| What do you mostly play on your pedal steel? |
| Traditional Country (mostly simple chords) |
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21% |
[ 28 ] |
| Jazz/Swing (more complex chords) |
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4% |
[ 6 ] |
| Blues/R&B |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Rock |
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4% |
[ 6 ] |
| Gospel/Sacred Steel |
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6% |
[ 9 ] |
| Country and Other Styles |
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36% |
[ 48 ] |
| Jazz and Other Styles |
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1% |
[ 2 ] |
| All of the above |
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22% |
[ 30 ] |
| None of the above |
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2% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 132 |
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| Author |
Topic: What style music do you play on your pedal steel? |
Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2010 8:01 pm |
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First of all, forgive me for limiting the choices. I know well that the choices are infinite. But it does seem that some pedal steelers play mostly traditional country, others play mostly jazz or swing, some do both, and some do mostly "other."
Personally I like "peasant music." I prefer to play (and listen to) the kinds of music that your average person dances to on a Saturday night. I like classical and jazz, but something about the elitist attitude that many classical and jazz musicians have turns me off. As soon as they act as if their music is superior to mine, I want to fight. And besides, just from an aesthetic standpoint, my gut instinct prefers simpler stuff, such as country, blues, R&B, folk, funk, or bluegrass.
But I also play and listen to "peasant music" from all over the world -- such as reggae, Afropop, Latin, Celtic, Arabic, Indian, Andean, etc.. I could travel all over the world and join in the jam session, but I wouldn't bother anyplace where they feel they have to dress up and get serious first.
But that, of course, is just my personal opinion. What's yours?
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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Jim Bates
From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2010 8:22 pm
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You left out Hawaiian, which I usually play without any pedals, plus 'all of the above'.
Thanx,
Jim |
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Connie Mack
From:
phoenicia, new york
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Posted 2 Feb 2010 8:35 pm
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i play both styles
country AND western....
_________________
82'sho-bud u-12, frankendekely u-12, bride of frankendekley u-12, a whole mess of other instruments...finger still messed up but getting better... |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2010 9:37 pm
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On gigs, I play "country" and as many other types of songs as I feel I can make a better ( or more or less as good) a contribution to on steel as I can on guitar (I'm an electric guitarist, too (twenty years before I took up steel).
At home I generally try to work out arrangements of tunes I like from any genre: classical, "standards", folk (any folk), "classic rock", jazz originals, etc., etc. (country, too!)
All on E9th tuning. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 2 Feb 2010 10:33 pm
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I play country music on pedal steel, and it kinda varies, like, for shows, I play traditional country songs, and at home, I kinda mix it in with some newer country stuff that features steel, like Brad Paisley, Gary Allan, my friend Michelle Poe, and Dierks Bentley. For shows, I play songs by Hank Williams, George Strait, George Jones, and two years ago, I played one of my favorite Bob Wills songs, "San Antonio Rose" and last year, I learned 'Crazy Arms" by Ray Price. I also add steel to an 80s pop song that I loved as a kid called "Time After Time", which was first recorded by singer Cyndi Lauper, but the version I play along with is in a movie, sung by my friend Katie Cook. The song don't feature steel, so I add the steel.
Brett |
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Rick Winfield
From:
Pickin' beneath the Palmettos
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Posted 3 Feb 2010 5:55 am 3 years
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Peasant music from all over the world, is a large ambition, and a great accomplishment.
I have only 3 years experience with Pedal Steel,(played standard guitar for 40+ years) and have decided to build a basic repertoire of:
jazz standards, western swing, classic country and hawaiian. Maybe 50 "solid" tunes. When I have succeeded at this, hopefully I'll have expanded myself to fit most situations.
rick |
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John Cox
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2010 7:33 am
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What I've learned through the years is that the guitar will play anythin you want it to. The biggest limit is the guy setting behind it. That being said, I play 60s-70s pop, old country and swing. Nothing modern except if I need to play it on stage. I've always wanted to ask and now this thread presents an opportunity. Why is it that we never had tab for more popular music and pop tunes? You know ,like the one that any keyboarded instrument has. It seems you can get music or tab for every country song ever done but, if you want different, your pertty much out of luck.
JC.
_________________
"Be excellent to each other" |
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Larry Lorows
From:
Zephyrhills,Florida, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2010 8:05 am
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Hi John, If you learn to read music, then any written music will work. Just apply it to your steel. I was lucky and took six string guitar lessons when I was younger and I can apply it to steel. Larry
_________________
U12 Williams keyless 400
Vegas 400, Nashville 112, Line 6 pod xt |
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Roger Edgington
From:
San Antonio, Texas USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2010 8:52 am
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| For the last 15 years I've been in a hard core swing and old country band. I get to play pretty stuff,parts and stretch as far as I am capable. The last band was a top 40 country house band.I like to try most music from Hawaiian to blues,standards,modern country, even some rock if I have to. I enjoy my D10 pedal steel and also a triple neck stringmaster. It's all just music and it's all fun. |
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Jerry Bull
From:
Republic, MO, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2010 9:16 am
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I have basically 3 different sounds. I use a BoBro, clean steel, and dirty(slide guitar type stuff) I play some 60's & 70's country, but mostly classic rock and newer country and I incorporate all of my 3 basic effects into all the above mentioned genres. We do a couple of songs that I'm actually using all 3 in the same song(not at the same time of course) just to add more dimension to our five piece, but I use these FX very tastefully. One of my favorites to play is the song "Tush" with some slightly overdriven steel. A close second for me is the Tracy Byrd version of "Don't take her (She's all I got)played like the CD. Our band can really smoke these songs. And we do everything in between. I love being versatile. It's nice to be able to go play for Senior citizens one night, then go play for a college crowd, or a chuckwagon race the next. It's all GOOD!
