What Do You Think of Jerry Garcia's PSG Work?

[Dennis Montgomery]

Even though he only focused on pedal steel for a few years, it appears that Jerry Garcia's pedal steel work is a source of strong opinion among players even today. Love him or hate him, everyone has an opinion.

I'm curious what SGF members think

[Ian Rae]

...everyone has an opinion.

So what about option 3? Actually, this has made me want to go back and listen again and see if I have one now...

[Lane Gray]

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.

[Dennis Montgomery]

...everyone has an opinion.

So what about option 3?

Choosing "I don't have an opinion" is an opinion

Like that old Rush song Freewill said, "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice"

[David Weisenthal]

Agreed Lane, well put. I never saw him play ps at any shows in the 80s when I went to more shows. Then again I wasn't tuned into ps yet....

[Dennis Montgomery]

My vote is option 1, though not for the reason/song most people cite. Seems just about everyone who Jerry inspired to play PSG points to his work on Teach Your Children Well. I honestly never liked that song or paid much attention to the PSG part...for me it was Dire Wolf. Until I heard that, I never really connected with pedal steel but something about his playing in that song just grabbed me and made me say, "I want to learn how to do that!" Then I heard the solo in Candyman which is more psych than traditional but really got my ear too. Also love the PSG on The Wheel and To Lay Me Down from his 1st solo album.

Seemed those opened the door for me to appreciate other songs and players...John McFee's solo on "Pride of Cucamonga", Sneaky Pete on The Burrito's "Christine's Song" & "Six Days on the Road", and Frank Zappa's "It Might Just be a One Shot Deal", Al Perkins on the Stones "Torn and Frayed", and Steve Howe of Yes on "To Be Over".

Then when I 1st tried to learn many years ago with the Winnie Winston & Dewitt Scott books, I was amazed at how I loved to hear any song arranged for pedal steel. Something about this instrument just won't allow me to accept defeat and I keep coming back to try again! But for me, it all started with Jerry's Dire Wolf

[Bob Carlucci]

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.

Lane pretty much nailed it.. Jerry's finely honed musical instincts were well represented with his steel work.. His banjo work on the Old and In the Way album was much like his steel and 6 string work. Utilitarian chops, but perfect tone, touch, time and taste.. the guy made every damn note count on everything he did.. besides TYC, and The Wheel, his best steel work is on display right here. No steel player anywhere could have done this particular song any better in my opinion... bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q561cqwTgY

[Kyle Everson]

I voted number 5, although he is the reason I picked up steel. My thought was "If Garcia can do it, surely I can." haha

After all the years since "Teach Your Children," I can't knock him though. He was curious, and created something memorable for a lot of people. That's really what music is all about.

[Donny Hinson]

I think his playing much resembles that of Red Rhodes, and he did pretty well for the time he was into it. Though I wouldn't classify him as "great", the simple stuff he did was very influential and imitated, in much the same way as the stuff played by Luther Perkins behind Johnny Cash.

Style sells, and simplicity can be timeless. Many forget that.

[Mark Eaton]

To borrow from the late great Yogi Berra: this thread feels like deja vu all over again...

[Jim Sliff]

I voted "other"

I think the number of positive choices was unfairly limited to ONE. Talk about loaded dice....

Garcia himself said he wasn't a highly skilled player. But what he was is clear - an easily recognizable "stylist".

Many players get "tone" and "style" confused (i.e. when they say some player would sound the same no matter what guitar he played because of his *tone* - which shows confusion, because what they hear is "style" and seem to miss what the difference is).

As mainly a 6-string player I spent a lot of time studying Garcia's quirky guitar style, which clicked when I took up banjo in the late 70's. I realized he was essentially playing banjo licks sans the rolls - but with the same kind of syncopated timing - on guitar. I got gigs in some cover bands because I could imitate his style on just about any straightforward song.

When I first heard him play steel I didn't even know it was him, but my reaction was "wow, that sounds almost exactly like Jerry Garcia's guitar playing!

THAT indicates a true styles - when you can recognize the player ing just a few notes, or a bar or two. The thing that amazed me about Garcia is he did it on 4 instruments - banjo, electric guitar, pedal steel and acoustic guitar. His touch and timing were the same on all of them.

So while many hardcore players have dissed him over the years for the attention he got on steel (like winning the Guitar Player poll - but at a time Guitar Player was read by 95% rock players, what would you expect?) I feel certainly deserves recognition for exposing pedal steel to a much wider audience (as did Sneaky Pete) and remaining a consistent stylist - and truthfully, not a "bad" player, just one playing in a circle of musicians not favored by the country community.

Which is ironic, as he started as a bluegrass musician in the early 60's - when bluegrass was about as "country" as you could get!

[steve takacs]

I'm with Lane on the. Along with Garcia, Sneaky Pete on The Burrito's "Christine's Song" & "Six Days on the Road",etc. and Al Perkins got me going on pedal steel.

They led me into looking at guys like Buddy Emmons, John Hughey, Herby Wallace etc. steve t

[Dan Robinson]

I voted for #6. Not fond of the choices in this poll. Feels kinda like being asked "When did you stop beating your wife?"

