When I first heard Jerry Garcia, his lead guitar wasn’t anything like any other guitarist I'd heard. I don’t know if it's got a technical name but his sort of meandering style was the opposite of people like Jeff Beck. It just poured out of him in a vaguely conversationalist style.
I was raised on Deep Purple’s Made In Japan, so it was a big leap to appreciate his playing on Wake Of The Flood and Live/Dead and I won’t lie, it took a little time to get into for this 16 year-old but once I did it opened up a whole world.
The live version of Dark Star seemed more a state of mind than a piece of music, as both Garcia and Weir carve the thing out of thin air. The studio version is under 3 minutes which doesn’t provide much to go on. That was the beauty of Garcia and the band - the ability to manifest a song out of what is seemingly rambling disassociation.
In a way it was the opposite of rock music as I knew it, as a teenager. Not grandstanding or with gurning faces, it was like a novel compared to a magazine article. And I have to say, there’s no doubt the band made perfect sense when I discovered dope and mushrooms at college. It gave a perspective and understanding of their music which has never left me.
Remarkably they still sound like no one else throughout all their phases and that is due in part to Jerry’s approach to playing guitar.
