How Did you start out Playing?

Ernest Cawby · Post by **Ernest Cawby** » 26 May 2008 6:51 am

My beginning in steel. Roy Wigging and Don Helms, and Pete Drake was the most heard back then Eddie was always on the top of the charts, so I spent days on the poarch trying to play like them. Bar and guitar.

I do not remember the brand but it was small round bar. When I bought my first big bar it was heavy.I used it with a Harmony Flat top with a nut under the bridge, this is what I had to take lessons at the american guitar studio. Chafin had 2 girls that tought guitar, they would give us a song and we had to learn it by next week to get another song.
Nan was ahead of me by a year, she went about a year into the (Oauhua) spelling is wrong,course, she had a fender steel and a Fender amp her dad was a railroad Engineer, my dad was a painter, the harmony was all we could afford at the time. Later dad bought me a Oahu 6 string and a small amp, and away I went. At 16 I was playing bars with local groups, Bodyfords Pool in crenshaw county for a year, and radio with Smoky Metcalf the writer of (Mind You Own Business), yes Hank did not write this song, one verse says , ( I met Me future wife today and her name is Casy Mae). Played service clubs at the base in Columbia south Carolins Fort Jackson with a piano player, Hayride in 1950 with Sammy Barnhart.And so onYes woddy Ledford I wish as you do that you could have played with us back then. Play church radio program long time, we started the program on sunday mornning radio with the steel guitar intro
(DONT FOR GET THE FAMILY PRAYER) It is 9:00 in Montgomery Alabama and here is your apostolic Messenger the Rev Joe L Lane, and then I did it.

ernie

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 26 May 2008 8:37 pm

Being a lifelong fan of Hank Williams, I wanted to add a steel guitar to our jam sessions, but I couldn't afford a "store-bought" instrument, and in any case steel guitars were in short supply in post-war England, so I built a lap steel out of what I could put together.

45 years later I still don't sound like Don Helms.

Edward Meisse · Post by **Edward Meisse** » 26 May 2008 8:55 pm

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't either.

Pete Woronowski · Post by **Pete Woronowski** » 26 May 2008 8:58 pm

Guess this would be a good time for me to jump in, I have been a country lead gtr player for a long time but have always loved the pedal steel.
My late brother-in-law Dannie Jones and I played together for 3 years, he was a beautiful player and made me love the steel even more but my strat and tele's kept me busy enough.

Recently I came across Sarah Jory and Mickey Adams on youtube and said thats it I'm going to make it happen!
I bought myself a Sho-Bud Pro 1 which was purchased brand new and the lady said seriously it might have 20 hours on it as her husband wanted to play but never got the chance and it sat for all these years in a closet.

I am playing 4 to 5 hours a day and want to Thank all of you for the valuable info on this site.

Take Care, Pete

Dave Ristrim · Post by **Dave Ristrim** » 27 May 2008 4:19 am

I never even knew what a Pedal Steel Guitar was until a friend told me I should play it. He took me to see a pedal steel at his friends house, I thought, "how interesting". Soon after that, I went to the only store in the area that had pedal steels and bought one. It was a MSA Universal. I figured out how it was tuned, what the pedals and knee levers did and started gigging with it 3 months later. That was 29 years ago.
Peace,
Dave

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 27 May 2008 4:35 am

I started out playing very badly.

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 27 May 2008 8:34 am

heard Ben Keith on Neil Young's Harvest and decided I'd like to make those sounds. Dad died and left me enought $ to buy a used nashville ltd, otherwise never coulda/woulda bought into the game.

I think things would have gone alot better with some instruction

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 27 May 2008 9:46 am

After two decades of six-string gigs I was recording song demoes that needed steel guitar. After shaking the trees for a steel player and not finding one I bought a Zum Stage One in December of '96 and immediately returned it for a Fessy SD-10, a couple months later I was gigging.

The songwriting stopped and the steel guitar playing began.

The forum helped me find the guitars and greatly increased my learning curve. Kudos to b0b!!!!

Drew

Myron Reed · Post by **Myron Reed** » 27 May 2008 10:22 am

Ben,
I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that steelers on the forum are above helping you. I don't say you are wrong because you know what eperiences you've had, but I've been readinf these pages for several years & it seems to me everyone is more than happy to help beginners or anyone else in fact.

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 27 May 2008 10:39 am

back in the 70's my friend t.c furlong was playing steel
i think a shobud cross over he was playing in country bands and said to him i want one of those steels!! so,
he sold me my first shobud maverick and off i went. big
influence was t.c and don kates and B.E curly, mr green
hal rugg and the list goes on still playing for more than 28 years...

p.w

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 27 May 2008 10:46 am

Myron Reed wrote:Ben,
I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that steelers on the forum are above helping you. I don't say you are wrong because you know what eperiences you've had, but I've been readinf these pages for several years & it seems to me everyone is more than happy to help beginners or anyone else in fact.

