The Steel Guitar Forum

Liking my Bullet my too, but yes, my 15/16 BJS is sweet.

I just signed on thinking of Mike and am glad to find this, having now lost so much of my family myself. Today I was playing at the steel and listening to Mike's recordings of our lesson. I was especially feeling the loss of a new-found friend who taught me. He was much else to the world. I extend t...

Wish I could have made it to the funeral, but thanks for the good reports and especially glad to hear of an upcoming album!
I've been listening to Mike's recording of our lesson. We'd laugh and play... He was really, very - so very good. I was so lucky.
Thanks Mike!

Mike's passing is sad indeed. I was fortunate almost two years ago to have a pedal steel lesson from Mike of over two hours. It was a wealth of learning and I'm grateful he made recordings as we went - I've referred to them and certainly now, will again. I thought of returning for more - but he who ...

I ordered mine from the forum and still have a good supply. Just looked and they still seem to be offered. I imagine b0b would be on top of taking them off if they were gone.

It seems to be some type of IM distortion due to pre amp overload. When I play through a Digitech RP-155 using earphones I still hear it, but when I turn the RP-155 output vol down, most of it goes away. I could be totally wrong, where it's not a musical instrument player problem at all. But someho...

First, I will make the concession that the tuning could be a wee bit out - check the pair on a high fret by standing and looking down to see the bar is exactly perpendicular to the strings. OK. My fiddle teacher said, You picked the hardest instrument, and then you had to find one harder, the pedal ...

Not to mention the whole argument for U-12!

Wonderful story! Thanks, Scotty - you just can't make this up, as they say.

From all the foregoing input, it sounds like sharpwound would be preferable.

Satisfaction! I have a Red Baron and Julian Tharpe's S20 - to cover the gamut of contrast
I have had very good support and correspondence with Reece Anderson and David Wright. The MSA folk are ready and willing to help, even with obscure problems.
The extra mile.

...And more guitars will be on the market soon, the old timers are dying or can no longer play, country music has been in a long slow decline for decades and so is the use of the PSG.... I went to a concert last summer and there was no fiddler (even though the records have one) and no steeler, but ...

Thanks Patricia! I had the large PDF printed up at a local print shop in wall size. Kept one and gave one to my teacher. He's rated to teach "any instrument" so he wanted to learn steel too for a while. I left my steel in his studio so he could get the feel of it, figuring it would help me...

Jim, there's a Townsend VA not far from here. I too like my BJS, and I have a Bullet bar I like too. They do seem to make a difference. Have fun!

A tuner can get the open strings right, but when you play a steel or a fiddle, you have to put the bar or your finger in the right spot to get that note or chord right. Mandolin and guitar (usually) have frets that lock in a note (although it's just intonation), but without frets - after muscle memo...

Something drew you. Was there a song you loved that got you to play steel? Was it a genre or the sound of the instrument?

Hearing State of Mind got me needing to learn the fiddle. Then Eep Hour and Teach Your Children got me to the pedal steel. Black Coat made me get into soprano sax.

But once again Doug your playing has me at a loss for words. Unbelievable, magic, there I thought of 2. This deserves to be brought to the top again. Will Not at all meaning to denigrate Doug's fine play (if perhaps it seemed so), I was simply blown away by Jeff Baxter's play with The Ventures (and...

Thanks for the straight up version, it's so often over played. What a great melody. KISS. It must have been youthful exuberance that caused Jeff Baxter to add so much panache: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jkhs_1FBcE Seriously though, I had just found this video in a search for ways to play Sleep...

Could by tuning be classified as an E9/6 or E13th? From the top down its: F# C# G# E B B# F# E C# B G# E .....................JH in Va. Nobody has argued with you, JH. I'm restoring Julian Tharpe's S20, and I've found where he said it was E9E6 and many have said E13 was E9C6, etc. Life is short and...

Pedal Steel Guitar by Winnie Winston. Oak publications. Second that - big time! ..OK I'll edit- You started this a long time ago. There have been mentions about other sources with which I shall not disagree. You would greatly benefit from personal instruction, no doubt. But I reiterate my recommend...

my teacher ... put tiny little pieces of tape on the neck to mimic frets She should have done it right off - it's standard procedure. The drawback is you have to look. My teacher and I've been reckoning on something tactile. (I have a 5-string now, with no tapes.) When he mentions how I bend some s...

At last, found a post by Joe McHam on the copedent: "E9 on the first 8 strings and Julians 12 string E9/6 on the inside 12 strings"
on guestbook for Julian. Thanks, and I continue the restore. (emailed the quote to myself for safety )
Now if I can find E9E6 somewhere

Craigslist wrote:Uncle Ralph thinks this is the thumb pick Mr. Dan Dugmore used on the song "Blue Bayou"

And lots of other of us steel players use National thumb picks on many songs!

Second to the comments on Robert Randolph, and to the aforementioned http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbLqRh7_aiM&context=C345e7b1ADOEgsToPDskIU6Ktloc0VM2_CyYU3UVQu Chinese players, expanding the world of this instrument. I was thinking of "pedal guitar" because steel doesn't mean much t...

Per Berner wrote:Sounds fiddly.