The Steel Guitar Forum

Karen,you're right about practice...etc.Working on Sinatra,Bennett from 40's,50's on C6.Chord extensions, diminished,7#11,7#5,7sus to infinity and beyond.Lost,beyond my grasp, teetering over the abyss, crashing and burning.Fun I guess.

Whether you like Robert Randolph,Susan Alcorn or Paul Franklin or any number of others left out,one should consider all of these masters an inspiration to pursue your individual excellence as to however your circumstances allow.There are not enough words to express appreciation of forum members cont...

A gorgeous piece of accompaniment.

Science is as subject to human nature as any other endeavor,or Alfred Wallace would be as recognized as Charles Darwin. Wallace wasn't as well connected as Darwin and didn't endear himself to those circles of influence and he was no less accomplished.

There is no shortage of pop entertainers trading on their fame to find some sort of compensation in other fields,people who resent it or the "unfair " disadvantage of those accomplished artists relegated to obscurity.Name recognition carries an advantage in any field or entertainers wouldn...

Tim,the variabilities of live playing never really go away.Bands can practice in a good sounding living rooms and the live venue will be completely different.You are getting your experience.Practice as much as you can.Having said that a number of posts on this forum have stated that one gig is worth...

For what it's worth,tuning down to adapt to the band leaves the use of open string playing available in those keys if that's a concern.If you're not all that familiar with the band/material it may help cut down confusion.The bands I've seen do this still call out keys in A,not A flat,etc..They are b...

If everybody sounded like Buddy Emmons or any other great you care to name,there would be no one else to reference their greatness with.Usain Bolt's greatness lies in the fact that the sprinters he competes with are great too.I know this is an inexact analogy because music appreciation is more subje...

Remember the impromptu solos you did nail. That would be a good topic to explore.

I bought Winnie Winston's book and learned Bud's Bounce,Streets of Laredo,Shenandoah in addition to Steel Guitar Rag. I can count on one hand the times I played those with a band.Maybe they were crap bands(I didn't think so),but I got gig experience which is kind of a necessity if improvement is the...

Are there more steel manufacturers than there were fifty,thirty even ten years ago?I'm thinking yes,but I don't have any real info to support that. If so, are they profitable and would that be a gauge? Seems like playing well is hard.

Jeremy Long also plays and records with Alice Wallace,who is a gifted singer/songwriter from southern California.She sings with great range and power.

It's commercial pop music that's dead(with a few exceptions) and relevant only to itself like the mindless sitcoms that laugh at their own jokes.The best most creative projects are under the radar because of the expansion of recording technology.It has been that way for a while.You can find all the ...

Good gig,bad gig, or day gig,one of these has to provide financial compensation for your labor or buying the tools of your trade and/or hobby is more problematic.This whole thread is centered around compensation and the methods of acquiring it.Everybody expects it at some point whether you're an A-l...

If Charlie McDonald is right about the future of intellectual property rights,it may very well have implications beyond songwriters and musicians.Any country that doesn't respect ALL property rights is on a dangerous slope to totalitarianism.If you don't have property rights or the the right to the ...

I get to work with about four outfits in north central Florida in addition to occasional studio work.The music for three of these would be broadly classified under Americana(folk,country,blues,western swing..etc) and a contemporary country band.They all write their own songs and their set lists are ...

Chris ,it can be fun when people are requested to post the racket they make.You should be thanked for asking.However, proceed at your own risk.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVlamik ... e=youtu.be

Though not necessarily a "steel" song,"Away in the Manger" and any one of a number of recognizable Christmas songs/carols are excellent examples of harmonized scales and phrasing possibilities.

Karen,consider this; play the music you like with the people you like at the venues you like under the circumstances you can tolerate. If you have some leverage you can exploit, use it. No need to stress out other wise. Based on your background and accomplishment,you would appear to have some clout,...

Bud, I think I've read or heard that myself and the information is appreciated. That would further support Dashawn's point.

Dashawn, the point you have made here has of course, enormous historical background to support it. You play banjo and steel.The historical roots of banjo go back to Africa and was popularized by descendants of Scots-Irish immigrants.Steel goes back to the Hawaiian islands and Portugal.Many American ...

Since time beginning human beings have been organizing sound as a way to express,explore entertain,etc. People were making sounds or pounding out rhythms long before conservatories and style purists were institutionalizing the "correct" way to play anything.What conservatories do is conser...

Talented artists like to hear their music in different contexts.If they use steel it is to embellish,compliment,etc. that muse. They are not constrained by "traditional" perceptions of how pedal steel was utilized in the past.Scott's statement that people love the sound of it and are fasci...

Several decades ago a prominent blues musician(I can't remember who) was asked if the blues was dying and his response was that blues in a live setting was as good as it ever was.This was before the emergence of SRV,Robert Cray and others.Pedal steel is more widespread,I think than it has ever been....