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Topic: Tonight, someone called my pedal steel a sitar. |
Marc Jenkins
From:
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 3:22 am |
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Bruce Hilton
From:
Berwick, Maine, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 4:14 am
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Marc, I actually own a sitar, and I can see why someone would be confused. After all, they both... er, well.... have a lotta strings.  
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 6:55 am
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I call mine a combination of a Singer sewing machine and an electric cheese slicer.  |
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Johan Jansen
From:
Europe
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 10:57 am
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welcome to the club  |
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baxter vaughan
From:
Lubbock, Texas 79424
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 1:02 pm
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i have had mine called everything from a piano to an ironing board. never used it for that, but it has served as a coffee table!  |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 2:58 pm
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| "...and tonight we have Slim Lovin' on the Electric Knitting Macine!" |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 4:17 pm
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When I built my first lap steel in 1963, the guys I played with started calling it the Electric Barbed Wire Fence. 
In retrospect, when I play the old tapes I realize what they meant.  |
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Skip Edwards
From:
LA,CA
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 6:35 pm
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My favorite quip about strange steel names:
A few years back Mike Johnstone had broken a string while playing a gig here in LA, and on the next break he stayed up on the stage to change the string.
One of the other guys in the band was at the bar and a patron came up to him and, pointing to Mike - sitting up on the stage at his D10 - said,
"You guys are good, but that guy up there in the wheelchair is really good!"
At least, that's how I remember the story... |
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Terry Winter
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 Aug 2011 8:04 pm
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While playing a couple of weeks ago at a local museum a couple who were traveling through Canada from Switzerland heard the music and came down from the town camp site. They were really interested in my Steel, took pictures and I got from them, their English was very limited, that they never heard of or had seen such an instrument ever. I think the lady asked if it was related to, and she used hand gestures, drums.....I just said yes.
Terry |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 1:45 am
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Michael Johnson (i believe) called it : " Appalachian Tone Bender "
i commonly refer to " my wife's recycled knitting machine "
Last edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 20 Aug 2011 3:40 am; edited 2 times in total |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 1:46 am
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Steve Hitsman
From:
Waterloo, IL
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 3:38 am
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| SIT down guitAR=SITAR, understand? |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 9:16 am
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All Board Zithers are played in the same position, either across the knees or sitting with legs on, which must add further confusion to the audience.
The Board Zither family includes Mountain Dulcimers, Hummels, Zithers, Epionettes, Scheitholdts, etc. Some are even played with tone bars. In fact, one of the main theories is that the lap guitar in Hawaii was derived from the Swedish Hummel. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 9:40 am
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I still think we should call it a TIFKATPSG.
(The Instrument Formerly Known As The Pedal Steel Guitar.)
I've mentioned this several times in the past and nobody else has taken up the cause of making this the official name of our instrument. 
I just don't understand.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 10:03 am
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| Mike Perlowin wrote: |
| I still think we should call it a TIFKATPSG... |
It's a little difficult to pronounce. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 10:21 am
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| Alan Brookes wrote: |
| Mike Perlowin wrote: |
| I still think we should call it a TIFKATPSG... |
It's a little difficult to pronounce. |
I know. It has too many vowels. But what can you do? call it TTFKATPSG? (The THING formerly known... If we do that how will they know it's an instrument and not a chair for them to sit on?
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Roual Ranes
From:
Atlanta, Texas, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 1:11 pm
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| A Sitar. I am going to tell myself that that is what they said when I thought they said "sick guitar". |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 3:38 pm
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Are you sure they didn't say "Sit here"?
One of the instruments that I play is the Cittern. Everybody thinks it's the same instrument as the Sitar. When I pull it out the usual reaction is, "That's not a sitar," to which I respond, "I never said it was..."
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John Turbeville
From:
Carlsbad, ca
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 5:42 pm
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| One of the bands I play with still calls it a lap steel......its a old sho-bud sd-10.......whatever, they know the sound and crave it! |
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Dan Tyack
From:
Olympia, WA USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 6:08 pm
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| Dave Easley had a gig in New Orleans in an Indian restaurant where he played the steel in a way that sounded exactly like a sitar. He plays with a Sitar bridge instead of a steel. It helps to be able to think like a sitar player, which is one of Dave's many talents. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 7:45 pm
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I remember right after I started playin' steel, I was tellin' a girl I went to school with that I play steel guitar, and she looked at the other girl and said "He plays the guitar" and I said "No, not the guitar", the steel guitar. Then one girl told me it was a piano with strings and asked if you play it like a piano, and I told her no. I had to explain to her how playin' steel guitar works and that you use a bar instead of your fingers to fret the strings. On Facebook, a few months back, a lady who used to go to church with me saw a picture of my steel and asked what it was, so I told her it's a steel guitar-she was really amazed! I've had to explain to a lot of people what the steel guitar is and how it works, but I love doin' it.
Brett |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 20 Aug 2011 10:24 pm
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Whenever my chamber music trio performed, as part of the performance, I gave a 30 second lecture and demonstration. All our performances were for people in the classical music community, including many orchestral musicians, who for the most part had never seen a pedal steel guitar before. I also would invite the musicians to sit down and try it after we finished playing, (which some did.)
These people were always very interested and very receptive to the sound of the steel, combined with the viola and cello.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin |
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Colin Goss
From:
St.Brelade, Island of Jersey, Channel Islands, UK
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Posted 21 Aug 2011 1:50 am Knitting machine
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| Our singer has been known to describe it as a knitting machine, and on one occasion I pulled out a sock from behind the fretboard to illustrate the point. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 21 Aug 2011 10:04 am
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On one occasion, after playing Wreck of the Old 97 on Dobro, someone came up to me and said, "I know it hurts the fingers, but if you try it, after some practice you'll find you can play the guitar without that stick thing..."
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