There Are NO Fans Of Steel Guitar Music

[Stuart Legg]

Zane I was so sure that what I said in my reply wasn’t anything you didn’t already know so I just let’er fly more for the benefit of others.

You are among the best of steel players so I felt my little rant would be taken as you did for what it was worth.

[Donny Hinson]

I don't know why there is so little interest these days.

I blame part of that on the culture we have today, in many places, but especially here in the U.S.. We do live in a world of short atention spans and instant gratification. This instrument is terrifically hard to play. Let me say that again...this instrument is terrifically hard to play! Can you name a single other instrument that requires both hands, both feet, and both knees?!? Probably not. This is why so many fail not only in the mastery of it, but even making an attemp to play! It's a nightmare, really. Just read the tuning threads, cabinet drop, JI vs. ET vs. meansomethingorother. Yes, we're a big world of happy, helpful guys who can seldom agree on anything.

It's also the only instrument that hasn't been standardized. A guitar is a guitar, a piano is a piano, and an organ is an organ. Not so with pedal steels, and you might say that the biggest asset of our instrument (it's eminent variations and degrees of customization) is also it's biggest problem. Who (outside of me and a few others) would want to play something that's not popular? Everything that has ever been really popular became so becuse it was both simple and standardized. In an era of I-Pads, I-Pods. and I-Phones, we're playing the equivilent of a Moog synthesizer with a DOS interface. How many necks? What tunings? How many strings? How many pedals? How many levers? Say whaaaaaT? Wrist levers??? Where's Rain Man when you need him?

Along with all the culture change that has been touched on is the fact that the emphasis today is on the people...the performers, and NOT on the music. Instrumental music has faded, partly because the record companies don't like it, and mostly because the people who buy music don't like it. Back in 1955-1965, there were over 150 instrumentals on the charts, and many of them made it to #1, or at least in the top 10. Nowadays, instrumental music is a niche market, relegated to jazz, symphony, or one of the other forms where instrumental music still has a small following. People don't want to dance or listen much today, they want to be a part of a spectacle, or at least a viewer of something spectacular.

Keep adding pedals, changing tunings, adding levers, adding strings, and making the thing more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to learn, and it will fade away...just like the DOS computer and the moog synth.

[Sid Hudson]

I don't know why there is so little interest these days.

I blame part of that on the culture we have today, in many places, but especially here in the U.S.. We do live in a world of short atention spans and instant gratification. This instrument is terrifically hard to play. Let me say that again...this instrument is terrifically hard to play! Can you name a single other instrument that requires both hands, both feet, and both knees?!? Probably not. This is why so many fail not only in the mastery of it, but even making an attemp to play! It's a nightmare, really. Just read the tuning threads, cabinet drop, JI vs. ET vs. meansomethingorother. Yes, we're a big world of happy, helpful guys who can seldom agree on anything.

It's also the only instrument that hasn't been standardized. A guitar is a guitar, a piano is a piano, and an organ is an organ. Not so with pedal steels, and you might say that the biggest asset of our instrument (it's eminent variations and degrees of customization) is also it's biggest problem. Who (outside of me and a few others) would want to play something that's not popular? Everything that has ever been really popular became so becuse it was both simple and standardized. In an era of I-Pads, I-Pods. and I-Phones, we're playing the equivilent of a Moog synthesizer with a DOS interface. How many necks? What tunings? How many strings? How many pedals? How many levers? Say whaaaaaT? Wrist levers??? Where's Rain Man when you need him?

Along with all the culture change that has been touched on is the fact that the emphasis today is on the people...the performers, and NOT on the music. Instrumental music has faded, partly because the record companies don't like it, and mostly because the people who buy music don't like it. Back in 1955-1965, there were over 150 instrumentals on the charts, and many of them made it to #1, or at least in the top 10. Nowadays, instrumental music is a niche market, relegated to jazz, symphony, or one of the other forms where instrumental music still has a small following. People don't want to dance or listen much today, they want to be a part of a spectacle, or at least a viewer of something spectacular.

Keep adding pedals, changing tunings, adding levers, adding strings, and making the thing more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to learn, and it will fade away...just like the DOS computer and the moog synth.

Everything that has ever been really popular became so because it was both simple and standardized?

Whew! Guitar simple and standardized? We disagree on that one bro.

You will find Piano, Sax, Guitar etc... in all genres of music. Pedal Steel for the most part, Country Music and not very often at that.

If the instrument is to ever take off again it will have to break through the barriers into other Genres of music.

