Gliss abuse

[Bob Stone]

When playing jazz, standards, swing and other music not immediately identified with the the steel guitar, I ask myself what I can do to bring something special to the music that no other instrument can quite duplicate. To me, that means glissando (up and down), vibrato in all its variations from mild to wild, pitch variations, sustain, sliding harmonics, volume swells, hammers,etc. that our instrument is capable of. Other instruments can do these things, but they don't sound like a steel guitar does.

That said, one must be careful to not overdo any of these techniques. The challenge is to be in control of the various technique and use them tastefully.

[HowardR]

I agree about context....about 7 or 8 years ago I was bitten by the gypsy jazz bug and listened to everything that I could get my hands on from Django to every comtemporary artist.....and I wanted to play it (on dobro)without sounding like a dobro player....

There's a thread (I think it's in Music) about musical fantasizing and I fantasized myself playing these tunes and how I would go about it.....the first thing I realized is that I would have to eliminate (as much as I could) all of the sounds that were indicative of the acoustic steel guitar, like glissando, hammer ons, pull offs, and banjo rolls.......

The second thing I realized was that I sucked, but since that never stopped me before, I forged on......anyhow I managed to cut a short rendition of Dark Eyes that some of you may recall....and for me, I was happy with it......but with regard to the topic here, and as Doug said.....I pretty much had to play the dobro as a guitar......although there were certain things that I just could not do (in staccato terms)......also, after spending a lot of time with this, I realized that I wanted (needed) something in there indicative of the dobro without sounding bluegrass.......I ended up using a hammer on & pull off in one instance and an ascending slide/slant in another....and that was just enough to remain "authentic" yet include something that said "I'm playing a steel guitar"......

Bottom line.....it's all in the context and what works with regard to what you're attempting to achieve.....but it's nice to know that you have glissando to throw in when it's appropriate.....

One particular guitarist who is a master of this is Will Ray.....he'll play blues, rock, jazz, country using fast runs, chords, chicken picking, tremelo,.....and then with a slide ring he'll slip in a slide lick seamlessly which makes his playing unique......

[C. E. Jackson]

Mike, I enjoy your playing style very much. I believe each player should develop his or her own style based on personal likes or dislikes. I enjoy hearing a variety of steel guitar styles and techniques, and can recognize many players by hearing playing technique. Hopefully, the Hawaiian style and techniques never go out of fashion.

Thank you, Mike, for starting this discussion.

[David Matzenik]

There seems to be general consensus here that the use of glissando is dependent on context. Even radical gliss has its place; I am thinking of "Paradise Isle" the Sam Koki number.

[Edward Meisse]

I haven't read all of the replies. So I may be repeating what somebody else has already said. I avoid playing tunes and styles that the steel guitar is associated with. I'd like to see the steel guitar branch out to general use. But I do use harmonics and glissandos quite a bit. What's the sense of playing a steel guitar if you're not going to take advantage of its' major strengths to some degree.

[Paul Seager]

Its been quite some time since I looked at the SGF and this thread caught my eye and extracted a chuckle as well. I've mentioned before on other threads that I came to steel guitar from bass guitar. To be more accurate, fretless bass. I started playing bass as Jaco Pastorius was making his presence known and even though 90% of the gigs I eventually played were on a fretted instrument, fretless remained my preferred flavour of bass.

Unfortunately, fretless bass playing quickly became cliche and IMHO one of the reasons was the execessive use of gliss and vibrato. Actually when I think about it, one of the many fretless tricks that grated on one's nerves, was to pick a harmonic and gliss up the neck, (can anyone think of another instrument that includes this technique? ) So on the rare occasions my musical buddies would let me pull my fretless out of its case (and dare I mention it was a 6 string ... headless!) I would always try and play in a style as I would play a fretted bass. Same notes but somehow you get a different feel.

Now to address Loyal McAvoy's comment on “showboating”. It has to be said that the fretted bass has immmense moments of showboating - slapping and popping; I am guilty as anyone on this point but ... I might add, it is a fantastic crowd pleaser and gets you way more attention than if one were to play a wonderfully melodic, harmonically perfect, solo. Typically a bassist only gets one solo spot on most gigs so you have to leave your mark! Actually all the country / rockabilly gigs I've been to, where an upright player is up there, you're guaranteed a few bars of slapping and the crowd love it!

Anyway, back to Mike's thread: One of the reasons I struggle to listen to Hawaiian steel players, is the gliss and vibrato. Same goes for opera. My wife loves it but all that vibrato warbling and the vocal glisses up the scales drives me nuts. However, in a nice slow Ave Maria, these techniques sound beautiful. So to the point, I agree with you all, these two techniques have to be used with care but without them music would be very boring.

