Jerry Garcia's Sho-Bud amp on eBay

Marc Orleans · Post by **Marc Orleans** » 22 Feb 2015 9:57 am

Jerry Garcia was actually a decent steel player especially if you compare him to other rock guitarists that "played" steel. He had great tone and a unique feel. He did some tasteful and interesting work on other peoples records. People tab out and teach "teach your children". Doubt anyone gives that much credence to the steel "break" on Zep's Tangerine..

It's clear to me that he had respect for the instrument and cultivated his own voice on it the short time he played it. All that aside there are better uses for $25k!!

Just my opinion.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 22 Feb 2015 10:55 am

I never listened to them enough to even form an opinion..

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 23 Feb 2015 4:50 pm

Got one thing to say about Jerry's steel playing - Teach Your Children has the most recognizable steel guitar intro in the world.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 23 Feb 2015 5:19 pm

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 23 Feb 2015 5:46 pm

Jim Pitman wrote:Got one thing to say about Jerry's steel playing - Teach Your Children has the most recognizable steel guitar intro in the world.

Indisputably true.

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 23 Feb 2015 5:56 pm

No! It is and was The signature steel guitar swoop at the beginning of every Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical short played by Freddie Tavares

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 23 Feb 2015 6:01 pm

Well that's certainly a contender except that nobody realizes it's a steel guitar... I guess another strong contender would be the harmonic intro to Sleepwalk. After those three, the pickin's get pretty slim pretty fast...

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 23 Feb 2015 6:20 pm

I'm not bashing Jerry or his Intro. I just don't think it is iconic. I think it has become mythical because it has been kicked around so long by steel players.
I don't think most folks knew it was a steel guitar in "Teach Your Children"
I have never been able to find a person who could tell me how the steel intro went in "Teach your Children"
but they could tell me about the steel swoop and Looney Tunes.

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 23 Feb 2015 6:51 pm

Geez Bo I canâ€™t believe you had the nerve to join in on a derail off topic thread and go against Groucho in a couple of replies and made no mention that you wanted the amp in question.
But then again you never could resist something that was 1/2 off.
Have you still got the title to the Titanic that guy sold real cheap?
But don't worry no one will reply after this and I'll come back and delete this in a few days.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 24 Feb 2015 12:18 am

Bo Legg wrote:

I have never been able to find a person who could tell me how the steel intro went in "Teach your Children"

Someone (David Crosby?)pointed out to the composer, who was Graham Nash, that he actually wrote a country song. Go and figure out the rest

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 24 Feb 2015 7:18 am

I'm sure the song Teach Your Children has graced my ears probably years ago but didn't register I guess. I just listened to it on YouTube and compared to the standard recordings of Green, Emmons, Chalker, Garrish and all those guys, it's a real cheesy beginner sounding intro and same all way through song. Playing didn't impress me at all. Great tone though. What type guitar does he play?

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 24 Feb 2015 10:08 am

A late 1968 ZB Custom.

B

Steve Lipsey · Post by **Steve Lipsey** » 24 Feb 2015 10:11 am

Jerry's playing wasn't necessarily as "technically proficient" as some of the others'...but what he played was beautiful and elegant in its simplicity. It doesn't have to be complicated to be beautiful and fit the song perfectly...the two early Grateful Dead (Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) albums are classics in pedal steel approach to accompaniment...

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 24 Feb 2015 10:18 am

I find Garcia's work on pedal steel to be extremely tasteful and toneful. Not the most wildly advanced stuff, lots of Brumley and Mooney influence, lots of freestyle, and a good chunk of self-taught. A pretty darn good pick blocker too. Teach Your Children was recorded when he was just a brand new beginner player, just a baby. Over the next 3-4 years he did more stuff that was both a bit more advanced, refined, and quite beautiful. Much of his work on his solo album was more ambient and textural, not about chops at all, just the sound and atmosphere that pedal steel is so good at and in ways that simply helped the song sound a certain way. With NRPS, he played some really fun stuff, kinda fast and bouncy, pretty basic playing to most steel guitar oriented people, but still quite musical nonetheless.

One of my personal favorites is his solo on Candyman from American Beauty. A very slow, utterly simple, monophonic, and tasteful expression via the pedal steel guitar with all kinds of weird effects on it. To a steel player it may not satisfy, but when it comes to serving a song, it's brilliant.

Brad

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 24 Feb 2015 10:24 am

Regardless of the level of quality of the playing on "Teach "- and it's hard to believe we're beating this dead horse yet again but I shouldn't be surprised - I would say it is very much iconic. Part of the definition of the word: widely recognized and well-established

I'm guessing that the majority of the membership is old enough here to have been around when the song was frequently played on the radio, or on your or a friend's hi-fi system. It was a big deal when one of my older brothers brought the Deja vu album home from the record store in 1970 with the sepia-toned photo on the front and the dark brown faux leather album jacket.

