Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 28 Sep 2010 5:14 pm |
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I got hired to play solo at a state park event near here a couple of days ago. She offered me $200 but I told her I'd do it for $125 because I know they are really short of money, desperate to keep the parks open during the financial meltdown. For three hours of what I call practice, among nice people, in a beautiful location not that far from here, I figured $125 was plenty...
So I played for three hours, with one five minute break. (I like to play more than I like to take breaks.) Outdoors, by the lake, with gorgeous fall foliage, maybe 60 degrees, not too hot, not too cold. A tent if it rained, which it didn't. Not too many people -- maybe 75 or a hundred all day, but they all enjoyed what I did -- I know, because most of them came up to tell me afterwards.
So what did I do? Half solo guitar, and half solo pedal steel. No looper, no backup tracks, no laptop, no band, no accompaniment. I played mostly country and blues, some more exotic stuff. On both six-string and pedal steel, I tried to play chords as well as melody at all times. It helps that I have a 12-string steel and can provide fairly low-pitched roots for most of the chords. (That gives it a more anchored, bottom-heavy sound when you don't have a rhythm guitar or a bass.)
My point? That solo pedal steel gigs, or busking with a pedal steel, is a viable option. Sure, I'd rather play with a backup band, and just take solos over the rhythm section rather than having to try to provide the rhythm section myself at the same time I'm soloing. But it did work, and all the old ladies really loved it, which to my way of thinking is a good measure of general tastefulness. (Even though I was quite loud, trying to be heard by people spread over several acres of parkland.) And even though I am a much better guitar player than pedal steel player, people particularly liked the solo steel stuff. So, if you want gigs, and you need money, think outside the box! Solo pedal steel gigs are hard work, and you need an active right hand to approximate melody, chords, and bass lines all at once, but if I had been with my 8-piece band I would have made $15 instead of $125. What do you say to that? 
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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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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 29 Sep 2010 11:26 am
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Jim -- thanks for the nice words, but it was definitely the beautiful tone and harmonic possibilities of pedal steel, more than my playing, which is slow and simplistic.
Twayn -- no, I didn't sing. Just background instrumentals. I've been doing that act on 6-string for a long time, and people seem to like it even better with psg...
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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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