How Did Ralph Mooney Get Such a Distinctive Tone and Style?

[Gene Jones]

Lots of good comments about Ralph's playing, but for what it's worth, I think that he just played what he felt from whatever tunings he came up with. He came from an era where there was not much help from other steel players, in fact, professional players did not share tunings, techniques, or anything else that may have contributed to their playing.

Before he was famous with Jennings, Ralph was a well known studio west coast musician in the 1950's who was famous among musicians for his pedal stomping single string style.

In summary, Ralph was an original stylist.

[Jason Rumley]

"If ya ain't got it in ya, it won't come out of your horn" - Charlie Parker

[John Billings]

Did his Shobud have coil taps?

[Roger Shackelton]

I Really Like The Album Ralph Did With James Burton.
"Corn Pickin' & Slick Slidin'"

I Hope I got The Title Right. ?


Roger

[Donny Hinson]

Lots of good comments about Ralph's playing, but for what it's worth, I think that he just played what he felt from whatever tunings he came up with. He came from an era where there was not much help from other steel players, in fact, professional players did not share tunings, techniques, or anything else that may have contributed to their playing.

Before he was famous with Jennings, Ralph was a well known studio west coast musician in the 1950's who was famous among musicians for his pedal stomping single string style.

In summary, Ralph was an original stylist.

I agree, he was a stylist...but not always. When he started, he played pretty much like a lot of the NV guys, but with a sharper tone. It was only later, when he worked for Waylon, and Merle, that he sorta "dumbed-down" his playing, doing mostly the pedal-punching and the single string & unison stuff which most players know him for.

On the subject of pros back then not sharing their tunings and setups...well, that was true - if you're talking about sharing them with amateurs, or the general public. The real pros, though, can just listen and watch, and tell exactly anybody's got "under the hood".

[Fred Jack]

Donny,
Clearly, you have forgotten the "stuff" Moon did with Wynn. Also the many other W.C. artists that he recorded with. He was definately first call and I cannot think of another steeler who played like Moon. I can think of a lot of Nashville pickers who openly declared that they wouldn't if they could!
I do know a couple pickers, anyone ever heard Frank Arnett?

[Jack Wilson]

If Ralph played like Nashville players, why is it that I can always identify his playing on early west coast recordings made in the 1960s?

[b0b]

He was definately first call and I cannot think of another steeler who played like Moon. I can think of a lot of Nashville pickers who openly declared that they wouldn't if they could!

Probably because they couldn't!

A lot of the secret was using both feet on the pedals. Moon had a pedal that raised E to F# on his right foot. Bouncing on it with A+B down was a sound that you couldn't get with the C pedal of the Emmons/Day standard E9th.

[Donny Hinson]

Moon probably influenced me more than any other player, and I always thought his best stuff was the songs he did with Gary Dean. I have them, and if you don't, you've missed his best playing.

I cannot think of another steeler who played like Moon.

I wish I had a dollar for every steeler who originally thought that was Moon playing on "It's Such A Pretty World Today". I could buy a new steel!

Can anyone play like Moon? Well, I'd say the following is a pretty darned good immitation...not the tone, but the style is definitely there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9vqJTuoAQU

[Paul Graupp]

b0b: I tried that E to F# raise one time, years ago. My mistake was putting it on a knee lever and that is always slower then a foot pedal so it didn't help me out at all.

Regards, Paul

[Larry Bell]

Donny,
Is that Jeff Newman on the Jim & Jesse cut?

He was great at copping that style and, if I recall correctly, included a tribute instrumental in his newsletter many years ago that was a compendium of Moon-ology. We all miss Jeff.

[Donny Hinson]

Yes, that's Jeff! And, I think it goes to show quite well that another player, can (if he wants to) sound essentially like Moon. So many think it's the guitar, the tuning, the amp, the pickup, or something else (?) that makes a player unique. Whereas, I think it's the mind that's really creating the music. There are probably a thousand players out there with essentially the same gear as Buddy Emmons, but the ones who can truly "sound like Buddy" can probably be counted on one hand.

