[Pete B.]

Hey I found this great article on Jers Banjo years. It has some great pic's at the bottom of each page (the article is in 4 parts).

http://www.thebestofwebsite.com/Bands/J ... roPage.htm

Now these two Jerry's look alike to me...

Jer on Banjo:


Jer in 8th Grade:


Rolling Stone link:
http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gall ... na/photo/9

[Tennessee Jedi]

just for Pete

[tigerstrat]

Awesome! I'm so glad that Sandy wrote all this material down in one place and in such thoughtful rich detail. He used to post tidbits of this stuff on deadnetcentral in the Garcia discussion. I believe he pokes his head in there once in awhile still, or at least reads it.

[old man down]

You know, I bothered to read this yesterday but had to rush out before commenting, but I was amazed that it took over a day for someone to respond to this excellent article.

Some incredible tidbits can be found. It immediately makes you wish that you had a banjo enthusiast friend you could visit who could cue up these old recordings to demonstrate the artists that attracted Jerry to the style of play.

Then there is the mention of Jerry's missing middle finger which forced him to use the ring finger which then inverted the banjo technique, thereby making it all his own, and giving things a much different flavor.

Really neat how the old players would tighten down the head (or whatever it is) to get the banjo to have an almost electric sound. Must have been fun back then to be among the players pioneering the new approaches.

Can you imagine selling all your wedding gifts to buy a banjo to rely on making a living to support your family? Wow!

Great article! Thanks Pete.

[Pete B.]

'Came across this brief but entertaining nug:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-1 ... 34788.shnf

[jack-A-roe]

great article! it always seemed like those great fast and melodic electric solos that are really constant in timing and flow had to have come from the amount he studied the banjo. those long streams of thirds or fourth notes while all the time keeping the melody on his solos.

it seems like it would have given him a tremendous phrasing stamina for the many improvisions on guitar.

such cool stuff.