Jerry Garcia lost two-thirds of his right middle finger at age four in a wood-chopping accident and later used that hand to become one of the most unconventional guitarists in history. Born in San Francisco in 1942 and named after composer Jerome Kern, he lost his father Jose to a drowning accident, spent five years with grandparents whose radio played the Grand Ole Opry, picked up banjo before guitar, and learned to harmonize by ear from his brother Tiff’s R&B records. A general Army discharge, a 1961 Palo Alto car crash that killed a friend, and a 1964 LSD experience each redirected his path.

This episode follows the Warlocks becoming the Grateful Dead by way of a dictionary, how modal jazz let a three-chord song stretch into a 20-minute jam, 2,314 live shows, side work with Old & In the Way and pedal steel on “Teach Your Children,” the 13.5-pound Tiger guitar and McIntosh MC2300 amp, the 1985 intervention and Golden Gate Park arrest, the 1986 diabetic coma after which he relearned guitar from scratch, the 1987 comeback with “Touch of Grey,” Brent Mydland’s death in 1990, and Garcia’s own death in 1995 at age 53.

• Why learning banjo first gave Garcia a different rhythmic foundation than most guitarists
• How the 1961 crash became what he called the “slingshot” for the rest of his life
• Modality explained: the mechanism that let the Dead never play a song the same way twice
• Why Tiger’s dense woods, swappable electronics, and hi-fi amplifier mattered to his sound
• How a touring corporation, addiction, and a coma shaped the final decade