If not, it's probably seen it's run.

But, it's gonna take courage and somebody that's not concerned about making money to do it.

Making the dollar is what has kept many trapped in the same tired old box

[Bent Romnes]

Sid wrote:
"If the instrument is to ever take off again it will have to break through the barriers into other Genres of music."

So true Sid. The younger generation have a point when they say: 'What is that whiny thing? Is that the cowboy music instrument?'

No wonder the steel makes little headway when everybody connects it only to country music. It's gotta get out there and be heard by the large masses.
I know if I ever want to sell a 12 year old on a steel I need to show him something that is catchy to HIS ears, like the Robert Randolph version of Voodoo Chile. We all love traditional steel, I know I do. But it takes a little more than a song like
D-I-V-O-R-C-E to catch our youngsters.
Robert is doing one heck of a good job promoting pedal steel and keeping it from falling by the wayside.

[Bill McCloskey]

"Robert is doing one heck of a good job promoting pedal steel and keeping it from falling by the wayside.
"

I would extend that to ALL the sacred Steel players. The Campbell Brothers being right at the top.

[Zane King]

It does surprise me that some of you steel players say you don't really like instrumental selections. I respect your position but I don't get it. That said, it is likely true that you are not alone. Even in the case of popular instrumentalist like Jim Brickman and Santana (and many others) they use singers and original songs to highlight their performance. Or maybe its the other way around.

I looked up the #1 instrumentals of all-time according to Billboard. Interesting that there were a good bit of them from the 1940s,50s, 60s and 70s. The last USA #1 was by Jans Hammer the Miami Vice Theme in 1985. Before that it was Chariots Of Fire in 1982. I also looked up instrumental music on iTunes. It is definitely not artist driven. There is a bunch there but very few true artists.

I attended and played a ton of steel guitar shows from late 1980 through 1994. Upon moving to Nashville, I took a break from the shows until a couple of years ago. There is no question that when I returned the entire complexion of these same shows had completely changed. One of things I noticed most was indeed the addition of more vocalists. Oh and I also noticed a lot less PEOPLE!!!

So I guess the moral to this story is steel guitarist need to make CDs with singers.

[Sid Hudson]

I'm not convinced there ever huge crowds flocking to hear steel guitar or any other particular instrument for that matters. The masses have always leaned in the direction of vocalists. We all know that.

The vocalists can tell a story with their words that a musician never could.
This adds an element of entertainment that we as side men never could. Makes perfect sense to me.

So I will continue to play the little jazz clubs for 45 people on Thursday nights and be thrilled there are 45 people that want to hear the local hero’s blow.

Face it fellows, we’re side men.

[Zane King]

I agree Sid! Actually I agree with everything you say! Run for President or something!

[Wally Taylor]

Whole E. Kow.........people who enjoy playing the steel, but do not care to listen to steel instrumentals.....WOW,,, Un dirty word believable!!!
I was not even aware this was possible!!
This Forum is great, I learn something new everytime I get on here.

[Barry Blackwood]

So I will continue to play the little jazz clubs for 45 people on Thursday nights and be thrilled there are 45 people that want to hear the local hero’s blow.

Face it fellows, we’re side men.

Sid, you said a mouthful and said it well.

[Mike Perlowin]

When the original cassette of what is now my Firebird Suite first came out, it received a reader review in Steel Guitar World that said that the tape "didn't serve the needs of the steel guitar community."

What the reviewer didn't understand was that the recording was not intended for that. It was made for the general public. (Specifically the classical music audience.) That idea was simply inconceivable to the reviewer.

And that’s a big part of the problem.

Too many steel players live in a bubble that keeps them isolated from everything outside their narrow world. They almost refuse to acknowledge the existence of any other genre besides country, and even within country, they only want to play the old stuff that went out of fashion decades ago. And when they play instrumentals, they play SG rag and Faded Love and Panhandle Rag and A Way To Survive, and then wonder why a public that has moved on, isn’t interested in hearing them.

They refuse to learn the written language by which other musicians all over the world have been communicating with each other for 400 years. Then they wonder why other musicians don’t recognize them and sometimes regard our instrument as a musical toy, barely a step above a comb and tissue paper.

I did a restaurant gig about a year ago, in which I did not play a single country tune or any of those old steel guitar instrumentals. Instead I played songs that the audience knew and could relate to, including Downtown, Killing me Softly, Imagine, and A Whiter Shade of Pale. And the crowd loved hearing them played on a steel. I have a standing invitation from the restaurant to return any time I want.

