| Author |
Topic: Lap Steel Addiction |
Rick Garrett
From:
Tyler, Texas
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 3:02 am |
|
Seems to me that I'm getting addicted to my steel guitar. Anybody else having that problem?
The more I play the better I get and the better I get the more I want to play. Somebody told me it would be that way. It seems to me that the "Steel" door is cracking open a bit more each day. In fact everyday I learn something that just wasn't there the day before. I suppose that there surely are worse things a fellow could be addicted to. God bless
Rick |
|
|
 |
Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 4:11 am
|
|
"My name is Keith and I am a Lap Steel Addict". Lap steel-aholics Anonymous- the Atlanta chapter will be opening soon- just bring your guitars and I will put them in a safe place for ya, and remove the temptation!
The more time I spend with mine, the more the theory part of it makes sense. Having to find pairs of notes that work in sequence with other pairs for swells and such, which has been my project for awhile now, is daunting. Listening to Cindy Cashdollar on Ryan Adams and the Cardinals "Cold Roses" CD is the inspiration for it, and it is developing into a kind of personal mission for me to be able to hear a chord run and figure out 2-note backing runs using the volume pedal to kill the attack. Gives a real sense of inspiration, and I think it will give me a better ability to sit in with other musicians and play pieces "cold".
Now another 5 years of 6 hour a day practice and I should have it. |
|
|
|
Randy Reeves
From:
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 4:56 am
|
|
I am a lap steel addict.
yes, the more I play the better I get.
lap steel has opneed the door to music theory for me. YOW! I acually understand it. |
|
|
|
Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 5:03 am
|
|
In the words of David Lindley: "The lap steel has a way to take over the brains of those who play it".
After playing guitar for over 30 years, I only pick it up now if I get paid to do so, or want to try and write some music. All other playing, recreational or 'serious' practicing and gigging, happens on my lap steel.
Life is good... 
Steinar
------------------
www.gregertsen.com
|
|
|
|
Rick Garrett
From:
Tyler, Texas
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 8:18 am
|
|
Makes me feel better just knowing that I'm not the only one with a problem. 
Rick |
|
|
|
Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 9:10 am
|
|
| Rick,You have the [picking sickness]No cure for it.The more you pick,the more you want to.Just a vicious cycle.You will never be cured.Just take three picks and a bar twice a day,will help keep the picking fever down a bit,but there is no cure. |
|
|
|
Tom Baylis
From:
Portland, Oregon
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 9:29 am
|
|
| I'm pretty new to lap steel, after playing spanish guitar for, let's see, nearly 40 years. I'll admit it, I'm hopelessy hooked on steel. When I go to my music room, my first inclination is to head to one of the several steels I've acquired instead of one of my other guitars. This addiction has rejuvinated my interest in music. My ONLY regret (besides the damage to my bank account) is that I'm losing the callouses on my fretting fingers - I have to force myself into a "fret session" every few days just to keep those chops up too. I really want to play both... |
|
|
|
Randy Reeves
From:
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 9:37 am
|
|
something happens when I grab my slide and sit behind my steel.
I feel a comfortable tingle , a familiarity. like the feeling of a favorite chair, or jacket, or lover.
yet there is a dangerous feeling too. one that excites ; like when you head off on a journey into an unknown neighborhood.
and then there is the feeling of power.
|
|
|
|
George Manno
From:
chicago
|
Posted 30 Sep 2005 5:45 pm
|
|
I can stop anytime I want.I tell myself that every day.
George |
|
|
|
Don Barnhardt
From:
North Carolina, USA
|
Posted 1 Oct 2005 5:56 am
|
|
Fellas we're a rare breed. I fell in love with the lap steel about 60 years ago when a cousin recently returned from WW2 got one. I got it from him a few years later(it cost me a week on the back of a hot nasty combine) and I've been hooked ever since. My mentor was a burnt out musician named Harvey Potts. When I met him alcohol had gotten the best of him but he could still get beautiful music out of his Gibson. Harvey could play country, but he really loved Hawwaian and big band stuff it was unbelievable the music he could get out of it. The only tunings he used were A and E. At the time I didn't fully appreciate what he did I was interested in western swing and hillbilly and more exotic tunings like E7, C#min etc...Harvey said when he got all the music out of his six string A tuning he would look into other tunings and more strings. Harvey never made it out of the clubs but he was every bit as good as J.Byrd in his prime.