Myron, please forgive me, I wasnt refering to the steelers here on the forum. They have been extremely helpful, as have most of steelers Ive met in person. I am sorry if my post was misleading...I was referring to a particular situation that has nothing to do with this great forum. again sorry for the misunderstanding, the forum has been extremely helpful...the people here ARE my instructors.

Pete Cormier · Post by **Pete Cormier** » 27 May 2008 11:40 am

Although i started trying to play at 48 yrs. old,i
can remember sitting on the floor at 8 yrs.and watching and listening to my granddad pick cajun
tunes on his two supro's.I recall him showing me the proper way to start and end a cajun tune and how to start the steel guitar rag on a g tuned neck.
I NEVER FORGOT THESE TWO THINGS HE TAUGHT ME.
What a great influence he was to me.If only he were here to get on this pedal steel i have.
pete

Alan Miller · Post by **Alan Miller** » 27 May 2008 4:23 pm

Dad played lap steel in several bands long before I was born he practiced in the house almost every day so i grew up with country and Hawaiian steel.
I learned to play aged about 8yrs on his D8 concorde lap steel built by Cyril Proctor from Leeds .
I hadnt a clue what a pedal steel was until I saw the LP vinyl "Nashville steel guitar" with Pete Drake on the front cover, he and several other players on it fueled my interest for many young years.... I still have the album.
I did nothing but listen to steel for the next 15 yrs,then I found a Sho Bud S10 3x1 rack and barrell in a local music shop for £245 , Ronnie Bennett in Liverpool happened to have 4 teardrop knee levers spare which were fitted for a very reasonable sum ,I got the winnie winston and bill Kieth beginners bible and off I set. I couldnt believe I now owned a pedal steel guitar,and it was a Sho Bud I was bouncing !!
The day job kept me far too busy for many years and now at 52 Im only just getting more spare time to put a bit of effort into practice again.
This Forum is fantastic , no need for me to say why but it fuels my enthusiasm for our wonderful instrument.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 27 May 2008 4:39 pm

Back in 1943, after taking lessons from "The National Institute of Music & Arts" for three years. A local band playing at the "The Lighthouse" in Compton, Ca. contacted the Music School looking for anyone that could play the steel guitar. This was a dance hall that was later remodeled into "Town Hall Party" The light in the lighthouse was turned into the Hayloft. The band leader picked me up at my Parents house and I was off to play in the band. I had a six string "Gebs" electric guitar and an Amp with a 6" speaker. I played a "High Bass" tuning and could only pick out melody notes. This was about a seven piece band with a saxaphone. I gradually started learning Bob Wills songs that were on the Juke Box in the bar. This lasted for a few weeks until the owner of the Dance Hall found out how young I was and I had to quit playing there. After that I hooked up with a "Front Room Band". There were no Garage Bands back then, the band would usaully get together at someone's house in the front room and then the host would have dinner for everyone. We played mostly "freebies" and finally got a gig in an upstairs ballroom on North Figuora St. in Los Angeles. .
After that, my Dad who belonged to the Moose Lodge, said they had a Saturday Night band with no steel guitar, so I sat in and got the gig. I played with this band until I got a Friday and Saturday night gig with Ole Rasmussen band at the Legion Hall in Maywood, Ca. This turned into a eight year job with Ole until I got drafted in 1952. When I left the Moose Band (Ray Hahn & the Missouri Wranglers") Speedy West, who had just arrived in California, took my place until he hooked up with Cliffie Stone..

Charley Wilder · Post by **Charley Wilder** » 28 May 2008 5:48 am

I started in '62 on a cheap flattop. I had played guitar since about '54 and was inspired by Josh Graves. I also like the non-pedal steel players so I bought a Dobro in '63 and a lap steel in '64. I remember I tuned in open "E" when I started and couldn't figure out why I couldn't sound like Josh when I played along with the records.

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 28 May 2008 6:38 am

I played tenor saxophone in rock/soul bands in college and never heard country music until I did a road trip from Rhode Island to Nashville with a friend, sort of on a whim.
Walked around Printers Alley and stumbled into a bar with the Big E playing steel and was instantly struck by the sound and the fun he was having playing!
I bought a steel about a year later and had the likes of Sneaky Pete, Jay Dee, Lloyd, Rusty Young, and Buddy Cage to get me hooked on the country rock at that time.
From that, grew to appreciate the traditional stuff and today play a mixture of all three influences.

Steve Broatch · Post by **Steve Broatch** » 28 May 2008 12:31 pm

I was at a Jesse Dayton gig a couple of years ago. A guy called Nathan Fleming plays steel for him. Until that point although I'd always liked the sound of the steel I'd never payed it too much attention. I always thought of it as a thing that just made atmospheric noises in the background. Just a bit dull.

But this guy was ripping up and down the neck trading licks and solos with Dayton on his telecaster. I was blown away. I gotta get me one of them I thought. So a few weeks later I did.

Pleased I went to that gig!

Steve

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