ChrisL68
Riley Skinner
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 31,154
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Garcia is always underappreciated on top guitarist lists, imo.
Interview with Maria Mulduar
DI: What did you learn from working with Jerry?
MM: I learned that it isn’t so much the notes or the technical perfection -- because he could flub a few notes, old Jerry, you know -- but the way he played came from the inside. He would start out on a solo and he’d just feel around. He wouldn’t just come out of the gate with some rip-roaring, dazzling, fancy licks; he would sort of meander around and wait until the spirit came together. He would build a stairway to heaven with his notes. It didn’t have to do with fanciness; it had to do with waiting for the spirit to descend on him and the band. When that happened, the whole audience would get it. It wasn’t about, “Look at me, I’m going to do something dazzling.” It was more about, “Let’s all really feel this moment together.” I’ve had very accomplished guitar players since then, guys who could just whip all over the guitar neck. A fabulous black guitarist from Marin County named Archie Williams, a real jazzer, could play any kind of lick -- inside out, upside down, backwards, fast, you know -- and he just didn’t get it. There are a lot of other very accomplished musicians who don’t get the “Jerry thing.” They wondered, “How come he’s selling out to millions of people, audiences everywhere, and I’m so good and nobody knows who I am?” I tried to explain to them, it’s because Jerry was not playing from a place of ego. He was not playing to impress anybody; he was playing because the spirit moved him to play.