In my late teens I got other priorities and dropped out of music for about 40 years. About 10 years ago I got interested in bluegrass and tried to learn the banjo but that didn't work out so well. No one else was playing Dobro around here so I got one and the old spark reignited. I've collected several instruments now including a pedal steel but my Gibson EH100 that I play through a Fender Vibro Champ is my pride and joy. My friend Harvey instilled a love of all music in me and now I'll try anything from Bach to Bill Monroe. |
|
|
|
William Steward
From:
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
|
Posted 1 Oct 2005 7:06 am
|
|
| The sick part is the rate at which these things will reproduce when left alone in your living room. What started out as an old MSA S-10 purchased on Ebay several years ago has turned into 5 lapsteels, a dobro and a D-10. I started hiding some of them so my wife will not be constantly taking inventory. It is nice to know I am not alone and am going to seek professional help for my problem. |
|
|
|
John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
|
Posted 1 Oct 2005 8:14 am
|
|
| yesterday, i blew off work and spent 4 hours at my band's rehersal space with my lap steel, echoplex, my new peavey classic 30, and my dog. i could have stayed all day. every time i get alone with the steel for an extended practice, i learn alot. the dog is an important part of the setup, because as long as i'm playing in tune, he sleeps, but when i hit bad notes, he gives me a dirty look and starts whinning. |
|
|
|
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
Posted 1 Oct 2005 7:19 pm
|
|
I knew I was hooked on steel because the amount of time I have to practice, is never enough.
When I was a standard guitar player, I had to force myself to practice scales, modes, runs, etc.
Now, there's absolutely nothing I'd rather be doing...
(except for the biological functions and stuff.) |
|
|
|
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 2 Oct 2005 6:35 am
|
|
As posted on other threads, I just got a national lap and was thrilled as a pedal steel player to be able to bring the more compact and mobile lap in a van during a week-long songwriter's tour last week. During the various 3-4 hour drives, I would lay the steel on my lap and go through right-hand excercises and pentatonic scales until one of the other writers would started to get that glazed look. Then I'd put it away. They sincerely thought I'd gone a bit whacky, doing the same stuff over and over while staring down like a drooling idiot.......lap steel is now a compulsion.
Because of all the shedding in the van last week, my speed has improved vastly - and it showed on a pedal gig last night. (Still too nervous to bring the lap.)
Is there a 12-step program for steelers? |
|
|
|
Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
|
Posted 2 Oct 2005 8:08 am
|
|
| Quote: |
| Is there a 12-step program for steelers? |
Yeah, it's called "The 12-string", and you cut the strings one by one, over a period of 12 weeks. It's the only one known to work... 
Steinar
------------------
www.gregertsen.com
|
|
|
|
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 2 Oct 2005 11:11 am
|
|
| Good one, Steinar.......I only have a 10-string, so I'd have to do the 10-week program. I'd probably let the high G# break on its own, then go from there. |
|
|
|
Rick Garrett
From:
Tyler, Texas
|
Posted 2 Oct 2005 1:57 pm
|
|
I'd probably let the high G# break on its own, then go from there.
HAHAHA!! Good one man.
I can see where the twelve day method would work. Think I'll just go play my super slide while I try to decide how to gain professional help.
Rick |
|
|
|
Paul Arntson
From:
Washington, USA
|
Posted 3 Oct 2005 10:19 am
|
|
The only professional help I want for my addiction to lap steels is financial assistance.
This is without a doubt the most enjoyable music instrument I have ever touched. It is so expressive and so demanding.
I too have experienced the effect of their multiplying when left alone in the music room. I had one for years and years, and after I got a second one, I had tons of them in a short time.
Great thread! |
|
|
|
Arthur Herrmann
From:
New Jersey, USA
|
Posted 7 Oct 2005 5:55 pm
|
|
| I too am a steelaholic. There, I admitted it. Playing steel has really revived the excitement I felt the first few years of playing guitar. Every time I pick up one of my steels, it's like X-Mas morning when you were a kid. |
|
|
|
Kevin Bullat
From:
Huntington Beach, CA
|
Posted 7 Oct 2005 8:12 pm
|
|
Well, having been married going on 19 years (and happily I might add), I'd have to say that for me, my steel guitar is the closest thing I have to a new 'hot' date each and every night. I just can't keep my hands offin' her!
------------------
I told my wife my girlfriend is a blond Fender with 3 necks. |
|
|
|
