Jerry Garcia and his guitar 'sound'

I have been listening to a lot of solo Jerry and Dead lately and no matter what era or which guitar he's using there is a 'sound' coming from his guitar that makes him like no other.

I'll try to explain what I mean...I'm not a musician so I am sure there are much better ways to explain it...it's almost as if he's playing more notes than most other guitarists so there's almost always a different sound coming out at all times...whereas others seem to hold the notes longer. His guitar 'pitch' also often seems higher than others...

I am sure musicians are rolling their eyes at my explanation so if anyone can chime in and explain why and how he gets that recognizable sound I'd appreciate it. Keep it simple though....me no understand complex musician-speak.

 

it's the kind of guitars he use

 

I'm afraid there's no explanation. Many legendary musicians had that ability of getting a particular and unique sound from their instruments no matter which equipment set up they were using. Jerry had a unique timbre he got from his fingers, and, if you allow me to provide some temptative metaphysical explanation, from his soul.

 

It sounds "Fluid" and "Rubbery".

 

sounds about right. I'd say after he gave up les pauls in the late 60's, for the most part, his sound was pretty consistent on almost every guitar he played. in the early days his sound was heavier. listen to any live shows from 67-68.

 

Anyway, even during the early days, there's something unique to him. Take for instance the guitar line he plays in Jefferson's Airplane "Today". There's some lyrical poignancy that's very Garcia.

 

Related, in the documentary Tom Dowd And The Language Of Music he talks about the Layla sessions and how Eric Clapton and Duane Allman were playing notes that didn't really exist on the instrument - it was all in their fingers. A bit of hyperbole but absolutely gets to the root of it.

 

My take is he's a bit influenced by African guitarists in his style, and also prefers that very clean tone. That's enough to make him stand out in American rawk.

 

He had a unique sound on the pedal steel guitar as well... always liked his work on the first New Riders of the Purple Sage album.

 

Honestly, the tone was in his fingers, all nine of 'em.

Nobody sounds like him. And yet, he still sounds like himself, no matter if he's playing a Gibson SG with humbuckers, a Strat with single coils, or a custom-made instrument. (By contrast, consider Eric Clapton, whose sound changed dramatically when he switched from SGs to a Strat.)

 

I like the sound he got from the Gibsons 68-70 but my favorite is his twangy Strat sound from 1972.
After he got Wolf and the rest...it's hit and miss for me,but he was always Jerry.

 

His choice of string guages contributes. And imo his years of playing banjo has influenced his guitar playing. (I don't think he had any influence from African guitarists!)

I have three guitars that are Garcia influenced--two "Wolf" based guitars made by luthier Troy Post, and one "Lightning Bolt" influenced by luthier Phil Gawin. These get you part of the way to the Garcia sound (one even has the same pickups as the corresponding Garcia guitar). I think the brass bridge and nut on Garcia's non-commercial guitars contributed to the sound we identify with him, as well as his fingering and note choices of course. And I bet the unique wiring he developed in his later guitars and his amplification and effects chain contribute strongly as well.

He had a wonderful sound and an expansive musical mind.

 

He only had four fingers on his right hand.

 

It is hard not to get technical but here goes...You are correct in that he overall at times plays more notes than other guitar players. His main licks consisted of chromatic slurs. Where most guitar players would play two notes such as G-A, Garcia would slur the line and add an Ab note in. He would play three notes as opposed to two.
He also purposefully plays "wrong" notes at the end of lines. Notes that are not in the key the song is in. This he learned from jazz horn players.
Sorry to get too technical but the other thing that gives his solos their identity is he would play modally in his solos over a chord progression that was not technically modal. This is what gave his solos a rambling sound...like they are trying to resolve but don't. Going into this in too much detail is beyond the scope of the thread. His tone and the positions he played in also helped define his sound.
I hope this helped.

 

Yeah, I've got nothing to back that up, but Garcia and the North African style I'm thinking of both step around the scale and focus on the bright major tones, so the sound is sunny with very little dissonance.

 

In regards to his guitar pitch sounding high, I think his vocals alwast sound high in pitch too. Let's be clear - I'm not suggesting an out of tune high pitch. Maybe there is a musical theory explanation that somebody else can describe?? Like if you breakdown a three part harmony to a low, middle and high part (tonic, 3rd, and 5th), to my ears , Jerry always sang the high part when he was singing lead. Maybe he played guitar solos in a similar way?

 

He did play his solos in that sort of fashion. If you watch him, he shifted his right hand (picking) quite a bit. If he played in lower positions, he would play closer towards the back of the string to give those tones a higher timbre.

 

You translated my rambling thought into something much more eloquent.

 

His tone is a huge reason why I became such a big fan of the Dead. See 19 seconds in......

 

David Nelson is the only one who comes close without trying to be a copycat. He's got the same soul in his fingers. Interesting since David and Jerry were cut from the same cloth

 

I find that "It was his touch" explanation is foremost.
Now I am nowhere near as accomplished as Garcia was, but I do find that even if I'm jamming onstage with another band with another kind of guitar (I use a Les Paul), more or less regardless of pedals and amp, I still kinda sound like me.

Garcia's "rambling" approach and fast chromatic runs (Good call, Rose River Bear!) influenced my own style, so I get that.

 

You can even pick out his playing on Thomas Dolby's Astronauts and Heretics, he has a very distinctive sound....

 

Some of his most impressive pedal steel work is on David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name album.

 

When he was on, particulary with The JGB. Jerry was the finest live guitar player I've seen.