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Topic: Secrets of the Masters |
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 22 Jun 2001 12:47 pm |
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| Check out this post in Bar Chatter - there's good info from non-pedal players within. |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 23 Jun 2001 9:01 am
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Hi Andy...
Very interesting reading and a lot of useful tips. Thanks for putting it all together. This is something every steel guitarist should read and digest. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 23 Jun 2001 9:59 am
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Andy and George,
You are very correct. I will have to say this about reading the post in depth; what these greats tell us works and works excellently............... for THEM! And that is a very important THEM.
NOT to take anything away from them. One has do do what works for them. And this goes for everything a person does. I will give you an example:
Buddy Emmons has perfected a "crossing over" picking style he uses for speed picking. It is an incredible thing he does. It not only sounds great, it is indeed pleasant to watch. To watch him and hear those fantastic and beautiful staccato notes is just mind boggling. And he seems to do it soooo effortlessly.
There is a problem with it. I simply can NOT do it. I CAN do it walking up the strings, but when trying to come down the strings I simply can NOT do it. I have tried for over 40 yrs to do it and my finger pick will catch most of the time on wrong strings!! NO matter how I try I have this anamoly.
The same thing happens once I added a string above my E string as the former 1st string. For years E was the top string and I could do a rolling 3 finger picking style on strings 1, 2 and 3. However once I put that needed string on top of the E such as when we first added the high G#, (no chromatics at that time), I have NEVER been able to do that roll since. EVER!
I have tried to the point of exhaustion. MY brain and fingers are sooo programmed that NOTHING will help me. I simply can NOT do it.
My point is this. Individual's styles and techniques are wonderful to hear and see and great to try an emulate. As long as one remembers that a given style just may NOT work for everyone.
This was never more driven home than a converstion the other day with my dear friend Bruce Zumsteg (Zum Steels). I was complimenting him on his incredible tone after walking into the ISGC one Thursday morning. He was sitting at one of his steels playing the most beautiful renditions as a small crowd of people stood by in awe.
Bruce thanked me for the compliment and then said this, "I am am not a speed picker. I tried and tried. I simply cannot do it. So I put all my efforts towards making the slow stuff sound better".
Words of wisdom from a very fine steel guitar player. Words worth heeding.
God bless you all in your quests,
carl |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 23 Jun 2001 11:59 am
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| Well, Carl, I didn't post these musings as "gospel"; simply thoughts and ideas about playing music that people may or may not find enlightening. You may never be a cross-over picker. I'm one of the few steel players I've ever met who doesn't like or use a volume pedal. That's okay. Maybe somebody will read one of these snippets and have the ol' light bulb go off above their head. |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 23 Jun 2001 8:41 pm
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| I guess that's the beauty of the steel guitar over most any other instrument. I'm sure if you sat 10 steel guitarists down to the same guitar and amp, one after the other, you'd hear ten different guitars from the same instrument. Each of us has his/her own "tricks", (or whatever), and though speed is probably quite desireable, there will come a time when one may not be physically capable of playing fast passages. This could well be the time when the notes which are NOT played might give one's music the beauty when speed is lacking. I'd rather hear fewer notes played with feeling than to hear a 'million' meaningless notes. Just MHO |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 24 Jun 2001 3:47 am
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You nailed it right on the head, George. Sometimes true artistry is in what's NOT played rather than playing a million meaningless notes.
"Notes are clever ways of geting from one silence to another.", Mick Goodrick, The Advancing Guitarist, Hal Leonard Books.
On the other hand, when Buddy Emmons, Joaquin Murphy, Charlie Parker, Tal Farlow, etc. play a lot of notes those notes HAVE meaning. You do what you can do in music and in life.[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 24 June 2001 at 04:51 AM.] |
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