| What was your main instrument before you took up steel guitar? |
| Electric lead guitar |
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40% |
[ 81 ] |
| Rhythm or acoustic guitar |
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17% |
[ 35 ] |
| Bass |
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14% |
[ 28 ] |
| Keyboards |
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2% |
[ 4 ] |
| Drums or percussion |
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5% |
[ 11 ] |
| Brass or woodwinds |
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2% |
[ 5 ] |
| Violin, cello, etc. |
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3% |
[ 7 ] |
| Ukulele |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Other (reply to specify) |
|
9% |
[ 18 ] |
| None |
|
4% |
[ 9 ] |
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| Total Votes : 198 |
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| Author |
Topic: What Was Your Main Instrument Before Steel? |
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 8:10 am |
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Most steel guitarists played at least one other instrument before they took up the steel guitar. I suspect that a lot of us were lead guitarists, but I'm not sure. I was a rhythm guitarist - never very good at lead.
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 8:50 am
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I started on guitar both lead and rhythm played bass most of my "professional" life with maybe 1.5 to 2 yrs playing psg and guitar and vocals, both lead and backup 
Last edited by Storm Rosson on 15 Jul 2013 8:52 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 8:51 am
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I played lap steel and then migrated to rhythm and later lead guitar and bass. But, lead guitar was my main instrument. I would try to play pedal steel licks on guitar and finally realized the only way to play pedal steel licks was to have a pedal steel.
I bought a pedal steel, a Fender 2000, in Oct 1969. |
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Larry Rafferty
From:
Ballston Spa, NY
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 9:35 am
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I may be the only one who played as a professional accordionist  for 33 years before I retired. During that period I would also switch off to guitar, piano, organ, or...for my own amusement...banjo  . I even tried the saxophone for a while.
I was 64 years young before I got my first pedal steel  . I took 6 years of weekly lessons on it.
_________________
Mullen D-10 8x5; Sho-Bud Super Pro D10 8x6; PedalMaster 5 Star SD-10 3x5; Dekley D-10 8x4;
Sho-Bud S-10 3x1; Fender Lap/Floor Steel; Peavey Power Slide; Supro Lap Steel; Peavey Nashville 400;
pair of Peavey Vegas 400's; Peavey NV112; Webb 614E with matching extension cabinet; Fender Twin Reverb and 3 cats.
They laughed when I sat down to play, cause' somebody pulled my chair away... |
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Dale Rottacker
From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 9:45 am
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Larry, accordian was my first intstrument too, when I was about 7 or 8...then guitar, taught my younger brother to play bass, though I didn't play myself, and piano, only in the key of C, and then highschool when steel guitar hit me between the eyes, and that and piano are the main things since the mid 70's, and yet somehow, after 45 years of not playing bass, I'm doing a bit of that in church now as well.
_________________
Dale Rottacker, Steelinatuneβ’
https://www.youtube.com/@steelinatune
*2021 MSA Legend, "Jolly Rancher" D10 10x9
*2021 Rittenberry, "The Concord" D10 9x9
*1977 Blue Sho-Bud Pro 3 Custom 8x6
https://msapedalsteels.com
http://rittenberrysteelguitars.com
https://www.telonics.com/index.php
https://www.p2pamps.com
https://www.quilterlabs.com |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 10:45 am
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Buchla 200, then my Serge, shown here in my studio, at the time.
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Tim Greene
From:
Athens Tennessee USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 12:37 pm bOb
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I didnt see banjo as a selection  |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 1:25 pm
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Drums. Then I decided to become a musician instead.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Mike Heugel
From:
Taylor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 2:37 pm
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Bass for me.... Rock bands, metal bands, until retiring from my last band in 2008 : http://www.metalblade.com/battlecross
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"No officer, I don't even own a cat... " |
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David Nugent
From:
Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 3:01 pm
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| Tim...Allow me to be the first to respond (openly admit)to being primarily a banjo player before learning steel guitar. Feel that I am in good company however as both Bill Keith and Winnie Winston were award winning banjo players prior to writing what may be the most studied book written on learning pedal steel. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Mark Simpson
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 3:42 pm
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| I'm a recovering banjo player as well |
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Douglas Schuch
From:
Valencia, Philippines
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 4:25 pm
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OTHER: HARMONICA. Mediocre blues harmonica player, mostly playing when alone at sea on my boat. I did play 6- string guitar as a teen, and remember enough for it to help a little in learning steel.
I know at least one other forum member was a blues harp player too....
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Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental! |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 5:00 pm
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| I know of two very good banjo players that migrated to pedal steel, Bill Keith and Gordon Stone. I'm sure there are quite a few more. |
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Bill L. Wilson
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 6:36 pm First Instrument.
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| Supro Lap Steel in about '52 or '53, Guitar in '59, Pedal Steel in '74. And now that I'm retired, I play every weekend, even though I don't make any money, I'm still having fun, and enjoying life. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 7:31 pm
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| Classical piano growing up, ca. 1960-1967. Guitar from '67 on, all kinds of guitars and styles. Learned the basics of blues harp back then also. Worked on upright bass for a period in college, 70s. Bluegrass banjo starting in early 90s. Pedal steel starting ca.1999. Working on drums recently, want to be able to make my own recordings without using drum machines or software-based drums. People have actually hired me to play drum gigs this last year, I guess they must be desperate. |
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Niels Andrews
From:
Salinas, California, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2013 9:08 pm
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Banjo? People actually admit to playing those? Accordion? Those Are only played in Polka and Mexican Bands. I can't recall the accordion on a major hit? There must have been one somewhere?
_________________
Die with Memories. Not Dreams.
Good Stuff like Zum S-12, Wolfe Resoport
MSA SS-12, Telonics Combo. |
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Howard Steinberg
From:
St. Petersburg, Florida , USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 3:20 am
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Guitar for about 18 years before starting on steel.
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Justice Pro Lite (4-5), Justice D-10 (8-5)x2 , Quilter Steelaire, Hilton Pedal, BJ's bar. |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 3:31 am
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guitar, still is..actually if I had to offer up an "order" for today it would be...
1Guitar
2Bass
3Dobro
4Steel
5
6
7
8
9Mandolin
Which tells you where I fit on the Mandolin thing !
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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David Nugent
From:
Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 3:40 am
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| Niels obviously does not remember Pee Wee King's version of 'Tennessee Waltz' (who I believe is also the writer of the tune, band leader, and ACCORDION PLAYER!) |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 4:45 am
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| Quote: |
| Banjo? People actually admit to playing those? Accordion? Those Are only played in Polka and Mexican Bands. I can't recall the accordion on a major hit? There must have been one somewhere? |
Here we go again. But banjo is much more popular as an instrument than steel - bluegrass is having no serious identity crisis and is much more popular in the mainstream than it was 40 years ago. Accordion is used in lots of styles - of course, polka and Mexican, but also Cajun, Western Swing (just watch the Time Jumpers if you want a great demo on how accordion fits in) and many Americana bands use them. I've played with an accordion for years. |
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Dick Wood
From:
Springtown Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 6:12 am
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I've had some thoughts about Banjo's
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Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 7:16 am
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Maybe I phrased the question wrong. I didn't mean to ask for a history of what instruments people have played. What I meant was:
What was your main instrument when you decided to take up the steel guitar?
I consider accordion to be a keyboard instrument. Because of its acoustic nature, it's very common in today's folk-rock ("Americana") bands.
_________________
-πππ- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 16 Jul 2013 8:28 am
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| Jerry Garcia was a banjo player first... |
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