A person back then might know next to nothing about pedal steel guitar, but as soon as the opening section of that song came on the radio, you knew what it was, probably every bit as much as you knew the opening to the Stones "Satisfaction" or The Beatles "Daytripper." Those aren't particularly difficult riffs to play either on an electric guitar, or for that matter the opening acoustic guitar part by Jimmy Page on "Stairway to Heaven," or speaking of Garcia, the Dead's "Uncle John's Band," but many, many people recognize the tunes immediately, so they qualify as being iconic.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 24 Feb 2015 10:40 am

Very true Mark. Garcia's/CSNY's "Teach" is arguably one of the most iconic steel guitar intros in history, perhaps THE most iconic just based on the huge radio popularity of the song. Country fans and steel players may not like that fact, but it is a math-based fact. It's not an argument of whether it deserves to be, it's just the reality of what unfolded from circumstance.

Still beating this dead horse...

B

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 24 Feb 2015 11:10 am

Brad Sarno wrote: One of my personal favorites is his solo on Candyman from American Beauty. A very slow, utterly simple, monophonic, and tasteful expression via the pedal steel guitar with all kinds of weird effects on it. To a steel player it may not satisfy, but when it comes to serving a song, it's brilliant.

Brad

Sugar Magnolia was pretty damn cool too.
I wish I knew the secret to that weird tone in Sugar Magnolia.

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 24 Feb 2015 11:12 am

This horse is barely alive but-
One must consider Europe and beyond. Reminds me of the time I was sitting in the Hoffbrau Hause in Munich. It's kinda of a beer hall/tourist trap with very long wooden tables. I was sitting with other tourists, Chinese, Japanese, Scots, French, Italiens, you name it. I was one of two english speaking people at a table of about thirty five. Somehow we all communicated and had a great time swilling down the mosks (well over a quart) of beer. Then the oompa band played John Demver's "Take Me Home Country Road". Every person at that table sang along albeit with their accents - That's got to be one of the most popular pop songs in the world I concluded.

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 24 Feb 2015 11:55 am

This was moved to Electronics? Now that's funny!

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 24 Feb 2015 12:48 pm

Because the topic is elecrtifying

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 24 Feb 2015 1:13 pm

Marc Orleans wrote:
It's clear to me that he had respect for the instrument and cultivated his own voice on it the short time he played it. All that aside there are better uses for $25k!!

Just my opinion.

Of course. Trying to logically assess the value in something like this amp is an exercise in futility.

I'm a member of the (Unofficial) Martin Guitar Forum. There was a thread on there recently about a very special Collings anniversary dreadnought guitar, serial number 20,000. If I recall the price correctly, the guitar is still for sale at Artisan guitars near Nashville for over $67,000. It's a beauty, based on the Martin D-45 design, and the backs and side are made from some very exquisite Brazilian rosewood.

Members of that forum were trying to figure out what makes the guitar worth $67K. My take on it is nothing could make it worth that much. Some were trying to break down the value of the parts and they just didn't seem to get it that you can't logically explain why the guitar is priced so high, any more than you can explain why this Garcia amp has such a high price tag. Or Jerry's Doug
Irwin built guitars sold at auction in the hundreds of thousands, as have a number of Eric Clapton's guitars.

You have to to have so much money in your portfolio to be able to buy these things that it just doesn't matter in the big picture of your bank accounts if you do.

This is not a league us workin' stiffs get to play in.

Mark Nix · Post by **Mark Nix** » 25 Feb 2015 6:21 pm

Don't forget 'The Wheel'

http://youtu.be/rYGatU18PMQ

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 26 Feb 2015 10:19 am

Maverick had that amp for a while, and it was a bargain. Only 10,000 dollars.

Mike Poholsky · Post by **Mike Poholsky** » 26 Feb 2015 6:48 pm

NRPS "Dirty Business" Jerry thinking out the box on that one!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 26 Feb 2015 7:25 pm

Lane Gray wrote:
Brad Sarno wrote: One of my personal favorites is his solo on Candyman from American Beauty. A very slow, utterly simple, monophonic, and tasteful expression via the pedal steel guitar with all kinds of weird effects on it. To a steel player it may not satisfy, but when it comes to serving a song, it's brilliant.

Brad
Sugar Magnolia was pretty damn cool too.
I wish I knew the secret to that weird tone in Sugar Magnolia.

I always thought it was a combination of distortion, wah wah and Jerry's hands and mind. I'll have to listen again.

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