Sunday, September 16, 2012

Guitars Unlimited, El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA


Since Dana Morgan Jr. had been fired from the Warlocks, the band was not welcome to use equipment from the store, nor were Garcia and Weir wanted as guitar instructors. Both Garcia and Weir got jobs at a music store called Guitars Unlimited on El Camino Real, right near Santa Cruz Avenue. Both of them brought their own guitar students with them, an attractive proposition even though Garcia in particular had what was perceived as a "menacing" demeanor. Of course, the band promptly borrowed equipment from Guitars Unlimited.(1)

Neal Winslow - Lead Guitar  Neal grew up on the Peninsula and was lead singer for several bands during high school and college. Neal expressed interest in learning to play the guitar and took a few lessons from Jerry Garcia when he was teaching at Guitars Unlimited in Menlo Park, this is rumored to be the reason that Jerry left teaching to form the Warlocks (predecessors to theGrateful Dead).(2)



Jerry rehearsed and taught here in
1965.





1.)^Arnold, Corry, Lost Live Dead, 2010-02-06, The Grateful Dead and Menlo Park
2.)^http://www.hydestreet-band.com/?section=bio , biographies

2 comments:

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  2. I walked into Guitars Unlimited in '65 and there was long-haired JG sitting on a wooden chair picking a banjo.That place was boggling. I remember a big parts bin chock full of PAF humbuckers. They're worth over a thousand a piece now.

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