How do you feel about your playing....?

Carson Leighton · From: N.B. Canada

While doing some work around the house here,,it just dawned on me that I never reached the playing level that I set out to do...I feel that I have become a good player but not a great player...Other people tell me they wished they could do what I'm doing,,but to me it's still not good enough...

How many of you are satisfied with yourself as a muscian and your playing level...? Carson...

Don Hinkle · From: Springfield Illinois, USA

I think that most people share the same feelings that you do, only on a different level.

I am a novice steel player (at it just under a year) but do to the scene where I live, I get alot of calls and get to play alot! OBVIOUSLY I am not happy with my playing, but I bet would be that most musicians aren't happy with their playing.

I have played lead guitar for decades and get compliments constantly, but still would be practicing at it daily had I not picked up this new habit that takes up all of my time (pedal steel)

I have met players that feel that they are great (not so much) and no longer need practice... uh.. ya right..
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Chuck Hall · From: Warner Robins, Ga, USA

In my most humble opinion, if you ever get satisfied with your Steel playing, or anything else, it would be a sign of stagnation.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if have you reached the level where you have absolutely nothing else to learn and you know it all, you are finished.

I don't think even Franklin or Emmons are at a point where they have nothing left to learn. Wink

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Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

Most good players I think would agree that playing music is a life long endeavor. I get bored easily and can't stand to have more in my hands that in my head. You can't buy enthusiasm and it can't be taught. I can always tell at a jam secession which ones learned a particular song in the 70's and haven't practiced anything new since then. Thats ok but I wouldn't call them a musician.

Scott Appleton · From: Ashland, Oregon

I have been able to achieve around 40% of what I would like to so far. I know at each show something new happens that i had not tried before. The practice with pulls and runs .. chord inversions // do pay off after a while even if it seems they will never be part of your lick bucket .. I think I may reach 50% before I am
70 got 6 more years to get there .. who knows one can only hope .. You could have a quantum leap and really start to fly .. it takes constant noodling and practice otherwise no progress is going to happen .. that is for sure.

Roual Ranes · From: Atlanta, Texas, USA

I don't think I will ever reach the point where my playing would suit another steel player. I am where I am and I enjoy trying and right now that has to be enough for me.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

I'm rarely satisfied with my own playing. There are still many levels above mine.
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Ned McIntosh · From: New South Wales, Australia

My concern about my playing is how well it serves to make the sum total of the music better. Am I being a good and true servant of the music, am I helping the vocalist to bring out the emotion of the song, am I helping the music to connect with the audience? Since a lot of this is unquantifiable, I am constantly trying to improve my playing and rarely if ever feel satisfied with what I have played. I believe I can always do better; play with more restraint, find a better lick, use a different technique, alter my timing slightly, be more sensitive to the needs of the music and how I fit musically into the band and so forth. The steel guitar makes me focus on these issues acutely so I am a harsh critic of my own playing, always.

I think the pedal-steel by its very nature is an instrument which shrinks egos down to a very manageable size - in my case, I can actually carry my ego around in a thimble after I've been playing!

Consider the journey we take when we accept the challenge the pedal-steel presents us. We begin by trying to emulate the sounds, licks and techniques of the players who inspire us - and failing, simply because these guys are top players, and their level of achievement is the result of decades of playing.

In our first few years behind the steel we develop some basic abilities, and an embryonic idea of what our own style of playing really is. Once in a while, and you never quite know when, you'll play something which isn't copying someone else and you'll say "hey, that sounded like me!" The problem is initially you don't know how you actually did that. The steel, like the violin, yields its secrets slowly. It is a "life-time instrument".

However, we persevere; we learn some interesting or unusual licks, our techniques improve, our tone improves and eventually we are competent behind the steel. Most significantly, our ability to play like ourselves and not imitate the greats has now developed to the point where we have our own style, and can reproduce it as needed. We still dip into the "grab-bag of steel-guitar cliches" from time to time, but now we are more inventive, no longer copying something we have heard elsewhere.

For most of us who are not full-time professionals, perhaps this is as high as we can hope to reach - but we will still want to be better, still want more from our instrument, and ourselves. This is something inherent in the human being, the need for more. It is part of what drives us on in what we choose to do.

Because of this need I doubt any of us can really say we were one hundred percent happy with what we played, every time we sat in on a jam, or a session or a live gig, or even just practising privately at home. But occasionally, we will have a little "Eureka!" moment, where we play something, perhaps just a single note, or a harmonic, or a new lick, and it fits perfectly. When you do it right, you don't have to do much.