A lot of the secret was using both feet on the pedals. Moon had a pedal that raised E to F# on his right foot. Bouncing on it with A+B down was a sound that you couldn't get with the C pedal of the Emmons/Day standard E9th.

I think that can be argued...unless you're saying that the 2nd string full-tone lower isn't part of the "standard E9th".

[David Ellison]

When he started, he played pretty much like a lot of the NV guys, but with a sharper tone. It was only later, when he worked for Waylon, and Merle, that he sorta "dumbed-down" his playing, doing mostly the pedal-punching and the single string & unison stuff which most players know him for.

That's not true at all. Listen to the Wanda Jackson songs Honey Bop and I Gotta Know. That's the 1950s and he sounded just the same as he did in the '60s and '70s.

[David Ellison]

I cannot think of another steeler who played like Moon.

Listen to the Buck Owens album Together Again. That album has Ralph Mooney, Jay McDonald, and Tom Brumley all playing fender steels and all sounding very much alike. You really can't tell who's playing on which song (other than the song Together Again, which everyone already knows is Tom Brumley).

The Fender steel sound was unique, and was at least half the equation IMO.

[Donny Hinson]

The Fender steel sound was unique, and was at least half the equation IMO.

A common argument is that Moon didn't sound the same playing a Fender as he did playing his Sho-Bud. But those who give us these arguments overlook this simple premise - maybe he wasn't trying to sound the same! You see, it's easy to get a different tone and sound from a different guitar. In fact, that's why many players switch guitars. It's much harder to get an entirely different sound from the same guitar, but it can be done, I assure you.

And for anyone who thinks the Fender sound was unique and indistinguishable, I urge them to listen to Curly Chalker's "Big Hits On Big Steel" (which was recorded on a cable Fender pedal steel) and tell me exactly where in the entire album his tone sounds like Ralph Mooney, Jay McDonald, Speedy West, or Sneaky Pete.

It's like this, guys...IMHO, players who can only get one sound and tone from any particular guitar would do well not to think that all other players have the same handicap.

[David Ellison]

I have Big Hits on Big Steel. I think that if you turn the treble on the amp all the way down and any steel can be made to sound like mud.

Seriously, though... I can easily hear the fender sound in Speedy West, Sneaky Pete and Mooney. Check out the youtube video of Barbara Mandrel playing Kentucky Means Paradise. Fender steel... same sound.

[Donny Hinson]

Okay...here's another Fender steel. Doesn't sound much like Mooney to me! Doesn't sound like Barbara Mandrell, or Pete Kleinow, either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8S5pnkNhl8

[Jack Stoner]

When Mooney went to work for Wayon he had a Fender Twin Reverb Amp. I got the amp to check out for him before he went on the road with Waylon. As I was the amp tech for Little Roy Wiggins' Music City music store on Lower Broadway in Nashville, I came into the store one day and a Fender Twin was sitting there and I was told it was Mooney's and he wanted it checked out as he was joining Waylon's band. Mooney didn't pick it up, another person in the band picked it up after I serviced it.

I don't know if they were trying to recreate the Wynn Stewart session sound on Waylon's Rainy Day Woman, but Mooney's licks on that are almost identical to Wynn Stewart's "Big Big Love" session that Mooney did.

Here is the link to the Wynn Stewart song on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoBermCANa4

[Tony Prior]

I'm not sure what going on in that small room video that Kevin posted, but I've heard Moon play that same GFI with a very bright amp tone typical of his recordings. I think that maybe someone just plugged him into a Peavey amp that happened to be set up and he didn't bother to adjust it. Also, it appears to be an amateur video and you can hear the ALC in the camera compressing the audio in a very non-linear way.

Lastly, I wouldn't trust a YouTube video and my little computer speakers to tell me anything about the tone of a steel guitar.

now this right here turns the whole world upside down...the reference is now skewed....