Losing my ear, or lack of practice?

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

So, I will be 69 in June, been playing steel 48 years... No longer playing out after doing so for well over 40 of those years.. prided myself on never been a "pitchy" steel player that sounded out of tune, and for years was told that by many of those I played with... So now, these days, I just sit down at the steel, no other music around, live or recorded, for 20 minutes or so a few times a week to "keep my chops up"...Unused upstairs bedroom, piled floor to ceiling with amps, guitars, unused junk sitting for decades... Looks exactly like one of those "Hoarders buried alive" shows.. An appalling sight in all honesty.. Lately, I have been taking a laptop up there,plugging in a small Altec system with 2 small but efficient powered computer speakers, and a small ported woofer.. pretty decent sound actually. I have started practicing along to the music I have loved since I was a kid.. Late 60's, early 70's country rock, classic country of all types, alt country etc... I seem to always sound out of tune with the recorded music, and am constantly adjusting bar position to compensate.. I am pretty distressed by this actually.. Its new to my experience, and I feel old and vulnerable.[From a musicians perspective].. I do know my hearing is no longer very good, due to a LOUD life.. Decades with screaming loud bands, and a loud work environment- auto technician , and then a school bus driver for the 10 years before my retirement at 62. At this point, I am not sure if its my hearing, or just the fact that I have played the last 7 or 8 years with no other musicians live or recorded.. I DO hear the out of tuneness, and that gives me some hope it might just be the fact I am out of "live performance" practice, but nonetheless,I feel kind of ashamed of being that inept that I could let my ability to play in tune slip away that easily... anyone care to comment, or possibly discuss a similar experience in their steel playing days??... Chops are fine, but this wandering around with the bar is just so alien to me, and the concern is genuine, and although I probably won't be playing for audiences, the fact that it happened at all just disgusts me.. Not sure how I could let it happen,,,bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

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

Dave Hopping · From: Aurora, Colorado

Bob-
My experience is much the same as yours(hearing loss, not enough playing with others) and I'm led to believe that losing pitch tends to come from not playing with others, rather than compromised hearing.

What helped me was putting together some samples from scratch for my Bandmix page- drum machine, bass, six string, and sometimes-doubled steel. Numerous takes, especially on steel, gradually dealt with the pitchiness. It just seems to me that the level of concentration required in playing with others, even if said "others" are oneself pre-recorded, has the benefit of filing off much of the musical corrosion that accumulates from not being onstage.

Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

Let me see if I'm on the right track. You sound out of tune with the recording you are playing along with? If that is so I have experienced that also. Records, vs Cd vs tape etc. I was told it ws due to the speed, as played through my equipment. I would have to retune to the various record, etc. This drove me crazy.

My solution came by accident. I purchased a Peterson Strobe tuner for my pedal steel, and found (by accident) that the tuning program I picked brought me in tune with the recorded music. In tuning my Armpit with it that also came into tune with a majority of recordings I played along with.

Not being an expert in this region of music, I offer it as a solution that helped me. Don't know if it is the answer to your problem or not. I also don't know if the tuning program I picked will be ok with instruments such as an accordian I'll be playing along with this weekend.

And now I will leave some room for the experts.......

Sam

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

I would recommend a Pitch Control for the tracks you are playing along with.
I use one to bring the songs into tune with the Steel.

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

I second or third the concept of the tracks possibly not being in tune. Pitch controller, as Pete suggests, or get a program like BIAB and do your own tracks.

I’m not suggesting that our old ears are completely blameless. The ringing in my ears certainly creates some difficult overtones with pitch. I played along with records and tapes 40-50 years ago and do not remember having tuning problems, except for some bands that tuned down a half-step. But I think time also takes its toll on both the recorded media and the equipment it is played on.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Bob

I believe it's due to the absence of discipline when playing with others.

One's sense of time can be affected, too.

I feel very much as you do!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Excellent point, Roger.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Fred:

I think I'm interpreting Bob's situation correctly as it's so much like mine. While I won't speak of 'past glories' (nothing reached those heights!), I was a competent pro who, over sixty+ years did a lot of studio work and dealt reasonably comfortably with pressure.

Now? I sit alone surrounded by the squalid remnants of a career; boxes of unused string, cords, picks, gadgetry, FX units, a few guitars and my lone Emmons.

The difference now? I've lost my edge to the extent that, even when playing with tracks, there's a slight nervousness as I await my entry. The tempos are that tiny bit too quick, I feel rushed and my playing suffers accordingly.

I haven't played for my living since the end of 2019 - three-and-a-half years of ill-disciplined noodling and total absence of pressure - and I'm dismayed that I've lost what I once could rely upon. I was never an important steel-player, far from it, but I turned in decent work, whether it was in a studio or on a stage-show. My essential tremors (detailed elsewhere) are a factor, but it's not being on the front-line that's really responsible.

Imagine getting nervous playing at home to a track!!!?

Poor Susie: she's stopped asking why I never finish playing a complete song anymore. Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Roger.. very well interpreted.. Its like you saw the picture thats in my mind... I don't feel as alone now...bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

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

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Deleted
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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chuck lemasters · From: Jacksonburg, WV

I had been tuning to Peterson’s SE9….playing along with U-tube videos, I found OE9 to be more in tune with most of them….also found older recordings to be all over the place, tuning wise.

