In 1991, my musical tastes weren't exactly grungy. I was a deadhead. Regularly seeing the Grateful Dead, and-- often more memorably-- the Jerry Garcia Band. Every couple of months Jerry would bring his band to the Warfield for three shows, and I would see all of them. That was the best place to watch him play guitar. 

I'll never forget the first time I heard Nirvana's Nevermind. It was twilight and I was speeding across the Bay Bridge towards Oakland with some friends from work. They told me I had to hear this album, and put Nevermind in the CD player and cranked it up. We stopped talking after that, and with heads bouncing we proceeded across the bridge and into the hills.

I didn't immediately trade my tie-dye for a flannel shirt. In fact I didn't start listening seriously until just after Cobain's suicide. Then I got obsessed. Not just with the music, but with the cultural significance-- and eventual heartbreak-- to the generation just below mine. I now believe you can't understand the 1990's without understanding Nirvana.

I remember reading a great article in Esquire magazine about Cobain right after he dies, but it's not posted on their website. You can, however, check out Ken Micallef's interview of Dave Grohl and Profucer Butch Vig about the new Foo Fighters album in May's issue of Electronic Musician.

In Nirvana's honor, I am going to learn the opening riff to "Come As You Are" this weekend. Luckily for us beginners, it's a super easy riff. Everyone says to tune the guitar down one stop, but I've ignored that for now. I just want to get the fingering down, it still sounds good to me.

 

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Tags: Nirvana , Tabs , Beginner

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Location: Blogs BAMstutz Beginner Blog

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