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Topic: NO STEELS NEEDED for ROCK |
Bill Howard
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 9:07 am |
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I was contacted by a man yesterday wanting a Pedal Steel player. "We get top money"
He talked to me for about ten minutes when he casually mentions the type of Music I would be playing, "Top 40 COUNTRY".
I told him that Country Music had not been played on the Radio for Years, Oh yeah this Stud Muffin and that one with some Bimbo Blondes thrown in the mix.
(I hadn't heard of ANY of them)
I told him I wasn't interested.
"Well no one wants to pay anyone for playing "THAT Country anymore". Thanks I'll sit home and watch Marty Stuart  . signed Don't Rock My Emmons:) |
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Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
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Posted 18 May 2010 12:00 pm
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You shoulda forwarded him to a colleague who would play top 40 country. 
_________________
Primitive Utility Steel |
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Jim Phelps
From:
Mexico City, Mexico
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Posted 18 May 2010 12:01 pm
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Yes it would have been nice if you'd passed the gig onto someone who might not mind playing that kind of music and maybe could really use the money. Enjoy sitting home.  |
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Don Hinkle
From:
Springfield Illinois, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 12:30 pm
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Ditto- I am a younger (ish) steeler at 46 years of youth.. I play in a top 40 country band playing the new stuff.. I also play my tele too.. but I am just next door in Illinois.. forward them my email.. i might be able to score a gig 
donlx90@yahoo.com
Don
_________________
Emmons Legrande III SD10
Emmons Legrande III D10
Session 400
Fender guitars
Fender amps |
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Joe Miraglia
From:
Jamestown N.Y.
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Posted 18 May 2010 12:59 pm
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| Don Hinkle wrote: |
Ditto- I am a younger (ish) steeler at 46 years of youth.. I play in a top 40 country band playing the new stuff.. I also play my tele too.. but I am just next door in Illinois.. forward them my email.. i might be able to score a gig
donlx90@yahoo.com
Don |
Don, I'm 70 and still at it. Playing in a Top 40's country band and having fun at it. The band's now learning Luke Bryan:Rain Is A GOOD Thing:(Of course you old timers don't care anything about it like who is Luke Bryan? )The band has been together for 9 Years, playing more than ever. Joe
www.willowcreekband.com
Last edited by Joe Miraglia on 18 May 2010 1:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 18 May 2010 1:04 pm
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| In New York, at least, a professional musician plays what the gig requires, whether it is a wedding gig, a polka, jazz, country, or klezmer. Play or perish. In fact I would say it is one of the defining differences between a professional and an amateur musician. An amateur can afford to sit at home. Professional can't. |
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Joe Miraglia
From:
Jamestown N.Y.
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Posted 18 May 2010 1:24 pm
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| Bill McCloskey wrote: |
| In New York, at least, a professional musician plays what the gig requires, whether it is a wedding gig, a polka, jazz, country, or klezmer. Play or perish. In fact I would say it is one of the defining differences between a professional and an amateur musician. An amateur can afford to sit at home. Professional can't. |
Bill McCoskey, I'm no pro. but I love to play and I've learned to be opened minded about music.
I'm to young at 70, to stay home and sit.Also a musician is a entertainer,no matter what music he plays.
Bill Howard,go for it you might like it,you never know  Joe
www.willowcreekband.com |
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John Neff
From:
Athens, GA
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Posted 18 May 2010 1:33 pm
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| Sometimes it's totally appropriate for a professional musician to turn down gigs. A matter of taste is as good a reason as I need. Of course, being booked solid is the best reason and a nice problem to have when it happens. |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 3:22 pm
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Top Forty Country isnt rock. Its pop.
people always complain theres no steel in it, then when they ask one of you to play steel on it, you say no?
make up your minds , do you want top forty country to have steel in it or not? 
(perosnally i dont care either way) |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 18 May 2010 3:37 pm
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you should have taken the gig, it's a Steel Guitar gig and there are plenty of so called top 40 Country with fine Steel on them or he would not have called.
or, as mentioned, passed the gig off to another player, it's possible that all that happened here was a turn off to Steel Guitar and nobody gets the gig.
t
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Bill Howard
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 5:35 pm Forwarded to Don Hinkle
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Don I forwarded the Guys phone numbers to you you were polite and not like a cpl others only wanting to BASH me because I don't LIKE Rock?POP or what ever the Hell it is Music.
If you guys like playing that stuff have at it be nice I will send you all of the offers I get.
I get a lot of offers for an "AMATEUR". |
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Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 6:23 pm
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| Hey Bill i was just funnin ya, not trying to bash you. sorry if I gave offense. I dont blame ya for not taking the job, i dont play in bands i dont like either ...lifes too short. take er easy |
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Tom Stolaski
From:
Huntsville, AL, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 8:33 pm
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| I used to play the Detroit area at a time when most of the country bands played half country and half top 40 rock. If I did not learn how to play some rock on my steel guitar, I would not have worked at all. I thought it was fun to learn a keyboard part on my steel. It was a real challenge to find a part to play in a rock tune that did not have steel on it. Keeping an open mind is very important in music. If I only played music that I loved, I would not play very many gigs. I could not turn down a gig in those days because I was playing music for a living. |
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Tom Stolaski
From:
Huntsville, AL, USA
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Posted 18 May 2010 8:34 pm
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| I also think that if you want to get better at playing steel guitar, you should take advantage of any opportunity to play. |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 18 May 2010 9:12 pm Re: NO STEELS NEEDED for ROCK
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| Bill Howard wrote: |
| Don't Rock My Emmons. |
My Sho-Bud likes rock better than country. 
