Remember when it was fun?

David Berry · From: Sandston, Virginia, USA

Okay, I need a good stiff kick in the pants from all you seasoned steel players. I practice 6 out of 7 days a week and give myself one night off a week just for good measure. I take a two hour lesson about every month or so from one of my PSG heroes, Buddy Charleton. During my daily practices, I play and play, study tablature, memorize new chords, work on more difficult material by slowing it down. I agonize and fret over any imperfection in my playing (and there's a lot of imperfection!). This goes on day after day. I constantly have to remind myself to have FUN with it. I used to and I really do love my instrument. However, practice sometimes becomes so mechanical that I forget that I'm supposed to have fun. I spend so much time studying and learning the instrument, I've quit enjoying it (well, not really, but I'm making a point). I find myself thinking, "get through the songs you know on the E9th. Okay, now do your C6th songs. Slower!!! You made a mistake! That was horrible! Play it again. Okay, now memorize a new chord on each neck, review the ones you already know. What does this pedal combo do, that one...come on think man, think!! Okay, now play your scales." Oh well, you get my point. I'm a frickin' drill instructor sometimes. I think tonight I'm going to put on a CD and just play along with it. I don't want to learn anything new or go over anything I've learned. I just want to play my steel and have fun. Do any of you go through similar pain with your instruments!! I really do love my steel!

Charley Adair · From: Maxwell, Texas, USA

My problem is that I don't want to practice, I just want to be able to make it sound purty like the big boys do. Of course that will never happen without discipline and practice. For me it will take a lot of both. I still enjoy it and I'm working on the two things I just mentioned. I know I'll never be at professional level, for one reason I started too late in life to play the PSG. I'm my own worst critic. Sometimes I record a little of my playing, and then I think,"That's not all that terrible". It's just not as polished as I'd like. I need to polish up on playing like me, and not like everyone else. Just back off when you need to, and take a break. Don't make yourself NOT enjoy it. It's a difficult, but wonderful instrument.
Charley

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Sho-Bud PRO-I, 4&5

Jody Cameron · From: Angleton, TX,, USA

David, I certainly have been through some times when playing was not fun, for various reasons. However, I'm still enjoying it. Maybe you're taking it too seriously - that is, if it's not all or part of your livlihood. I agree that you should just put on some tracks and play along and have fun, but also, I would start looking for some other folks to play with, if your not already - even if it's just jamming in someone's house. To me, making music is most fun when it's done with others! Don't let those mistakes get to you...I make 'em all the time, too.

Best regards, JC

Tom Stolaski · From: Huntsville, AL, USA

The only way to become a great player is to live and breathe the steel guitar every day from morning to night. I know that I would be a better player if I had better practice habits. Being lazy and not working as hard as I could have has kept me from reaching a higher level of playing. Just keep doing what you are doing.

BobG · From: Holmdel, NJ

I really believe the fun starts when you get out there and play with others.. Join a band.. Get together with other steel players and play along with tracks.. I just had that experience and it is definately rewarding..

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Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

For years I had a daily practice list that touched base with everything on my set-up. It wasn't fun, it was work, like my morning 3-mile jog. The fun came when I was on a job and able to execute my limited playing skills without "hunting", and was physicaly able to carry my D-10 and all of my equipment. But, I had to jog and practice daily to keep my ability from deteriorating.

Due to circumstances, both my jogging and my practice ended about two years ago. I have a difficult time "remembering when it was fun"!

www.genejones.com

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

You're taking it WAAAAAAAY too seriously, dude.

Putting that much pressure on yourself to optimize your practice schedule and create a routine turns it into WORK. It should be PLAY, unless you're trying to eek out a living from playing music. And that's a whole 'nother story.

Just kick back and enjoy it. SOME schedule is good, but making every second count and being accountable for it will just make you crazy.

Good luck.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Fred Shannon · From: Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.

