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Topic: Master Class with Tom Brumley |
Allen Kentfield
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2012 9:08 am |
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MASTER CLASS with TOM BRUMLEY
What I always use to determine a player is whether he paid attention to everything, every single thing. You're not just playing the line, but you got to phrase it right, you got to this technique, this tone, every string's got to sound. You know, so many guys just pass along, but you can't do that. Your attack on the strings, your use of your foot control, being perfectly in tune with your vibrato, everything. And it's got to be used every time on every note, with or without pedals. Use that vibrato to make every note sound as good as possible.
Vibrato is so important to what you're trying to play. It can say so much about what you're playing. You can overstate it, or you can understate it. I'd rather have it understated than overstated. It's used for phrasing to me. It's not something that's constant. My vibrato doesn't change. You don't want to change the speed of your vibrato. Remember, make your vibrato shorter when you're up high. On fast songs keep the vibrato down to almost non-existent. You don't have time in the first place; and if you try to put it in there it will sound out of place.
There's a combination of things that make you play. One of them is being perfectly in tune, one of them is having your chops together. The tone, being perfectly in tune, the combination of all these things makes you play things you sometimes never knew you could play. And knowledge of the guitar; knowing your positions. And most of all, a feel thing will come on. All that combination of things is what makes you just fair, mediocre, or step up there with the rest of the boys. A combination of all those things. Every little note is important to you, every single note: the tone, the pitch, how you sustain it, everything.
See, you can get too much foot control, or not enough. Or you can get too much vibrato, or not enough. You can let it die on you between those places, you can pick your bar up, you can mute when you shouldn't be muting. There's really no shortcut. Get rid of all your bad habits.
Once you start getting the touch and the tone, you'll start getting turned on and you'll play and then, I tell you what, your wife can't find you. Start getting that touch and that feel and everything, and it's fun. What'll happen when you start doing that, you'll start finding those things and nobody'll even have to show you.
The key to making those things sustain and flow is knowing when to hit the strings, just like knowing when to breathe when you're singing. I mean, the secret to making it smooth is knowing when to hit the strings, and when not to hit the strings, so you can know how long you can go with out you got to hit it again. See, if you hit it at the wrong place, you lose the flow. So that's why you got to learn to hit the string in the right places; to make it sustain to get to where you want it to, and then you won't have to hit it hard. You won't be so low that you got to hit it hard to get it back up to volume. You got to know just when to hit it where the minimum pick effect is noticed. The only thing that stops those strings from ringing is when your picks touch it the next time.
I advocate tuning by ear instead of a strobe, because it trains your ear. It's easy to tune to strobe. I mean you can tune to a strobe, but it's not training your ear. Every guy that comes to me, I make them tune that sucker by ear before we start playing. And they say, 'Well, I got a strobe.' And I say, 'I know you got a strobe, and that's fine, but you're learning to play, and you're going to be learning to play by your ear. Your pitch is going to be by your ear, not by that strobe.' You have to train your ear, 'cause that's what you're playing by.
What I'm trying to do is improve your technique where everything just sounds like you can do it with ease. It's easy to hear you, it's relaxed to hear you. Or you can do driving, whichever one you want to do. See I usually play pretty driving, even though I'm playing smooth.
You got to pick firm. You got to have it under control. You got to have everything under control. I always get a little below the volume before I hit the strings, and then I play. Gradually come up to it. I've never blown a speaker. I just play loud enough, that if they haven't got me, I'm still going to be heard out there. I got to have a certain amount of drive on stage to turn me on. How are you going to sit there beside a drummer if you don't have volume control? You know, bangety- bangety-bang!
Keep those knuckles still. There's no way you can move that hand as fast as those fingers You need left hand control, too. Stop on every fret. As you get to know your positions, just play it a little faster. Now just push it a little bit. Don't go past that, so you can play them all clear. Keep pushing it, 'til you can get a little faster. That comes with knowledge of your positions also, not just your left hand strength. And that's good to know those positions; get every tone that you can in between, too. Put something in there that will make you think a little bit. Don't start off playing faster than you can play. You got to block.
When I was learning how to play, I'd go over a run, like a Jerry Byrd run with a little shake in there and it might take me eight hours. I'd go over that run five hundred times. And my dad, he'd never say anything about how long I played. He'd just say, 'Son, do you think you could play something else for a while?' You don't quit until you got that lick mastered. Not just part of it, but every bit of it.
Don't stop. Do it 'til your fingers get so sore you don't thing you can hit it another time, then do it a few more times. Do it 'til your fingers start aching. Then do it a few more times after they ache. When you think you can't do it any more, do it a few more times. It's going to get easier and easier and easier. You'll find that you can do more and more, longer and longer. And really, you're going to be able to take a line like that on that 'Big Mamou' and you're going to play that whole thing, thirty-two bars. You don't care; one note after the other. And something else; after that, your mind's keyed up to playing that fast.
Make sure, what you know you play well. Keep learning and playing well.
Taken from private lesson tapes 1982/83 |
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Russ Blake
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2012 9:50 am
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There's so much insight in reading a master player's philosophy, especially when written in his own words.
Allen, thanks for taking the time to transcribe and post that. |
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Bud Angelotti
From:
Larryville, NJ, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2012 10:33 am
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| Great wisdom like you have posted cannot be bought at ANY price. Thanks Allen! |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 17 Apr 2012 10:53 am
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Excellent stuff from the mouth of one of the greatest. Thanks for sharing.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Wally Moyers
From:
Lubbock, Texas
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Posted 17 Apr 2012 4:34 pm
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| I got to know him when I lived in Branson, great guy. What a amazing player... I love this insight... |
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Allen Kentfield
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Apr 2012 7:05 am Master Class with Tom Brumley
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Thank you, Tom
R.I.P.
