[Shaggy]

A few questions, just a bit of fun. Out of interest:

1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?

2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?

3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?

4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?

5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?

6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?

[jck_strw]

1 & 2. When I was a freshman in high school, there was this senior guy who was waaay into the Dead. He was a good guy and always talked to me (which was a "big deal" at the time because of the freshman/senior thing). Anyhow, the only thing I knew of the band was the skull/skeleton motif (from all his Dead shirts) and their funky name. So I went to the store and bought one of their albums (because I never wanted to admit I had no idea who they were/what they sounded like). I bought American Beauty (on cassette). The first notes of Box of Rain come out and I'm like, wtf is this? This is the Grateful Dead? This sounds like country music. So I skipped over that song, heard FOTD. More country music, but much catchier than Box. Then I heard Sugar Mag. That was my first, hey now, what is this? This is cool. The next song that got me was Ripple. Ripple sortof confirmed it for me that these guys were great.

3. Oh yeah.

4. Uncle John's Band

5. Uncle John's Band

6. Touch of Grey (I don't play lead [yet]), so I like songs with a lot of chord changes. Bertha is another really fun one to do too. And Loser (I love that little intro lick). Bird Song is another one I really like, as well as Tennesee Jed. I'll stop now. :)

[strumminsix]

What are you a cop?









1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?
----- Pigpen "Hard to Handle" extra groovy R&B'ing one with that orgasm jam that builds up to super HIGH intensity then BAM!!! right back in to the main riff.


2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?
Lookin' for something different then what was on the radio and from tunes like Truckin' I could hear somethinig deeper so I bought Skeletons loved it, then a couple more studios, loved them, then really fell in love with Aoxomoxoa and Beauty, then found live shows! WOW!



3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?
Fuckin' A right! Tought me how to play, inspired me, then humbled me when I started listening with headphones, then humbled me again now that I have hundreds of shows (both lossless and mp3) so when I learn a song I fill up a playlist with a handful of versions and realize that most every one has something special to it.



4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?
The whole AoxomoxoA album


5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?
Ripple


6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?
Anything Bobby. Particularly OMSN



Here's two more:
7. What was the first GD song you taught yourself from on old recording?
Lazy River Road!


7. What was the first GD song you felt a major accomplishment after learning?
Box of Rain - All the changes and a scary barre chord!

[caspersvapors]

1. I had listened to the Dead since birth, but hearing the Jack Straw on the 100 year hall album painted such a vivid picture to me, it was amazing.

2. the Dead was always the music I grew up with, up until about freshman year in college my music had been hip hop. I soon realized how shitty the genre was and started listening to rock for a change, it brought me back to GD

3. yes

4. Jack Straw

5. Loser

6. Loser

[weedar]

1. Now that's a tough question. After hearing about the GD
I promptly download everything on gdlive and started playing
various songs. For some reason I knew this band was going
to get me going - I just didn't know how/why yet. I guess
Casey Jones was the first song I really liked of theirs. Feces
really hit the fan-like apparatus when I got Anthem of the
Sun for Christmas one year and bought American Beauty a few
months later.

2. I've always had an interest in L (no, not love.. )
and many other fans of L told me Grateful Dead was the thing
to listen to. They were right.

3. It's basically the only reason I want to play the guitar
at all. Which is great, since this is my only artistic outlet,
and I love the Dead for showing it to me.

4. Casey Jones - still trying very hard to play it right

5. Friend of the Devil (chords only)

6. the next one (yeah I know, cliche..)

[amyjared]

1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?
Birdsong

2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?
Casey Jones. Being a 7th grader into drugs, I was stoked by the song. Then the scene just made me so happy...

3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?
Not initially, but I started learning dead tunes since they were so easy to play (incorrectly)

4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play? All of them, but Birdsong

5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through? Friend of the Devil

6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing Crazy Fingers

[sarraqum]

1. I have't listened to the Dead for that long....well, only about 4 years, nonstop. I think I fell in love with music when I heard 05.08.77 version of Scarlet>Fire. I haven't heard scarlet begonias before this time but I knew Fire On The Mountain. So there I was listening to the transition jam, not realising what was coming, and suddenly.........Long distance runner......
I was gone and was never coming back.

2. When I was still a young man, 18, I read an article on rock & roll's death by excess, and there was a mention of Pigpen. The only thing that was mentioned about GD is how acid soaked their live shows were. At that moment in time I was just beginning to experiment with various substances and checking out GD seemed very natural...

3. Yup.

4. Casey Jones. I remember getting pissed off with an F chord trying to barre the 1st fret on my brand new acoustic. Oh, the nostalgia...

5. Friend Of The Devil. Does NFA count?

6. Uncle John's Band.

[sarraqum]

BTW, listening to the 01.22.1978 show. Another one of those moments when GD come out with something that makes you sit and smile and gives you chills at the same time. Jack Straw is just superb! There are many reasons to love this band!

[tigerstrat]

I'll bite.

