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What Do You Think of Jerry Garcia's Pedal Steel Work?
1) His playing inspired me to play Pedal Steel
32%
 32%  [ 50 ]
2) His playing was interesting to me but not influential
12%
 12%  [ 19 ]
3) Didn't pay attention to his playing and don't have an opinion either way
14%
 14%  [ 22 ]
4) His playing was good but highly over-rated
13%
 13%  [ 20 ]
5) His playing was poor and not much better than a beginner
19%
 19%  [ 30 ]
6) Other - Please explain
7%
 7%  [ 11 ]
Total Votes : 152

Author Topic:  What Do You Think of Jerry Garcia's PSG Work?
Richard Sinkler


From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 9:36 am    
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Numero Uno for me. Although the first to get me really interested in the sound was John Hughey ("Wine Me Up" - Conway Twitty), being a Dead Head, I got to see Garcia play with the New Riders. Had to switch from drums to steel guitar after that.
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Karen Sarkisian


From:
Boston, MA, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 9:45 am    
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what Lane said

Lane Gray wrote:
He said more with fewer chops than many.
Like his guitar playing, it was simultaneously simple and expressive.
Crank up American Beauty and listen to Sugar Magnolia: there's no lead guitar on the track.
His personality was a little wacky, and he expressed that in his playing.
And remember that in his later years he played steel but not for the Dead. He was good enough for Zimmerman.

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Rich Upright


From:
Florida, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 12:00 pm    
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Well, there were 3 things that got me listening to PSG..Jerry's work on "Teach" was superb; very airy & light. Simple, yet beautiful like a frosty country morning. Then of course, there was "Dire Wolf". Now, over the years, I have learned to play DW almost note-for-note, but no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't SOUND like Jerry. Kind of reminds me of a famous NYC session drummer who once said that he could cop ANY drummer's style when asked to do so on record, except try as he might, he could absolutely NOT do Ringo..prolly the simplest drummer out there, yet his style is impossible to imitate. Same with Garcia.

But, what REALLY got me to sit up & take notice of PSG was the New Rider's first album. Jerry outdid himself on that one; just listen to the incredibly beautiful steel playing on "Last Lonely Eagle". Simple, but try getting it to sound just like that...can't do it. Not to mention his banjo playing on "Glendale Train". By then, I was totally into PSG & was ready for another dose when Buddy Cage came out on the "Powerglide" & "Panama Red" albums.
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Barry Blackwood


Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 12:22 pm    
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chris ivey wrote:
Quote:
jerry was a good guy and a very inflluential musician.

That may be true, chris, but that in itself doesn't qualify him as being anything close to a good steel player.
Option #5 for me. It's a loaded question fer sure...

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Stephen Williams

 

From:
from Wales now in Berkeley,Ca, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 1:27 pm    
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The older i get what "good" means has changed a lot.

To me, speed picking and so much jazz falls into "what a waste of good technique". I am firmly in the camp of less is more and the more tasty the better. i think jerry garcia was there. But i do understand those who like to pick fast or show off technique. just not for me.

On guitar i'll play very few chords and concentrate on my right hand to bash it out.

But it's like flour and water.....every nation has their own version of it. Bagels, pasta, tortillas, chapatis. let's celebrate it all. or in the case of me going to a jazz concert....try?
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Tony Prior


From:
Charlotte NC
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 1:29 pm    
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Barry Blackwood wrote:

That may be true, chris, but that in itself doesn't qualify him as being anything close to a good steel player.
Option #5 for me. It's a loaded question fer sure...



interesting as nobody is claiming he was anything more than what he was, which for the for the time was pretty darn good. This was probably a one take, one dedicated Steel track event...not a 256 track Pro Tools recording.

