The Steel Guitar Forum

Buddy's the reason I play steel guitar, my biggest inspiration, and honestly, the only player I've ever really, truly cared about. And he'll continue to be all those things, with us or not. RIP.

The A&B pedal and F lever courses have been sold. Thanks for the interest, everybody. Bob, please close; I'll send Fran a check.

D Lever course sold, payment pending. A&B pedal & F lever courses still available.

These are all in excellent condition. Add $10 for shipping costs (lower 48 only). If you buy more than one, I'll bundle them for the same shipping price. PayPal preferred. Email me at ross.m.whitaker@gmail.com if you have any questions. Up From the Top - A & B Pedals - Book, CD, 2 DVDs - $60 Up ...

This comes up fairly often when I'm teaching standard six string guitar, and I've found that the classical stuff I did in college really helped in my transition to the steel guitar, so I'll chime in. What you refer to above as a bent hand posture is, to me, more of a relaxed hand posture. To show yo...

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

Hey everybody. I've tinkered with the idea of recording a video and posting it here for awhile. Pretty modest, but hey, it's me. I'm playing a cheap 6-string lap steel in C6th tuning, shedding a blues in C.

http://youtu.be/6rNIpP8OuOE

As a fervid NPR addict, I heard Emmylou while I was driving to work on Sunday, and I've been wondering who that was playing steel on "Wits," which my local station just started carrying. Sounds great, Joe!

Mike, I've probably watched that clip 50 times in the past couple months, and it still knocks me out each time I see it. Thanks to you, I've been spending all my free cash on Timewarp Tophands records. Thanks again!

Focal dystonia is tricky to overcome because, as I understand it, the issue is neurological. Though I've dealt with numerous hand issues, I've never suffered from FD, but I knew a trombonist who mitigated its effects on his embouchure with a singing technique he developed. I just did some googling a...

That's a really cool record. I think I was a junior in high school when I got that, and it made a huge impression on me. Obviously Dave plays some mind-blowing steel on it, but for me, it's actually more notably remembered as the first record that exposed me to Kurt Rosenwinkel, one of the greatest ...

And I should have mentioned, re: Keith's comment at the top of page 2 in this thread, I can't think of any non-modal tunes or pieces, whether it's Bach or Bill Evans, Mozart or McCoy Tyner, where harmonic or melodic minor is used exclusively. It usually just fits a particular harmonic or melodic sit...

I'll throw in my 2 cents. When I'm explaining a new harmonic idiom to one of my jazz guitar students, I've found that contextualization is essential. Simply put, without a concrete example of a (particular place in a) tune where this stuff can be used, these unfamiliar scales often turn into, and re...

Frank Zappa had some good stuff to say about this in his autobiography. Basically, he said it was organization. The example he gave, I recall, was John Cage taping a contact mic to his throat and gargling carrot juice. If Cage calls that his composition, then that's what it is. That doesn't mean any...

Tracy, I tried to kinda bring this up in the other post, but it dropped like a lonely tree in the woods, so I'll post it again here. Lots of people in my age group--I'm 30--are really attracted to older country music. I think for most of them, it feels 'authentic,' in contrast to the poppy stuff fro...

Al Perkins, according to this. BTW, my honky tonk band opened for Chris and Herb last weekend. Nice guys.

I'm still a pedal steel noob, but I'm a music school grad and I've made my living with an electric guitar for a number of years. I read music pretty well and feel that I have a pretty solid understanding of theory. In my experience, theory is a wonderful tool for interpreting what the ear hears and,...

Regarding the original topic, and speaking as a youngish player, I don't think young people would be attracted to modern pop music on the pedal steel. I've been playing p.s. in both a traditional/outlaw country band and a rock band for the past six months, working 3-5 nights every week, and people i...

Wow. That's exactly how to play an 8-bar break on a ballad. Thanks for sharing this.

Yeah, I think his main concern is restoring it to a playable condition, not a presentation-worthy one. He'll appreciate the words of caution.

Thanks, Benjamin.

Hey all, a friend of mine is wanting to restore an old Fender pedal steel that he's had sitting around in his basement for a while. I told him if he sent me some pictures, I'd post them on the forum and pose his questions. So, the pictures: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix1205/12261_photo_1.jp...

Buddy was sure smiling on that last video posted by Sid. I just cannot say anything about Buddy Emmons that has not been said before. I told some this week Buddy just had something about him that drew people to watch him play. I can sit down and just watch him tune. Regarding Buddy's smile, my wife...

Great record--I love Buddy's playing from this era--and what a fantastic story. I really thrive on that kind of stuff. Thanks for posting.