For Fun: Another Which Guitar Is It ?

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Took me a little while to find most of these today, but here they are (there were a couple: "Start All Over Again" and "Nobody's Talking" that I haven't found yet).

Billy The Kid - 1990 Mullen
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/billy-the-kid

Single Thing In Mind (be aware, Danny, that we did the intro and tags without the exaggerated syncopation like the record ... the band wanted to do it "different", so we omitted the syncopation on those licks) - 1990 Mullen
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/s ... ng-in-mind

Cadillac Style (this one is a board mix, so the steel isn't going to be as out front on the fills as you wanted) - 1990 Mullen
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/cadillac-style-th

Honky Tonk Blues - 1990 Mullen
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/honky-tonk-blues

Never Alone - 1976 Emmons
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/never-alone

Oh, Girl - 1976 Emmons
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/oh-girl

Shameless - 1976 Emmons
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/shameless-th

Okay, Danny ... I have a surprise for you: that song you've bugged me so much for, the one that Reggie Brown always sang called "If You Can't Undo The Wrong, Undo The Right" ... well, I found it! Don't expect any really out front steel on it; this is a board mix and Marcus was doing sound that night; the steel is pretty buried except for the ride and even on that there's a spot where Marcus hit the mute button for just a second. Remember how he used to sabotage my rides until Ty caught him at it? Anyway, here's that song for you.

Undo The Right - 1987 Mullen
http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/undo-the-right-3

Well ... I hope you enjoy those, Danny, and that they're what you're looking for.

[Danny Dees]

Danny Dees, please update your email address in your forum profile. Click 'Profile" at the top of any forum page. It will send a verification to your new email address, to reactivate your membership with the new address.

thanks bob. email is updated. yahoo deactivated my email account because i hadnt logged into it in a while. seems they deactivate if 4 months goes by with no log in. reckon i'll have to sign in at least once a month to keep my email active.

[Danny Dees]

jimmy..thank you, thank you!!! you may think those mixes didnt sound that good, but the steel bein way out front like that's exactly what i want, makes it easy for me to hear the parts your playing.

i really like that twin you do with the lead player on cadillac style. whats that lick your doing at about 1.25 in the song? its waaaaaaay cool but its so fast i cant hear how your gettin it.

how did you get that sound on billy the kid? was that some kinda phase shifter? whatever it was i like it!

cant tell you how happy i am you found that undo the right song!!! i've always liked that song and reggie brown always sang the stuffings out of that one. thanks a million for all of these! i'm off to start tryin to get some of your licks!

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

You're welcome, Danny, and I'm glad those recordings are what you're wanting.

To answer your questions, first, I was not using a phase shifter on the Billy The Kid song. Remember that my 1990 Mullen had two pickups on each neck. I had both pickups turned on and out of phase; as far as effects, I was using a flanger setting in my SPX-90.

That lick you're talking about at 1:25 in Cadillac Style is an old Gary Hogue lick. I loved playing that lick and it was a lot of fun; I'm hoping one day that the nerve damage in my hand will heal up enough that I can start doing that lick again.

Even though it's a fun lick to play, it can be quite unforgiving. I tabbed it out for you (shown below). For that lick you'll be using B&C pedals and your 2nd string half-tone lower knee lever. If your second string is a full tone lower with a half stop for the half tone, I hope it's a very positive or firm half stop. When that lick is played at full speed it's very easy to overshoot the half stop if it's a soft half stop.



In the tab above, the lick is played in the key of "D" and is executed at the open 10th fret "D" position. The way I have it tabbed is the easiest way I've found to pick when playing that lick.

While playing this lick, you'll have your knee lever that drops your 2nd string a half tone engaged through the entire lick. While this lever is pressed, pick string 5 with your thumb and press your B&C pedals. With index and middle fingers, pick strings 1 & 2, then pick strings 3 & 4, release the B&C pedals and pick strings 1 & 2 again ... repeat the process for however long you're going to be playing the lick and that's the entire lick. It's simple enough in its construction, but the execution is what's tricky. It has to be precise, clean and accurate to pull it off; otherwise, you can end up with a train wreck on your hands.

I highly suggest that you start out with this lick very slow and gradually work up your speed as you get more comfortable with it. Played slow, the lick doesn't sound really quite "right", but once you get it up to speed you'll get the end result like on the recording if it's played correctly; it's a fun cool lick that can be used in a lot of ways and in a lot of places.

Hope that helps.

QUICK NOTE: I remember you asking me a long time ago where that lick came from. I'm not sure exactly where this lick originated. I always call it a Gary Hogue lick because Gary introduced me to that lick and he's the only one I'd ever heard play it ... but ... when Gary taught me that lick I seem to have a vague memory of him mentioning that it was either a Paul Franklin lick or a variant of one of Paul's licks. Paul would be able to answer that far better than I.

[Danny Dees]

thanks for explaining that lick, jimmy. your right, it is a fun lick but real tricky. been working on it all day and gettin closer to gettin it down, sorst of, but i cant do it near as fast or good as you. will keep practicing on it.

[Danny Dees]

i'm gettin the pickin part of that lick down but i'm having problems with that second string halfstop. mine is what you called soft and is hard to feel. i end up over shooting it when i try to get faster with the lick. any way i can tighten that up where i can feel it better? its my msa i'm playing. don't have that second string pull on my shobud.

had the band over last night to listen to those songs again. we'll work up single thing in mind first and the band really likes not having those synkopation things in the intro and turnarounds. we ran through it and i worked on playing your parts on it. i really like it but i cant get my slides to sound like yours.

gettin my minutes filled on my phone on friday so i'll give you a call. have a million and one questions to ask.

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

You just caught me in time, Danny ... I was about to get off my computer when my email alert went off just now.

I'm glad you're enjoying working on that lick. I remember when Gary first showed me that lick; I was the same. I worked on it for hours on end and when I was able to consistently play that lick correctly each time I played it, it really added another fun element for me in playing fast songs.

I wish I could answer your question on the half-stop issue. Man, to be honest, I haven't worked on an MSA for so many years I can't remember off the top of my head how to increase the tension on that half-stop. Perhaps someone like David Wright or Jim Palenscar could help you with a quick fix for that?

Glad y'all are having fun with the songs. So, you guys like that non-syncopated intro on Single Thing? It sort of drove me nuts at first playing it like that; I was so used to doing it the Conway Twitty way that when the band said, "Let's change this up and play it straight without syncopation" I knew it'd take me some "getting used to" because it just felt odd to play it without the syncopation like the record.

When you get your air time refilled, feel free to give me a call and we'll talk some steel.

[Lane Gray]

If it's an actual tune-under-the-guitar half-stop, you can stiffen the half-stop by loosening the set screw in the collar that the spring presses against (the other end of the spring from the tower) and moving the collar closer to the tower.

[Danny Dees]

thanks lane. i don't think its that tune under guitar type. its a msa classic, a 1974 model i think and its not only hooked up to the second string but its also hoooked to the nineth string too.

about the time your post came in i'd also asked the question as a topic. i can try playing with the collar as you suggested. hope i do this right.. never worked on my steel before.