I seriously doubt Jerry himself , if he was still alive today would have considered himself a top shelf player, but he played on a top shelf song and played the exact right stuff to match the song. He obviously knew something about the Pedal Steel, maybe even more than many of us that are chiming in calling him crummy ! Laughing
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chris ivey


From:
california (deceased)
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 2:11 pm    
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aside from buddy and a few others, those guys that are really good piss me off anyway!

garcia would be considered a very bad singer also, like dylan. but i found it very emotional.
alot of what he did was acid-tinged for those of you that
understand that.

barry...thanks for your input. you know how much i value it. Winking

everyone's entitled to their opinion no matter how unpopular it may be. i never cared for sneeky pete!
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Tommy Mc


From:
Middlesex VT
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 2:53 pm    
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I voted #1, but could just as easily have voted #4. He influenced me in spite of the fact that he was technically mediocre.

My background didn't include much country or steel guitar...or at least none that I was aware of. The first time I ever heard of steel was when Paul Anka sang "A Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine". As a kid, the phrase stuck in my mind and I always wondered what a steel guitar was. BTW, there's no steel in Paul Anka's song. Then I started listening to bands like CSNY, Poco, New Riders and fell in love with that instrument that I later learned was pedal steel. It was only later that I got hooked on country, and eventually acquired a steel.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 2:58 pm    
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Okay, again, I wasn't a fan of Jerry's or his band, but he did well on "Teach." It was the right lick, and he was pretty good pitchwise. There is a youtube out there of him warming up. I recognized what he was playing right away, cuz it was just exercises from, I think, the first Shobud book. You like him? That's fine by me.
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chris ivey


From:
california (deceased)
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 3:34 pm    
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maybe most of you don't understand the grateful dead family. they were pioneers. they sought higher spiritual
levels and it's amazing to a certain extent that they left any understandable product in the real world at all.
they dealt with many unknowns.
many of you will tear that concept to shreds.
i get what you don't get, but they had alot
of heart.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 3:42 pm    
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Chris,
Certainly they had "heart." But their music, at least to me, was rambling and unfocused, and often didn't work at all. Then again, I was a Zappa fan at that time.
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chris ivey


From:
california (deceased)
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 4:00 pm    
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i hear you. zappa was unlistenable to me. it wasn't pretty. it was ego driven and tedious and full of itself.
we all find different niches to enjoy. i have friends who are fanatical zappa fans.
i found him entertaining as an odd guy!
maybe i weren't smart enough to get it.
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Clyde Mattocks

 

From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 4:03 pm    
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Sometimes a person's inability to play may have as much charm as another's ability to play. It all has to do with context or in a simpler way, what fits. Did you think any of Johnny Cash's later guitar players fit him better than Luther Perkins? Lots of people think Ralph Mooney's playing was simplistic, but he could move me with what he brought to a song more than a lot of more technical players. When "Teach Your Children" came out, I viewed the steel playing as amateurish, but over time I have accepted it as exactly what the song needed.
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Abe Levy


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 4:16 pm    
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Dennis - WTF is right, but don't hold your breath for an apology. There are certain people here (very few really) that just can't help but be jerks. Don't take it personally. You'll notice that they are obviously very interested in your topic - evidenced by all their posts on this thread. Take pride in the fact that lots of people want to talk about your topic even as many slam you for posting about it. Yes it's been discussed before, but so has EVERYTHING regarding steel guitar. Thanks for contributing to this big, great, repetitive conversation. It's what we're all here for. Especially you know who.
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Jerry Hedge

 

From:
Norwood Ohio U.S.A.
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 4:21 pm    
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People often ask me if Garcia had any influence on my choice to take up pedal steel, I tell them I grew up listening to country music. Jerry was alright, but Weldon on "I'll Come Runnin'"or Curly on "I love you Because" really inspired me.
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Jim Pitman

 

From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 4:58 pm    
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I'd have to go with no 1 for the aforementioned, mainly his musical instincts. I'd put guys like Ben Keith (Neil Young's Harvest) in that category too.
This reminds me - I have family out in San Hose CA. Quite a few years ago I'd visit them while on biz trips. Whenever I got the chance I'd go to the Saddle Rack and watch and listen to the great Bobby Black. I introduced myself to Bobby and we had some lengthy discussions. He told me all about giving PSG lessons to Gerry. He mentioned Gerry was terribly embarassed to get voted the pedal steel guitar player of the year for many cosencuitve years in that Playboy magazine pole in the seventies, perhaps to the point he found it discouraging and gave up playing PSG eventually.
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Steve Hinson

 

From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 5:49 pm    
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Option #1 here...I was already thinking about playing steel when I heard"TYC".

