John Cipollina's career spanned twenty-five years of jazz, rock, and blues. He was a founding member of the group Quicksilver Messenger Service. They were one of the most popular bands in their time and played along with other big names such as Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane.
Cipollina developed a unique style of playing while with the band; it was all in his technique and equipment. He relied on finger picking while pulling on the vibrato bar of the electric guitar, and used his own amplifier stacks and controls. He would wear two plastic finger picks that were filed to shape and he picked and/or plucked the strings with his thumb and index finger.
He died in 1989 from a lifelong respiratory ailment. In 1995, his custom amp stack was given to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
