The Steel Guitar and Its Problematic Future by Bruce Clarke

Guy Cundell · From: More idle ramblings from South Australia

I saved this article from Bruce Clarke's (1/12/1925-24/07/2008) website and have been searching the Net to see if it was still available anywhere, without success. Bruce was an influential Australian steel guitarist whose legacy includes the Cumquat Records series of Hawaiian recording restorations. I think his observations raise many valid points that continue to perplex me. These are very broad issues that remain unsolved if our instrument is going to prosper in the future.

The Steel Guitar and Its Problematic Future by Bruce Clarke c2005

For some time now, I have been pondering upon: “Why the steel guitar has failed to make inroads into the broader musical mainstream and why it rarely receives the type of exposure its ardent brigade of players and supporters believe it so richly deserves"’.

I trust the following thoughts will be accepted for what I intend them to be: constructive and unbiased observations. But before I stick my neck out, let me reiterate a brief history of the steel world as I see it.

Until the late twenties, the acoustic steel guitar was a musical fringe-dweller – a sweet-sounding novelty instrument, confined by its inherent lack of volume, to the Hawaiian Trio (steel, rhythm guitar and ukulele) or equivalent folk or hillbilly formats, where even the addition of a string bass could overpower its sweet voice.

Throughout the thirties, Oahu Publishing Company in the USA, The Hawaiian Club in Australia and similar organizations around the world, brought the steel into thousands of homes by promoting it as: “the perfect hobby instrument – easy to play and well worth playing”. Kicked along by Hollywood’s dream factory, its soothing sound generated a million palm-tree-encrusted fantasies… visions of paradise, soft guitars and moonlit little brown gals. The perfect emotional insulation against both the Great Depression and the encroaching gloom of the war years.

Electrification solved the instrument’s volume problems and opened the door onto a new world of tonal possibilities, elevating it onto an equal footing with the brass, wind, string and percussion families. By the mid-‘40s, Tommy Castro, Bobby Nichols, Hal Aloma, Eddy Bush, Freddy Tavares, Alvino Rey, Les Adams, Andy Iona and a few others had effectively demonstrated its potential within a broader range of instrumentations.

Unfortunately, that promise of a bright tomorrow (outside of Hawaiian and Country music), was not however, to be fulfilled. The fifties produced a flood of ‘enhanced’ Hawaiian albums, with steel guitars struggling for air amid a turgid sea of strings. Remember “101 Strings Go Hawaiian”? – or The Edinburgh Pipe Band’s “1000 Pipes And Drums Play Hawaiian Evergreens”? No doubt these sold well but their sonic wallpaper-ishness did nothing to advance the steel as ‘an instrument worthy of further investigation’ in the mind of the wider music fraternity. They lacked the impact, freshness, sense of discovery and expressive sensitivity of the pre-war masters.

Why was that? Because apart from Sol Ho’opi’i, The McIntires, Augie Goupil and one or two others (who were by now working ‘The Celestial Circuit’), many fine players straddled both eras. In earlier times, the record companies and radio transcription services gave the artists some degree of control over their recorded output and while the more commercially-minded focussed upon transient fads, others, with a higher level of musical integrity, were given the opportunity to generate an exciting stream of new, interesting music. By the fifties though, the boot was securely on the other foot and the record-industry and tourist-trade bean-counters had begun their takeover! 95% of the Hawaiian recordings made during those years, including the hugely successful “Hawaii Calls” albums featured an ever-diminishing repertoire of “Hawaii’s Greatest Hits”.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that these discs were badly played, unenjoyable, or even that they failed to feature quality performers – I’m simply pointing out that their content offered nothing new. The sound of the steel guitar, once considered to be ‘Interesting and Fresh’, now slept peacefully in the ‘The Nostalgia bins’. Not only in America – but all over the world! Of course, there were still fine players out there but as the fifties drew to a close and Rock ’n Roll stepped in to save the world, most non-pedallers found themselves facing hard times.

The burning questions were:

1) “Why hadn’t this highly expressive and unique instrument been accepted into the musical mainstream?”

2) “Why was it totally trapped in the past?”

Each of the fully accepted instruments: clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, piano etc. had established itself across the total panorama of the sonic art-form… None were restricted to one or two genres of music. Each had spread its wings and flown. So why hadn’t the steel?

