I Despise Discomfort As In Some Juxtapositions

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Finding oneself in tight squeezes is a form of discomfort. Finding yourself between a rock and a hard place is displeasing to say the least. Issues comprised of faultier correspondence can be distasteful, depending on certain values. The thought of impending disaster in a room full of super pickers, can arouse anxieties. One could cast all precautions into the wind, and let the "chips fall where they may"; as a who really cares attitude. Luckily, some churlish situations can be avoided by educated forethoughtfulness. Experiences connected with learning the art of playing steel at all levels, will occasionally touch upon minor and major situations that will require good judgment on the part of the steel guitarist. BTW, I'm open for discussing a lifetime of issues pertaining to musicians in their natural habitat. Smile

Barry Blackwood · Posted 11 Jun 2009 6:22 am

Bill, my apologies if I appear churlish, but you misspelled faltering..... Oh Well

Chris Schlotzhauer · From: Colleyville, Tx. USA

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

No Chris. Whenever you're ready to have it closed, just start an incendiary political discussion and it'll get shut down pretty quick. Oldest trick in the book... Wink

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Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

juxtapositions

Main Entry:
jux·ta·po·si·tion Listen to the pronunciation of juxtaposition
Pronunciation:
\ˌjək-stə-pə-ˈzi-shən\
Function:
noun

: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side ; also : the state of being so placed

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Thanks to all for pumping new life into a faltering fellowship. Special thanks to Barry for the great job of editing. That's the spirit that awakens a sleepy typist. I can't believe that the same error has tripped me twice in forum responses. I seem to recall it was some time ago. There is quite a bit of logic that has gone awry in those two spellings. I really enjoy opening a link that will let the steel do the talking. Bo Legg has shown an interesting view of presumably his music room; complete with music. Thanks to all!

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

anxiety....Zanex helps. Confused

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Robert Harper · From: Alabama, USA

I usually consider before hand and don't play in fronto of a room full of great pickers. However the problem with this is a severe lack of progressive. How ever the few good pickers I have tried to pick with have left me with a very bitter taste in their mouth. I have to always remind myself these pickers are playing professionally Nor or they household names
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Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Barry,

I had changed the spelling before I double checked for accuracy. I found that the word can be used with an "U", depending on the word ending, and how it is used.

Stephen Silver · From: Asheville, NC

Stu, you have a connection you can turn Hankey onto?
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Barry Blackwood · Posted 11 Jun 2009 10:56 am

Gary Lee Gimble · From: Fredericksburg, VA.

Peter Dollard · Posted 11 Jun 2009 12:32 pm **Thrown To The Lions**

Jeff Newman related a story in his earlier seminars(75-7 Cool

about responding to a job offer at the Black Poodle in Nashville to play steel. According to Jeff(I have the actual tape from his seminar because it was so funny)he arrived with his double 12 ShoBud and found Buddy Emmons playing bass and Curly Chalker playing guitar. He said all was going as well as could be expected when he was forced to play an instrumental. His right foot started shaking and Chalker was trying to turn the "tremalo" circuit on his amp....Inevitably seminar people felt much more relaxed after Jeff told his experience. I have tried to check out the story but no one seems to remember much about it.

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Peter, I remember Jeff telling that same story...either at a seminar or the college.
I think that's the same time that his hands got all sweaty. When someone shouted Let the steel man have it! Jeff's bar left his hand and went shooting out on the dance floor.
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Tracy Sheehan · From: Fort Worth, Texas, USA

I have told this before but will again as it as so funny.Back in the early 60's i believe it was,i played at the Golden Nugget in Vegas several times.As most know it was only show, no dancing so the audience was well aware of what you were doing.It was a small room back then.
One night i was doing an instrumental and let the bar get away from me and it made quite a noise going across the stage.The singer stopped the band,handed me the bar and told me to do that again because as long as i had worked for him that was the best lick he ever heard me do.
Curly Chalker was playing a sit down in vegas at the time and came in a few times.He would sit right in front of me and i think he was aware he was making me nervous.
For the life of me i don't remember if this happened on a night he was there,but what ever my self and the band thought it was funny as heck.Don't rememebr what the guy i was working for said but he made it look like it was only part of the act.
As i often say.those where the days my friend and i hated so much to see them end and music die out.

