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Topic: Is PSG an "old guy's" instrument? |
David Milliken
From:
Pickering, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 3:47 pm |
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I have owned a pedal steel since I first fell in love with it in the mid-80s. Alas, I didn't keep at it and my steel was back-burnered for many years. But in the last 8 months, I have re-discovered it and now I am obsessed. Aside from constant practising, I get to play her once a week at a weekly jam in a nearby club. I am taking lessons from one of the greats. I cannot get enough of her. I am also a rock and roll guitar player for all my life but now, at age 68, I find the steel does something to me that my guitar playing cannot. Is it the fact I am sitting down? Is it that I am more about "color" than constant "fill?" There is something about the steel that tugs at my emotions, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, challenges me to re-discover music, and cuts to my soul. Is this an old age thing? I know there are lots of young steelers out there who are doing amazing things. But the raw, unprocessed sound of a pedal steel guitar goes beyond anything I have ever experienced. I feel I have been re-born and that I am 12 years old again and re-living the thrill of learning to play. Am I sentimental in my old age? Is the pedal steel an old guy's instrument? What the hell is going on?
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1976 ShoBud LDG, Peavey Nashville 112, 1994 Fender Custom Shop Jerry Donahue Telecaster |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 4:13 pm
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No - you are just old enough to appreciate it, or better, old enough to be good.
That's how I describe my band. I'm one of the younger ones at age 56. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 4:27 pm
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Old guys instrument?? Why yes, yes it is,,,,
but the chicks dig it..  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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Jim Bob Sedgwick
From:
Clinton, Missouri USA
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 4:37 pm
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It's not an old mans instrument. It's just that by the time you become competent, YOU'RE old!!  |
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Chris Willingham
From:
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 5:31 pm
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I just started 8 months ago and I'm 30. Wish I would have picked it up when I was 20. Too much playing in rock bands in high school and college. Finally found bluegrass which led to classic country and this 10 string addiction.
I play a couple instruments in three bands and have started throwing the steel in. What's nice is how well it fits in, and adds a different sound, to blues, red dirt and even rock. That and a lot of people say "what IS that thing?" and then they end up loving the sound. Well, not my sound, but THE sound. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 5:37 pm
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I think the steel can be loved by all ages-I started lovin' it when I was nine and started playin' when I was eighteen. A friend of mine in Georgia said her three year old son wanted to see one of my steel videos three times-that's amazing that a three year old child can also love the steel.
Brett |
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 11 Mar 2013 6:01 pm
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A friend of mine was putting a band together and having a hard time finding a steel player. He observed to me, "well, if you ever find one that can PLAY the thing, he's got one foot in the grave!"
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LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Norman Boling
From:
Paragould Arkansas, Philadelphia TN USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 1:56 am Well if it is...
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| I'm glad we got here at the same time!! |
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Peter Harris
From:
South Australia, Australia
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 2:54 am
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You're only as old as the steel you feel!!! 
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If my wife is reading this, I don't have much stuff....really! |
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Ned McIntosh
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 3:47 am
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Older men play pedal-steel because they:-
are more prepared to listen to the feeling and emotion of the music and only play when they can contribute;
are free of the pressures of youth and the constant need to prove they are the "best of the best";
are haunted by the beauty and soaring voice of the instrument in a way other guitar-players can only vaguely glimpse;
have a far broader musical background developed over decades of listening (and in many cases, playing);
realise this instrument is every bit as demanding as a wife and family, and at their age in life it is time to indulge themselves in another passion before the hoary old man with the scythe catches up with them;
know that the instrument can be learned by many, can be played by many but can be mastered by a select few only, and only after a lifetime of playing;
know they are servants of the music when they play and ultimately it's all about how the music connects to the listener, or audience...it's not about the player - he is merely the interpreter of the feeling and the story waiting within the music.
These are just some of the reasons old guys play pedal-steel.
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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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Jan Viljoen
From:
Pretoria, South Africa
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 4:51 am Pedal steel playing
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Young guitar playing musicians choose a guitar to express their emotions.
They hug and cuddle them, holding them close to their bodies, fiddling and petting up and down the neck, while they run up and down the stage (wireless connection of course), all sweaty and out of breath, trying to impress the audience.
The older mature man go and sit down at his ultimate musical instrument, having a complete intimate dinner, having a connoisseur's party producing all the notes that the young upstart can produce, using the same effects and playing the same notes and others without much movement, and hardly breaks a sweat. His left hand barely moves, his right hand steady tickling and caressing the strings.
