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Topic: Vibrato.....either you have it or you don't. |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 26 Feb 2005 7:32 pm |
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On Jerry's Music page of the jerrybyrdfanclub.com site.........one can easily see/hear that vibrato is essential if what you're playing is to have a quality about it. Not affects boxes, but heartfelt vibrato.
The tune "Too Young" is a classic example of great vibrato on an otherwise "dry" amp.
Also, the art of NOT PLAYING.........is demonstrated in this tune perhaps better than any other of the day. Give a listen and see what you think.
Those who always seek "tabs" for songs should recognize quite easily that Jerry Byrd's performances on the other two songs simply cannot be written out with any real meaning. It's a keen sense of creative styling that is demonstrated here for you.
Comments please? |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 26 Feb 2005 8:05 pm
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I have never heard those "cuts" before Ray
and thank you for putting them up for us.
That's the Jerry Sound that turned me onto steel guitar back in the early fifties.
It is brain, emotions, and hands to project.
He had all three.
Tablature is a great teaching tool and important to the learning process and exchange of musical ideas
but I agree ,,after learning the mechanics of a song you have to be able to then put feeling in your music.
I cannot say enough about Jerry's talent
and what he has meant to steel guitar throughout the years notwitstanding all the
pedals and knee levers he had to compete with.. GOD bless his soul!
Roy |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 26 Feb 2005 8:12 pm
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Wait a minute, I think I have a vibrato (?), but it's not that one. 
Those clips have the classic JB sound. The vibrato, the voicings, the moan.
Here's a question. Do you think (or know whether) Jerry modified his tone over the course of his career to accomodate the changes in recording technology/techniques? For example in the "early days", the amp was often situated in the back of the studio. Later on, steel amps would get a separate mike of their own.
Granted JB's later tone does sound considerably different than his earlier stuff... Do you think that's a result of 1)changes in recording techniques, 2)a change in his tone preferences, or 3)a combination of both? |
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 26 Feb 2005 8:39 pm
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So right you are Ray!!! In teaching students, I tell them that I cannot write "feeling" into the music, it has to come from within you.
My 8 year old grandson is learning from me, and his mother called one day after he had a few lessons and said, "I was watching him and I asked why is he shaking his left hand and he said, 'That's what Grandpa does' "!!!!
The power of watching, you cannot get from a book in learning music... Great tunes by Jerry. Thanks Ray. Haven't heard from you in a while, and I figured you were on a national tour of sniffing out Rickenbackers!!! |
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Travis Bernhardt
From:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 27 Feb 2005 3:31 am
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I think good vibrato can be learned. Like most "knacky" skills, it's not really something you can just drill until it gets better, but I think that with focused practice and a sense in your head of what you're trying to achieve you can make progress.
-Travis
P.S. Good point about the tab thing.[This message was edited by Travis Bernhardt on 27 February 2005 at 03:32 AM.] |
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Gary Boyett
From:
Colorado
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Posted 27 Feb 2005 5:02 am
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Here is a good question for everyone:
What tricks or technics do you use to get that killer vibrato?
My 2 cents- start with one string at about the fifth fret and get it moving equally back and forth, then add strings 2 and then three, move around the neck 1 1V V and keep it consistant. I also try to start the vibrato on the second beat. I don’t ever use it on quarter notes. To me too much muddys up the song.
------------------
JCFSC member since 2005
D-8 Stringmaster
Fender Dual Pro
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 27 Feb 2005 7:35 am
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Here are a few things I learned when I first got my Spectrum Analyzer ... and sampled every singer, steel player, violinist, etc ... that I found exciting to listen to ...
Vibrato
Just my typical Obs/Comp personality shinin' thru ...  ...
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Aiello's House of Gauss
My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield
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Dwayne Martineau
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 11:41 am
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Don't fear the reaper... or Rick's Spectrum Analyzer.
A whole number of oscillations per beat makes so much obvious sense-- and it's something that I always do (or try)-- but, as you say, almost never think about.
I wonder how many steel teachers bring that up with their students. I don't remember seeing that point mentioned in any books.
A good vibrato can create a counter-rhythm for the melody. I think that's where a lot of the "one-man-band" weightiness of the steel comes from.