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Peter D.,

I saw Jeff Newman in action in Armonk, N.Y in November of 1992... always the business man, dressed in a suit. He showed no fear or nervousness as I recall. Hal Rugg was there, as well as Herby Remington, and Winnie Winston. Jeff had offered steel guitar lessons back in the 60's. Most likely, the bravado would quickly vanish before your eyes, from anyone who was caught up with Emmons and Chalker. Include a little "Thumbs" Carlisle and a host of others who might be "sitting in" would have turned into nervous wrecks in the bustling seventies. It's the billy goat effect at the dam. He'll wear out his horns trying to reach their level of determination.

Bo Legg · Posted 11 Jun 2009 4:01 pm

Bill, since you alluded to my habitat here I’m assuming you want this topic to go in the direction of players of all levels and their habitat. I will be glad later in this topic to list my habitat and what I’m trying to accomplish.
As for impending disaster in a room full of super pickers arousing anxieties, logically most of us would not have to deal with that anxiety simply because if it was a room full of super pickers we would not have been invited.
As for casting all precautions into the wind, and let the "chips fall where they may"; as a who really cares attitude, that is about all anyone can do in any situation.
Your statement of some churlish situations can be avoided by educated forethoughtfulness. I other words choose your battles and don’t sign up for a butt kicking, which is very good advice.
As for Experiences connected to learning and using good judgment, I can’t apply good judgment to anything related to Steel guitar playing because if I did I would have taken up something else and this would not be an issue. Oh Well

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Steve,Yes I have a friend who suffers from anxiety and his doctor gives him Zanex for it...it seems to work.I've seen him pass them out like candy. Confused

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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Bo Legg,

By all means, I wish to thank you for your response. I couldn't fail to notice the absence of brevity. It's a real treat when you share your thoughts. That response triggers a desire to hear more from you.

Peter Dollard · Posted 11 Jun 2009 7:57 pm **Newman's Story**

Jeff was referring to 1965 or 66( he had just arrived in Nashville) when he told that story. By 1992 you would have had to put a live tiger on stage to shake him up. You say he was a businessman but he was also a master motivator just like a Dale Carnegie. The reason he was so successful was he brought the same ferocity of belief to his teaching that he brought to his playing. Every day I miss him;he had true grit a rare commodity in this day and age. If you watch Pop Goes The Country he did a lot of those shows as well as his remarkable insrumental albums...Peter

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Peter,

This is the first time that I learned of Jeff's quandary in Nashville, in the presence of Buddy and Curly. I've heard similar stories related by others regarding the insurmountable picking styles of Buddy Emmons and Curly Chalker. Buddy has admitted that some things can be difficult to achieve in so many words. The big difference with Buddy, is his degree of determination. If he senses a hidden chord or lick hiding out in a melody line, he sits it out until he makes the catch. How else could he have become the "standard" of steel guitar excellence? We all experience those "lick" finder methods, that include patience, and determination far beyond the norm of similar endeavors.

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Bo Legg,

Could you express your feelings and opinion regarding the numbers system used in Nashville? What are the advantages of that system? It reminds me of another system called "mike check" by bandleaders. After 60 years of playing country music in Nashville, Tn., it has become the the same old, same old practice. "Mike check, one two, one two, should have been dumped years ago, IMO. Wouldn't it be nice to escape hearing a bandleader scurrying from mike to mike, singing "my bucket's got a hole in it", or the worn out, one two, one two? Really! It can amount to a type of discomfort. It's time for many changes that may very well please audiences, as well as fellow musicians. Another area in question lies in the incessant playing around with mix controls. Can the acoustics be undeniably at fault, and to justify fiddling around all through a show with the controls?

Tom Quinn · Posted 12 Jun 2009 5:46 am

Yo Pete! I was at that Seminar too -- it was held in Concord by Tom Wheeler. That was a great weekend!

Remember the old guy with the Fender cable guitar who installed a pull-out car ashtray under his guitar? Way cool!
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Peter Dollard · Posted 12 Jun 2009 7:58 am **Seminar Location**

Tom:
The Seminar where I heard the "nerve story" first was in Phoenix in January of 1976. I drove all the way from California. Of course Jeff was using that story to loosen up his classes for the first few years. I also attended a Concord seminar but I think it was in 1995. It makes no difference the story was a kind of universal "angst" reliever. Bill I don't think Jeff was worried about Emmon's or Chalker's status he loved them as musicians; he had Buddy come out to his school and play and teach for a week. Rather than envy he applied the value of their knowledge to aggrandise his students.I remember at the Phoenix seminar Jeff had shown us these eight little parts of an intro each at a different fret with different phrasings. He told the class they could pick the phrasings in any order and he would play them as an introduction to a song. Man it took him five passes but he did, playing the most disjointed intro you ever heard but made some real converts that day. People were so excited they floated out of that room me included...Peter

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