| Author |
Topic: Picks or not on lap steel? |
Terry Goodman
From:
Daphne, AL 36526
|
Posted 24 Nov 2002 11:03 am |
|
I use finger picks on my acoutics reso, but generally don't on my electric lap. I have read that Jerry Douglas plays lap steel bare handed. What do you guys do, and anyone know what the biggies (Lindley, etc.) do?
Thanks
|
|
|
 |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
|
Posted 24 Nov 2002 8:55 pm
|
|
Almost everyone I know plays with a thumbpick and two (sometimes three) fingerpicks. The only players I can think of who don't regularly play this way are Tut Taylor, who plays with a flat pick, and Ben Harper, who uses just his fingers.
This includes David Lindley, Jerry Douglas, Rob Ickes, etc.
------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 24 November 2002 at 08:56 PM.] |
|
|
|
Dwight Mark
From:
Denver, Colorado, USA
|
Posted 24 Nov 2002 9:44 pm
|
|
I rarely play lapsteel - I play acoustic Weissenborn style. I've gone back and forth with and without picks. My friends who listen to similar music, like players like Kelly Joe Phelps who doesn't use a pick. And if I try to record, the Weissenborn is a quiet instrument and you hear a lot of the pick on the string. I use plastic picks.
Brozman and other claim that the picks give you a lot more dynamics, it seems they can play all their faster licks with them... And I just saw Steve Dawson this week while I was visiting Toronto and he was amazing. It seemed like a lot of the stuff he was doing would be very hard to do without picks.
For the past month, I've abandoned the picks at home when I'm songwriting or recording, but when I play with a band, it's hard to get the tone and volume up enough on the Weissenborn or resonator guitar without the picks - I can't cut over the drums.
Dwight
------------------
|
|
|
|
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
|
Posted 25 Nov 2002 8:55 am
|
|
I should say that you should go with what works best for you. Playing with picks will give you a different tone than playing without picks, or with a flatpick.
I'm currently reviewing one of the Lapdancer Guitars' RedNeck (square neck for Tele or Strat-style instrument) and it works really well with a flatpick. I wouldn't normally play with a flatpick, but for some songs this gives me the sound I want.
------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
|
|
|
|
Andy Zynda
From:
Wisconsin
|
Posted 25 Nov 2002 4:20 pm
|
|
For what it's worth, I play Danny Gatton style: Flatpick with middle & ring finger(nails).
It's the way I play regular electric 6-string, and I switch back and forth from Tele to Triple Eight onstage. All I have to do is grab the bar.
(and sometimes, it's not enough... missed that damn bar on several occasions....)
-andy-
|
|
|
|
George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 25 Nov 2002 4:42 pm
|
|
| I thought picks were made for players who bite their nails!!!! |
|
|
|
Danny Bates
From:
Fresno, CA. USA
|
Posted 26 Nov 2002 11:30 am
|
|
I also play with a flatpick. I usually set the lapsteel on my Hammond Organ and I reach for the bar & the pick to play the steel. Sometimes I play chords with my bar slapping on the steel and my right hand playing chords on the organ. That makes for some fat 13th chords! When I feel real brave I also solo on the organ while chording on the steel. I guess I get bored real easy.
http://hometown.aol.com/ernie43801/myhomepage/profile.html |
|
|
|
John Kavanagh
From:
Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 6:56 am
|
|
When I'm playing at home I love the sound and feel of playing without picks, and you can do harmonics and some rhythmic things so much easier. But every time I've ever tried no-picks on stage, I wind up putting them on after a tune or two. The crisper sound quality- brighter with more attack - just seems necessary to be heard of other instruments, especially drums.
It doesn't matter how loud the amp is, it's the quality of sound that seems to be the problem. Of course guys like Ben Harper or Albert Collins play real loud without picks, but they probably have better sound gear too. |
|
|
|
Dwight Mark
From:
Denver, Colorado, USA
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 10:18 am
|
|
Watching Ben Harper play with such a light touch amazes me, but maybe it's not the equipment, it's the fact he has control over the his monitor and his band - being the leader. He doesn't have to deal with the typical drum and guitar volume wars!
I agree with you though. I have a great acoustic sound, but once you get on stage, you find yourself diggin for the picks to get the attack over the rest of the band.
Dwight |
|
|
|
Andy Zynda
From:
Wisconsin
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 1:24 pm
|
|
Hey Herb, another Hammond Man!!
The makes three! We're officially a mob.
