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Topic: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar? |
S.M. Johnson
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 30 May 2011 10:50 am |
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As a non-player, over time, I've noticed that players have many different approaches to 'bonding' with their instrument.
Some appear to grasp the instrument immediately with complete authority.......... as if putting on a pair of shiney new shoes, while others appear to do so with great trepedation, as if preparing to dismantle an unexploded roadside bomb.
What's YOUR approach? How soon can a player expect to gain a take charge stance with his/her guitar? |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 30 May 2011 11:45 am
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i always approach mine from the backside.
i thought i was great after 3 years. after 10 years i thought i sucked. |
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Joe Rogers
From:
Lake Charles, LA USA
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Posted 30 May 2011 1:41 pm Re: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?
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| S.M. Johnson wrote: |
| What's YOUR approach? How soon can a player expect to gain a take charge stance with his/her guitar? |
Pedal steel was the very first instrument I ever played that required me to use finger picks. They were so foreign to me when I first put them on that I didn't know if they would ever feel comfortable. So based on my experience I can say with confidence that a newbie player cannot expect to have a "take charge" stance on his/her guitar until getting past the hurdle of having the picks on the fingers.
Once the picks become second nature, the next step is learning a lick.....any lick....until THAT lick becomes second nature. Whether it requires playing THAT lick 5 times or 5000 times, it doesn't matter. The moment you can execute THAT lick without thinking about "what string do I pick.....what floor pedal do I press...." that is the moment that you can take charge....because now there are no barriers to correct execution.
Joe Rogers |
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Roual Ranes
From:
Atlanta, Texas, USA
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Posted 30 May 2011 7:22 pm
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| What chris said! |
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Ernest Cawby
From:
Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 31 May 2011 4:06 am hi
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The same way it takes to get to the big hall.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
i KNOW THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU ment but it works
ernie |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 31 May 2011 4:13 am
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what Joe says
my approach consists of both, work & fun
in other words, i apply myself to practicing scales, chord grips & certain tunes or parts
i then apply myslef, to just havin' fun w: this contraption
when i get a bit fed up w: either one, i always return to the other |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 31 May 2011 4:41 am Re: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?
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| S.M. Johnson wrote: |
| What's YOUR approach? |
No holding back. One can always get a new PSG or parts if it breaks ... I have bent and broken a few levers and pedal-couplings over the years.
| S.M. Johnson wrote: |
| How soon can a player expect to gain a take charge stance with his/her guitar? |
When he or she just play first, and afterwards wonder "how did I do that" and "can I do that again?" 
I always wonder "what happened", but I think that's OK as long as what others get to hear doesn't sounds too bad  |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 31 May 2011 5:52 am
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I started out trying to learn "my way." After failing, I decided to take a more traditional approach--I joined a band that played a specific kind of music that forced me to learn a traditional style. Left that band and did the same thing again with another band, another style. After spending a good amount of time learning how to play in a more traditional sense, I'm now well-equipped to play whatever I want to play, my own way. I don't want to continue to focus on traditional styles, but they've informed me on how to play steel guitar.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 31 May 2011 6:18 am
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I actually started lovin' the steel guitar when I was nine years old, and for years, because of cerebral palsy in my left hand, I was tryin' my best to figure out what instrument to play-couldn't handle a standard guitar because of cerebral palsy, then I played keyboards for about five years, but it didn't give me the sound I wanted-the country sound, so I thought about how great it would be if I could play the instrument I started lovin' when I was nine years old, the pedal steel guitar. Started playin' steel eleven years ago on Christmas Day, and I love it! It gets even more wonderful every time I sit down at my steel.
Brett |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 31 May 2011 11:52 am
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Wing it! My instructor got me a gig after 3 lessons. Trio. Bass, babe playin' rhythm guitar, a boopa-chicka drum machine, and me. I guess that's still a Trio? A "Request Band." A thousand songs on 3X5 cards, and I didn't know any of them. I had just come from playing lead guitar in a Zappa-style band. I realized the first night that I was going to have to learn everything the my steel could do, and get that info synched into my brain, cuz there was no way I was gonna learn all those songs!