_________________
Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 18 May 2010 10:27 pm
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I have the good fortune to be able to play "classic country" in 3 or 4 different bands. While it is great music, I am bored to death with it. A friend of mine is having me fill in for him, while he is on vacation, in a band that does modern country. I am going to have to bust my butt to learn these songs. This band (already a 6 pc. band without a steel) could easily do without a steel, but they still wish to have one(bless their hearts). So, I'll take the money (real good for this area), play my 30 minutes worth of actual steel licks (out of a 3 hour gig), and enjoy the hell out of it.
As I write this, I am watching a recording of the Time Jumpers on Larry's Country Diner. Dawn Sears singing "If You're Going to Do Me Wrong, Do It Right. Paul Franklin tearin' it up. Don't get any better than that. I've got goosebumps and tears flowing. I just had to say that.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 19 May 2010 7:35 am
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A job's a job. Now that I'm back "in the market", I draw the line at high volume levels. Strangely, I've found that top 40 country bands usually play louder than rock bands. Go figure.
Real loud music is physical abuse. I won't hurt myself for money. That's my view.
By the way, my definition of an amateur is someone who, like myself, doesn't make his living playing music. Playing weekends doesn't make one a professional. A professional musician is someone who is on the road, in the studio, in clubs, etc. full time. Just my opinion.
Calling someone an amateur is not an insult. Some of the members of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame are amateurs.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 19 May 2010 8:16 am
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| I had an interesting conversation with Mike Auldridge once where I was talking about some of the jazz stuff I was working on and Mike said his audience doesn't like it when he moves too far away from bluegrass. Made me realize that an amateur musician such as myself, actually has a lot more creative leaway than many full time performers who are expected to play a certain way, or a certain genre for their audience. |
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Jim Hollingsworth
From:
Way out West
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Posted 19 May 2010 8:22 am Rock/Top 40 Country
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Anybody remember when Rusty Young started out with Poco? Was it rock or Country? All I know is it made me want to learn to play pedal steel. While I agree that it'd be nice to have steel returned to it's previous stature in Country I must also say that we must engage with those pop?rock? country wannabes and show them the way by playing REALLY GOOD in their bands. It's easy to complain, harder to engage & change. But being ivolved in that change would be far more rewarding.
Rusty did.....
Jim Hollingsworth |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 19 May 2010 8:47 am NO STEELS NEEDED for COUNTRY either
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With regard to the thread title -
| Quote: |
| NO STEELS NEEDED for ROCK |
This is quite true. Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and lots of (most) rock bands had lots of great tunes with no steel guitar at all. It would be very hard to make a reasonable argument that Steel Guitar is needed for rock music.
But some other things that are also true:
1. The same is quite true for country or any other style of music. Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter Family seemed to do just fine without it. Lots of my favorite tunes by Merle Haggard had no steel on them either. There is lots of great country music without any steel guitar on it whatsoever. Steel Guitar is not needed for country music either, although I confess to really like it. I'd even go so far as to say that I generally prefer it with steel guitar. But that's just my personal preference, nothing more. There are people who feel differently.
2. To say "NO STEELS NEEDED for ROCK" - logically, ~(Rock => Steel), which is logically equivalent to Rock ^ ~Steel (i.e., Rock and No Steel) - does not mean the same thing as saying Rock => ~Steel - in other words, Rock requires No Steel. Steel Guitar can be used to good effect in rock by the right player. There are lots of examples of good rock and roll with steel guitar. Of course, if you hate rock, you may not see it that way. But I'd argue that if you really hate it, you're probably not in a good position to judge what's 'good' vs. 'bad' rock.
IMHO, we should not use this forum to start a cultural war over musical styles or try to adjudicate which styles of music should or should not have steel guitar on them. We each get to decide what type of music we want to play with which instrument(s). We all have preferences - they will rarely exactly match. |
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Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
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Posted 19 May 2010 10:17 am
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| We're all pedal steel ambassadors and with that comes a responsibility that crosses all cultural and musical genre bounds, IMO. Be a diplomat. |
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Storm Rosson
From:
Silver City, NM. USA
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Posted 19 May 2010 10:30 am
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this thread = redundant ho-hum  |
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Jeremy Steele
From:
Princeton, NJ USA
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Posted 19 May 2010 10:46 am
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| An amateur (French amateur "lover of", from Old French and ultimately from Latin amatorem nom. amator, "lover") is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training. An amateur receives little or irregular income from their activities, and thus differs from a professional who makes a living from the pursuit and typically has formal training and certifications in the domain. The term, deriving from words for "lover", reflects a voluntary motivation to work as a result of personal interest in the activity. As a value system, amateurism elevates things done with self-interest or for their own intrinsic value above those done for pay. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 19 May 2010 11:08 am
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I am a better person now.  |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 May 2010 2:06 pm Re: NO STEELS NEEDED for COUNTRY either
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| Dave Mudgett wrote: |
| IMHO, we should not use this forum to start a cultural war over musical styles or try to adjudicate which styles of music should or should not have steel guitar on them. We each get to decide what type of music we want to play with which instrument(s). We all have preferences - they will rarely exactly match. |
That's what I've been thinking all along. Thanks for putting it into words.
_________________
Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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