I like Jerry's playing. It was very lyrical, clean, fun. Certainly recognizable. Among the folkies and hippies it was influential, and reached a segment of listeners and players who were not (at least then) paying attention to country.

And lest we forget:

Fish bait:
Jerry Garcia was the greatest pedal steel player who ever lived.

Jerry Garcia was the greatest steel player to ever have an ice cream flavor named after him.

Dan

[John Billings]

I found him boring and "pitchy." Not interesting at all.. His banjo playing was better. The Grateful Dead was a boring band too. Mostly aimless noodling. But at that time, I was a Zappa guy.

[Tony Prior]

Interesting comments for a guy playing a song in 1970. Geesh..

I selected #1 although I wouldn't actually say he was an influential player but the song was. The Pedal Steel was. Hearing it rang the bell.

I was a kinda fan of the Dead back then so I knew who Jerry was . I liked the song, still do and found Jerry's playing to be exactly right for the song.I don't know if he could have played anything else but who cares...

Judging his playing 46 years later is quite a trip! I've been playing for 45 years and still have not played on a hit record, in tune or out of tune !

The two players from that era that kinda made me turn my head towards Pedal Steel were Garcia and Banana ( Lowell Levinger) who were using Pedal Steel on specific songs. Banana was the first LIVE Pedal Steel player I ever saw. Were they top notch players who could thrill the minions at conventions? Probably not, they played the songs...

Not all of us came from George and Buck...

So today we have threads complaining that Pedal Steel is dead and not used across the chasm, then we dis Jerry for playing on an iconic song from the 70's ! And yeah it is an iconic song, every Steel player on the planet knows of this song as well as every CSN fan alive...Otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it ...again....

[Mike Perlowin]

At one time I used to post on Harmony Central, where the same question was asked. I wrote Garcia was a intermediate level player, and that he did a decent job on TYC, but if you want to hear a real steel player, listen to Buddy Emmons, Paul Franklin, oe and/or Lloyd Green.

The responses included:

"Jerry Garcia was the greatest steel player in the world."

"You are an asshole. How dare you diss Jerry."

"You obviously don't know anything about the pedal steel guitar."

and my favorite: "If this guy Lloyd Green is so great, why didn't CSNY use him instead of Jerry?"

[Steven Husting]

I'm just a lurker, but in the three or so years I've been lurking this is about the 5 millionth post about this. When are you guys finally going to agree that, love him or hate him, he was at least in some way significant so you can move on to other arguments? Of course, this subject might just be something you all enjoy arguing endlessly about.

Steve the lurker

[Jerry Overstreet]

I was never a big Dead fan. I was just never around their music much. After this topic came up, I listened to some of the videos posted here. Seems I do recall some of the Workingman's Dead cuts.

TYC was a song that got everybody's attention. It was the opening strains of the intro that became so recognizable, but it was also the song....the lyrics and the music. It wasn't until years later that I learned it was Jerry Garcia, but it didn't matter who the player was.

So, as to what some others have alluded, it was the total music package that got my attention, not solely the steel guitar.

I agree that Jerry's work on TYC was perfect for the song and his delivery sounds just fine to me. I applaud him for even considering adding the pedal steel to his instrument arsenal. I think a lot of people were influenced by hearing it on the Dead's stuff as well as the other artist's songs that he recorded with. The music of that era was a refreshing addition with which many of us could identify and a nice diversion from the rock stuff and the hard core country of the day.

I wouldn't want to make a comparison of his playing to any other's or even try to categorize it. He had his style and he was another steel player that brought attention to the instrument.

I would add that if his playing is/was considered very basic, it's just that, the bare bones of pedal bending that attracts a lot of people. Listen to some of what is called "roots" music. The pedal steel is so simple on some of it. The intricate stuff, flash etc. appeals to a lot of us as steel players, but kind of gets lost sometimes on the average listener.

[Dustin Rigsby]

"When did you stop beating your wife?"

[Charlie McDonald]

I think he has the most famous single psg note on record.

[Mark Hershey]

Topic has been beaten to death. I like Garcia's playing and I've taken the time to learn Dire Wolf and Teach Your Children. I think he has great tone and great licks.

Overall I really love the early 70's era of the Dead a lot. I think there's several 5 star ablums in that era that I will always enjoy. The later stuff is boring to me, and the first two psyche records are very sub par to my ears.

I never joined the Cult, would never want to play in a Dead jam band and I think there's a lot more exciting stuff happening now than anything the Dead ever did.

[Peter Nylund]

Jerry who?

[chris ivey]

mike...that's some funny stuff!

[Mark Hershey]

Jerry who?

From the perspective of 2016 I agree with this. So much better music available today, and so many underground bands doing exciting stuff with the steel.

I'm enjoying what's happening now and looking ahead to the future rather than back to Jerry's accomplishments 40+ years ago.

[Brooks Montgomery]

I got to see Jerry play pedal-steel with the New Riders, and then guitar with the Dead, booked together,at the Hollywood Bowl, in I think, 1972.
Still one of the greatest concerts ever (in my fuzzy memory). Pig Pen was still kicking then too. Jerry's pedal steel work planted the seed for my life-long appreciation of pedal steel guitar. I still love his chops.