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Topic: I've Changed |
Joe Cook
From:
Lake Osoyoos, WA
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Posted 26 Sep 2020 2:36 pm |
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| I have had an epiphany of sorts recently. I have been playing pedal steel for about 7 years now. I started out 46 years ago on guitar. I've recently taken up the lap steel and my head has been turned around. I've not realized, until now, that the lap steel is the most expressive of the three. I've always loved the sound of Hawaiian music and early country before pedals.I just didn't know how much FUN it is! Now I haven't touched my PSG in months and practice lap steel more just because I can make some of those intoxicating sounds. (Thanks to Doug Beaumier's excellent books). Somehow it's just more satisfying to me. I may sell my PSG! I'm wondering how many of you lap steelers started on PSG and had the same revelation? |
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David Knutson
From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
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Posted 26 Sep 2020 3:50 pm
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A long time ago (in a galaxy far away) I was playing Dobro and "lap-steel-as-electric-dobro". I picked up a D-10 PSG for a country band I was playing in - never learned E9 neck very well, but discovered that the C6 neck was already a little gold mine without pedals or levers. When that band ended I left PSG behind and just got into 8 string lap. I use G6 now because I like the lower range.
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David K |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 26 Sep 2020 4:53 pm
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Same here - and getting a Clinesmith Frypan let me be totally OK with letting go of the PSG - the Frypan is truly amazing - notes seem to leap out of it, sounding almost 3-dimensional...
and combined with a Milkman "The Amp" (2 lbs), I can carry my whole rig in one hand now...
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Joe Cook
From:
Lake Osoyoos, WA
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Posted 26 Sep 2020 9:59 pm
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| Yeah, Steve I hear ya' on the smaller, lighter rig. The Clinesmith would make me pack away the pedal steel as well! Those are special. I'll have to try out the G6 tuning sometime, David. I bet it's great on an 8 string. |
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Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
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Posted 27 Sep 2020 2:24 am
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There was a thread or article somewhere about Tom Morrell mostly playing lap steel in his later years, can't find that but
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=180544
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- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
- The secret sauce: polyester sweatpants to buff your picks, cheapo Presonus channel strip for preamp/EQ/compress/limiter, Diet Mountain Dew |
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Regina Miller
From:
Germany
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Posted 27 Sep 2020 3:15 am
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I've changed from pedal steel to lap steel several years ago. Since I have seen Scotty with his little frypan I want to play lap steel. I bought a 8 string Excel frypan and tuned it to C6. Later on I switch to a 12 string MSA Superslide. Now this is the right instrument for me and I play seldom pedal steel. I get many pedal steel sounds from my 12 string C6 tuning. I have joint the Paul Franklin Method and learn a lot from it for my 12 stringer.
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 27 Sep 2020 4:02 am
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As I recall Tom Morrell did just that and he did pretty well with it. I use an 8 string G6 tuning and it works well for me, since I started as a dobro player. On my Dual Professional it compliments the E13 tuning quite well, but I have it on a single neck, too.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Joe Cook
From:
Lake Osoyoos, WA
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Posted 27 Sep 2020 7:07 am
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Wow Regina, that's a beauty! 12 strings would be daunting for me. I imagine that MSA could cover just about all the bases. Tom Morrell was a monster player and I think when you're a natural musician, it doesn't matter what instrument you choose as your voice. Your talent comes through. I want to try other tunings but I need to spend time with just the C6 and A6 for now. I love doing slants and probably like it more than pushing pedals and levers (which I still enjoy). I think a big part of my enjoying the lap steel so much is the portability. I can practice anywhere, anytime!  |
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Tom Campbell
From:
Houston, Texas, USA
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Posted 27 Sep 2020 7:47 am
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I've contemplated changing a number of times, but didn't make the move because of hand issues. If one has arthritis or any other problems with the left hand, slants become difficult/painful to perform.
I did move from a U12 to a 3/5 S-10 and have it tuned to a "hybrid" B6/E9, and eliminated the need for slants. Age related problems seem to dictate our choices vs. our desires. |
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Jean-Sebastien Gauthier
From:
Quebec, Canada
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Posted 29 Sep 2020 4:19 am
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I started on lap steel around 10 years ago because I love Hank Williams, Wayne Hancock and Western Swing.
I been back and forth from straight steel to pedal steel because I also love old school Bakersfield country. Every time I work hard on pedal steel, get good but loose my straight steel skills and get tired of pedal steel, sold it and go back to lap steel.
I finally found a band that are jazz musicians who love Western swing and early country so I don’t need the pedal steel. I have my Clinesmith cast aluminum JM guitar tuned to C6/A7 and I’m so happy that I made the decision to stay with it. Yes will probably loose some opportunities but you can’t please everybody and I will be a better player if I focus on one thing I think. |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 29 Sep 2020 7:24 am
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I started out at age 9 on Hawaiian Guitar, age 12 moved to a double neck 8 string (Fender String Master) Began playing in country and surf bands and started saving up money for a "pedal steel" During High School I focused on armpit guitar and finally got my pedal steel at age 19. For the next 20 years I toured across the lower 48 states, then later Alaska to Australia with several bands, played hundreds of studio sessions... bla bla bla. (The Pedal steel began losing popularity in modern country and country rock music sometime during those years) In 1999 while I was working in Phoenix, AZ. I stopped in a music store and there she was! A little 6 string Silvertone (Valco pickup) lap steel... I tuned the rusty old strings up and plugged her in and I was hooked... It all seemed to come back to me, the simplicity and challenge of a 6 string A6th or C6th tuning and that sound...oh that moan that sound. I have been playing steel without pedals almost exclusively since then. Except when the gig or studio session requires pedal steel, then I will use both.
Long post to say I have changed too.
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3 |
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Joe Cook
From:
Lake Osoyoos, WA
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Posted 1 Oct 2020 2:57 pm
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Yes Jean-Sebastian. I love that old time swing and country with straight steel and the early pedal steel stuff as well. I am afraid to pack away my pedal steel, though because I don't want to lose my hard earned chops, as meager as they are!
Dom, your years of experience probably make it a bit easier to move from lap to pedal than it is for me. I guess you just have to make time for both. That lap steel sound is so evocative I can't put it down!  |
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