I never play anything the same way twice. If I had to, I'd get extremely bored. I'll never forget the terror of the first gig, and first song. The leader turned to me and said, '"Sugar Daddy" in A, JB. Kick it off!' YIKES! |
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Elton Smith
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 31 May 2011 12:15 pm
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Steel guitar has been a life long love for me.I been playing for 50 yrs.Since I was 7 years old.Back in the day we couldn't afford a steel guitar so I learned all those steel licks on a 6 string.I now own 3 steel guitars and every time I sit down to play it The same old love comes back.I can put all my emotions in that one instrument.I think steel guitar players do that.I also think the people that listen to us can see that also.Steel guitar is not DEAD!
_________________
Gibson Les Paul
Reverend Avenger
Paul Reed Smith
Fender Telecaster
MSA S10 Classic
ShoBud
Old Peavy Amps |
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Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
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Posted 31 May 2011 12:17 pm Re: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?
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| S.M. Johnson wrote: |
| What's YOUR approach? |
Lackadaisical  Since steel is a secondary instrument to me, I don't approach it with much rigor. I've got fairly modest goals and I'm in no big hurry to get where I'm going, so it took a long time to get to where I am now -- which is on the cusp of being a decent swing player.
_________________
Primitive Utility Steel |
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Justin Jacobson
From:
Rochester, MN
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Posted 31 May 2011 12:19 pm
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My approach has always been effects first, everything else second. I come from a more ambient and slow indie type back ground so I am alway looking at how the instrument will interact with the effects I am using to get sound I want. If I want a super reverbed sound that is heavily modulated I'm going to turn on 4 reverbs at maximum verb and a couple flangers, maybe a phaser and a chorus as well, then see how the guitar reacts to that and adjust my playing from there.
I let the sound I'm looking for guide my playing.The texture of the sound is more important to me than the technique I am using to achieve it. While I am doing what I can to learn some tried and true techniques from the songs the great country and jazz guys played, my heart wants to use this great instrument to create soundscapes and textures that bring a new depth to the songs I am working on. |
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Les Anderson
From:
The Great White North
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Posted 31 May 2011 12:43 pm
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I learned to play several different instrument before I finally bought my first steel guitar. I played in professional bands on stand up bass & electric bass, chromatic harmonicas, acoustic and electric guitars. I sort of learned to play a piano and a fiddle ( I never enjoyed that squawking, raspy sound I got out of that thing so I gave up after one year) . Strangely, when I first bought a so called cheapy Japanese steel guitar however, I became fixated with it by how many different genres of music I could get that thing to fit into.
I suppose it was because I played so many different instruments long before I tried the steel guitar, I already had a musical thing in my brain that allowed me to put all that knowledge into learning the steel guitar. As Ernest Cawby posted above, practice, practice then more practice,
In truth, I never did find it as complicated as many posters on this forum claim it to be. Maybe I just don’t push to get that outside of the envelope sound. |
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John De Maille
From:
On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.
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Posted 31 May 2011 2:39 pm
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| My approach to playing steel guitar is to entertain myself, first. You know... Sit down, put the picks on, grab the bar and start creating sounds (music) that's pleasing to me. That's what got me interested in this damn thing to begin with, making sounds that please me. If I heard a phrase played by somebody else, that, I like, I figure it out and learn it so I can use it when I play. Aside from the original innovators of this instrument, we've all copied THEIR licks (phrases) because the sound attracts us like a magnet. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but, my approach has landed me many, many jobs for well over 20 years. There's tons of info on the mechanics and correct way to play the steel, just master the basics and enjoy yourself, the rest should come naturaly with time and knowledge. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 31 May 2011 7:55 pm
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I put a nice pad under and around the vocals, never overplay, never play too loud,rip when its my time, and always keep in mind I wouldn't be there if it weren't for the money... Bad attitude mixed with good,but thats what has worked for me for 34 or so years... Moderate talent= moderate expectation....bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Ray McCarthy
From:
New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 2:31 am
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I had always loved "that sound" since I was a kid, but never knew what the heck it was that made "that sound". I was pushin' 50 the first time I actually saw a psg up close--a lady cop I knew had one she was thinking of selling. She got it out of the closet so I could see it. It was an MSA student model with fake wood grain, and just looking at it sent a chill down my spine. Here, right in front of me, was the mysterious thing that made "that sound" 
She gave a couple of finger picks and I started to put them on up side down, ETC, ETC.