What Jody, Gene, and Larry said.... especially what Larry just put on you. Take a deep breath, back up, and reassess. You certainly won't find a better teacher, so your foundation has to be firmly established. You won't make Gnashville in a single day and maybe you don't want to go there at all. Lots of us didn't. Enjoy the fact that you're tackling the most difficult of musical instruments there is to play. Write a song or two, and think about Bonanza once in a while. It's got a lot of reruns playing now.

Lastly, your post indicates you're concerned and that's a big beginning. It'll come and you'll be surprised at your practice results.
Phred

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"From Truth, Justice is Born"--Quanah Parker-1904

Marty Pollard · Posted 15 Apr 2005 8:17 am

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

It still is fun! I started getting paid to play in a band, when I was 16 yrs. old. And, that's a long time ago. I couldn't believe then, and still take great humor, in knowing that people pay me to have fun doing what I like to do best. The shear enjoyment of playing live music to any group of people is an absolute high to me. I'll admit that all the hours put in, while still holding a daytime job, got to be tiresome, but, I would not have done it if I didn't love it.The only true drawback to this business is that it changes its' trends all too often. That's something that I'm not fond of. That musical trend shifting will put you out of a job if you aren't willing to change with it. Unfortunately for me, I'm kind of stuck in my ways about my tastes of music and haven't worked too many jobs lately. Five or six a year now, if I'm lucky.
But, all in all, it still is tons of fun to play music with other musicians, and somewtimes get paid for it.

Dave Van Allen · From: Doylestown, PA , US , Earth

I'm with BobG on this 'un

if you are not playing with others, find a band to play with, even if it's only a couple of times a month...

Marty-
you are such a "card"...

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Okay, so we know what you do. Now, tell us more about you!

How old are you? How long have you been at it? Where do you want to go with your playing? What are your strong points and weak points? Who's your favorite players? What's your favorite songs?

Gary Lee Gimble · From: Fredericksburg, VA.

I don't feel there is too much fun to be had during any level or method of woodshedding. Sometimes it gets tedious, repetitious and boring. But you obviously have desire and drive to reach some level of expertise. This is what keeps you going. Meanwhile, find some folks or music tracks to have some fun with and don't worry about swings and misses. I went to a jam last week and really made some big boo boos, lots of them but I had fun.

Farris Currie · From: Ona, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

This is really a great topic,i am not a Pro,and don;t want to be!I been playing around with steels for 40yrs.

i get just as much fun putting one on the table and working on it,as i do playing it.

I relize years ago,being pro was not for me.

there is so much fun playing with a group,just having a great time,when someones screws up,we all laugh and carry on. what i hate is when it bougs down, and have to start over.hahahahha embarrasing.

most people don't know or care anyway.if you are playing in a club or nursing home ect. just enjoy!!

Life is what we make of it i guess.
farris

Rick Garrett · From: Tyler, Texas

From the greenest gord in the field man, I'm at about the same place in my journey to learn this guitar as you are. Maybe even not as advanced. I try to practice every day and I take a lesson each week as time allows. Problem with practice is that it just aint no fun at all. When I get to that point I try to throw some "ear" in the mix. For me it makes it fun again. Just doing it by ear and not worrying why sometimes brings back the joy of my picking. I know thats not the correct way to progress but it still works for me. Somedays my playing is almost bearable. other days it stinks no matter what I try to do. On those bad days I grab the old six string and plug in something fun and play along. Good luck dude and have some fun with your horn.

Rick

BobG · From: Holmdel, NJ

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Welcome to the Buddy Charleton I met some 27 years ago.

Possibly most effective for those of us that had fathers that rarely "approved" of us.

If I'm reading it right, he's affecting you a similar way.

You might note a faint image of him smiling with that kind of slanted kindly look when you are playing something right, and you know you are.

Also a kindly worried look at the same angle whe you aren't.

After a scant few thousand gigs, a million mistakes and maybe a few hundred where the magic was there, I can still see both looks like it was an hour ago.

Maybe he's changed, but I doubt it.

Say hi to him for me, and relay my thanks if you think of it.

I finally wore out that ProIII I bought there in Oxon Hill in '78.

It's still a job getting things the way he taught me to expect them. (Now I've got a new guitar that'll outlive me for sure.)