Internationally, there was a small flotilla of inspired steel men, but outside of their narrow circles of activity, it was definitely a case of, “Rudi who?” or “Jules what?” Or in the case of the instrument; “What on earth is that you’re scratching on?”

I cut my musical teeth as semi-pro steel player and arranger in a Hawaiian troupe playing for the Armed Forces, both American and Australian and in island-style nightclub and theatre presentations during the early-‘40s. By 1946. a mounting interest in jazz guitar was gradually elbowing my Hawaiian interests onto the backburner. In 1949, I entered the profession full-time and for the next thirty-plus years worked as a guitarist, composer-arranger and musical director of the great radio, television, studio and film orchestras that once walked the earth. Despite my involvement in these all-encompassing areas, I still kept an ear attuned to the instrument’s progress… or should I say lack of progress? If memory serves me correctly, of those I heard, there were only two players (and I shall refrain from mentioning their names in order to protect the innocent), that were musically attempting to break with the past.

Then around 1982, out of the studios and deep into teaching, I rekindled an interest in Hawaiian music and the steel guitar. Aided by Dirk Vogel, Jerry Byrd (who was fast becoming a musical compadre) and the English guru, John Marsden, I was back where I began. After forty years and some five thousand recording sessions, not to mention hundreds of live performances backing or working with big names: Eartha Kitt to Mel Torme, Burl Ives to Frank Sinatra, Larry Adler to Dizzy Gillespie, from Jerry Byrd to Stan Getz… I was slammed back in yesterday's Hawaii. Still wondering, “Why hadn’t the non-pedal steel moved forward?”

Jerry Byrd had single-handedly advanced its harmonic possibilities, kept the spirit of those bygone years alive and artistically sound and for almost half a century carried the can alone. But now, if his life’s work was to have meaning and a relevant future, some new, young, creative performer(s) had to emerge, to stand upon his shoulders and open the doors on a bright new tomorrow.

It would be difficult since the instrument’s sonority was so perfectly suited to Hawaiian and Country music’s folky commerciality. This still to be discovered saviour would need to find fresh fields to plough, since new music is never a reciprocation of the past! And now, with all that said, let’s face up to some cold hard facts!

Without a doubt, the 20th Century was the most fertile period in the history of music. Innovation and change were the names of the game! Innovations in the sound and shape of orchestral music, the emergence of new forms such as jazz and country, the globalisation and commercial take-over of pop culture, etc. new styles, new sounds and rhythms, new instruments, the onslaught of new technologies, acid rock, ant-acid rock - you name it, they came and went at a dizzying pace.

In retrospect, the giants - those who really made a difference and continue to stand head and shoulders above us mere mortals, include: Andres Segovia, Eddie Lang, George Van Eps, Charlie Christian, Django, Sol Ho’opi’i, Jerry Byrd and Buddy Emmons were among those who elevated their particular guitar styles to unprecedented levels of expressivity; Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and a few key figures refashioned jazz into an art-form; Arnold Schoenberg discovered a world beyond the Tonal System and Igor Stravinsky changed our concept of rhythm – the list is much too long to fully document here.

All of these men had one thing in common, they were young! Very young! Segovia was 27, Lang 24, Christian 19, Django 24, Ho’opi’i 24, Parker 24. Each instrumentalist made his breakthrough and changed our concept of music while still on the sunny side of thirty. The composers, whose task was much more difficult, took a little longer. They were all creative young men bringing something new and exciting to fresh young ears. Old men consolidate – they do not innovate! The steel guitar world eagerly awaits the arrival of tomorrow’s hero – if you see or hear him please ring me on (613) 9 5094958.

Now, a few points worth considering:-

A. The various Hawaiian steel guitar conventions are wonderful and important occasions that well deserve to be kept alive. In their present form however, (according to the many tapes I’ve heard from Hawaii, Joliet, St. Louis and the UK), they all exude the impression of the converted playing for the converted. When a younger person (and he may well be a terrific instrumentalist) guest stars, his contributions – from what I’ve heard – tends to be re-heated yesterday. Each collection of convention photographs reveal a dearth of this much-needed forward-looking young blood. (Please remember, this is not a criticism just an observation).

B. Now let’s take a good look at the instrument itself. Perhaps its most valuable asset is the beautiful singing quality and vast range of subtle inflections it can bring to a musical phrase or sentence. Like the human voice, violin, viola or cello, its lack of frets offers the artist an unlimited range of expressive nuances. BUT…its downside, from a professional composer or arranger’s point of view is…its many tunings and their harmonic limitations.