The same thing happened with the classical audience when my chamber music trio performed. (BTW we’re reuniting for a concert January 13.) Again, I (we,) played music the audience already knew. Most of these people had never seen or heard a steel before, and they too loved it.

It’s not that the general public doesn’t like steel guitar music, it’s that they need to be approached on their own terms.

I have a homework assignment for all of you. Go to the library, and pick up any Beethoven symphony, it doesn’t matter which one, and just listen to it and think about whether you hear anything that might sound good if it was played on a steel. Then when you return it, do the same thing with a different classical record or CD, chosen at random, The do it again with a pop music or soft rock or oldies record. You will hear all sorts of stuff that would make great steel guitar instrumentals. And I guarantee that if you learn to play these songs, and perform them for the audience that already knows and likes them, people WILL appreciate it.

[Mike Neer]

I'm not convinced there ever huge crowds flocking to hear steel guitar or any other particular instrument for that matters. The masses have always leaned in the direction of vocalists. We all know that.

The vocalists can tell a story with their words that a musician never could.
This adds an element of entertainment that we as side men never could. Makes perfect sense to me.

So I will continue to play the little jazz clubs for 45 people on Thursday nights and be thrilled there are 45 people that want to hear the local hero’s blow.

Face it fellows, we’re side men.

Everyone defines success differently. Popularity with the masses is for very few, and those that have that in their genes are almost like politicians in a way, in that they seek and embrace that. There are also many factors that have nothing to do with music.

I call success being able to play the music I want to play for an appreciative audience.

[Niels Andrews]

Let me add a viewpoint from someone that has been playing PSG for less than a year. I have been playing at spanish guitar for 40. There is in the PSG community itself a over bearing feeling that the only place for steel is as an instrument for accompaniment.
Something to accompany the lead guitar player and vocalist. This is so wrong, but so ingrained. There is also a preoccupation with wanting to play like somebody else. It is an obsession of some on this forum to play just like one of the greats, you can't be great by imitation. How about you play, like you play.
Years ago I was playing and singing at a Rodeo in the stable area, when one of the greats, who's bus happened to be in the parking lot, unknown to me, walked up and said "Young man, I like how you sing my song." I was screwing it up badly but the point being I was doing my version of his song, not his version, and he liked that.
I remember once hearing Jimmy Page tell a young guitarist, play it the way you think it should be played, I don't want to hear it played the way I play it. Get the point.
I have more to say but have to go! So now you can attack!

[Gene Jones]

From my 50+ years of playing the steel guitar, I never deluded myself into believing that the steel guitar was anything other than a minor contribution to the music world.

Tell me who cares about a steel guitar player who sits stonefaced behind his guitar and contributes to an artist who has minimal talent, but who also has minimal clothing?

[Barry Blackwood]

How about you play like you play.

Oh c'mon, that can be great or disastrous depending on how developed your skill set is, or isn't!

[Stuart Legg]

How about you look like you look?

[Bill Miller]

As someone else alluded to, as musicians we really all play more for each other than anyone else. It's always nice to get complimented on your playing but the compliment carries so much more weight if it comes from someone you really respect as a musician. I think that sort of acceptance is probably the biggest motivator most of us have and is what drives us to work at honing our skills. To the untrained ear we must all sound a lot alike...providing we've reached a certain threshold of proficiency at least. Especially as pedal steel players if we were all slaving away with the goal of putting out a hit instrumental most of us would have thrown in the towel long ago.
As for not liking pedal steel instrumentals, I do. But for some reason I only like to listen to them in small doses. Can't explain it but I don't think I'm alone even among steel players. Come to think of it I don't like to listen to a steady diet of any kind of instrumental music.

[Roger Rettig]

I'm with Bill on this. I have a limited tolerance for steel guitar as a solo instrument which is why I stopped attending steel shows after a couple of visits. Sure, there was some amazing virtuosity on display (from some, anyway) but the tonality and repetition of material would drive me to seek relief away from the venue.

Or, as someone succinctly said earlier, '..we're sidemen'!

I learn tunes for my own amusement and in order to acquire more knowledge of my instrument but they rarely make their way on-stage - there is where I play what the MD requires me to play.

[Donny Hinson]

[Everything that has ever been really popular became so because it was both simple and standardized?

Whew! Guitar simple and standardized? We disagree on that one bro.

You will find Piano, Sax, Guitar etc... in all genres of music. Pedal Steel for the most part, Country Music and not very often at that.

