Hey there -
Long time lurker, first time poster here. I figured I would piggy-back on this thread, since I'm also kicking around the Old Dominion these days, specifically Sterling and Great Falls.
First off, HUGE thanks to the effort and dedication of those who compiled all the chord changes and riffs on this site -- they have been simply invaluable.
I've been a Deadhead since May of '95, when the friend's older brother who had been feeding me echoey 3rd-gen Phish cassettes for a couple of years let me know there was ANOTHER trade friendly band that existed. It was a sad time to get into the Dead; my first live Dead experience was the '96 Furthur Fest. The heavy touring I did in my heyday was mostly with Phish (over 200 shows), but in 2001-02 and 2005-08 I saw a bunch of Phil shows, Ratdog shows, and quite a few execellent DSO shows in that stellar period before John K. left to join Furthur. My pinnacle live Grateful Dead experience was Fare Thee Well, a transcendent experience if ever there was one.
I picked up a guitar in 2019 after abandoning an accounting career. These songs have quite literally kept me alive these last few years, serving as my primary focus in life as I reconfigure. I have painstakingly taught myself to be ambidextrous, as a lefthander playing a right-handed Martin SC-13E, and will probably never have the best right-hand technique. In general, I'm a humble student of music theory but am sorely lacking in technique. I have spent thousands of hours with a guitar in my hands, memorizing the fretboard in all 12 keys, putting daily practice into scales and arpeggios, and playing and singing almost exclusively Dead songs. I probably don't have much innate talent, but I work really, really hard and honoring these songs in my own weird little way is really important to me. I'll probably always be a better singer than guitar player, but music is life, even if I'll never be the best.
I'm hopeful that I can make some real connections in here and I can play some small role in ensuring that the music never stops.