When I'm playing slow and lazy, sometimes those vibratos just gently massage the note, at a rate of only 1 or 2 per beat.
A trick I like, especially in Hawaiian-style tunes... when playing a short dissonant passage that's about to resolve, I like to start stacking sharper notes one by one and heavily exaggerate the vibrato-- fast and wide-- like the whole riff is about to derail, then return to the "comfortable" vibrato at the resolution point.
Adds a nice second layer of tension/resolution.
Ah, steel.
[This message was edited by Dwayne Martineau on 03 March 2005 at 11:41 AM.] |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 12:04 pm
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| OK .. give me a couple minutes ... to dig up those recordings ... |
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Randy Reeves
From:
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 1:15 pm
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ah sweet vibrato. I like what I do, but to describe it would be similar to describing the meaning and application of the words "hand tight".
which means the certain amount of tightness when attaching a nut to a bolt or a screw into something. |
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seldomfed
From:
Colorado
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 2:55 pm
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Rick,
you amaze me - Spectrum Analyzer!
this must have been BK (before kids 
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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"Listen Sooner"
www.book-em-danno.com
www.seldomfed.com
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 6:07 pm
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Jeff (since Ray ain't jumpin' on it), I'll assume you know that Jerry's 1st 20 years of professional playing (late 30s into the 50s) was done on a Rick B6 then a B7 and played thru an VoluTone amp. A primitive set up, but one that he took advantage of to assist in getting his great sound that he used for many years. He was the king, he knew he had a classic sound, and he stuck with what he knew was good til there was no more holding out.
No doubt he went thru every recording process, amp/mike set up posible. However, Jerry soon became THE industry guy and was with the A team/s, so he usually got the best available studios, producers and sound men. After that, it was just him setting up with as usual, a mike in front of the VT amp.
Once the pedal steel hit the scene ('55ish), Jerry moved on to other steels via endorsements like Rickenbacker's Jerry Byrd model. This gave him a more contemporary sound to compete in the new Nashville market, and eventually got his main rig, the custom 7/8.
He always fought for the best sound for the song/artist, no matter what the suits wanted, and it cost him. For a while, Jerry had to fall back on another trade to pay the bills, and painted houses. Time and styles had moved on and the classic Byrd sound wasn't valued any more by those in charge. But he made his music in spite of corporate tastes and produced some great LPs with updated techknowledgy in the '60/70s.[This message was edited by Ron Whitfield on 03 March 2005 at 06:09 PM.] |
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Dwayne Martineau
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 4 Mar 2005 12:29 pm
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| Quote: |
| "What does chocolate taste like? How does a rose smell?" |
Gerald, I sit in a olfactory lab next to an "electronic nose" all day. If you really want to know what a rose smells like... |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 6 Mar 2005 8:59 am
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Hi there Ron, my great and wonderful friend!
Jerry once told me that he relied on an engineer and went thro' the board on just one occasion and after he heard what was done to his playing tone, etc., he'd NEVER DO IT AGAIN! As you state, his practice was to walk in, plug-in, and play into a microphone stuck in front of his amp and that was all there was to it. No other technologies were applied. He did admit using an Eboe (sp?) on one tune on the original Hi-Fi Guitar album and also, to using possibly a 2 1/2 or 3 setting on reverb after they came out but nothing more.
While he used the "custom" Fender on the
Bobby Lord TV Show and elsewhere at that time, he made no recordings with it. Likewise, he told me never used the Trot-Mor guitar on any of his recordings. He put aside the Rick-7 Bakelite when he did as he was encountering "pick-up" difficulties with it and of course, the de-tuning problems of the Bakelite under the heat/cold changes of the television studio lights was also a factor.
HOWEVER, as many of you have likely noticed, when his records started coming out on those green labled records (Texas Playboy Rag, etc., ) his TONE CHANGED dramatically. I had long believed he had switched guitars but he says "NO" to that thought. He was long unhappy with the treble sound that was produced on his original "Hi-Fi Guitar" album that just recently, he had it remixed and placed on a CD, as described elsewhere here on the Forum.
If you haven't yet, do visit the Jerry Byrd Fan Club site. |
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