sustain with slide, especially if you throw in a little bit of feed-back and distortion.  So I took up playing slide guitar pretty much for that reason, and I've had a lot of fun with it.  It gives us a chance to get leads working with and against each other, sort of Dixieland style.

Do you switch instruments when you play slide guitar?
     No, I use the same one.  I like playing out of standard tuning because it allows me to switch to palying slide at a moment's notice if the whim hits me.   If I get used to playing in open tuning I can't do that, so I just arbitrarily decided to stick to standard tuning.

What kind of slide do you use?
     It's brass.  I think there are a number of different makes, but they're all about the same size.  I just line it with leather or something to keep it tight.  Other than that I just try not to lose it, because you can get pretty attached to it.  I wear it on my little finger.  That leaves my other fingers free to chord and play notes.  I've been sort of playing around with hammering-on and pulling-off with the slide and working on positions up the neck.  It's something you can develop a touch for and it's not all that hard to do, but there are some things you can't do in standard tuning.

How do you control your sound when you're playing slide at high volumes?
     I use my palm to damp a lot with my right hand, but I've also found I can damp strings I'm not playing with my left hand.  I don't get the strings I'm not playing ringing out of tune.

Are there any particular limitations you are working to overcome?
     Well, my hands aren't big enough.  That's one thing I discovered while trying to crack string quartets.  The other limitation I'm working on is my tendency to try to play it all.  When I write a song, I always write a guitar part that is way too full.  If you're playing with as many instruments as the Dead or Bobby & The Mid-
nites have, then that's a limitation for the band, because the sound is so thick and full there's no room for anybody else.  So now I'm working with more partial chords and things like that.  Bobby & The Midnites has something of a problem with that.  We get awfully thick awfully quick.

After so many years of working with the same musicians, are there any other musicians you'd particularly like to work with?
     Well, there are too many good musicians for me to start to go into names, but as far as a rhythm section goes, at this point with Alphonso and Billy, I've got my dream rhythm section.  And, of course, the Grateful Dead rhythm section is sort of legendary for being what they are, so I have two diametrically opposed sections.  Between the two of them, I'm going to be real busy adjusting my attitudes and approaches.

Have you always had a lead guitar player in your working situations outside the Dead?
     Yeah.  Sometimes I do play lead on some songs, but never for a whole evening.  I don't exclude that possibility, but I kind of enjoy the role that I take.  I don't really ever envision myself trying to carry an evening on lead guitar, because I like variation.  I would miss the texture of rhythm guitar.  There's a certain sort of punch that I want to be there, and I've worked a long time at being able to provide that.

How do you find yourself changing with different rhythm sections, like with Billy Cobham, for instance?
     Generally, I just try to go with what's there.  That's what playing in a band is all about.  I don't really try to structure the sound of Bobby & The Midnites, for instance.  I just like to make sure that everybody knows the part that is on the record and that we play it at least once all together.  That's all I would ask.  From then on the song is free to develop as the band does.

What kind of process do you go through when you write a song?
     Sometimes the words will occur first, or maybe John Barlow has given me some words, and I'll try to find music that serves the words.  Most often the music comes first, when I'm sitting around playing guitar.  Then I'll work on developing words that fit it.  And I would say that my guitar style has pretty much developed from my writing.

In what ways?
     If I'm writing a song that I'm going to be singing and playing at the same time, then I try to go for a combination of the two that's more than the sum of its parts.  That's what a song is, in my opinion.  A SONG, in capital letters, is more than just the chords and the melody and the words.  It's the way they all work together in a special, magical relationship that makes a great song.  That's what I keep going for.     •