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Topic: Steel Guitarists Standup And be Counted |
Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 12 May 2002 12:22 am |
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It is every Steel Guitar Players "DUTY" to inform the public that the instrument you play is: A PEDAL STEEL GUITAR or A HAWAIIAN LAP/CONSOLE STEEL GUITAR. Don't let anyone get away with calling our instrument a "slide guitar" or a "steel peddle guitar" or any other inappropriate name. Be proud of your guitar and your ability to play it.
Before long it may be said that you play an "ELECTRIC, 110 VOLT, AFRICAN ZITHER." Then where will we be. Right! Terry Bethel.
Roger
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Kurt Graber
From:
Wichita, KS, USA
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Posted 12 May 2002 5:35 am
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| Somebody once told me how well they liked my keyboard playing. How could anyone get a steel mixed up with a keyboard. Nevertheless, I just smiled and introduced myself as the "Ironing Board" player. |
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 12 May 2002 5:53 am
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"A rose by any other name would........."
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Chuck McGill
From:
An hour from Memphis and 2 from Nashville, R.I.P.
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Posted 12 May 2002 6:44 am
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I once had a gentleman request "Hey piano player. Play last date".
So I did.
I take requests on the back of 100 dollar bills. Then they can call it a slide or a piano.
Your right. It is an irritation.
Want Zum |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 12 May 2002 7:44 am
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A guy once said to me "I really like the iron guitar"... and he was serious. Another guy referred to it a "string guitar". One night a heavily medicated young man told me that I played "good keyboard" and his friend lambasted him... "You idiot! That's not a keyboard, it's a synthesizer."
Then there was the guy who came up to me after a show and said: "That Hawaiian Thing is cool. Some people can really play it." I'm still trying to figure out if that was a compliment 
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My Site | Doug's Free Tab
[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 12 May 2002 at 08:47 AM.] |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 12 May 2002 8:22 am
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| My favorite moniker comes from my horn player, who calls it "The Wire Choir"! Love it! |
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Tony Rankin
From:
Land O’ Lakes, FL
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Posted 12 May 2002 8:29 am
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| In my experience, the most common name people have called my steel would be a "keyboard." Interestingly, the organist at a church we were playing at looked my guitar over and asked, "What is that?" I guess she knew enough to know it wasn't a keyboard! |
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Steve Feldman
From:
Central MA USA
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Posted 12 May 2002 8:39 am
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| Anything works for me, but the minute they start mistaking it for a swinette, then we're done for.... |
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Al Udeen
From:
maple grove mn usa
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Posted 12 May 2002 9:41 am
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| With whats out there today! steel guitar is way over their head! au |
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Joerg Hennig
From:
Bavaria, Germany
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Posted 12 May 2002 12:00 pm
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| I once tried to explain to an older co-worker what was the instrument that I played. I started like, "it´s kind of a guitar played horizontally on a stand that also has a mechanism activated by pedals"... I wanted to continue, "that raises or lowers certain strings..." but he interrupted me, "Oh, then it´s like an organ?" |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 12 May 2002 12:09 pm
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| Someone here on the forum posted that it was a "manually operated pitch approximator" |
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Rex Thomas
From:
Thompson's Station, TN
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Posted 12 May 2002 12:16 pm
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| Next time someone says, "Bring your 'slide'", show up with a "slip 'n' slide". |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 12 May 2002 12:50 pm
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In my early days, I was playing at a party of high school friends when this mondo babe came up and told me what a beautiful organ I had. True story, ended up boyfriend/girlfriend.
By the way, I was playing a ZB Custom single 10 w/5p5K. Black finish with white fretboard and pickup. My first pedal steel and the most beautiful I have ever owned. Wish I had it back.
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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler
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Joe Miraglia
From:
Jamestown N.Y.
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Posted 12 May 2002 1:24 pm
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| Years ago my steel was called a E-Harp.Joe |
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Gary Walker
From:
Morro Bay, CA
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Posted 12 May 2002 1:32 pm
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| One time after a big church service which I had been featured some with a quartet, a fellow came up and asked me, "is that a electric piano?" He didn't get an answer. I figured one bone head was enough. |
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Lincoln Goertzen
From:
Taylor, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 12 May 2002 4:50 pm
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I, too, have had some strange things said about my steel. Such as, "What is that board with the wires hanging down?" He was so serious that I could not laugh out loud then.
I have found, though, that many people know what it is that I'm playing. (Some people don't, and then they just ask what that thing is.)
It used to bother me a little to have my beloved PEDAL STEEL called "a Hawaiian guitar," because I don't play Hawaiian, but I just let it go. I don't mind any more.
Lincoln Goertzen |
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Tom Jordan
From:
Wichita, KS
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Posted 12 May 2002 5:11 pm
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Roger, ya gotta just roll with it. I used to try and explain to folks what it was that I play. You will just get hoarse.
Some of the guys in the no pedals side don't like to call a resonator a "dobro". I'll stick with dobro when talking to bar patons.
Kinda like "cresent" wrench...people know what it is.
Tom Jordan |
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 12 May 2002 7:15 pm
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Tom
Too many people are just willing to "Roll With It." If you get hoarse trying to explain what instrument you play, try hanging a sign on your guitar. THIS IS A PEDAL STEEL GUITAR.
Education is the answer.IMHO
Roger |
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Marc Friedland
From:
Fort Collins, CO
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Posted 12 May 2002 9:38 pm
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| One time at a gig someone came up to me and said he enjoyed my "sitar" playing. -- Marc |
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Ray Jenkins
From:
Gold Canyon Az. U.S.A.
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Posted 13 May 2002 9:05 am
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Man,that "table" your playing sure sounds different. 
Ray
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Steeling is still legal in Arizona |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 13 May 2002 9:53 am
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I don't care what they call IT as long as they keep calling ME for gigs.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro
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Bill Stafford
From:
Gulfport,Ms. USA
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Posted 13 May 2002 10:50 am
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I was puting my pedal steel guitar together at the local Navy Base CPO Club one evening. Just after connecting all the pedal rods, a heavily inebriated Marine dressed in his formal suit, loaded with medals (did I say he was too, loaded, that is) told me quote "it looks like a monkey cage. (It was still upside down in the case then.) My comment back to him was that "I thought you would recognize it". So I played my "monkey cage" that night and laughed all the way to the bank.
Bill Stafford (USN Retired) |
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Tom Jordan
From:
Wichita, KS
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Posted 13 May 2002 12:07 pm
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Okay Bill,
a young Marine was leaving the restroom when a sailor walked in:
Sailor--The Navy taught us to wash our hands after we went to the restroom...
Marine--Oh yea? the Marine Corps taught us not to pee on our hands--Hahahahahah
Tom Jordan (Former USMC, only slightly brain damaged) |
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James Wood
From:
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Posted 13 May 2002 4:32 pm
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I was on tour in the middle East with Red Steagall and they called my Pedal Steel a Table guitar. I don't understand how they liked our music which was western swing because they could not understand a word Red was saying. That just goes to show you its the music and beat that counts.
I also played with the Wayne Newton show for
about 7 months and the people in the orchestra did not have a clue what I was playing but they loved it. |
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