It turned from "fun" to "serious" early on.

Nothing to complain about IMHO.

EJL

Ben Lawson · From: Brooksville Florida

I was 25 when I started playing,or rather learning, steel. Before that I would go to a club where Gene Shibel was playing. I would sit at the first table which was about three feet from the stage. I must have done that for two or three years, sometimes six nights a week. (it didn't do much for my marriage). When I finally got my first steel I would practice for six or seven hours a day after work.
I took it out after three months and was able to play a few things on it (I was the bass player in a three pc. band) and within a few months I made the switch to steel.
That was 35 years ago and I still haven't learned how to play the darn thing the way I would like to. Having fun is the important thing. You have to be able to laugh at yourself now and then and I get a lot of practice at that. I play in Atlantic City a few times a month and do a radio show on Sat. nights when not in AC.
I was also at the jam last week with DVA and Gary Lee and a group of people of all skill levels. We had a great time and shared in "atta boy" to "that was bad" with each other. There were some guys there with limited experience and guys with vast experience. It was great to hear both ends of the field.You learn from the "big guys" and help the people who are where we all were at an earlier stage. Big E once said we all started at the beginning, just keep going.
To end this unusually long post for me I say do it at your own comfortable pace.
I have started to enjoy the jams more than the jobs, so I will be backing off on AC and the radio shows to spend more time with my wife and kids. I'm hoping Bob G and DVA can help me with some of these gigs in the future. I will be at the Choo Choo show in May and I hope to see a bunch of forumites there.

Willie Crisel · From: Charlotte, Tennessee, USA

just got through a fri sat 4 set gig,,crowd wanted more rock than country,,cocaine,sweet home alabama,,ect,,,but i could see the tv,,made 50.00 bucks a night,,but i have a country gig that pays nothing,,,and i made up my mind,,i would rather play traditional country for free,,,than get paid to play rock,,plus my ears are still ringing,,

Michael Garnett · From: Seattle, WA

David-

I feel your pain. I've been struggling to get gigs out here in West Texas, because thanks to the likes of Pat Green, nobody my age plays country music the way it was when I was growing up. I'm still a green player, but I'll go out on a limb and say if you just sit in your room all day long, you will never truly have fun with this instrument. Go find some guys to pick with. They're out there, and believe me, they'd love to have you play with them, whether you make 5 mistakes or 50 each set. Without a live setting, you'll never be able to fully exercise that area of your brain that deals with improvization.

For me, a moment of fun was this afternoon. A buddy of mine wanted some help in the studio laying down some tracks on 3 original songs. I played bass and steel for him, and I'd never heard the songs before, just read the charts and worked them out. It's truly a pleasure for me to make music by "Flying by the seat of my pants," as I think it's easier for the brain to work that way. It was my first ever studio session playing bass, and I could have done better, but it really made my day seeing the engineer and my buddy's faces light up when I hit some well-placed licks on the steel. And even though hearing myself recorded can be a very humbling thing, I hear so much improvement in my picking after just a few short months of semi-diligent practice. Overall, I could have done a bit better, I'm having intonation problems leaving me just a couple RCH's flat in the overall mix. But I know that will fix itself over time.

My solution to you is, PLAY LIVE, and PLAY OFTEN. Get paid for it, too, you deserve it for lugging all that stuff around.

-Garnett

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Uva Uvam Videndo Varia Fit
Carter D-10, Deltafex, Nashville 400, Shure UM-1 in-ear monitors
Alvarez A-100 Mandolin
Squier 5 string P Bass Custom
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Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

Every time I call Gary L. Gimble he is practicing! He is a great inspiration for me. Yesterday I played a gig for a tax service party. I'd been home practicing for about 3 hours and was pretty warmed up. Seems like I play well when there is no one there that can be critical. I think I played well, I could even acknowledge people coming in without missing anything while I was playing, and playing some little fast line while I knew someone was watching. That is fun! Now if only I can do that more consistently. I think it's called confidence.

[This message was edited by W Franco on 18 April 2005 at 11:19 AM.]

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