Long story short--now, many years later, I still get a little of that chill when I'm about to sit down at my beautiful deep blue Derby  |
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Ned McIntosh
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 3:52 am
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1. Play as little as possible, as tastefully as you can.
2. Listen to the music; it has an emotional connection to the audience. Help the song make that connection.
3. When the singer gets up on stage, he or she owns the stage and they own the song. Help them to sound good.
4. If you can't think of anything to play, lay out for as many bars as it takes until you can do something that has meaning. Don't be too busy.
5. Your amplifier Gain-Knob controls volume, your volume-pedal controls "expression".
6. Be a good and true servant of the music.
7. Always keep a small thimble either on your steel or in your pack-a-seat or gear-bag. It'll be handy for carrying your ego home after a gig!
8. Accept that when you play, you sound like you; not Lloyd Green, not Hughey, not Rugg, not Franklin...you'll only ever sound like you, so learn to like the way you sound when you play well.
9. You will never be famous. The best you can hope for is to be useful.
_________________
The steel guitar is a hard mistress. She will obsess you, bemuse and bewitch you. She will dash your hopes on what seems to be whim, only to tease you into renewing the relationship once more so she can do it to you all over again...and yet, if you somehow manage to touch her in that certain magic way, she will yield up a sound which has so much soul, raw emotion and heartfelt depth to it that she will pierce you to the very core of your being. |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 7:33 am
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What Ned said... verbatim.
Excellent post, Ned.
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Scott Henderson
From:
Camdenton, Missouri, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 10:21 am
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What Herb said about what Ned said...Possibly the best and insightful post I have ever seen on this here forum....
_________________
D-10 JCH Dekley U-12 D-8 Magnatone Mullen RP Evans RE 200 profex 2 BJS bars
Dentyne gum (peppermint) |
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Tore Blestrud
From:
Oslo, Norway
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 12:41 pm
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Ned said it all, great reply.
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Emmons D-10 P/P 78", Franklin D-10, Zum Encore. Sho-Bud LDG |
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Peter Nylund
From:
Finland
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Posted 1 Jun 2011 11:23 pm
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Ned's post sure is spot on. About my approach, after 35 years of playing I haven't got a clue what it is all about, but I having fun doing it.
Peter
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I know my playing is a bit pitchy, but at least my tone sucks |
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Don Sowersby
From:
New Braunfels, TX
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Posted 2 Jun 2011 5:47 am
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| Ned Said It......... |
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2011 9:57 am
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I've been a musician for 46 years, but I'm a brand-new arrival to the world of steel (non-pedal). My approach so far is to try as hard as I can to pay attention to the basics: touch, intonation, sound, bar control. I'm not letting myself use a volume pedal when I practice so I can't get into the habit of hiding errors in bar placement, grips, etc. It's a brutal process, but I've always loved the sound of steel and I'm determined to prevail.
I'm also a new arrival to the SGF. Happy to be here. Thanks for all the great info you folks have already shared - it helps a lot! |
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Mike Ester
From:
New Braunfels, Texas, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2011 12:54 pm
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| Ned McIntosh wrote: |
| 9. You will never be famous. The best you can hope for is to be useful. |
There is much truth in this statement.
_________________
U.S.A.F. 1978-1982
2005 Carter S12U 7x5
1978 Sho-Bud Pro II Custom 8x4
If you can't be a good example, be a horrible warning. |
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