C. In the hands of the best performers one tuning may be as good as another for single string melody work - and for those who have mastered the round steel and forward and reverse slanting, each tuning offers unique (but limited) harmonic possibilities. Multiple necks, pedals and knee levers, have all expanded its harmonic potential – but each mechanical advancement pushed the steel further out of the picture as far as the professional composer was concerned.

Let me elucidate…the above mentioned firmly established instruments did not ‘earn their spurs’ because someone played them well – they rose to glory because great composers (not song writers) wrote new, original, interesting music that fully exploited and displayed their capabilities. So how come the steel – which up till now has mainly been concerned styles of playing rather than fully written compositions – has missed out? Two reasons…Those multiple tunings and because it is tablature ridden.

D. It may come as a surprise to many readers to find that the so-called ‘Classical’ guitar was once also dead in the water. From around 1550 AD until late in the eighteenth century the instrument was burdened by an insurmountable(?) problem: its range lay evenly across the treble and bass clefs. On a keyboard where five fingers took care of the treble while five looked after the bass, two clefs posed no problems, but when four fingers had to cover both – pheew!

So tablature was invented to overcome the problem by by-passing the complexities of conventional music notation. But TAB isolates the user, cutting him off from the treasure house of knowledge and pleasure available to the reading musician and limiting his involvement in the craft to ‘three or four chord ditties’. In the case of the above-mentioned ‘Classical’ guitar, TAB karate chopped it off from the mainstream of creative musical activity for over two hundred years: confining its tiny voice to the boudoir or small-scale drawing room entertainments. (Nowadays, it is often forgotten that its contours were originally shaped to fit comfortably beneath the bosom of the corseted female body).

Around 1800 a new era in guitar music publishing began with the notes written one octave higher than they actually sounded - making it possible to graphically display its ‘two clef range’ on one treble clef stave. Reading was now simple and practical. Guitarists could finally communicate and talk turkey with fellow musicians. Music for guitar and string quartet, music for guitar and flutes or woodwinds etc. etc. became available and the instrument and its best performers were back in the action. Back where they rightfully belonged. Tablature went underground, the guitar took flight and - until recent times - has never looked back. (The modern publishing practice of force-feeding TAB to wannabee instant guitar heroes, is looming as a threat to its future well-being). The big problem with the steel in this area is – that there doesn’t seem to be an alternative.

E. Those above-mentioned composers were able to write masterpieces for the standard instruments because what they saw was what they got. A cello or a violin is tuned a certain way, its bow has a specific length etc. and it can be readily understood and produce everything that is required of it, from a stable set of parameters. Write finely crafted music for any of these instruments and thousands of people can play it and the composition might itself might survive for centuries to come.

It’s hard to imagine a great writer undertaking the task of writing large scale, totally ground breaking original material for an instrument so riddled with alternatives - and even if he did - who is going to be musically equipped to play it? He’s sure as hell not going to notate it in tablature!

The above thoughts are not meant to denigrate this multi-faceted instrument, its history or its many fine players past and present, or steel guitar conventions, they are simply facts that I believe have to be confronted. From where I sit, after my sixty three year involvement with music, there appear to be no answers – only questions that need to be addressed. Today’s Hawaiian music and, to some degree, the commercial output of Nashville have turned their backs upon the steel. I’m sure that’s not an improvement – but it surely is a sign that something’s got to be done.

My Cumquat restoration project has been an attempt to set history straight. To free the first electric steel masters from their outmoded sound formats and make them available to the contemporary listener -- and future players. As of April, 2004, I have resurrected (to the best of my ability) over 500 classic pre-1945 tracks. Over 400 are already available on twenty one quality CDs - the rest will follow shortly. My basic aim was to document who really did what, when…because…
If you don’t have a proper understanding of what has already been achieved and who achieved it, you’ll never figure out what still remains to be discovered – out there in the dark of tomorrow!

Mike Neer · From: NJ

One of the only places I've really seen a complete break from the past traditions of Hawaiian guitar is in Hindustani and Carnatic music.

The instrument needs dedicated players who are serious musicians untethered to playing in traditional styles.