1. I don't clearly recollect, but I've gone through life answering this question with "China Cat Sunflower"

2. In general, their reputation as Lords of Sixties Acid Rock, but probably more that all my coolest friends and my older brother and his friends were so stoked to see them play.

3. Nope. That was Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend and last but not least the Rev.Billy Gibbons... but within six months of beginning guitar I attended my first GD show in 1985, closely followed by my first GD-tribute show (Stephen's Answer, from the Chicago suburbs-- STILL the best name for a GD tribute I have ever heard!) where I saw the possibilities and caught the bug.

4. hmmm... probably China Cat.

5. For some reason I think it was actually one of the slow songs (not going to misuse the term "ballad"), like Stella Blue or China Doll... might have been FOTM, Iko, or a fast FOTD or Bertha though... or UJB- incorrectly, lol.

6. Eyes- no, Help On The- no, Dire- no... better just make it Dark Star with Uncle John's and Cumberland Blues as close runners-up!

[hesgone95]

1. Box of Rain, Ripple, actually both American Beauty and Workingman's. Albums that my dad listened to alot and I grew up secretly loving them. Secretly cos a good 80's skate punk couldn't like "Hippy-country" music, right? But what really turned me on was a live help>slip>frank's. Don't remember the show, but the transition into franks caught me and threw me for a loop. And then I paid attention to the words...wow!

2. The lyrics on those two albums always really got to me.

3.Fuck yeah. And Dylan. And Jerry still inspires me and makes me realize how much more I have to learn, or better yet how much I can learn, and the pleasure that comes in the learning. If that makes sense.

4. Terrapin...still working on that mother.

5. Don't remember, Black Peter I think. But the very first song I learned to play and sing all the way thru was Tangled up in Blue. Not the boys, but close.

6. Black Peter or Scarlet. FOTD. Cassidy is fun, but a bit more difficult for me. I'm working on Ripple at the moment, but G is a tough key for me to sing in. Fingerpicking Rider and adding the extra verse about "i'd rather drink muddy water and sleep out in a hollow log..." is always fun. I could go on, and on...But I won't.

BTW, cool topic.

[yem]

1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?
- can't really say, my dad is a huge deadhead and i just kind of grew up with them

2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?
- i think hearing my dad's band practicing the songs in my basement as an child

3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?
- no, that goes to hendrix

4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?
- bacically any of them (always a big fan of terrapin)

5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?
- althea

6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?
- probably the other one

kick ass topic, got me thinking

[Shaggy]

Well since I started this topic I should answer them too!! Thanks for everyones answers so far. Interesting stuff....


1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?
Sugar Magnolia. Though I think the very first song I heard by the GD was Me and Bobby McGee but I can't be too sure about that(those days were hazy at best!).


2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?
It did take a while to grow on me to be honest. But it was the openess, their ongoing quest to discover new routes and ideas in the music. I always thought the best parts of the best songs were often the shortest parts, untill I heard the Dead who seemed to stretch out those parts.


3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?
Yes and No, I had fooled around with guitar before I knew who they were but I wanted my own guitar after I heard the Dead awhile. I had heard great guitar players before but there was always something missing. Then I heard Jerry.


4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?
Ripple.


5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?
Ripple.


6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?
Sugaree.

[Django]

I having alot of fun here, I'm a newbie to the forum but I've come here for tabs for a few years.

1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?
St.Stephen and The Eleven off LIVE/DEAD.


2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?
My seventh grade buddy, and because we were about the only two around.


3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?
It was George. The note in 'I Want to Hold your Hand' after "I feel happy inside". That one tone made me want to play guitar.


4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?
Something folksy, I only had an acoustic at the time, I don't recall.


5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?
Someone showed me Deal, with a whole band maybe Franklin's or Bertha.


6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?
Sugaree.

[b weird]

1. What was the first Grateful Dead song that made you sit up and realise this band was something special? If it wasn't one song then what show was it?

The Ladies And Gentelmen Album.

2. What was it that attracted you to the music of the Grateful Dead?

Don't remember.

3. Did the Grateful Dead inspire you to play guitar/ a musical instrument?

No that was Lynyrd Skynyrd. But oddly I never learned any Skynyrd songs.

4. What was the first Grateful Dead song you wanted to learn to play?

Me & My Uncle

5. What was the first Grateful Dead song you learned to play all the way through?

Uncle John's Band

6. What is your favorite Grateful Dead song to play/sing?

Catfish John, I Know You Rider, Mason's Children, Ect.

[G'Dad]

1. I went to my first Dead concert at The Rainbow Theatre London 24th March 1981 having never heard anything by them before. The atmosphere was different from any other concert I had been too and there was such a variety of people there. The first song was Mississippi Half Step Toodeloo and between that and the end of the first set I realised this was indeed something special. Looking at the set list now it still has many of my favourite songs.

2. See above

3. No originally that was Phil Lynott. It was the Dead though that inspired me to take up acoustic guitar. I now mainly play acoustic with friends.

4. To Lay Me Down

5. To Lay Me Down

6. Friend Of The Devil