this would not do for him, he ended up trading it in for a cheap electric guitar an amplifier. All he had to do now was learn how to play it. Jerry lost half of his right middle finger in an accident early in life, but this did not stop Jerry from learning how to play guitar. When Jerry was a junior in highschool, he dropped out altogether. Jerry’s trouble with the law, and academic troubles, only pointed one way, the US Army. He was enlisted in 1959. The army hammered into Jerry the virtues of discipline, order, and obedience. When Jerry was finally sent to Fort Winfield Scott in San Francisco, and given missile training, he started skipping roll call, and going AWOL (absent without leave). He was finally given a dishonorable discharge. Garcia’s army career lasted nine months, he was 18 years old and a highschool dropout, and failed US soldier, whose only interest was his guitar. Jerry later met Sarah Ruppenthal, a Stanford film student and musician. They began to perform and date, they married in May 1963, when Sarah was three months pregnant with their first baby. They named the baby Heather, Jerry was now a father, and husband, he needed a real job.(Piccoli, p.13-19). Jerry got a job at a local music store teaching guitar lessons. This is when Jerry picked up another stringed instrument, the banjo. Jerry began to concentrate on the banjo, and acoustic guitar. One day, two boys, walked into the store where Jerry was working because they heard banjo playing. It was New Years Eve, and so Jerry and the two boys stayed up all night in this music shop and played all the guitars that they have always wanted to play, and sang their favorite songs. This boy was not just another kid to Jerry, Jerry noticed a talent in his new friend. So the two started their own band. This boy, was Bob Weir, a wealthy child from At...
