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Topic: New Americana tune with my steel on it |
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 4 Nov 2007 5:42 pm |
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http://www.myspace.com/mattburtmusic .. The tune is called What am I gonna Do. It may start playing as soon as you visit the page, or just click on it.... The artist is a fine local upstate NY singer/writer named Matt Burt... Nice guy, and quite talented... I did this several years ago, but it just got mixed and pressed recently...
My steel parts on this tune sound like most everything else I have posted here over the years..here's why..
The guys doing roots/ alt country/Americana in this area are of like taste when it comes to steel,... To a man[or woman], they prefer a more eclectic, spacey, reverby, legato vibe as oppossed to any right hand blocking or E9 country rock/west coast styling which is actually more my forte'...
Americana/folk the way its done here in my area gives me fits and is a challenge for me to play properly..
However,I do what the gig calls for...or at least try to...
The tone of the steel is pretty cool, but will not be everyone's cup of suds.. Bright,clean,high endy and twangy but a little spacey too..
I even do an almost non sequiter, fairly odd, off hand solo which I kind of like, but is actually not all that well played.. The idea I had is good but I didn't like my execution... anyway, give a listen and see if it does anything for ya.... bob |
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Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Posted 4 Nov 2007 5:58 pm
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| Quote: |
| I even do an almost non sequiter, fairly odd, off hand solo which I kind of like, but is actually not all that well played.. The idea I had is good but I didn't like my execution.. |
Bob, Can you teach me to play bad like you? I thought the steel sounded great and I really liked the solo too. Keep up the good work. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 4 Nov 2007 6:11 pm
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| Well bless your heart for the kind words Andy... I don't think the solo was bad really.... just weird... I did like what I played on much of the song... kind of,,but I kept shaking my head thinking... "why can't you sound like a normal steel guitarist?"...... bob |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 4 Nov 2007 9:35 pm
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Bob, I think your playing here sounds good, and fits what is needed. To me, that's the only standard. But believe me, I understand your concerns.
| Quote: |
| but I kept shaking my head thinking... "why can't you sound like a normal steel guitarist?" |
Ha! Same reason I can't. I have the same deal here, only about 100-150 miles from you, in the heart of the Northern Appalachian tier college-town circuit. If I was to lean into things like a country shuffle player or play a lot of staccato notes like a west-coast stylist, I couldn't keep a gig for two weeks. Pretty much any gig around here wants the same kind of thing you're doing - spacey, minimalist, and textured. Actually, I don't always get that much room to play, and I expect that's the case for you also.
To give you an idea of the comparison, here's the myspace page for the band I'm playing with currently:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=42005839
This is post-mix but pre-master stuff from the new CD. Some of the tunes don't load correctly right now, but "Your Dreams" does, and is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about. Actually there are two steel players on this - myself on pedal steel, and Todd Bartolo from Frog Holler on lap steel. Actually, Todd was playing with Kris in '98 before I joined. He plays fills mostly in the lower-mid register, while my fills are more in the upper register, and I take the solo. But even though it's possible to distinguish us, even the pedal steel playing is way different than your usual country steel playing.
Like you, I like this kind of music, and I enjoy playing with these guys. But not playing much "standard" PSG repertoire out does present something of a quandary for my development as a pedal steel player. It's quite one thing to practice at home. But for me, the best way to really get things truly cemented is on the firing line at gigs. So I need to find people who want to play the stuff that would kick my a$$, at least once in a while. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 5 Nov 2007 2:40 am
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Real nice Dave!.. I was smiling as I listened... It was as if I was listening to my own recordings over the past 10 years or so. SO similar!!... I dont know if its because we think alike on steel, or because we played what the singer /writer is hearing for thier song... Liked your tone too.. Bright, reverby, clean,... I know the drill!! lol...
The guy I played this for is older than most of the college age singer.writers up here, but the music is cut from the same cloth... He did spend time in the Ithaca area and plays there at times...
As I said, many of these artists hear a similar sound in thier heads when the produce the songs they wrote.. I guess we are just doing the proper job when we do our best to reproduce that sound.
.. Its fun and its all good, but I STILL wanna show off my Mooney licks every once't in a while  ...bob |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 5 Nov 2007 7:46 am
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Well, we may well think alike. But I think a big part of it is that there isn't any other way to play this stuff that would fit with the writer's vision. I can and do other things sometimes on gigs - trying things out. But when it came time to record, the overall feel and sonic space in the music dictated what worked and what didn't. With anybody I work with - they're usually willing to try different things. But I don't make the final decisions about what we really do. I have no problem with this.
This goes to more than overall feel, timing, and amount played, but to actual note selection itself. I personally like twisty bent chromatic phrases that resolve at the goal chord. To me, that kind of thing is one of the true strengths of the pedal steel. But it rarely flies in this style of music. It's just too much of a departure from else is going on, and I understand.
This is no complaint. On gigs, we do play some older material that lets me stretch a bit - some Hank, Merle, Burritos, whatever fits what we're doing. But I'd like to sometimes play stuff that really extends me as a PSG player.
I remember the threads about "What instrumentals do you play at gigs?". I had to laugh, and said so at the time. Doing this kind of work isn't about me or the PSG - it's about the songs and doing something that the writers think adds to it. If I want to do something else, I need to start my own project. Then I can do whatever I bloody well please.  |
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