BY JON SIEVERT

 

"When I'm on-stage playing,
I'm not really conscious
of the guitar"

   
 
 
Interview August 1981
 
Bob Weir merely 16 years old the first time he sat down to pick with Jerry Garcia in the back of a Palo Alto, California, music store on New Year's Eve, 1964.  In the ensuing 17 years, he has provided a rhythmic and harmonic bridge between Garcia's melodic, eccentric lead lines and Phil Lesh's unique free-form bass stylings.  Throw in the added rhythm contributions of two drummer/percussionists and a keyboardist and the band's penchant for playing "intuitive improvisational music" in odd time signatures, and it becomes clear that Weir has to develop a unique style in the often neglected art of rhythm guitar. As Jerry Garcia explained in his October '78 cover story:  "We all feel Bob's the finest rhythm guitarist on wheels right now.   He's like my left hand.  We have a long, serious conversation going on musically, and the whole thing is of a complementary nature.  We have fun, and we've designed our playing to work against and with each other.  His playing, in a way, really puts my playing in the only kind of meaningful context it could enjoy.

        CONTINUE