| Author |
Topic: Country Bands W/ Steel & No lead guitar |
autry andress
From:
Plano, Tx.
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:11 am |
|
Heys guys how many are in country Bands playing Steel without a lead guitar player?????
Thanks in advance for your reply. |
|
|
 |
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:21 am
|
|
no fun for me. i like having someone to work off of.
so i try to avoid that situation. |
|
|
|
Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:24 am
|
|
| Very common in Texas...I guess due in part to not much guitar on Price records,except for the gut string in the 60s... |
|
|
|
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:42 am
|
|
I want a guitarist there.. Doesn't need to be a "lead" player but there needs to be a guitarist, or the bottom drops out.....bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
|
|
|
Bill Moore
From:
Manchester, Michigan
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:42 am
|
|
| I do some gigs with a 4 pc. band; drums, keyboard, rhythm guitar and me on steel. These are the most enjoyable gigs I have, reasonable volume levels, no loud guitar in my ear. Good drummer that doesn't get super loud. The keyboard player is very good and doesn't try to dominate everything, the other three all sing. The other band has a loud "Lead" guitarist, and he likes to show off. Very irritating at times. I keep the earplugs handy. |
|
|
|
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 9:54 am As for my personal tastes..............
|
|
In all of my early musical career, there was always a lead guitarist and I was fortunate that each was a highly qualified, tasteful musician.
In several instances we'd would work out more than a dozen songs with some two guitar harmony therein. It took only minimal time and NO tabs.
One younger man, about twenty at the time, named Mike Quanstrom from up in the Kelso, WA area, was one of the finest I've ever had the pleasure to work with. One night while our band leader and two other members were working their arrangement of IDA RED, Mike and I put together seven Speedy West arrangments note for note to the record. He's the only fellow I've every met that could play Jimmy Bryants' stuff nearly as good as Jimmy.
The bandleader refused to let us play them as they
"were too technical". How 'bout that.
Unfortunately Mike went the way of booze and drugs and died prematurely.
My extended stay in the television band here in Portland was most frustrating because I could only harmonize with a violin and accordion. Great musicians but uninspiring for most of our playing. |
|
|
|
Carl Kilmer
From:
East Central, Illinois
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 11:13 am
|
|
My band is only a 3 piece. Just me on steel, a girl that sings
and plays rhythm guitar and a bass player that plays too loud.
_________________
aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 11:21 am
|
|
| It's not a competition. If the lead guitarist, the steel guitarist, the fiddle player, the mandolin player, all play solos at the same time you end up with complete anarchy, so they step back and play solos one at a time. That being said, the existence or non-existence of a lead guitarist just limits how much exposure the steel guitarist is going to get. Very few lead guitarists are close enough to the steel guitarist to play a complementary harmony. |
|
|
|
Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 11:26 am
|
|
One of the bands I play with, Abby Jenne and the Enablers, is acoustic guitar, fiddle, bass, pedal steel and drums.
We're not strictly country.
It's definitely a different sound. |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 11:34 am
|
|
| I used to work in several bands in Kansas City that only had steel for the lead instrument. |
|
|
|
Darrell Birtcher
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 12:36 pm
|
|
| Three Wheel Drive comes to mind. |
|
|
|
Justin Emmert
From:
Greensboro, NC
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 12:46 pm
|
|
| Carl Kilmer wrote: |
| a bass player that plays too loud. |
There's absolutely no such thing!!  (yeah, bass is my primary instrument du jour) |
|
|
|
John De Maille
From:
On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 1:23 pm
|
|
| I'm working part time, in a band where I'm the only lead player. Theres a guy that sings, but, he only plays rhythm guitar. It can get tedious through a nights work. BTW- The bass player does play too loud and mostly does not know where he is. It's aggravating, but, it gets me out playing again. |
|
|
|
Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 1:35 pm
|
|
Most times these days, I am both the steel player and the lead guitar player. Cuts down the friction significantly - not much danger the lead guitar and steel will be stepping on each other.  |
|
|
|
Danny Letz
From:
Old Glory,Texas, USA 79540
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 3:51 pm
|
|
| Autry, this year at Dallas I am going to write down the names of those people down here that you or your wife are kin to so I can figure out who they are. I work with a pretty aggressive lead guitar player, but he appreciates so much that I don't play over him that we work pretty good together. All it takes is for him to play every once in a while with a steel player that plays all the time to make him appreciate it. |
|
|
|
James Sission
From:
Sugar Land,Texas USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 4:18 pm
|
|
| What I have noticed is if the band has a steel and no lead guitar, the steel player doubles. That is what I usually do. But as Steve Hinson pointed out, its not at all unusual to see a steel and no lead player here in Texas. I would add that if there is no lead guitar, there is typically a fiddle or keyboard, but not always. |
|
|
|
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 5:08 pm The reason for certain rules................
|
|
How many of you fellows that play steel and double on fiddle or lead guitar or whatever.....
actually charge for that talent.........?
The Musicians Union if my memory is accurate, had a rule for that role. It made that special musical talent worth more in remuneration.
Was it wise to ignore a once prominent rule that was made for a very good and legitimate reason?
I've always felt that some of us that want so very much to play music are actually shooting ourselves in the foot for the "I'll play for nothing attitude". |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 24 Jan 2014 6:16 pm Re: The reason for certain rules................
|
|
| Ray Montee wrote: |
| ...The Musicians Union ... had a rule for that role ... that special musical talent is worth more in remuneration... |
Let's hope that it doesn't work the other way round, that a lack of musical talent is worth less in remuneration.  
Some of us would never get paid. |
|
|
|
Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 1:56 am
|
|
it's a great workout... different but still good...you have to figure out how to fill the holes without filling all the holes ! 
_________________
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 |
|
|
|
Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 8:58 am
|
|
| To me, as a listener, when there is only one lead instrument doing all the intros, all the turnarounds, all the leads, and all the fills, the music starts to get pretty boring. |
|
|
|
John De Maille
From:
On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 12:55 pm
|
|
| Tony Prior wrote: |
| it's a great workout... different but still good...you have to figure out how to fill the holes without filling all the holes ! |
Good one Tony! It's so true
I usually run out of licks by the 3rd set anyway. But, nobody cares. |
|
|
|
Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 2:38 pm
|
|
| When I worked in Printer's Alley in the late'70s I played guitar and steel...both guys I played with played real strong rhythm guitar and so I played all the intros,solos,and fills...steel on the country songs,guitar on the rock and pop songs...I learned a lot in a short period of time...but it sure was fun! |
|
|
|
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 3:32 pm John...........about your comment
|
|
If your group plays say, ten three minute songs in a half hour, that's twenty per hour; or, 80 per four hour gig.
I dont' know of anyone that could remember 'that many' "licks" and where to play them.
Why not just follow the melody of the song. This can give you dozens of fills without having to memorize anything or repeat anything.
Just a tho't and a method I use with no difficulty. |
|
|
|
Roual Ranes
From:
Atlanta, Texas, USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 5:46 pm
|
|
| Been there done that but early rock and roll craves a guitar and it you are a party band you need to do that stuff. |
|
|
|
Douglas Schuch
From:
Valencia, Philippines
|
Posted 25 Jan 2014 8:00 pm
|
|
Speaking as a listener (not yet playing with bands), I dislike it when the two leads are a steel and a tele-picker who does lots of imitation steel licks - Too similar in tone, pitch, and style. I prefer it when it is an acoustic guitarist, or the guitar player gets a sound and style that is not so steel-like. Or, if there are enough other instruments taking breaks to vary the sound.
_________________
Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental! |
|
|
|
