Did Your Dad Play?

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

My dad played six string guitar and harmonica. I can remember all of the family having a great time singing, while he played for them. I learned to play the guitar around 1957 from him. Then the hook was set.I've been making some kind of music since then. But, I must admit, that the best day was when I got to play my first pedal steel. I've thought about quitting at times, but, I think that I would actually cease to exist if I did that.

Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

My Dad played drums (on my butt when I was bad!) My mother was the only girl singer I ever have known that did not sing "CRAZY"

Bill Flores · From: Ventura, California, USA

. My Dad was a steel player in this area for about 50 years.He was semi-pro and played mostly Hawiian and"Western"As a child I thought everyones dad played!!Through him I gained a respect for such players as Noel Boggs,Juaquin Murphy ,Sol Ho'oopi,Dick McIntire and others that were his contemporaries.I have inherited his '49 D8 and a '60's Stringmaster. I am proud to add them to my steel equipment . Bill

Bill Fulbright · From: Atlanta, GA

My dad played the radio. Couldn't even hum a tune. Had a tin ear. My mother played some piano.

My grandmother must be where I got it. She went to a college in Texas called Kidd Key College and studied music in 1920. She played ragtime and "stride". For a BigTime Southern Baptist, THAT was rebellion!! She never played outside the house, though.

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Bill Fulbright
Mullen D-10 8x7; Gibson ES-165; Peavey Vegas 400;
ICQ# 2251620 My Music Site

David Cobb · From: Chanute, Kansas, USA

We never had a steel, but my Dad had an electric guitar that we all fooled with. My older brother got pretty good on it. How he managed that I'll never know since he was a leftie and the guitar was not. Eventually, my Dad was singing Ray Price tunes and playing rhythm guitar, my brother was on lead and I was on drums. We tortured many a crowd.

Mom even sang an occasional duet with my Dad. Years later my brother got a steel, and after a time, so did I.

Bob Blair · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

My Dad played the drums, but not professionally. He could really play though - I don't know exactly where he picked it up. He was very musically inclined, and encouraged my brother and I a lot. Not in respect of steel though. His mother had bought some steel guitar lessons for him when he was a kids, from one of those door-to-door vendors, and it was not a happy experience - he never liked steel guitar very much. When I first got interested in getting a pedal steel, he pulled out some Alvino stuff and played it for me, but he allowed as to how he never much cared for what Alvino did, or for the steel guitar at all. He used to come hear me play back in the ol' hometown, but that was while I was still playing guitar and doing the singing - I didn't start playing steel until about the time I left town, and never had one with me when I flew home to visit. So he never actually heard me play, but I remember when I told him I got my first professional-calibre steel he sent a cheque to help defray the cost (though I had not asked for any help. He was incredibly supportive of whatever we wanted to do musically. So far, two of my four kids have shown some real musical ability. My daughter has even dabbled with pedal steel - she can sing well, plays guitar very well, and has played bass with me on some gigs.

Rick Barber · From: Morgan Hill, Calif. USA

My mother was a talented singer. My Dad loved music especially country and played KRAK radio out of Sacramento all the time. He didnt play an instrument though. I took up guitar and clarinet and bassoon starting in 4th grade. I took up steel at age 50. If my father was alive he'd be my biggest fan I know.

My older son is a professional musician playing bassoon, clarinet, flute, sax, and piano and also tunes pianos and teaches privately. My wife loves music but doesnt play an instrument. My younger son plays piano and is a composer and film maker and sound editor.

Sometimes my home is quiet --- NOT.

Rick Barber

Larry Jamieson · From: Walton, NY USA

My dad helped me build a cigar box uke when I was about 9 or ten. That was the start of my guitar playing career, whcih eventually led to the pedal steel. My father grew up on a farm and learned piano, fiddle and accordian. He played for square dances while going through college to study music. In WWII he played trombone in an Air Force band in Florida. He taught music and band in Walton, NY for 35 years, and started the music store I now run. He gave lessons on any instrument, staying one lesson ahead of the student. I remember him giving lap steel lessons to beginners, but he was never a pedal steel player. For almost 50 years he helped direct and arranged music for the Delaware County Mens Choir, a Christian choir which gave free concerts in our area for over fifty years. I got interested in playing guitar and steel when I saw him play with one of his square dance bands which featured a lap steel player, along with fiddle, accordian, guitar and bass. He later played in "Prom Bands" before the DJ's took over. He would have a trombone, sax, clarinet and trumpet on stands, and alternate instruments... My mom plays piano and all my brothers and sister wound up playing. Dad is eighty now and still plays piano and guitar at home for enjoyment...Music was his life and his living, and has been a blessing in my life as well.

Doug Dietrich · From: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

My dad didn't ever play steel at all. Although he did and still does play fiddle. He taught me to appreciate and enjoy music. And better yet - - he built my first steel guitar. He must have had a vision that I would play. It was a double neck 10 string with 8 pedals and 1 knee lever was eventually added. I don't play it anymore (other than on the odd occasion) but it still sits proudly in his basement.

Chuck McGill · From: An hour from Memphis and 2 from Nashville, R.I.P.

My Dad made it possible for me to play. I miss him.

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