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Paul King
From:
Gainesville, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 5:57 am
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| Ton Brumley, not only a great player but a class act as well. My brother went to Branson one time to a show and Tom was playing steel. After the show my brother walks up to Tom and introduces himself. He tells Tom I am learning to play steel. Toms reply was "So am I". That made a big impact on my brother. Tom was just down to earth and never had aa bit of arrogance in him. |
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 8:46 am
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i sometime wonder if players can understand powerful advice like this - as if these masters are gifted at birth with some "musician gene" and we dont understand the countless hours/years spent behind the scenes doing exactly what Tom is talking about. breaking down EVERY little detail, working it over and over - thats it, the "secret" - read this and post it in your practice room and read it everytime you sit down. once you become aware of this, something amazing happens, it starts showing up in your playing 
Jerry Byrd always said its the music "between" the notes that separates the novice from the master.
i hope there is more of this!
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 9:06 am
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| allen..why did you post the whole long thing twice? i don't get it. did someone say , 'you can say that again'? |
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Allen Kentfield
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 9:41 am Master Class
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Oh yeah there's more. I was going to write a book. But I just wanted to share his thoughts on teqhnique.
I posted it again with corrected typos. If you want to print it, the second post will read easier.
I have reflections from Tom on the Buckaroos, the Stone Canyon Band, C6, plus more teqhnique and tab of knuckle-busting exercises, as well hot Buckaroos songs. Great stuff.
When I was studying with him he let me borrow from his complete collection of Bucakaroos albums. I'd pick out songs, and basically watch as he recreated his original parts. He hadn't played that stuff since the sixties, and some of the album cuts he only did one time, at the original sessions.
One of the greatest blessings or gifts of my life was to know Tom and to know his great musical mind.
Thank you Rolene, for allowing me in your home to learn from a mighty big man.
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Susan Alcorn (deceased)
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 11:29 am
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Thanks, Allen, for sharing this information from a master. I concur with just about all of it except where he says,
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| "Do it 'til your fingers get so sore you don't think you can hit it another time, then do it a few more times. Do it 'til your fingers start aching. Then do it a few more times after they ache. When you think you can't do it any more, do it a few more times." |
When your fingers get sore and start to ache, that's when it's time to work on something else. Maybe get a glass of iced tea, transcribe something or perhaps work on a slow passage. When you play the pedal steel guitar, you have to listen to what you're playing and to the instrument, but you also have to listen to your body which is an equal part of the equation. If your fingers are aching, your body is telling you that something is wrong. Find an easier way (on your hands and fingers) for yourself to play those fast (or slow) runs.
Everyone is different, but things started falling into place with me comfort-wise when I got away from the constant chopping motion of palm blocking and incorporated Paul Franklin's pick blocking technique. My hands still get tired after awhile, but it takes a lot longer for this to happen.
Also, when practicing something difficult, break it up into the smallest sections possible - you might start at the beginning and slowly add notes one or two at a time, or learn it in sections and slowly combine them. Or work slowly on the most difficult sections. A metronome is a good tool, though, in my opinion, it's a good thing not to get addicted to it. Start at a medium speed, then slow it down and gradually add speed. If it's something you're going to play on the bandstand, learn to play it faster than you need to. That way it will be easier when you're in that less predictable environment - noise, speedy drummers, nervousness, etc.
I hope you do write that book. It will be a treasure for the rest of us.
_________________
www.susanalcorn.net
"So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray."
- Mary Oliver |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 19 Apr 2012 12:24 pm
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i still have all the old buckaroos albums that each have a couple solos by tom. i love his tone which is a monument to the era of steel players that were instantly recognizable by their sound and style. what happened? why did everyone develop into a homogenized non-distinct bland blend of 'could be anybodyness'?
my favorite era for tom was with rick nelson...west coast country rock at it's finest. |
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Allen Kentfield
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2012 6:55 am master class
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I definitely believe in taking breaks! When I was first learning, I'd practice for eight hours, though. Still will, if I want to be really hot. Heck, if you're going to be up to a casino gig, they're seven forty-minute sets!
Thanks for your interest.
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2012 8:32 am
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From the perspective of a newbie: I understand what Tom was saying, and certainly it's excellent advice. The problem is having a good teacher, or good reference such as some of the on-line videos - to teach us exactly what is desired.
It makes sense that too much or too little foot control is an issue. Agreed you have to know when to hit the notes, and with what intonation. The challenge to me - and probably many other beginners - is learning how to tell that right from wrong, and learning the standard we should be striving for.
It's fun and I'm enjoying getting my feet wet. But what I need is a grumpy old-timer at my side to yell at me each time I do something wrong without even knowing it. |
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Roger Francis
From:
kokomo,Indiana, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2012 8:42 am
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| Great post Allen, i remember back before i knew about this forum i allways thought i was a slow learner when comes down to playing this instrument, i would play for hours just practicing something i thought should be purdy simple, then when you read something like this and you realize what most pro players went through to get to where they are, even though talent has a big part to do with it as far as the musical part but it takes a lot of practice to get all the mechanics of it down. |
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bruce fischer
From:
florissant, mo. 63031 USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2012 1:34 pm
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the great jeff newman said in one of his clinics; after so long sitting & practiceing; go out and mow the grass.........give your head a break. or something to that effect.
_________________
sho-bud super pro II, blue darlin' VI |
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