That record pushed me over the edge...it took me 5-6 years to get one,by which time I was playing electric guitar for a living and backing artists from Nashville...

I've cut 3 or 4 versions on record,for TV,etc...I never could sound like Jerry,as hard as I tried...

I will play that style on other songs if it is called for...

I read that Garcia quit playing steel cause he didn't have time to devote to getting good at it...

That never stopped me...

Steve

Brand X
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Joseph Napolitano

 

From:
New Jersey, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 6:00 pm    
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The Dead are still wildly popular around here.There are many Dead tribute bands, and the better ones play the best rooms and theaters to packed houses .Forum member Marc Muller's(Shania Twain) Dead on Live Band does note for note performances of selected Dead albums. Marc plays the guitar and pedal steel solos,etc..exactly like the records. They've packed the Stone Pony, The Paramount Theater, The Count Basie Theater.Not just old Hippies with walkers at these shows.A lot of kids in their twenties and thirties.It's a profitable cottage industry for the better bands.
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Richard Wilhelm

 

From:
Ventura County, California
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 6:52 pm    
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Jerry once said that he wished he had another lifetime to devote to the pedal steel. RIP Jerry wherever you are.
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G Strout


From:
Carabelle, Florida
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 7:06 pm    
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Jerry did what he did. He had an interest in the steel guitar, obviously..... but he never pursued it I guess.
I wasn't a Dead fan....didn't hate them but didn't love them either. In a sense it is like Ron Wood playing steel. He does what he wants to do (or can do). Jerry was not Jimmy Day or Buddy Emmons, Tommy White, Paul Franklin etc but then, how many of us are? Comparing him to those people is a fruitless endevour.
I started playing after hearing Neil Flanz. The stuff Neil was doing back then is nothing like how he plays now. Jerry, being a member of the Dead had other concerns. Jerry was not a virtuoso, but he filled the need that they had at that time. Isn't that what most of us do? I admire Buddy, Jimmy, Neil, Joe Pass and Chet Baker...... will I ever play like Joe Buddy, Neil, or Chet?..... LOLOL....LMAO
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Brooks Montgomery


From:
Idaho, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 7:33 pm    
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"Jerry was not a virtuoso, but he filled the need that they had at that time".

...and the Mona Lisa was an early painting for Title Nine requirements.
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Dennis Montgomery


From:
Western Washington
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 7:39 pm    
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Jim Pitman wrote:

This reminds me - I have family out in San Hose CA. Quite a few years ago I'd visit them while on biz trips. Whenever I got the chance I'd go to the Saddle Rack and watch and listen to the great Bobby Black.


Small world...I lived a couple miles away from The Saddle Rack from '78 to '96. Wonder if Jerry ever played there with the New Riders or one of his many solo bands?
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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 7:45 pm    
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The sounds of Jerry Garcia and Sneaky Pete inspired me to take up the instrument. If not for them, there might not have been a Steel Guitar Forum. 'Nuff said. Whoa!
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chris ivey


From:
california (deceased)
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 8:35 pm    
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bobby played the saddlerack in the later part of that period with 'the california cowboys'.
i played across from them a few times on the other stage with 'the rangers'.
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Steve Knight

 

From:
NC
Post  Posted 25 Apr 2016 8:49 pm    
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I am more impressed by Jerry's steel playing after having played steel myself than I was before having taken it up. It takes a lot of work and talent to reach his level of playing. No, he was no Buddy Emmons. He'd be the first to agree. He did get called back for more steel gigs...pretty good ones, too.
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