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

70 this year and still active. I still have a good ear for being in tune. Been playing Steel for 41 years. I have noticed that my ears are more sensitive to loudness. If volume gets to loud on stage my hearing starts to distort. Costed me a new speaker for my NV 112. I found out I wasted my money!!! I am now working with a group that uses ear monitors. Great move!!! Getting old Sucks!!! When I am between gigs I rehearse with You Tube videos. I can compensate for being in tune by moving my bar + or - to stay in tune with video. Sort of a pain in butt, but it is real good training for my old hearing. Keep Picking Bob!!!!

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

Bob,
I would say it's probably both affecting you. I've been suffering with pitch problems the last few years too. But, after playing loudly in loud bands and shooting in the military and on my own, of course, early on never wearing ear muffs, my hearing has suffered measurably. I am constantly bombarded with white noise tinnitus. And, nothing seems to help. I'm still playing regularly and I have to really, really concentrate on playing with the band. It works, but, it's taking some of the fun out of it. Thank God for electric tuners!
Unfortunately, I dislike playing to tracks. I find the lack of spontenaety to be boring and too predictable. Playing a duet or trio or full band adds the spice for me. As for practicing, I usually do that just to learn a new tune or a specific lick or licks I want to add.
However, I'm feeling it's time for this old firehorse to go back in the stall and take the harness off. Things are becoming to be a chore.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I hear ya Bob. ( and Roger) As we "age out" I also believe we are "TIRED" and don't exhibit the energy and excitement we had maybe even just a few years ago.

I also no longer gig on Steel, so I too, look at my Steel more than I play it, its not that I don't enjoy it, I do, but there is no longer any sense of urgency , no drive. I am playing a Steel show in a few weeks and its a struggle to get in the groove. My hands are slower and my fingers are not paying attention to what they are supposed to do . Now add that I am just playing by myself in a room full of "stuff". Its not the same as prepping for gigs or going over phrases that will be required Fri or Sat night on the stage. There is no stage !

I am gigging on the Tele B Bender at least once a month and I am practicing a bit in preparation but even at that , the excitement is dwindling. I still love the music but I don't love the gig prep, load in , load out---all that stuff.

Like you ( and Roger) I've been blessed with an alternate career in music for my entire life, I've played as much or as little as I've wanted and the phone was always ringing. Slowing down is probably not a bad thing as I know I can't keep the pace from even a few years ago. There are times I think I should go out and gig again but then I remind myself that after 9 PM I am useless ! Very Happy

( my wife says after 8 PM )

Oh yeah, this past year I have been thinning the herd, amps, a few guitars, all sorts of stuff that's been sitting around untouched for years. If I haven't touched it by now, it would have never been touched by me ever again , so off it went.

best to you

tp
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Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years

CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website

Rich Upright · From: Florida, USA

I play with a couple different bands here. My biggest compliment about my playing has been my "in-tuneness" with the band; when I hear myself live or recorded it sounds SO in tune & "musical".
However, when I play to tracks or YouTube videos, it seems like my playing is blah; not out of tune per se, just kinda sour.

So get back onstage & do some gigs...you will like your playing again!
If all else fails...just crank the reverb higher!
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A couple D-10s,some vintage guitars & amps, & lotsa junk in the gig bag.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

A slight correction, Tony: I haven't had an alternate career.

I turned pro straight out of Art School in late-1959. For better or for worse, I have made my living from playing music. The first 35 years or so I was in the UK where I graduated to studio and TV work; prior to that, I'd be touring or doing West End shows.

That's why it's particularly galling to find my basic skills eroding, even as I attempt to keep my chops up. It's for no purpose other than self-gratification. Nobody will hear me play now. Dialysis struck in 2021 and it put an end to my pro life. It's a good job I've saved some money; SSA and the UK Pension are barely life-sustaining.

It was a good life, though, during which I saw the world, played a lot of music (and got to play some gigs with Buddy Emmons!) These days, rather like Bob, I tend to just look back.

Bob:
I saw the picture that's in your mind because I'm confronted with an identical one. Smile

My musical world is now an 8' square corner of the spare bedroom.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Bill L. Wilson · From: Oklahoma, USA

I’m not playing out as much as I was just three years ago. I don’t practice much on steel but I pick a guitar up every day while I’m watching cowboy movies on tv. I feel for you fellas with serious health problems. I haven’t noticed a problem with tuning on steel or guitar, some of ya’ll might tell me different if you heard me play. Fortunately I have my own little house behind the big house and I’m not bothering my wife or the neighbors when I play. I’m playing guitar this Sat at the Cashion Oklahoma fish fry if we don’t get rained out. Gonna try my latest acquisition, a vintage blonde Fender Bandmaster with 2-12” Black Widows and a twin amp.

Kenny Davis · From: Great State of Oklahoma

Bill Wilson - You old dog! Nothing wrong with your playing. You know me, I'd tell you if you were out of tune.

At least you're playing the Tele' and not keeping me from getting a steel job this weekend!
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Best lyric in a country song: "...One more, Moon..."

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