| Author |
Topic: Aloha and Yee Haw! |
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
Posted 23 Sep 2005 8:41 pm |
|
Aloha nui loa ya' all,
Newbie here. Don't mean to make this a long winded biography, but this site is a God send and I just wanted to let you all know a little bit about myself.
Standard Guitar player for 25 years (how sad, eh) steel player for 3. Got bit, and got bit hard by the steel bug 3 years ago.
6 months after beginning steel, formed a Hawaiian band which includes an acoustic bass player, a guitar player, and myself on a '51 Fender 8 triple.
Our music is a strange meld of early '30s and '40s Hawaiian, rockabilly and western swing. We are called the Smokin' Menehunes.
Here in So Cal, there seems to be NO steel instuctors so I had to learn on my own based on my rudimentary music theory knowledge and a bunch of old Hawaiian and western swing records.
Practice like I'm possessed. Come to find out, you got to to get anywhere with that beautiful steel wahine!
Of course the up side of NO steel teachers or players in So Cal is that I'm in demand with small-time sessions and gigs for the band. Left coasters are simply blown away with the lilting sound of the steel (as I am).
Anyway, for any of you in the Orange County area (or visiting) please feel free to contact me and drop by.
I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions of the experienced on the board, so please bear with me.
------------------
I told my wife my girlfriend is a blond Fender with 3 necks. |
|
|
 |
Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 2:25 am
|
|
Welcome to the Forum Kevin, your gonna love it here. There's a ton of info here and lots of helpful folks. My playin has improved immensely since I joined the Forum. you can find a lot of tabbed out tunes by just doin a search. Anyway, have fun.
------------------
55' Fender Stringmaster T8, 54' Fender Champion, Carter D-10, two Oahu laps, two National laps, and two Resonators
|
|
|
|
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 4:53 am
|
|
I like this guy....
Kevin, if you have the slightest shot of getting to the HSGC in mid October, do yourself a mitzvah, er, I mean hana lokomaika'i. Better music and players you won't find anywhere.  [This message was edited by HowardR on 24 September 2005 at 06:06 AM.] |
|
|
|
Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Todd Weger
From:
Safety Harbor, FLAUSA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 4:58 am
|
|
Hey Kevin -- Aloha and YEE HAW back! Glad you found this site. As Andy says, you'll get a TON of great information here. The folks here, particularly in the No Peddlers section (in my humble, totally unbiased opinion) are just some of the finest cats you'll ever want to hang with.
Are you a member of the Tiki Central board? I see your band's name on there quite a bit, so I know y'all are playing a lot of gigs out there on the left coast. Wish you could be us with at Hukilau this year. Should be another blowout blast (hopefully no HURRICANES, though).
Welcome to the SGF and aloha pumehana...
TJW
(aka Kanekila)
------------------
Todd James Weger/RD/RTD
1956 Fender Stringmaster T-8 (C6, A6, B11); 1960 Fender Stringmaster D-8 (C6, B11/A6); Chandler RH-4 Koa semi-hollow lapsteel (open G); Regal resonator (open D or G)
[This message was edited by Todd Weger on 24 September 2005 at 06:01 AM.] |
|
|
|
Rick Garrett
From:
Tyler, Texas
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 5:22 am
|
|
Welcome aboard!! Great bunch of guys around here man. You outta see what some of these boys build. Lots of great steel knowledge to go around.
Rick |
|
|
|
Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 7:53 am
|
|
Welcome Kevin!
Do you have any pics of your Custom?
What tunings do you use?
Custom pics here and here.
RA[This message was edited by Rick Alexander on 24 September 2005 at 08:53 AM.] |
|
|
|
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 8:03 am
|
|
Welcome, Kevin.
------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
|
|
|
|
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
|
|
|
Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 9:01 am
|
|
Sweet steels, Kevin.
Tiki Bar/Studio - what a great concept!
And here I've been keeping the two separate - silly me . . 
RA
Big Steel |
|
|
|
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 9:36 am
|
|
HowardR,
It's interesting that you mention "mitzvah" in your reply.
We do a steel version of the old tune "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" written by Sholom Secunda and Jacob Jacobs, orginially in Yiddish.
It's a fantastically (sp?) great tune and really pushes my envelope for single note picking.
------------------
I told my wife my girlfriend is a blond Fender with 3 necks.[This message was edited by Kevin Bullat on 24 September 2005 at 10:38 AM.] |
|
|
|
Dan Sawyer
From:
Studio City, California, USA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 3:34 pm
|
|
| Welcome Kevin. I live in Southern Cali too! I don't know if they have a teacher, but you could try McCabe's guitar shop in Santa Monica. |
|
|
|
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 4:09 pm
|
|
Thanks Dan for the info, but I've almost come to the conclusion that, for the most part, (I love commas,,,,) you'll learn better if you beat your head against the steel and learn on your own, providing you have a bit of music theory under your belt.
My step-father was a country-western guitarist down in Tucson in the early 60's. I spent many a night at as boy falling asleep in the bar booth at the Colb Road Tavern as he and his band played until the early morn. (In AZ back then, adults could bring kids into bars.)
He was a country boy from South Carolina that never had a lesson in his life. He learned the way you learn when you have a love for the instrument you play.
Now I'm not saying lessons aren't good. They are. But I believe too many folks rely on the teacher to learn them the song they want to learn instead of learning it on their own.
Give a man a fish and he has a song for a day, teach a man to fish and he can learn his own songs!
|
|
|
|
Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 4:26 pm
|
|
Cool Tiki Bar ... they built me a bar like that as a "frypan" stand ... at the restaurant I usta play at.
I'd have a "fifth" of Myers's on the shelf back there ... some pineapple juice ... and I was good to go for the evenin' ...
------------------
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
|
|
|
|
Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
|
Posted 24 Sep 2005 10:41 pm
|
|
| Kevin, Welcome from Alabama!!!! |
|
|
|