And as for jazz, whatever one plays, think on Charlie Parker: Any solo of more than two choruses, you just gonna' start practicing!

\ paul

[Niels Andrews]

And as for jazz, whatever one plays, think on Charlie Parker: Any solo of more than two choruses, you just gonna' start practicing!
Amen!

[Mike Neer]

I haven't read all of the replies. So I may be repeating what somebody else has already said. I avoid playing tunes and styles that the steel guitar is associated with. I'd like to see the steel guitar branch out to general use. But I do use harmonics and glissandos quite a bit. What's the sense of playing a steel guitar if you're not going to take advantage of its' major strengths to some degree.

The problem for me is this: while I see the ability to employ gliss and vibrato as a natural component of playing (and a wonderful one in proper doses), if one has not developed his articulation on the instrument (especially right hand), it can sound like a slippery mess.

You ask: "what's the sense of playing steel guitar if you're not going to take advantage of its' major strengths to some degree?" I certainly don't think I neglect to use those things--in fact, who does?--but why not strengthen those areas of weakness in most players' game? If you build better technique overall, chances are you will use gliss and vibrato more effectively, and probably a little less.

I'd really love to see the steel branch out--nothing would make me happier. But if I'm going to be honest, there has not been a lot of innovation with regard to the playing of the instrument in quite a long time. It seems like the frame of reference for the instrument is centered on just a few iconic players and their style of music. There is so much more possible, and I really believe this. I know others do, too. You have to keep an open mind to the possibilities.

[Mike Neer]

And as for jazz, whatever one plays, think on Charlie Parker: Any solo of more than two choruses, you just gonna' start practicing!
Amen!

Well, I find that to be pretty untrue, especially when listening to a great soloist, like Sonny Rollins, Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, Joe Henderson, etc. They had much larger vocabularies than Charlie Parker did, even though Charlie paved the way.

[Mike Neer]

Another important factor in this that I've failed to bring up is the number of strings on the instrument. Obviously with 6 and even 8 strings, there is going to be a bit more sliding around--that's out of some necessity. I think the C6 tuning is one of the first steps toward eliminating as much because of the G and A strings being together, and all the new possibilities you discover.

Once you get to 10 strings, you can't help but move toward the pedal steel approach a little more. I'm not going with pedals, even with all the harmonic possibilities it offers, though.

[David Matzenik]

Aversion to glissando and vibrato on steel guitar.

I have been thinking about this subject in terms of musicology. I remember the musical sensibilities of the late 1950s when Hawaiian music was not just eclipsed by Rock and Roll and Jazz, it was relegated to the stuffy halls of “Squaresville.”

When Andy Williams sang the “Hawaiian Wedding Song,” most people under 20 felt nauseous, but the hoteliers in Hawaii probably bribed him to do it.

Steel guitar is part of Hawaiian popular music. Listening to the early records one can hear the operatic influence. Apart from glissando and vibrato on steel, singers like Ray Kinney rippled their Rs as if quoting Shakespeare. The steel guitar lent itself easily to the old parlour warble rather like the musical saw.

But to a younger generation that coveted the Chevy Bel-Air it reminded them of the horse and buggy days which had not entirely passed away. Attempts by progressive players failed to make the steel guitar more contemporary even though they went to a thinner and twangier sound.

All music is symphonic, in that it creates a mood. Blues, Bebop Jazz and Rock and Roll helped to usher in an era of unprecedented cynicism. Proponents of these styles take themselves a bit too seriously, in my opinion.It is hard to avoid the manifestations.

Screaming into a microphone is about as emotional as chalk on a blackboard. Modern Blues music wallows in fained misery while hitting the audience with melodramatic guitar phrases. Playing with your back to the audience? How bloody pretentious is that? Rock-stars smashing guitars? Hip-Hopster’s and rappers may one day find inspiration other than their own hipness, but they have not in the last 25 years. As for noodling around trying to express one’s self through improvisation, I don’t know; maybe if it not too self-indulgent. Should I forgive Miles Davis for those one note solos?

Against this kind of background the sentimentality expressed through glissando and vibrato on steel guitar may seem like a foreign language or even comedy. In fact sentimentality has come to be associated with the unrealistic. That is how jaded we have become. Beauty is style, meaning is a soundbite, love is anything to do with the genitals. Since the 1960s a lot of music sounds like urban angst to me. It’s not a mood I want to be in.

While I don’t attach intrinsic value to one style over another, my steel guitar music is all about flowers and waterfalls, palm trees and the tradewinds. Glissando and vibrato work really well in this genre. There is a touch of nostalgia in there too. I attribute this to my time of life and a predilection for the romantic.

