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Topic: Speedy West's pedals |
J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 8 Dec 2008 10:45 am |
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I've been listening to a tune by Speedy West, called "There's gonna be a party for the old folks".
Sounds like he plays some licks in a 6th tuning, followed immediately by some licks in a 9th tuning. Too fast, I think, to switch necks.
I know he had pedals back in the late 40's, early 50's, and wondered if he used them to change the tuning during his solos. In particular, to change a 6th chord to a 9th chord.
Anybody know, or remember?
Thanks...Jerry |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 8 Dec 2008 7:11 pm
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| Quote: |
| I know he had pedals back in the late 40's, early 50's, and wondered if he used them to change the tuning during his solos. In particular, to change a 6th chord to a 9th chord...Too fast, I think, to switch necks. |
I'm not familiar with that song, but I'd bet that Speedy (or several other players of that day) would have no trouble changing necks faster than most all players do today. When all you had was necks (and no pedals), you got pretty good at that stuff. Of course, it is also possible that Speedy did that song later, and used pedals for a quick change in the middle of the song. The idea of using pedals to make tuning changes in the middle of a song, and indeed even the idea of moving changes, dates back far further than most people realize - long before Webb recorded his famous "Slowly", which catapulted the pedal steel guitar to popularity. |
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Terry Wood
From:
Lebanon, MO
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Posted 8 Dec 2008 7:47 pm
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Speedy was my friend and I would ditto just about everything that Donny shared.
Speedy could do all kinds of stuff on steel, he was a Master Unorthodox type player. I am sure you've heard alot of his crazy sounding steel licks, but he pulls them off on recordings. Well, he and Jimmy Bryant did alot of that stuff on recording sessions without even rehearsing it before the session began. He told me that they just came up with alot of their material while recording. Captiol Records let them get away with it because they were selling records like crazy then.
Speedy told me once that he couldn't read a note of music. I really believe that, and yet, he was also a real creative genius in his own way. We were pretty good friends and I used to hang out with him in his later years when he returned to Springfield, MO to visit his mother. This was mid 1970s through 1980s.
I sure miss Speedy. Zane Beck and Julian THarpe some of my dearest friends all passed on now.
GOD bless!
Terry Wood |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 9 Dec 2008 1:34 am
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Speedy's Bigsby ( which he uses on that tune ) is from Feb-48 and had four pedals and yes, he had that E9 change on one of the necks. I'm not sure if he had it on his "inverted" tuning or on the E13, but he had that 5th note whole tone raise from the beginning. It was more common among the west coast players than what we generally think; Vance Terry had it too, once he added pedals on his Bigsby. My Bigsby has it too on the E13th neck. Lee Jeffries and some others are better tuned ( pun intended ) on this subject!!  |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 9 Dec 2008 5:21 am
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Thanks for the replies, guys. An example of the change I'm talking about is in the 7th bar of the 2nd verse of "There's Gonna Be A Party...", where Speedy plays an A9th chord lick. The lick follows a G6th type lick, and is really a continuation of that G6th lick, which is why I thought he might be using pedals to get it. Just move up two frets and step on the pedals.
So, does anybody know what his four pedals did? Were they all used on one neck? Thanks...Jerry |
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Jerry Hayes
From:
Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 9 Dec 2008 8:39 am
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I hope long time SoCal player Billy Tonneson can chime in here on this. Billy probably knew Speedy in his heyday. I remember when Billy played at the old Skylite in Compton, Ca. He was playing a Fender 1000 pedal guitar and he'd change necks right in the middle of a steel break and you couldn't tell he'd done it as the transition was so smooth. Speedy was the same way.........JH in Va.
_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 10 Dec 2008 5:11 am
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Well Speedy's pedal changes seem to be a bit of a mystery, at this point. I did some looking around on the web, and found some info stating that he had pedals that changed his A6 tuning to E9th, on one of his necks.
Since his use of pedals predates Bud Issacs use of pedals, I would think there would be some documentation of what he was doing. There's lots of recognition for Speedy's great playing, but little info regarding what his changes were. On the other hand, Bud Issacs changes are well known...Jerry |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 10 Dec 2008 5:24 am
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| Well, if you have the Isaacs E9 and press down both pedals, it's A6. So I guess Speedy had that reversed. |
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