His instrument is just as modern, just as shiny, just as reliable, with the same perfect finish as the other. His nut and bridge look different but he has more strings at his disposal to produce that hypnotic versatile sound.
He has much more finess while enjoying himself just as much as anybody else.
The smirk on his face comes from experience and long years of sacrificial practice, because he knows what life is all about.
It all comes with age.
This is the difference folks!
_________________
Sierra S10, Stage One, Gibson BR4, Framus, Guya 6&8, Hofner lap, Custom mandolins, Keilwerth sax.
Roland Cube 80XL, Peavey112-Valve King and Special, Marshall 100VS. |
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Paul Wade
From:
mundelein,ill
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 5:39 am old man
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| Jim Bob Sedgwick wrote: |
| It's not an old mans instrument. It's just that by the time you become competent, YOU'RE old!! |
jim thats was a killer |
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Ransom Beers
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 5:55 am
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Is PSG an "old guy's" instrument?
If determined by the posters on this forum yes it is,you also have to have an ego as big as Texas. |
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Asa Brosius
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 6:44 am
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| FWIW, the canon of country/jazz steel players idolized on this forum started young and were successful young.just last weekend after a gig a woman asked me why, being a 'young man', i chose pedal steel.many strange assumptions in that question. |
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 9:25 am
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I think it's true the average age here is substantially greater than on the various six string forums.Steelers speak to the heart,six-string rockers speak to the flesh.Put another way,it's a good deal like the visual difference between John Hughey and Prince.  |
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Patrick Thornhill
From:
Austin Texas, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 9:56 am
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I'll be 39 in a month. Do I count as an old guy?
Big rumor here in Austin is that Prince will be playing at a club called La Zona Rosa on Saturday.... |
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Matthew Bradford
From:
California, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 12:06 pm
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Steel takes math and hard work. Not the younger generation's game. Now, if there was an ipad app or steel guitar hero, maybe some younger cats would make some headway.
Also, I'm 30, so most of this is bullshit coming from me. |
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Stan Paxton
From:
1/2 & 1/2 Florida and Tenn, USA (old Missouri boy gone South)
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 1:20 pm
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I took up the PSG when in my "middle age" didn't think of myself as "old" then; I'm 75 now. ...I suppose there are a lot of different factors with different people who play or start learning the steel at older ages. I have loved the steel or variations there-of since I first heard dobro, "biscuit board", lap steel, and the advent of PSG back to when I was 8 or 9 years old listening to the Grand Ole Oprey on the old AB pack battery radio. ...did the 6 string route of old country style for years, but never got up the nerve or money to start into PSG til I got "old". ...
_________________
Mullen Lacquer SD 10, 3 & 5; Mullen Mica S 10 1/2 pad, 3 & 5; BJS Bars; LTD400, Nashville 112, DD-3, RV-3, Hilton VP . -- Gold Tone PBS sq neck; Wechter Scheerhorn sq neck. -- "Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone." -anon.- |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 1:27 pm
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It's an old dude's instrument only if you are a SGF subscriber.
Chatted with several builders at TSGA who told me most of their sales are going to youngsters who are off playing 2013 music.
Not a good thing or a bad thing. Just a thing.
h
_________________
Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L |
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Sandro Rocco
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 2:30 pm
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| <----Young guy playing it! |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Jack Bowman
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 6:49 pm Re: old man
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| Paul Wade wrote: |
| Jim Bob Sedgwick wrote: |
| It's not an old mans instrument. It's just that by the time you become competent, YOU'RE old!! |
jim thats was a killer |
Well said my friend! It's knowing that "less is more" and "older is wiser" that makes a real good steel player. If the singer's lips are moving you are quiet, you'll get "it" first up on the break and then hand it off to the fiddle or lead guitar and just let'er humm a little along a small bit until the singer starts again!
Life is good!, with a PSG, and time to mess wid'it.
_________________
5220 Gretsch
Godin A-6
Godan 5th Ave.
Fender 400 PSG 4+2
buncha amps |
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Abe Levy
From:
California, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2013 7:53 pm
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| I'm 40, been playing for four years or so. I think it's having quite a resurgence. Lots of young people rediscovering it... |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 13 Mar 2013 8:01 am
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Old - young. What does it matter anyway? 
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