bob Weir thread, I was sayin:

...it was always the songwriting that captivated me, along with the blend of the whole band's sound, Jerry's guitar being a taste I still haven't fully acquired. I like it but I don't hear its revolutionary aspects. My favorite lead guitar tends to be jagged and noisy -- Neil Young, Colleen Kinsella, Martin Barre. It's probably why I have so much time for a post-Jerry project like Furthur. I miss Jerry's voice a great deal -- I *love* him as a singer -- and above all I miss his songwriting, but his writing had slowed down so much by the '90s anyway...

Speaking of... would anyone care to put together an annotated, let's say, 10-live-track listening guide that would highlight what it is exactly that puts Jerry's guitar playing out in the cosmic sphere? That's no small task, but I promise to listen carefully.

and kornrulez answered:

You're in for a treat. I didn't really get into the Dead until a couple years ago, despite having seen them about 10 times in the 90s, when Garcia was not at his peak to put it mildly.

This 1977 Sugaree is a high point. It's not even about the band playing together, jamming. It's just Jerry going off for 20 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkcQnyUSp4

So it occurs to me, this could be a group educational project, couldn't it? I don't need to ask one person to make a ten-song list when the whole ILM Dead community could contribute!

So come! Enlighten me!

Again: I like Jerry's guitar playing -- the often weird tone, the many-many-notes approach, the color & light of it -- but I've yet to figure out what makes so many people speak of his guitar work in hushed tones. The whole "I only listen to the Dead 'cause of Jerry's guitar" stance is something I can't relate to, since it's the songs I love, and the band sound as a whole -- but I'd love to hear more of what the folks who take that stance hear.

Couldn't disagree more, his guitar playing is literally all I like about the Grateful Dead.

HIS OVERALL SENSE OF "THE TUNE." THE MAN HAS A VERY DISTINCT GROOVE.

hey nu,

haven't been keeping up with the bob weir thread but the above sentences were said aloud upon reading this thread title. i have never liked rock guitar solos properly, and he's not an exception. but the way he's able to string together harmonic statements over the course of several minutes with bob weir has always caught up with me when i'm in the right place. ubuntu with guitars; it's a patience and togetherness thing while listening. or something.

that said, i haven't actively listened to him in years. haven't been in that right place for a while, i guess.

I think one thing is how rhythmic his leads are -- they start inside the groove, even when it's in "Peggy-O," midtempo groove, he finds the most storytelling way to take it to the solo -- he really, really plays like his expression is within the world of the song, I think that's a big part of it. one can solo in a tune just as sort of its own thing, but Garcia is telling a story, which is how music teachers tell you to think about soloing. so, here, from 3:02-3:05, he sets the table for the solo with first two notes, syncopated, the second one softer than the first -- an echo -- it's like he's saying: "WELL -- well," and then he does an articulation of a chord that's still in the "I'm setting up the scene, here," and then he waits for Lesh to work his way around the chord, too...and then he does a major scale run that finishes bluesy for just a second -- then works up to the minor and really hits a note that makes you hear that sad minor shift, but he's not married to it...and the entire solo is a journey like this, in conversation with the tune and the band and the story -- and, as is his style, with himself: he hits a couple of notes that really feel pretty "eh." when he does this, it's a lead pipe cinch that the solo's gonna kick ass, he always plays like he has to make it up if he clammed. he doesn't clam outright, he doesn't miss a note, but a couple in the early going have that "well, don't know that we needed that" feel. he goes from those to this gorgeous high on the fretboard stuff around 5:00...by this point Weir is trading in, and Weir's not bad, but Garcia has found the real mood of where the tune is at by this point, and for me anyway that's the moment of transcendence, the sweet spot in every way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGKk8YDYNpA

he does interesting things with timing, like he'll start playing a phrase in the middle of a measure and dazzle with all these juicy patterns for a long time while still staying in time and "in vibe".. this sounds pretentious but it kind of reminds me of bach

Garcia is telling a story

otm. I’m pretty sure I’ve recounted this on one Dead thread or another, but Garcia’s playing clicked for me during a visit to Kim’s Music. I was a very casual Dead fan at that point, I had and liked the 2-disc compilation, and I had seen them once in an unimpressive mid-‘80s show with Dylan and Petty. I was wandering around the store and over the course of a few minutes I noticed this lovely guitar line coming over the store system. It went on and on, and after a few minutes I stopped at the front counter to ask what it was. Turned out to be a then-new release of a JGB live set from about 1980 (the song in particular was “Mission in the Rain”).

I bought it on the spot and spent a few weeks listening to it. It really unlocked his playing for me, the conversational warmth and elegance of it. Then I went and started listening to more live Dead stuff, and it totally changed how I heard them. It’s the first time they really made sense to me beyond the songs I liked. I don’t know why that particular song and album hit me at that particular time — maybe I need to hear Garcia in a more naked setting, and also come to it without even realizing what it was, without all the baggage. Anyway, he really is now one of my favorite guitarists. I get it!

His lap steel playing was straight up gorgeous and maybe more conventional. There’s this short scene in Last Days of The Fillmore where he’s just fucking around for 30 seconds or so and it’s the most beautiful thing ever.

Here’s the track that did it for me fwiw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjVKnrIgavk

in the late 70s he dances up, under, and near a song's melody during a solo in such a compelling way, he draws out new ways to hear the tune harmonically such that you can hear so many possibilities and ideas still to be found. it's exciting and adds to the need to hear ever more versions

always thought the 5/28 sugaree had a lot of those bum 'eh, i dunno' type notes jclc described, when he's just repeatedly bending a high note (not very well either) he sounds stuck. still lots of great stuff tho

5/22/77 is my all-timer sugaree, it exemplifies most the sense of suggestion and possibility i mentioned above. particularly between him and keith and the TRIPLETS (!) from like 8:40-9:15. beautiful. the jam has momentum, always sounds purposeful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGo6fbu_550

I think one of his strengths was his use of dynamics. Thinking of “help on the way”in particular. Soft and then accented and back and forth. All within the groove

These are tremendous responses, thanks everyone. I'll be digging in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLHflyoaMX8

I'll second that JGB version of "Mission in the Rain", that whole Keane show is absolutely top notch.