Within the mid ’60s, San Francisco’s bohemian leisure scene was evolving from Beat Era poetry and people songs to an electrical music designed to assist listeners “journey.”

The unique “psychedelic” bands included the Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Lifeless, Nation Joe & the Fish, Large Brother & the Holding Firm, and others. For a lot of, the de rigueur instrument was a Gibson SG, as utilized by James Gurley, Jerry Garcia, Barry Melton, and Sam Andrew. Arguably essentially the most progressive and influential SG participant was John Cipollina in Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Cipollina (1943-’89) reportedly met guitarist Gary Duncan (1946-2019) and drummer Greg Elmore at a dance at San Francisco’s Longshoreman’s Corridor in October of 1965. After discovering widespread musical floor, they recruited vocalist/bassist David Freiberg from the folkie ranks to finish the foursome that will change into preeminent on the scene.

As a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Freiberg favored Fender Precision and Jazz basses, however used a Gibson EB-3 on the Monterey Pop Competition in ’67. Duncan relied on Gibsons together with a Les Paul goldtop, an SG, and an ES-345TD, however he was extra recognized for taking part in two ’45 L-5 archtops that had been transformed to electrical.

“[The repairman] put a soundpost between the bridge and the again of the guitar so it wouldn’t feed again so badly,” Duncan mentioned of his first L-5 in a 2001 interview with VG. “If it did feed again, it wouldn’t squeal like a solidbody; it obtained a giant fats tone, like a horn.”

After the guitar was stolen, Duncan purchased one other and had it modified by the identical store.

Finally, Cipollina’s meticulously modified SGs and his large amp rig would change into legendary. A couple of of his SGs had been dressed with customized pickguards and fretboard inlays, and pickups had been wired to go to completely different amplifiers – the bridge pickup plugged into Fender amps, whereas the neck went to Standels. Topping Cipollina’s sonic monster had been six Wurlitzer Brasshorn organ amps with their brass-horn drivers. He relied on a thumb decide and finger decide, and made heavy use of a Bigsby vibrato to evoke his piercing, warbling sound.

Quicksilver was one of many final of the early Frisco psychedelic bands to signal with a serious label, and so they started recording a primary album for Capitol Data in late ’67. An arduous activity for producers Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites, the band spent 200 hours in a Los Angeles studio then discarded the tracks as a result of (per Barney Hoskyns’ Beneath the Diamond Sky: Haight-Ashbury 1965-1970) members needed to re-record their particular person components. New classes had been recorded with producer Pete Welding in San Francisco, and the debut was launched in Could of ’68.

“That was the primary album I ever owned,” mentioned guitarist Craig Chaquico, who was a member of Jefferson Starship within the ’80s and Starship by way of the early 2000s earlier than changing into a Grammy-nominated contemporary-jazz solo artist. “I obtained it from a pal at a summer time camp in Marin County.”

At age 12, Chaquico began to study guitar whereas recuperating from a automobile crash, and Quicksilver was a part of his restoration.

“My dad instructed me that if I caught with the bodily remedy, rehab, wheelchair, crutches, and corrective footwear, he would purchase me a Les Paul after I obtained higher,” he mentioned. “He saved his promise, and it had the identical form as John Cipollina’s SG, being that it was an early white Les Paul Customized.”

Quicksilver’s debut album established the band’s “dueling guitars” at its outset, with the opening A-minor chord of “Satisfaction of Man” punching out of 1 speaker, answered by one on one other guitar within the reverse.

“Satisfaction of Man,” written by British actor/singer Hamilton Camp, was an intriguing track with cautionary lyrics alluding to biblical legends. Cipollina’s solo proffered a brittle-yet-potent tone, combined up entrance, the place it couldn’t be ignored.

The interaction between Cipollina and Duncan was intricate; not solely did they do back-and-forth riffing, however additionally they dabbled in concord leads.

“John would introduce me to all people as his ‘rhythm guitar participant’,” Duncan recalled with fun. “That was okay with me, as a result of I wasn’t too talkative, and John was!”

Duncan and Freiberg had been equally at house singing concord (“Gentle Your Home windows”) or in unison (“Dino’s Music”).

The jazzy, loping instrumental “Gold and Silver” has a 6/8 time signature. Duncan wrote it when he was a teen, impressed by Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5,” which is in 5/4.

The keystone track is “The Idiot,” a 12-minute (principally instrumental) piece co-written by Duncan and Freiberg that has stood the take a look at of time. Past the anticipated psychedelic noodling, it’s a captivating, progressive presentation with shifting time signatures, tempos, and preparations that interpolate melodious, evocative guitar work – ethereal, majestic, highly effective, typically raucous and drenched in suggestions.

Amongst its segments is Cipollina’s exercise on a newfangled wah pedal, together with note-for-note riffing with Freiberg’s viola.

“John’s wah and Bigsby had been an enormous fascination for me,” mentioned Chaquico. “The tone and emotional content material on the solo in ‘The Idiot’ has at all times stayed with me.”

Different followers embody Kerry Livgren, founding lead guitarist for Kansas, who cites “The Idiot” as one of many earliest prog-rock songs, recalling its affect on the evolution of Kansas’ sound.

“It was an extended, developed piece with all of those completely different actions,” Livgren mentioned.

Chaquico summed up different facets of the album that appealed to him.

“The issues that stood out to me most whereas I used to be jamming to Quicksilver – apart from the guitar taking part in – was David Freiberg’s voice and the track ‘Satisfaction of Man’,” he mentioned. “There have been some fascinating tones and vibrato motion with the guitar that I attempted to emulate at any time when that track got here round. The reducing treble tones on a few of my guitar solos had been influenced by bands like Quicksilver. ‘Experience the Tiger’ involves thoughts.”

Quicksilver’s second album, Pleased Trails, melded dwell and studio recordings. Personnel adjustments after its launch shifted dynamics throughout the group, and whereas it launched different albums by way of the ’70s, guitarists have granted “basic” standing to the primary two.

This text initially appeared in VG’s June 2025 concern. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.