If the instrument is to ever take off again it will have to break through the barriers into other Genres of music.

If not, it's probably seen it's run.

But, it's gonna take courage and somebody that's not concerned about making money to do it.

Making the dollar is what has kept many trapped in the same tired old box

Sorry Sid, your accomplishments and chops won't change my mind! Yes! I'd argue that the regular guitar has, for some reason, resisted the myriad changes that happened with pedal steel. The 7-string guitar (a la Van Eps, Pizzarelli and Breau...a few that come to mind) just never took off here in the U.S., and you'd be hard pressed to even find one in most bands or music stores. Benders also never really took off, either, though you do run into a player or guitar with that feature occasionally. Nope, the guitar of choice, STILL...by far, has the same number of strings and tuning that it had over 75 years ago. In general, they added some frets, and pickups, then made a solid body popular...and there it's evolution ended, for most practical purposes. People didn't jump on the bandwagon en masse adding strings and benders - even after seeing Breau and Baugh! Even the predeliction for vibratos (whammy bars) seems to be losing steam.

Simple? Yeah, really. Who could possibly argue that guitar is complicated when compared to pedal steel, and give any credence to that argument?

Virtuoso guitarists? Hundreds to thousands.
Virtuoso pedal steelers? A few dozen, perhaps.

Of course, some of that is due to the niche of styles that use pedal steel. But, I think a lot of it is also due to the growing complexity of the instrument, too. Straight guitar, just buy a good instrument and you're there. Pedal steel, buy a good instrument and then start changing things. But don't take my word for it - talk to steelers or read it right here. Most think pedal steels made 50 years ago are woefully inadequate. Whereas, in the straight guitar world, old guitars are perfectly adequate, and even preferred by many.

(And also, I'm old enough to remember when sax was the most popular lead instrument in rock 'n roll. Funny, that "explosion" of guitar popularity in pop and rock started about the same time as the popularity explosion of pedal steel. )

[Allen Kentfield]

I was captured by the "Hit Sounds" album by Lloyd Green. I found it in a cut-out bin in the late sixties. He made me believe that steel is the baddest tone machine of all time. And I still believe it. It is the real soul music.
So what if Hollywood thinks we're trash? Not being part of hero-worshiping pop culture does not bother me. I play steel and dobro instrumentals in a restaurant in addition to my dance gigs. People get to see and hear the real deal up close and ask questions about it.
If we players don't get out there and give our best, how will young players ever get interested and inspired?
I've had lots of people say, "I don't even like country music, but I like what you do."

[Niels Andrews]

Another point I would like to make is the numbers when it comes to PSG. There are literally millions of spanish guitar players out there. I personally can't recall all the guitar players that live within 50 miles of me. And many of them are quite good.
On the other hand I don't know of any PSG players in the area, I have heard they exist, but it is like looking for a Sasquatch.
The point being almost every songwriter plays either the keyboards or the guitar as a primary instrument. So the music that is being written and played reflects that.
The versatility of the steel and it's unique ability will keep it viable for years, the artist that will capitalize on this instrument may not even be born yet. It is up to us to inspire new people to play.
That old "Gone Home" list grows everyday, share your love of the Pedal Steel and you might inspire the Buddy Emmons of a future generation.

[Rick Collins]

You may know, little (5'2") Kenny G became a main attraction with his solo sax.
There are still lots of possibilities in music.

Right now, on this thread, what if we made it a think-tank, with the agenda of moving the steel guitar as far to the forefront of modern music as possible?

I'll predicate the scene __ you may add or detract to it whatever you like, even saying it's a crazy idea if you like.

1. It must be a group that could be "built" to headline with play-dates at small theaters and ampitheaters and Las Vegas.

2. The group should consist of TWO alike triple-neck stand-up console steel guitars, electric bass and guitar, and drums.

3. All five musicians must be physically fit, with fitting hair styles and dress. Presentation is very important. (Females hardly ever look like slobs __ why should we?)

4. Musicians will work together to compose and record a novelty tune they will market until it is reasonably successful (something like Sleep Walk).

5. The two steel guitars will also work up familiar tunes in a new style, playing together, and playing solo parts of the same tune.

6. Hire a 'starting-out but very good' female vocalist to be a guest with the group.

Take these six ideas and try to hone them to become what you believe would work in today's entertainment environment, keeping in mind the objective of promoting the steel guitar. Don't hold back __ say what you feel.

[Rick Collins]

Kenny G started out with Barry White and now has sold over 75 million albums as a solo.
Think BIG.