It's absolutely crazy that Cumquat Records literally disappeared completely from the internet: not even the Wayback Machine can find a trace of it. Proves that the internet really isn't forever.
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Bill McCloskey · Posted 13 Nov 2023 5:41 am

Well, Sacred Steel was certainly a departure from traditional hawaiian steel. And also seems to be thriving based on the recent florida Sacred Steel convection.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

What a shame that those Cumquat discs are practically unobtanium…

Tim Toberer · From: Nebraska, USA

I have been thinking about doing a poll to gauge the average ages of the people who are active on this forum. Things seem a bit healthier over on the pedal side, but some of the same issues still apply.

If we are talking about strictly non-pedal steel in western music, I will suggest that the lack of standardization is a huge hurdle. Starting out on non-pedal conjures up a Dr Seussian image of a sign with arrows pointing every which way saying "Go this Way". The problem is this lack of standardization is also one of the greatest assets in that it allows the player to create their own path. Learning how to navigate and tweak the tunings seems to be one of the voodoo teachings that you have to just learn by playing. Sadly few musicians are willing to undertake the monumental task of trailblazing. I guess I am one of them, cause I mostly play my pedal steel guitar. I think the closest the instrument ever came to finding a standard was through the development of the Alkire and the Leavitt tunings and possibly the expanded E13. I considered going down this path, but I just don't have the patience it would take to progress at either of these. Plus I want all the possibilities. The idea of tuning to a chord on an instrument played with a straight bar is just very limiting. I absolutely love to see the brilliant ways people overcome this, but in the end, it is always a compromising factor.

My thought is most young people today would very rarely encounter this instrument in any form other than as a novelty, so that is the general attitude. "oh that's Sponge Bob music" The lap steel guitar doesn't suffer the same problem of many other instruments in that it is simple, and a good playing instrument is very obtainable. (Also easy to build!) Compared with the pedal steel, which many people would love to take a crack at if it weren't for the steep price of entry. The exception to all this is the Dobro, which obviously has found a solid home in bluegrass and thanks to Jerry Douglas and other trailblazers, JazzGrass. I feel like all serious instruments are primarily acoustic. I don't see Yo Yo Ma playing electric cello! So in order to make inroads into classical and jazz, I feel like this is the way. I am surprised that I don't see more 8 string Dobros or Tricones. Going from 6 to 8 strings really opens up the harmonic possibilities of the instrument. If I can ever get my act together I hope to start building more of these instruments at a reasonable cost.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I think Doug Beaumier has figured it out really well that the lap steel or non-pedal steel guitar is an excellent instrument for melody and countermelody playing, without the need to cover a lot of chordal ground with big chords, but to use it sparingly to add colors and orchestration to music. People (other than steel guitarists) like to hear familiar melodies and if you are adept at arranging, you can create arrangements of material that are outside of the scope of the usual fare. And for listeners encountering a steel guitar playing those melodies for the first time, it can be very exciting.

Learning what works and what doesn't work in an arrangement for steel is as important as any other technique of playing. After all, you have to hear the music in your head first, there is no automatic pilot for steel guitar--at least there shouldn't be. It takes a lot of trial and error to find the right approach and the littlest of details matter. But that is for you to discover.

My advice is go all in, 100%, and learn how to master the instrument and then you will be able to take it anywhere you like. But you'll have a lot of work ahead of you. Is it work if you really love what you do? Not for me.
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David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I see steel guitar music in the same way I see Flamenco guitar, or Bluegrass. I'm not interested in hearing them mutated into some weird free style like the work of Bela Fleck or Jean Luc Ponty. I accept the limitations of popular music, and I believe it's appeal is familiarity. However, when musicians master their instruments, I sense many get bored with familiarity. A typical reaction is to play too fast, like Tommy Emmanuel and Jerry Douglas. And then there is this angst about infinite development. What I like is a good tune, and they aren't writing many nowadays.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Howard Parker · From: Maryland

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Bruce was a deep thinker about the instrument and had the credentials to backup his opinions. I really enjoyed interviewing him for my lap steel book back in 2002. It's a shame that all he achieved with his Cumquat label is gone except for those who own his discs. His kids just weren't interested in perpetuating their dad's legacy; a common enough story

There's no getting around it that the steel guitar is a hard instrument. It takes a long time to sound good, there's lack of standardization in tuning, scale length, etc. It's overly locked-in to its own standard repertoire.

