Jerry Garcia

The Grateful Dead, and particularly Garcia’s approach to the guitar, implies that if you're not far enough out of yourself, or aren't giving enough of yourself to the world at the moment, you can't begin to approach something that those involved will agree is the truth. Composition as a polite and civil “gathering of positions,” breaks down under these conditions. The incumbent attributes of co-ecstasy, namely mutual bewilderment, astonishment and amazement, help to refocus attention on the impolite bonds between the positions of those involved, and those bonds become a gathering force in their own right.