What Scared You The Most?

Todd Goad · From: Gray, Georgia, USA

There are many obstacles to master in order to be proficient with the PSG. I was just curious what scared you the most when you first decided to try and learn this fine instrument, "The Pedal Steel Guitar", and what you may have done in order to get over the hump?
_________________
Todd
Mullen G2 "THE SAVIOR" BJS Bars Peterson Stroboflip Tuner NV400 GoodrichL20

Scott Duckworth · From: Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies

Todd, my first foray into this instrument was 35 years ago. I didn't keep it long, because learning material was scant, and I was really bad at it.

Ahead 35 years... I lost the feeling in my left ring and pinky fingers after playing guitar and bass for all that time. So, I thought "Why not steel?". And low and behold, I've been at it over two years now and loving it. What made the difference? We'll for one thing, this forum. I have learned much here. I have also found many links to FREE learning materials out there in the Internet.

Thanks to B0b, and the many steel players who author great works of instruction and make them free to use.

I probably still can't play that great, but at least it's not BAD! (At least my wife says it tolerable... Very Happy

)

What scared me? The first time I played a "public" gig... and another guitar player talked to me about how much he liked steel and asked me to play on his set. It was of all things CHRISTMAS MUSIC! And he did the thing that scared me the most of all. Mid song, he turned and said "TAKE IT AWAY STEEL PLAYER!"... GULP! Shocked

_________________
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it

I may, in fact, be nuts. However, I am screwed onto the right bolt... Jesus!

Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

Scott Duckworth · From: Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies

Exactly Don, but I let the good ol' Nashville Number System take over and faked my way through it!

Must have been pretty good, the event organizer, who had been a former country singer, said I sounded like a pro. I told her "Boy, do I have you fooled!".

It was a lot of fun anyway, and a great way to spend Christmas afternoon.
_________________
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it

I may, in fact, be nuts. However, I am screwed onto the right bolt... Jesus!

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

I guess my only fear was that the bar wouldn't always do what I wanted it to do, like stay straight in my left hand-and when I started, I used a Dunlop tone bar and it was a good bar, but it slid around in my left hand. Because of the cerebral palsy in my left hand, I had to try different bars-the Dunlop fell out of my left hand once or twice, but I got over that little fear. When I got my current bar at the ISGC in 2003, my biggest fear was that it wouldn't work on a doubleneck steel. At the time I got my GFI, I tried out an Emmons LeGrande first before the GFI, then realized my left hand couldn't reach the E9th neck on the Emmons. It worked on the GFI, however, because the necks were kinda close, with the neck selector on the side of the steel. I kinda had doubts about pads before I got my current steel, the Blackjack Custom I play now, but I realized I can handle a pad on a steel and it's comfortable for me

Geoff Noble · From: Scotland

I think it was when I first got a pedal steel sat down looked at it and thought - what on earth do I do now, I know it's got a great sound so how come it sounds like a cat being strangled when I play it Laughing

I'm fairly proficient on other instruments and have a decent knowledge of music theory, so it was humbling to have to more or less go back to being a total beginner plus there are so many aspects to get your head, (hands, feet & knees), around!

So I guess my biggest fear was that I would never be able to play the instrument, however after a few years of practice I think I'm beginning to get there and it's been worth all the hard hours Very Happy

_________________
"Nothing can ever be wrong about music" - D Allman

"There is no bad music, only music you don't like" - Me

YTube- http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFqsA-Ahlgr2Z2sw71WJHGg/videos

SCloud - https://soundcloud.com/just-jef/tracks

Daniel Policarpo · Posted 24 Jun 2015 1:57 am

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

I was afraid I wpuld not be able to learn to block/mute.. A really mediocre pedal steel "teacher" gave me one lesson, and showed me a pretty cool way to palm mute, and I practiced it relentlessly.. Within a few months I was playing steel for a living in good bands on the huge NJ 70's club circuit.. Yes he was not a very good player, even by 70's standards, but he DID show me an easy to understand blocking style, and I am forever thankful to him whoever he was and wherever he is.. I still use his method with my own new steel students that cannot block.. You can learn something from almost any steel player IMHO... bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Jamie Mitchell · From: Nashville, TN

tuning a string up to G#.
I wear a welding mask when I do that Shocked

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

A fine question, and my answer is in the same realm as several you've had so far.

I was fortunate enough to start playing in a working band literally the same day I got my first steel. The difficult part was of course I sounded like it! Bt the time I had been playing for 6 or 8 months I had a fairly good grip on the basics, and could hold my own in most song situations, but I knew what the great steel players sounded like, and I wasn't there. As Daniel expressed it, I felt I was doing the instrument a disservice, and I got to the point at one gig where I felt if I couldn't play better and with more taste and control, I might as well give up and find something else to do.

