The Steel Guitar Forum

I was just sitting here at the computer listening to Gerry play "Teach".
I have heard several people here say that Gerry was only a very average player.
Why is this said.
He sounds pretty great to me!
Has his own style, and blocks very well.
Great taste.
Bob

Has his own style? Now that's tactful!

And his brother Jerry was pretty good too!
JE:-)>

Bob. You should do a search of the forum for "Jerry Garcia" and you will see more posts than you would ever want to see on him and his performance on "Teach".

whoever said he was "Average" was pretty generous in their comments. No further comments. TJH

Clearly i have no taste either.
But please educate me.
Everyone says he is bad.
Why?
Bob

I think it had something to do with the fact that the most globally air-played song of all time featuring Pedal Steel Guitar was played by an icon of the 60's era hippie generation.

Thurlon! You took that one right out of my mouth! You are correct.

I have never heard the song so I cant judge it. Can someone email me the song or a link to a clip of it. I have looked at amazon and barnes & noble and cant find it. Thanks. zparish@yahoo.com

Bob, not everyone says he is bad. Hearing "Teach" always makes me feel happy. You will see, though, that you have innocently stepped into a minefield! I think Pete Burak's comment pretty much nails it.

My nay saying buds here have every right to thier opinion,but I still think Jerry played some NICE steel.. Teach was NOT all he did.. You need to hear his stuff on the first NRPS album as well as Workingmans Dead, and I just love his spacey playing on "The Wheel" off one of his solo albums.. Cut the guy a break,NEVER EVER did he claim to be a virtuoso, he knew he was limited, but BOY was he musical.. He always sounded in tune, his notes were ALWAYS well placed, His ZB sounded wonderful, and last but not least, his intro,solo,outro and fills on Teach were honey sweet to these old ears.. Its probably the most instantly recognizable song featuring a steel ever recorded... NOW can we bury this horse??? bob

Bob C,
I'll have to disagree with you on this one.
Garcia was woefully out of tune on Teach.
When I listen to it, it's obvious to me that the ZB suffered from considerable cabinet drop.
A more experienced player would have allowed for cab drop when he tuned it.

I usually avoid this topic, but what the hey! I guess my opinion is as valid as any other.

Good or bad, JG's technical skills aside, this tune must be responsible for launching a multitude of '70's wanna be steel players.
Whether or not the purists agree with the execution of said or think we're any good is not important.

Beyond that, the era was flooded with artists and producers on the fringes of other styles who liked the steel guitar and saw fit to mix it loud and up front.
I take my hat off to those people. Steel players world wide should be grateful for this exposure.
I may not have found the instrument until much later in life, if at all had it not been for that exposure.

I listened to lots of styles of music, but had not been actively seeking to become a bona fide musician until I heard some of this "rogue"? music.

For better of for worse, this era was the impetus for my pursuing the steel guitar. I'd be willing to bet that there are hundreds of guys right here on this forum that came to the instrument through these media as well.
So called "purists" fear not, for once bitten by the bug I dare say most of us have researched history and paid homage to the early innovators and pioneers of the instrument.

I still remember the chills I got when I first heard the opening strains of "Teach" and can hear it in my head note for note today just like I heard it 30 something years ago.
I did not know until many years later who played on it, but that was not important at the time. What mattered was that this sound was a glorious one that I would always want around me.

Doran. Talking about walking into a hornets nest!!

This thread always brings out the best of the worst qualities of pedal steel players. Persnickity! OOOoooooo! he was not in PERFECT tune, OOOoooooo! he was not REALLY a pedal steel player, OOOOooooooo! if it had only been a REAL pedal player like Robert Rand--uhhhhh like Buddy Emmons--yea! Emmons, OOOOoooo, OOOoooo, OOOOoooo repeat 1000 times.

If it had not been Garcia, it would have been ALL wrong!!! He is the perfect choice, playing the perfect part on this song, because that is the way it was done.

A cosmic correlation is John Lennon playing lap steel on "12 Bar Blues". Shouldn't they have waited a few more years until Jerry Douglas was old enough to get a visa and come play it "correctly"????

OOOOOOooooooooo!!!

<SMALL>A more experienced player would have allowed for cab drop when he tuned it.</SMALL>

yes a more experienced player may have; but Jerry was the player on the session.

So it's not pitch perfect. So it ain't technically flawless. It WAS appropriate to the tune and apparently what the producers wanted, and the buying public bought.

He's DEAD! Let the guy R.I.P.

Sure It's a crying shame the general public maybe can identify JG and hasn't a clue who BE or LG or JD are, but that's just the way things are. Life is not fair. Fame is fickle.


FLAME SUIT ON:
I've heard recordings on which Jimmy Day played "out of tune"; somehow that gets called "Country Soul"...

Personally, I love both men's playing, and appreciate them for what they were. HUMAN BEINGS!

John 8:7<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 07 October 2005 at 11:46 AM.]</p></FONT>

I think Jerry Garcia is an over looked steel GENIUS!!

Sorry fellows I couldn't help myself.

Rick<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Rick Garrett on 08 October 2005 at 09:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

To add insult to injury, rumor has it that the so called "Hit" producers of the day went on to ask some of the actuall masters of the instrument if they could "play more like Jerry Garcia".

Was he really that pitchy on TYC???.. Man, I just don't hear it myself, but I'm biased because I like ol' JG... I'll defer to everyone else on this one BECAUSE of that bias!!..

You want pitchy pedal steel,give a listen to Fire on the Mountain by Marshall Tucker or Seeds and Stems by Cody.. Even I can hear that...

Maybe its the way it was mixed or something, but I've never had that queasy feeling I get when hearing an out of tune pedal steel when I listen to Teach.. but hey, I'm kind of a pitchy player myself.. so what do I know??? bob

He always sounded pretty good to me.

thanks b0b.. I was beginning to think I was a freak that couldn't tell if someone was playing out of tune... bob

The fact that he was named Guitar Player's pedal steel player of the year[probably the only one they new] for a few years running , upset a lot of people. Pesonally I love TYC it was one of the first songs that I realised just what a pedal steel was having never seen one .
Brendan

This is possibly the post of the year:

"This thread always brings out the best of the worst qualities of pedal steel players. Persnickity! OOOoooooo! he was not in PERFECT tune, OOOoooooo! he was not REALLY a pedal steel player, OOOOooooooo! if it had only been a REAL pedal player like Robert Rand--uhhhhh like Buddy Emmons--yea! Emmons, OOOOoooo, OOOoooo, OOOOoooo repeat 1000 times." ---Bill Hatcher

"Teach Your Children" always gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it, even at Kroger. So does Buddy's version of "Cherokee."

I met this singer some years ago up in Northern California who had recently gone to Nashville to record some songs he had written. He told me his story of how the recording went. By luck or whatever he had the fortune to hire Buddy Emmons as the steel player. I don't think he was even aware of Buddy Emmons. Apparently they were talking the arrangements over and Buddy asked what did he have in mind for the steel part. He replied that he really liked Jerry Garcia's playing. I don't know how Buddy responded but the steel playing on the recording sounded like the best of Jerry's ideas with flawless execution. It was great.

Now all we need is another thread about RR.