Yet, all these aspects of the steel guitar that make it a cult instrument make me love its quirky, uniquely weird, and unusual aspects because, at the end of the day, it makes THAT SOUND. You can pick up a uke and make pleasing sounds in 3 mins. It takes a much longer time on the lap steel but it's so worth it! Fine with me if it stays a niche instrument as long as it doesn't go the way of the accordion.

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Tim Toberer · From: Nebraska, USA

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

Nic Neufeld · From: Kansas City, Missouri

Nic Neufeld · From: Kansas City, Missouri

This is a fascinating topic though. Just a few thoughts...David's point, while it might sound harsh or critical of those specific musicians...I kind of get and agree with an underlying point. I've had similar thoughts about how jazz evolved (I am by no means an expert). In the 30s jazz was in large part just popular music, which is why I think some of the old style standards are very enduringly popular. As decades clip by jazz got more cerebral, more musician focused, people kept pushing. As a musician, there's wild, frenetic jazz (or related) music these days that I love and find fascinating. But its usually a long, long way away from say, a young Frank Sinatra singing Stardust with a big orchestra, in terms of how an average person might appreciate it. I guess, I see the appeal of both, but they are quite a bit different.

But back on topic, Larkin Poe / Megan Lovell would be a good example of someone using the steel in an unexpected genre. The drawbacks of that example...their fame/popularity is understandably a bit limited (I learned of them on here!), and their sound is a little "throwbacky" anyway, as a kind of roots/bluesrock sound.

I mean if you ask yourself, why aren't we seeing steel guitar in top 40 (non-country) music any more, well shoot, you're starting to be hard pressed to find regular guitar in use! It's not just our problem Smile

I agree with Mike on Hindustani/Carnatic musicians. Many pay great homage to the Hawaiian musicians like Tau Moe that introduced the instrument...Debashish I think went to Hawaii and paid great tribute to him. But once they adopted it, the last thing they are going to do, as classical musicians, is adopt the style of music, when they are playing Indian classical. The carnatic musicians in particular are exceptionally good at appropriating Western instruments, tossing out the Western music it comes with, and playing pure Indian music on them. I saw a Carnatic sax player many years ago (and violin, harmonium, and other originally western instruments are very common).

(But the use of harmonium as vocal accompaniment in ICM has never been something I've much liked, only because it displaces a much harder, but oh so much more beautiful sounding instrument...the sarangi!)
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I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

Well, I hope I didn't offend anyone's taste. I certainly was not trying to denigrate the work of Fleck, Ponty, Emmanuel and Douglas. That's just the way I hear their music. I like a good tune. Melody is everything to me. That's why I play. And by the way, I like accordians.

A similar subject came up years ago on the old HSGA forum when a well known Hawaiian steel virtuoso asked, "Where do we take it from here?" It think I replied that I liked it just the way it was. And as things turned out, I haven't heard any particular innovation from that quarter.

If progress is to be made in general, I'd like to see musicians writing great melodies again. That's not retro. Its the whole point.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Kyle Jester · From: Martinez, California

Lately I appreciate hearing steel guitar in some of the newer "indie" bands like

- Camera Obscura
- Wilco
- Sharon van Etten
- Tyler Ramsey
- Band of Horses

These players might not be getting at it like the majority of people here in the forum would like to see,
but someone's choosing to put it in the tune and pay someone to play it for the record so that's something.

Marcus Wisweh · From: Berlin, Germany

I'm still a relatively young player. I started eight years ago, and my love for the steel guitar was immediate. My first encounter with it was through country music and SpongeBob, of course. Since then, I've been exploring artists from the golden age, such as King Benny Nawahi, Sol Hoopii, Roy Smeck, Dick McIntire, and all the other great players, trying to emulate their artistry myself. I was very happy to discover this world, as until then, I had no idea of its existence. I've also taken a few lessons which have been very helpful. I work at a music school and have a very clear idea of what is currently in demand. There are many students interested in playing old music from the thirties and forties, mostly Jazz and Swing Tunes. There are also always many students who enjoy playing Nirvana. I guess, this music will always exist. I think the most important thing is to provide resources, exchange ideas, play music, and introduce the steel guitar to a younger audience. Just like me, our students want to play what they know and love. In my opinion, the starting point is passing on the old works of these great artists to the next generation. In Germany, there aren't too many players, but the interest is there, and people are very happy when they get a taste of the music, and that impression will remain forever. So, it's up to us to connect and pass it on

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