Like . . . strictly Squaresville man!

[Mike Neer]

All music is symphonic, in that it creates a mood. Blues, Bebop Jazz and Rock and Roll helped to usher in an era of unprecedented cynicism. Proponents of these styles take themselves a bit too seriously, in my opinion.It is hard to avoid the manifestations.

Guilty as charged! But music is very serious to me, and has been my whole life. Just about everything I know about music I taught myself. Hawaiian music is a very small blip on my musical radar, but it led me to the steel guitar, which is why it is so near and dear to me.

My romance doesn't need to have a moon in the sky.
My romance doesn't need a blue lagoon standing by.
No month of May.
No twinkling star.
No hideaway.
No soft guitar.
....
My romance doesn't need a thing but you.

[Gary Meixner]

Mike,

I very much appreciate what you are saying and have been recently all too aware of the many technical aspects of my playing that are either over used or under developed. I definitely have an idea in my mind of what I want my music to eventually sound like, however on the way I am forced to rely on what I can do as I inch along towards my goal.

To your point of wanting to take the steel guitar in a new direction - I would say the steel guitar is a truly modern instrument. It is far to early in it's development for it to be saddled with any particular stylistic conventions or traditions. It's history thus far has been a story of endless innovation and imagination. I hope that continues.

Very best always,

Gary

[Bill Creller]

I guess that if it didn't sound like a steel guitar, I would go back to Spanish guitar lead, and forget about the steel

Of course the over-use of any technique can get tiresome....

[Mike Neer]

Gary, well said.

Bill, where one sees limitations, I like to look for possibilities. There's something I love about the steel guitar, and yes, I could have stuck to playing Spanish guitar, but I like my voice better on the steel. It's simple as that.

[Len Amaral]

I have a D-12 SS with a C6 neck and E13 neck and enjoy the different voicing's especially with the George L on C6 and Alumatone on E13.

I also have a modified 6 string Peavey Power Slide with an E6 and for playing tunes like Summertime and bluesy vibes where you pick a note and then when it starts to fade you add vibrato. Fun!

Lenny

[Loyal McAvoy]

Musical instruments have to fight to rise in the hierarchy. Until they do they are considered a bastard instrument. It takes two or three master players to come along and kick it up the order of the hierarchy. It took many years for the Saxophone to become legitimate. I know the average listener also unconsciously and/or consciously scorns instruments that haven’t climbed the acceptable music ladder. It isn’t fair because I have worked with a myriad of leaders and sidemen who still consider the guitar as a “country” instrument; many times this attitude comes from a pianist who has much less knowledge that the instrument they deplore. I have found the majority of stylistic aficionados and musicians are extremely conservative; I read an interview by Emmons that when he was recording his now-famous 60’s jazz album, the New York sidemen (especially the pianist) were downright rude and demeaning to him.

About a month age I was selling a speaker on EBay, I received a question from a perspective purchaser, he asked, “Does the speaker smell like tobacco smoke?” I replied, “I usually don’t judge an amplifier by smell, I judge with my ears not my nose.”

We should all evaluate instruments and players by our ears, regardless of the style or instrument, and not by our preconceived expectations, and certainly not our nose.

[Robert Burgess]

As a newcomer to playing the 8-string I just enjoy each new skill that appears and add it to my trick bag, then I see all this about should certain techniques be dropped? and others wading in with opinions all differing.Like the aliens in the hitchhikers guide story trying to invent the wheel
but arguing about what color it should be first.Does it sound good ?, do you like it?, end of.

[Mike Neer]

As a newcomer to playing the 8-string I just enjoy each new skill that appears and add it to my trick bag, then I see all this about should certain techniques be dropped? and others wading in with opinions all differing.Like the aliens in the hitchhikers guide story trying to invent the wheel
but arguing about what color it should be first.Does it sound good ?, do you like it?, end of.

We all figure it out for ourselves in the long run, which is the way it should be. Don't let discussions prevent us from traveling down each path to learning.

[David Mason]

Trying to push an instrument to do "something new" seems kind of clinical? In my way of thinking, the music seems to know what it wants and the advances in technique come as necessary steps to play the music the way I want to... I am not involved in any situation where I need to generate "a new sound" for commercial reasons, I can see where session players particularly need to push in that way. If there's any single thing where I think the glissing and sliding can have a negative effect on what I want to do, it's my ongoing need to find more rhythmic definition and not have everything all smoothed together; play hard, block hard, the acoustic players have a bit more whump to 'em than the electric, in that regard. Even if you can't pound, at least hope to throb.....