_________________
www.psgpicker@gmail.com (Sierra Crown D-10 keyless)2-Nashville 112's, Steelers Choice, Hilton VP, Digitech RP150, Bobro, GeorgeL's cables, BJS Bars and Picks. |
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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2010 7:01 pm
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I just programmed a fast 12-bar blues shuffle into my Casio keyboard (so it plays, drums, rhythm, and bass to that chord change in that style at that tempo) and then practiced the pedal steel along with it. I was having a great time; the ghosts of Elmore James and Duane Allman were grinning from ear to ear.
So I don't play "mostly" blues on my psg, but I feel bad seeing that zero on this poll. Surely somebody plays blues on the psg? What a wonderful instrument for it! With an E9th 12-string and those low strings, pedal steel is like blues guitar on steroids! Or on acid!!! Fun fun fun!!!!!!!
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 5 Feb 2010 9:44 pm
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Rock.
_________________
Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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Roual Ranes
From:
Atlanta, Texas, USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2010 6:19 am
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| Playing dances for people from mixed backgrounds you need to play a little of everything and we try. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 6 Feb 2010 10:29 am
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I can't find a category to place my vote in - not in Jim's survey, either. When I'm noodling away for my own pleasure (and not woodshedding like crazy for an upcoming show!), I like to play melodic pop music. That could be anything from standards (and I don't classify that as jazz) to the better pop of the last fifty years.
I enjoy digging around for the extended chords in Burt Bacharach's music, as well as the Beach Boys, Steely Dan and all sorts in between.
Shouldn't 'Pop' be a category?
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Brett Lanier
From:
Madison, TN
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Posted 6 Feb 2010 4:42 pm
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| I play the normal stuff. Country, swing, jazz, folk, and rock. But... I got into steel guitar through a roommate I had when I was attending a jazz conservatory. He plays and composes avante-garde jazz and folk on an 8 string harmous lap steel with his own tuning. He turned me on to speedy west, buddy emmons, giorgi ligetti... and he always kicked my ass in chess. Myke Freidman is his name. I think he has a group in NYC called Myke Freidman Small Suit. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 6:56 am
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No criticism intended, Jimbeaux! When it comes to these sort of things I'm a mere armchair-participant or, as we say in the old country, a 'barrack-room lawyer' - all mouth-and-trousers!
Surveys are fun!
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Rick Winfield
From:
Pickin' beneath the Palmettos
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 8:59 am Chart
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Great chart !
really shows what's going on !
I'm assumimg that past, (fall) and present are likely to be the same.
Rick |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 9:48 am
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I'm drinking from the same well as my colleague to the south, Roger E.
In one band I play in, the Tom Teboe band, it's the hardest of hard-core, Hooker/Trevino/Flores country you can get. I mean, not only do we do Hank Thompson music, we play freakin' George Morgan songs! 
In the Tony Harrison Band, we do about 50% western swing and the very occasional Price song, but half the repertoire is horn section based and Great American Songbook stuff. So in that band it's a lot of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Nat Cole-type material.
Lately at home I've been on a rhumba/mambo kick, so I've been working up arrangements of Besame Mucho, Perfidia, a Latinized C'est Si Bon, and Frenesi.
Since I also free-lance around TX, I have to somehow cram whatever stylistic peg I have into the musical hole of whomever I'm accompaning for the moment.
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 9:53 am
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About ten percent classic country,eighty percent Southern rock and blues. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.
_________________
Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 10:44 am
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| Jim Bates wrote: |
You left out Hawaiian, which I usually play without any pedals, plus 'all of the above'.
Thanx,
Jim |
I play, "Hawaiian," also, Jim. But virtually all the Hawaiian I play does fit loosely into the Jazz and Swing column. The finite nature of choices does get in the way sometimes. But the choices also overlap a bit.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Terry Sneed
From:
Arkansas,
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Posted 7 Feb 2010 3:20 pm Gospel
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I chose Gospel, but just wanted to say that I play 'country Gospel, or Christian country. I do play a little traditional country once in a while, which I think is the best music for steel guitar.
But I've always loved the Bluegrass/electric sounds of Ricky Skaggs when he first come in to the country scene. He had the best band ever, or ever will be! IMO 
terry
_________________
1997 emmons legrande lll 8&5/ Nashville 112 with Fox chip mod LTD 400 / American Tele / John Jorgerson Takamine/ W/S Rob Ickes model dobro/
"May God Bless America Again" |
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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 8 Feb 2010 6:47 pm
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Thanks to Jim Cohen -- that is exactly what I wanted to know, and it appears you asked the question a little better than I did. I was curious what percentage of psg players do that really fast and complex Buddy Emmons-type jazz, and it appears that, at least among the Forumites, the answer is not many.
The jazziest stuff I do (I play E9th only) is songs in harmonic minor -- stuff like "Summertime" or Latin-inspired grooves with diminished seventh chords, augmented chords, dominant seventh flat nine chords, etc. The rest of the time I am real happy with country, blues, reggae, acoustic rock, and R&B...
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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