The feeling of satisfaction such little moments give serve to contrast keenly with the dis-satisfaction most of us seem to feel about our playing. At least it does in my case. I always want to play more tastefully, play better, do more with less, and to give something special to the music and the artist who has given me the privilege of backing them up.

The most satisfying feeling I've ever had after a performance was when someone came up to me and said "that steel sounded great!" At that point I feel happy with my choice of instrument, but not necessarily my playing. What inspires me when this happens is the realisation that I have at least reached out and touched someone in the crowd, however briefly, and that is part of what drives me on to continue the seemingly life-long addiciton to the pedal-steel guitar.

I will always want to do more with fewer notes, to reach out to the listener, to bring the emotion out of the music. I doubt I'll ever feel completely happy with my playing, and that is what will drive me onwards with this instrument.
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Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

I often get really really happy when playing, when the audience lights up like an oil-soaked torch. But then the next morning it's back to work, nose to the grinding wheel, trying really hard to get better. Good, yes, on a good day. But good enough? Never!
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Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

Like most everyone else, I am not content with my playing. I think that is a good thing. One shouldn't be too complacent. There are many, many players way better than me, and many musical ideas I can hear but I can't play.

But sometimes I do like what I play. If I didn't feel that way I would have quit a long time ago. And I continue to hear improvement when I put the effort into practicing. Old age (60) hasn't seemed to interfere with learning.

I look forward to playing with various groups and trying out the things I have been learning from this forum, various courses, and my own wanderings. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised by what comes out. For me, music is still challenging and rewarding.

Allan Jirik · From: Wichita Falls TX

I probably fall into the middle somewhere in terms of talent. I've played music for 48 years and have had a ball with it. I've never been satisfied, but I'm pleased at what I can accomplish from time to time. I think my greatest achievement is having stuck with it. As one of my musician friends quipped, "It's so much easier to just watch TV."

Roual Ranes · From: Atlanta, Texas, USA

Our leader called me about our Friday gig. He spent some time bragging on me........(?). I don't know what I did that caused that. He said that I played licks that he has not heard me play before.....(????????????). I told him that flattery will get you a lot but not a steak dinner. I really don't know what I did different.........I just had fun. He wasn't drinking so that is not the answer.........I am still wondering........

Nic du Toit · From: Milnerton, Cape, South Africa

Roual,
It begs the question.....Were you drinking? Laughing

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

I feel good about my playing,I'm playing a lot less crap that doesn't belong in the song.The hardest thing living up here is finding a drummer who doesn't over play and who can lay down a groove without rushing,That should change today an old friend of mine is on the ferry on his way up from Seattle. Winking

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Tommy Spurlock · From: Texas, USA (deceased)

: I think to start slow is a good idea. Maybe just work on a 2 string voicing, get it in tune, and then move on to 3 strings, etc. Tuning is everything. Sometimes, new players try to learn the harder licks before they can do the easier ones correctly.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

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

Bob,I won't argue that point...There was a time in my life I wouldn't have agreed with you but these days I hear ya! Winking

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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.

Jack Francis · From: Queen Creek, Arizona, USA

I purdy well SUCK!!
And if any other steel player heard me they'd agree with that assesment...but since we shouldn't play for the "KUDOS" of our peers but for the entertainment of the "Unwashed Masses" that hire us...I don't do badly at all.

I still hear folks say..."I sure love that steel"!

I played once with a bass player who had a well known "Big Deal" steel player for a friend...that told me that he loved my playing cuz..."You don't know nuthing". He said that his friend played "Amazing, fast riffs that lost the melody of the song" while you just try and play the DAMN melody"! Oh Well

I recall reading an interview with "Gatemouth" Brown...when asked a bout his "Practice regimen" he stated that when he got off of a tour he put his guitar in a closet and didn't take it out until he was leaving for another tour!

But....I still keep trying to improve.
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Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

After 30 years, I'm beginning to understand the E 9 tuning.
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Sidney Malone · From: Buna, TX

I've never been satisfied with my playing. I think it's tolerable most of the time but there's always room for much improvement. My sights are set to high to be satisfied in this lifetime.

If I ever start to think I'm playing pretty good all I have to do is listen to any of the pro's for just 4 bars and that will stop that thinking! Confused

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