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Topic: ZZ Top with steel I don't understand this!? |
Tony Palmer
From:
St Augustine,FL
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 6:10 pm |
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I stumbled across this video apparently just uploaded today and I don't know what to make out of it. It's presumably ZZ Top doing Act Naturally with a lap steel player....!
As if that's not crazy enough, it most definitely sounds like a pedal steel..NOT lap steel.
Is this a spoof of some sort?
https://youtu.be/BIDNJKe--Fw
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Sierra S10 (three!), Peavey 112 and 115, Benoit dobro, Beard Model E dobro, Beard Roadophonic, MSA Superslide, Dean Nickless custom dobro |
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Jonathan Lam
From:
Brooklyn, NY
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Mike Kowalik
From:
San Antonio,Texas
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 6:20 pm
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That was in June in Frisco Tx....Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band played at the Toyota Soccer Complex....ZZ Top was the OPENING act....what goes round comes round.
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Cremation is my last shot at having a hot body...... |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 7:35 pm
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| It's Elwood Francis, he's Billy Gibbons' guitar tech. He's no youngster. BTW, the video was from two days ago in Manchester UK (it's in the description). |
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Tony Palmer
From:
St Augustine,FL
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 8:11 pm
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But I don't get how that lap steel is sounding exactly like a pedal steel. ?
_________________
Sierra S10 (three!), Peavey 112 and 115, Benoit dobro, Beard Model E dobro, Beard Roadophonic, MSA Superslide, Dean Nickless custom dobro |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 8:30 pm
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| yep, he's either got some palm pedals (doesn't look like it) or perhaps he's just 'lap-syncing' to a recorded track. No volume pedal either. |
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Dave Meis
From:
Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 8:39 pm
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Wonder what those amps in the back line are?  |
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Bill L. Wilson
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2017 9:13 pm Billy's Amps.
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| I think Billy has been using Magnatone Amps for a few yrs. If Elwood is actually doing the steel part, I'm impressed. I've heard Elwood say, he can't play Billy's guitars with the extra super slinky strings. A .007 1st string is awful thin, but at his age the old hands may be in decline, I know mine are. |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Tommy White
From:
Nashville
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 7:21 am
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| Haha! Love it! Stacks of cardboard box amps with LED lights! Kind of like faux store fronts in old western movies. Obviously, the steel player is prisoner to the band, according to his pants.😂 |
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 7:39 am
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I heard that ZZ Top guys are known to show up at Nashville clubs, and jam with the bands, so if that's a true, then I'm not surprised by this...
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www.steelguitarsonline.com |
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 7:40 am
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| I don't think it's sync at all here's another piece "Webb Pierce" In the Jailhouse now,sound sucks but watch El on the intro, I'm positive he's playing by watching the hand movement...his bio says he's 33 yrs old,touted as the premiere guitar tech around these days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgjLRQDO40A. Tommy there is an article about Billy G and magnatone.. amps so I suggest those are real amp stacks IMO...Stormy...http://equipboard.com/items/magnatone-super-59-amp |
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Tommy White
From:
Nashville
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 7:54 am
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Storm,
No argument from me sir. Obviously your eyes and ears are much better than mine.😊 |
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 8:02 am
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| I seriously doubt that Tommy,I based my op about the sync on watching a few vids and reading a number of articles about Elwood, so obviously I could be, and usually am wrong...Stormy |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 9:02 am
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I saw ZZTop a couple of years ago with some friends and we all came away convinced there was miming going on. Pretty disappointing.  |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 10:51 am
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The clip that Storm posted (In the Jail House) also appears to be "lap-snyced". 
No finger picks, and he misses miming the first few intro licks.
I wouldn't be surprized if he could really play PSG. The hand positions look real. |
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MIchael Bean
From:
North Of Boston
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 11:04 am
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| Billy G played pedal steel on some really early ZZ Top albums; apparently he got pretty good over the years. They've been using backing tracks for horn & keyboard lines since the 1981 Deguello tour. This is no major departure. |
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Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 11:33 am
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The steel part may be the same in different videos, but the performances are unique. He's very consistent from show to show, though.
I don't think it's a sync... but he's got to have palm levers to get that pedal sound. |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 11:53 am
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I think we all know those steel parts did not come from a Lap Steel Guitar, or the cardboard Amps. What I would like to know is how you know its them behind those Roy Orbison glasses and big false beards.
James. |
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scott murray
From:
Asheville, NC
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 12:15 pm
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I'm surprised we're even debating this. those parts are obviously played on a pedal steel, no amount of palm levers can emulate that sound (not to mention there are clearly no levers on his lap steel).
perhaps he played the actual parts on psg and they want to feature him on the show. or maybe they were played by Gibbons and they just want to give their pal a taste of the spotlight.
but I think of most ZZ Top fans as guitar aficionados (Gibbons certainly is), and I'm surprised the band would try to fool their audience like this, or that Gibbons doesn't have a little more respect for the instrument.
but the vocals are also clearly pitch corrected and possibly prerecorded, so I guess this is just the current state of show biz... it is what it is. ZZ Top is not the Texas bar blues band they once were. haven't been for decades
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 12:27 pm
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| So a crowd attract a crowd and everyone has a good time. Are none of the audience true music lovers and did none of them come to see a live performance? What degree of fakery is acceptable? Why not as James above alludes to, just put body doubles on stage for ZZTop and complete the charade and of course still collect all the ticket fees. |
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gary pierce
From:
Rossville TN
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 1:21 pm
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Looks like a milli vanilli job to me.  |
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Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2017 1:41 pm
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| scott murray wrote: |
| ...not to mention there are clearly no levers on his lap steel. |
Yeah, I see that now, at the end of the video when he set it down. I stand corrected: synced.
Also, there are obvious volume swells, but he doesn't have a volume pedal. He could be doing it with his pinkie... if his hands weren't already tied up manipulating the non-existent palm levers. |
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