(I'd love to see a hammond/lapsteel player! Something different for sure!) |
|
|
|
Andy Zynda
From:
Wisconsin
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 1:33 pm
|
|
Danny, you're a man after my own heart. Lots of different instruments, and music everywhere! (Man, that hammond has seen some miles hasn't it?)
-andy-
|
|
|
|
Danny Bates
From:
Fresno, CA. USA
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 2:08 pm
|
|
| My Hammond was "cut-down" by the late Bill Beer of Keyboard Products. It used to belong to Roy Bitton of Bruce Springsteens band. I've had it for 15 years. It has survived many years of hauling (305,000 miles on my Jeep Cherokee)and shows every mile of it! |
|
|
|
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 2:36 pm
|
|
Pulling it back toward lap steel, what's the best B3-type simulator for lap steel? Is there some good way to mimic that Hammond sound on a lap steel without spending more than the lap steel cost originally?
------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
|
|
|
|
mikey
From:
New Jersey
|
Posted 27 Nov 2002 11:52 pm
|
|
On resophonics I always use picks 1 thumb(Dunlop Large Ivoroid) and 2 Kyser Finger picks...on 'lectric...I do 95% of the time...but sometimes it just doesn't seem to matter...never had a problem...on "spanish" guitar I never use picks when fingerpicking...or I'll do the Flatpick and middle, ring w/o picks...(If I happen to have a pick in my hand at the time)...altho on some Rev. Gary Davis tunes I will drop the flatpick and play "bare"
Mike
OH..PS..Brad...either a EH small clone chorus and attach the rate knob to a Vol pedal or a Nanoverb has a decent leslie simulator...and of course re-EQ for the correct tone...I like the clone better cause I can control the rate w/ my foot...altho...I think Sondworks...(the guys who made little leilani amps had a rotary speaker relativly cheap...and that's the real deal as far as doppler goes...or you can always make one w/ an adjustable fan motor and 2 oil funnels!!!I kid not...friend of mine made one///works pretty good too...face the spkr UP and rotate the funnels 180 degrees apart(opposite each other.cut the narrow part of the funnels off..it works!!!put the old fan speed control dimmer in a old vol pedal..and don't even ask about the 55 gal oil drum reverb...all I know is 60wt. valvoline works best!!
Aloha,
Mike[This message was edited by mikey on 28 November 2002 at 12:13 AM.] |
|
|
|
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
|
Posted 28 Nov 2002 5:20 am
|
|
I use a bugablue Thumbpick and dunlop .20 brass fingerpicks most of the time but I'll also play a fair amount of fingers-only solo lap steel, Weissenborn - especially if it's a folk or Bossa tune. Playing with other musicians seems to require picks.
As for B3 sounds ... I'm a huge B3 fan but I absolutely hate pseudo B3. When Danny Gatton and Curly Chalker went from steel guitar tone to B3 sounds in mid tune I always thought "Ugh! that sucks; they've just covered up all the personality of the instrument and all for a lame imitation of a B3. The moral? When seeking a B3 sound, get a B3. Just my humble opinion. |
|
|
|
Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
|
Posted 28 Nov 2002 9:22 pm
|
|
Andy Z., you'd better be careful, you're getting dangerously close to the "Junior Brown"(pat. pending)trick. You seem like a nice guy, I wouldn't want to see you get sued!
And as for picks, everybody should use whatever they think sounds best. PERIOD!! |
|
|
|
Andy Zynda
From:
Wisconsin
|
Posted 28 Nov 2002 9:55 pm
|
|
Hey, I'd consider it an honor and a compliment to get sued by Junior. Hell, I might get to meet him that way.
-andy-
|
|
|
|
John Borchard
From:
Athens, OH 45701
|
Posted 5 Dec 2002 1:26 pm
|
|
Brad, I love playing my lap steels through my 147 Leslie cabinet, although I don't bring it to gigs too often anymore (it gets heavier every year!). I also play my Hammond T-200 through it, so I'm not trying to duplicate that sound with the lap steel. An old Boss CE-1 chorus pedal (the big gray metal one) is pretty good at this, too. John Ely, late of Asleep at the Wheel, is quite adept at this. Use the "chorus" setting to simulate a slow leslie speed and the "vibrato" setting for fast. Of course you don't have the slowing-down or speeding-up dynamics when switching speeds like you do with a Leslie.
As for picks, I use fingerpicks(3+thumbpick) for pedal steel; fingers for lap steel. That's just what works for me.
John Borchard[This message was edited by John Borchard on 06 December 2002 at 12:37 PM.] |
|
|
|
