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Topic: "How Many Can Do This, With Eyes Closed" Bishop Ron Hall |
Bishop Ronnie P Hall
From:
Detroit, Michigan, USA
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Posted 28 May 2016 10:23 am |
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Hello my fellow steelers,
I got an e-mail the other day from a fan, I guess it was from a fan, wanting to know,"How do you play steel, with your eyes closed?" I responded by saying I don't know, but then I got to wondering, how many of my fellow steelers do the same thing? So I dug up an oldie, just to demo what he was talking about. Well, how about it guys, and gals? How many of you do the same thing. This is not a poll, just curiosity.
Bishop Ron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On_aDnyZ_mU
_________________
Goldensacredstrings
goldensacredstrings@gmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/goldensacredstrings |
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John Scanlon
From:
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 5 Jun 2016 2:32 pm
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I watched the video with the sound turned down. I'm not so sure that you were playing it with your eyes closed. You just look like you're looking down at the instrument.
I find that, if I play with my eyes closed, I tend to go out-of-tune on the higher notes, I immediately notice that I'm out of tune, and then compensate by sliding into the proper note. It only takes a fraction of a second, but it's noticable, and it must be offputting to anyone listening. I've often heard it said that playing in tune is the most important thing to master when playing steel.
I tend to think that the way the strings are aligned has a lot to do with playing out-of-tune. Our arms are hinged like windshield wipers, and move in an arc, so, in order to keep the bar always at right angles to the strings, we have to continually adjust the angle of the bar with our wrists. Not only that, but if we slide along the fretboard the bar has to be continually adjusted along the length of the slide.
To compensate for this I've been thinking of building a lap steel with a fanned fretboard, where the sounding length of the strings is greatest at the farthest string, i.e. the 1st string, and gradually reduces until the lowest string has the shortest sounding length. To do this means having the bridge and nut at angles to each other, and not parallel.
This would definitely make it much easier to play blindfolded.
Buddy Emmons used to reckon that he rehearsed in the dark. Certainly, in the stage environments in which most professional steel guitarists play, it's often too dark or too bright to see the fingerboard properly.
I've watched many videos of our friend Basil Henriques playing, and he's often smiling at the audience for most of the number, obviously not looking at his fingers, and I've yet to hear him play out-of-tune. I guess it comes with experience.
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Bishop Ronnie P Hall
From:
Detroit, Michigan, USA
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Posted 9 Jun 2016 12:31 pm
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Hi Al  (Brookes)
When I look back at 63 years of musical struggling of playing by ear, and around the Pentecostal church environment, somehow, you manage to hit most of the frets on target, most of the time, with the eyes open or shut. Somehow, a lot of the sacred string players manage the same thing. (And sometimes I keep one eye open, just to make sure I can escape when my congregation start reaching for a brick to throw at me for the sour notes that spring forth.)Just kidding!( I have a lively congregation.)Thanks ole friend.
Ron
_________________
Goldensacredstrings
goldensacredstrings@gmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/goldensacredstrings |
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