Luckily, my Muse interfered, and I heard something on the radio that really moved me emotionally, and I thought if there was just one chance that I could touch or move someone with my playing in the future, that I couldn't give up. I've never looked back, and very glad I didn't quit on myself.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com

Scott Duckworth · From: Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies

Fred Justice · From: Mesa, Arizona

My Teacher, she had already killed two men and lamed one more for looking at their right hand while playing.
scared me enough to teach myself. Very Happy

_________________
Email: azpedalman@gmail.com
Phone: 480-235-8797

Martin Weenick · From: Lecanto, FL, USA

Why Fred, where did you run into my ex at ???????.
_________________
Several custom steels. NV-112 Boss DD-7

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

The first thing that scared me was the price! $1,200 for a brand new D-10 Bud in '72. An awful lot of money!
Second thing was, after setting it up; "WTH is with these first two strings?"
Third thing was first gig. I had just left a Zappa-style band, and knew one Country song, Orange Blossom Spatial. 3 lessons and I got a gig with a "Request" band. Singers had 400+ songs on 3X5 cards, and I didn't know any of them!
"Sugar Daddy in A, Kick it off JB" Terror!
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

Finger picks gave me a very hard time. I asked my teacher if I could possibly play with just a guitar pick and he said yes but it would limit me in many ways.

I put'em on and got used to them in a short time.

Since I was already a guitar player it was more a matter of mechanics of what the pedals and levers all did.
_________________
Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night.

Rick Collins · From: Claremont , CA USA

Yes, Mr. John Billings.
'Sticker Shock'
I had to borrow the money from my father.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

The one time I was truly frightened was at the 1981 NAMM show, when I had only been playing about a year. I was fooling around with a Sho-Bud in the Gretsch booth, and I looked up and saw Jay Dee Maness standing 2 feet away, watching me.

He was smiling, approvingly, but I almost soiled myself anyway.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

My band opened for Loretta. Papa John was playing for her. Very nervous gig for me! But John put me at ease when I met him.
_________________
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

- What scared you the most when you started on this fine instrument?

Ans: I had spent a lot of hard-earned money for it, there were no teachers, and no other players around the area that I knew of. This was in the days of LP records and "the internet" was not even a glimmer of an idea. It was do-or-die.

- What [did] you do to get over the hump?

Ans: I practiced and practiced and practiced, enough to use it in the band I was playing in at the time. Back then, if you played steel you were ALWAYS working. That soon became the case.

Todd Goad · From: Gray, Georgia, USA

These are all great stories and appreciated. I have to agree with the cost being the 1st scare for me. Paying for my first steel, a Mullen D10 G2, and not having any musical background really to speak of, I had to wonder what I would do if I can't learn this thing after spending so much money. Second, came the muting/blocking of the strings. Third, being afraid to ask for lessons and maybe not catching on as fast as other students the teacher may have taught in the past and being the laughing stock of all you people here on the Forum. Not trying to make myself out to be a dummy, but sometimes I am the type of person depending on what it is I am trying to learn, I may pick it up faster than maybe something like the steel, which I have no background. I Have been wanting to call Mark Van Allen or Tommy Dodd, which are the only two that I know of who gives lessons here in Georgia, but to be honest I feel a little intimidated.

Have any of you felt like this?
_________________
Todd
Mullen G2 "THE SAVIOR" BJS Bars Peterson Stroboflip Tuner NV400 GoodrichL20

Rich Upright · From: Florida, USA

I started playing PSG in '86. Actually got my first steel, a Maverick a couple years earlier. It had no strings or rods, I fashioned rods out of coat hangers, but when I went to put the strings on & noticed the 3rd (G#) was higher than the first 2, I thought "AW MAN; they put the wrong strings in the pack" & the steel just sat there for a couple years. I got my first GOOD steel in '86 (GES D-10 & whaddaya know; the 3rd string is SUPPOSED to be higher than the first 2!) & took it onstage after about 6 months of practice.

The thing that freaked me out the most back then was having to play if there was another steeler in the house that night. I would usually get out of playing in front of him by inviting him up to sit in, & letting him just stay there.
_________________
A couple D-10s,some vintage guitars & amps, & lotsa junk in the gig bag.

Rich Upright · From: Florida, USA

" Back then, if you played steel you were ALWAYS working"

Yea...WHAT HAPPENED??!
_________________
A couple D-10s,some vintage guitars & amps, & lotsa junk in the gig bag.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Hey, Todd, I'll just jump in to say, please don't hesitate to call either Tommy or I, or both of us! We both love to teach, help people get started or further along. You'll find lessons to be fun and inspiring, and hopefully helpful!
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Each hurdle is difficult. ..first gig is very important to get behind a person.

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

I was never really scared, when, I first started. Being able to make some kind of audible sound got you hired in any band back in the 70's. And, I played more than my fair share of places in the beginning. But, what really gave me apprehension was when my right thumb had a mishap with a table saw. It wasn't pretty and I thought my pedal steel days were over. I lost 3/8" in length and a whole lot of width. I went to therapy and practiced and practiced with a small thumb pick until I felt comfortable with my prowess. When I went back to playing out my confidence was there, so, that was the only episode of fright. Anxiety is another thing. Every steel show I play makes me anxious.

Forum Index > Pedal Steel	Goto page 1, 2 Next	Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic