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Topic: We all have to start somewhere.... |
Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 27 Oct 2015 1:11 pm |
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An early session - I'd hardly learned a thing (as you can tell) in the year or so I'd been tackling pedal steel at this point but we have to start somewhere....
I'd completely forgotten doing this album in London in the mid-'70s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Ztmrd6_GI
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 27 Oct 2015 2:16 pm
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I don't see any problem with it. The steel sounds okay. I'm reminded of what Joan Baez said about her first session with Chet Atkins. All he did was fingerpick a few chords. "I expected the great Chet Atkins to play something outstanding," she said, "and all you did was pick a few chords..." "That's all the song needed," he replied.
The public just want to hear a competent, simple background. They don't need a display of dextrosity. That might please the steel guitar players listening, but not the public. There are too many groups, nowadays, where they have an instrumental break, and it becomes an excuse for the lead guitarist to go off on a tangent, showing how many notes he can play, running up and down the fingerboard on pentatonic scales which have nothing to do with the tune.
To me, some of the greatest steel guitar pieces have been very simple. For instance, Matthews Southern Comfort's hit version of Woodstock has a very haunting steel, but it's kept simple.
Your playing on that recording was all that the song required. It fitted the music, and was in tune. What else could anyone want?  |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 27 Oct 2015 3:23 pm
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Just as well, Alan - at that stage that was all the 'dextrosity' I could muster! (Did Chet actually say 'dextrosity'? 'Dexterity' wasn't good enough, eh?)
Thanks for being kind, Alan and Jim! This was about the same time as I demolished 'The Pirate Song' on TV with George Harrison - listening to that one spoils my dinner!
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 28 Oct 2015 10:53 am
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| Roger Rettig wrote: |
...Did Chet actually say 'dextrosity'? 'Dexterity' wasn't good enough, eh?...
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No, all he said, according to Joan, was, "That's all the song needed." I was the one who used the word "dextrosity" advisedly, because I thought it were more apt than "dexterity".  |
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