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Topic: How Do You Angle Your Guitar On Stage? |
Chris Bauer
From:
Nashville, TN USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 7:51 am |
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I've always been surprised by how many steel players set up facing the audience straight on. I've always preferred setting up at an angle, facing towards the center of the stage at least a little, so that I can maintain better visual contact with the rest of the band.
Is there an advantage to setting up facing straight ahead that I've never considered? |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 8:07 am
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No reason except for symmetry that I know of. It just seems to be the best look. Sometimes key players in particular sit at 90 degrees. I guess straight angles are the most pleasing to look at.
I've been sitting at an angle like you suggest for several years now for better visuals to the rest of the stage. I did it the usual straight on way for years.
I remember seeing John Anderson's steel player Glenn Rieuf doing this years back too. |
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Andrew Goulet
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 11:07 am
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I'm usually at the back, next to the drummer/bass amp, facing straight out, or angled toward center stage. I would feel really strange being right up front.
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Marlen S12 and a ZT Club |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 11:24 am
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| I often sit starring at my amp and wondering why I don't sound like Buddy Emmons. Ha! Usually facing the audience straight on. I try to make myself obvious so more people will know what a steel guitar is. Our keyboard player is blind so no advantage there and the drummer is lead singer and at rear center. |
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Jack Hargraves
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 11:38 am
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I always set up straight on
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 11:45 am
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| Andrew Goulet wrote: |
| I'm usually at the back, next to the drummer/bass amp, facing straight out, or angled toward center stage. I would feel really strange being right up front. |
Really? I like to sit up front so they can see who's making those awful noises. It makes for an easier target when they start throwing things. |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 11:54 am
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Up front and angled slightly. One of 2 soloists and lots of harmony responsibilities. 5 piece.
fwiw
hp
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Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 12:14 pm
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I always face the audience, straight on. (After all, that's who I'm playing to.) If I need to look at the band members, all I have to do is turn my head.  |
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Jamie Mitchell
From:
Nashville, TN
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Posted 22 Jul 2021 12:21 pm
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i face the singer, so typically at close to a 90° angle from the audience. monitor off to the side. mostly for eye contact reasons. i don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the crowd anyways - more interested in what’s happening onstage!
i also like this because it let’s me face forward if i’m doing double duty on guitar, and not feel trapped behind the steel. |
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Steve Hitsman
From:
Waterloo, IL
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 3:43 am
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| Straight on so everyone can see how good-lookin' I am. |
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manny escobar
From:
portsmouth,r.i. usa
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 5:28 am
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| I never saw Buddy Cage play anything other than 90 degrees from the audience. |
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John Swain
From:
Winchester, Va
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 5:43 am
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| I used to setup straight out front, for the last 20 years I've setup at angle to be able to see all the other muscians. |
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Tommy Mc
From:
Middlesex VT
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 5:53 am
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| On a lot of stages, available space dictates how I set up. I'll always be on one end or the other, not in the middle. My preference is to be mostly facing the audience, but slightly angled toward the rest of the band to make eye contact easier. |
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Bruce Bjork
From:
Southern Coast of Maine
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 6:12 am
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Stage right, up front, angled in so I can see our vocalist & guitar player.
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"Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best" |
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Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 6:16 am
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Always on an angle . . .so I can see the musicians I am supposed to be playing with. Also, there is a lot of non-verbal communication going on. I need to see when the guitar player nods at me or when the vocalist takes a breath to start singing.
Chris |
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Johnie King
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2021 2:00 pm
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| I set up facing the basement wall a audience is not a option for my style of playing. |
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Gary Watkins
From:
Bristol, VA
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 4:10 am
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| Johnie King wrote: |
| I set up facing the basement wall a audience is not a option for my style of playing. |
Johnie, do you face the wall straight on or do you angle your steel when you face the wall, 
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If you succeed in cheating someone, don't think that the person is a fool. It's just that the person trusted you far more than you deserved. |
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Andrew Goulet
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 4:49 am
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| Johnie King wrote: |
| I set up facing the basement wall a audience is not a option for my style of playing. |
I'm imagining Johnie playing some avant garde, hard-to-digest, dissonant free jazz to the cinder blocks.
_________________
Marlen S12 and a ZT Club |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 7:51 am
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I'm rarely on a stage with enough space to choose. I generally set up whatever way I can get it to fit. The most economical use of space seems to be parallel to the stage - either right at the front or a bit further back if the stage is deep enough. The last gig I was on the right, facing away from the band, looking over my shouder for cues!
When I play console steel, I often have to set up with one or two legs on the floor in front of the stage to make a bit more space (assuming a low stage) or over one of the stage monitors (as that is otherwise unusable space).
Ideally, it would be to the left or right of the stage, a little way back, at an angle. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 7:58 am
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I'll add that it's best for me to sit at stage right next to the wall as I sometimes play lap steel, dobro or guitar. It's convenient to have those instruments set up to my right toward the end of the stage and away from the center mass.
Takes up less space on that end too. Downside is dodging headstocks on cramped stages, but pulling back just a tad angling slightly inward helps that as well. |
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Ned McIntosh
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 11:28 am
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Stage left, slightly angled towards the centre of the stage so I can keep an eye on the band leader. Just seems to be the most natural for me.
_________________
The steel guitar is a hard mistress. She will obsess you, bemuse and bewitch you. She will dash your hopes on what seems to be whim, only to tease you into renewing the relationship once more so she can do it to you all over again...and yet, if you somehow manage to touch her in that certain magic way, she will yield up a sound which has so much soul, raw emotion and heartfelt depth to it that she will pierce you to the very core of your being. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 11:55 am
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| Jeff Mead wrote: |
| I'm rarely on a stage with enough space to choose. I generally set up whatever way I can get it to fit. |
Or I go where the bandleader says to go. |
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Andrew Goulet
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 2:21 pm
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Doug, where did you play with such slick purple lights?!
_________________
Marlen S12 and a ZT Club |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 24 Jul 2021 5:24 pm
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Andy, It's Strange Brew Pub, Norwich CT
By the way, Sunday, Aug. 1st (and the 22nd) I'm playing in a trio, outdoors, downtown Northampton. 3 pm to 6. "Summer on Strong"... live music on Strong Ave., open to the public. The street is blocked off and the restaurants put tables and chairs out there, potted plants, etc. I have four gigs there this summer with Rosie Porter. Pedal steel, two guitars, and vocals. No bass or drums. That takes some getting used to!
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