Steel without a bar - the OM guitar

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 16 Dec 2013 8:40 am

Played with eBow and fingers on a lap steel. Sounds remarkably like an Armenian duduk and quite lovely to my ears. I love it!

http://youtu.be/cDje0NpKKuA

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 16 Dec 2013 8:43 am

That is awesome, Bill. This guy is good and the instrument sounds great.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 16 Dec 2013 10:01 am

That was absolutely cinematic. Beautiful legato sounds. Wonder if it does staccato? I appreciate how cool that is without any desire to play it myself.

Chris Gabriel · Post by **Chris Gabriel** » 16 Dec 2013 10:07 am

"Back to normal mode"

Dig it, the guy is a lefty, what's not to like?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 16 Dec 2013 10:09 am

You can do staccato with an eBow by bouncing it up and down on the string.

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · Post by **Jean-Sebastien Gauthier** » 16 Dec 2013 10:26 am

Very cool use of the eBow! I love this tool and its a crowd pleaser!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 16 Dec 2013 10:27 am

Wow. I like that!

Myk Freedman · Post by **Myk Freedman** » 16 Dec 2013 1:40 pm

I love it! In many ways I feel we're entering into another "golden age" of the lap steel. With so many people discovering the instrument and developing new and interesting ways to play it. It's an exciting time.

I often wonder what will be the standard techniques for steel players in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if using the Ebow is one of them.

Here's a great video of Buddy Emmons using one in another interesting way:

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/vXdPDr ... %26start=0

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 16 Dec 2013 1:57 pm

Very cool. I would not have guessed that finger-on-string like that could work. I assume that eraser under the string is to mute sympathetic ringing?
I dig this guy's outside the box mind.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 16 Dec 2013 4:58 pm

Someone should send this to Robert Fripp, maybe he'll incorporate it into the reanimated King Crimson which has a year to go before returning to the stage.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 16 Dec 2013 10:36 pm

Very innovative and still very musical.

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 17 Dec 2013 5:57 am

Hi,

Very cool!

I just tried this (without the looper) and cannot make it work. When I touch the string with my finger it ceases to vibrate and the sound stops.

Has anyone else tried it?

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 18 Dec 2013 4:56 am

I've been talking with Gareth about how he does this-
First, it really only works on a big fat solid string tuned down real low-
It's a 0.017 tuned down to a 196Hz G string (Standard guitar 6th string, third fret)..yup- really low
It's like playing a rubber band...Gareth is real smooth at it- he's been doing it a long time and makes it sound superb.

It helps to push down on the string a little bit, and of course make sure your battery in the eBow is fresh and strong.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 18 Dec 2013 5:39 am

It looked to me like he was actually pressing the string down far enough to touch the fretboard; perhaps had lowered the nut?

And the drone? Looks like he got that string ringing first with the ebow, then set it on a looper so he could use the ebow on the "melody" string?

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 18 Dec 2013 6:03 am

Hi,

Jim: I understand the looper drone bit.

Jay: Thanks, I'll try that floppy 0.017 string, and put a fresh battery in my eBow.

Best,

Bob

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 18 Dec 2013 6:16 am

Jim- he doesn't push it down that much at all- I would say 1/8" max..and even that de-tunes the note quite a bit.

J

Kay Das · Post by **Kay Das** » 18 Dec 2013 7:03 am

The coolest thing approaching an "air" lap steel. I think it particularly suits Eastern music scales and music derived therefrom, and Gareth was thinking East for his performance.

Buddy Emmons did also experiment with the e-bow on pedal steel in his Christmas album released sometime in the eighties.

I found I could approximate the e-bow sound with a Line 6 delay box (with the reverse echo setting) and get quite a wide variety of delay, attack, and sustain characteristics.

Very innovative "out of the box" thinking from Gareth, though.

Kay

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 18 Dec 2013 9:52 am

Very interesting stuff, and clearly a new direction employing a lap steel.

I would be concerned, however, about using the e-bow in that manner (holding it right over the pickup) as it excites the strings using an AC magnetic field. That field, over time, may degrade the pickup magnets if the e-bow is used in close proximity to the pickups. As long as the unit is an inch or so away from them, it probably wouldn't hurt, so this is just a cautionary note.

Alexander Stepanenko · Post by **Alexander Stepanenko** » 19 Dec 2013 10:25 am

Cool. Already bought on eBay. Will experiment))

Frank James Pracher · Post by **Frank James Pracher** » 19 Dec 2013 11:14 am

Love it!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 19 Dec 2013 4:33 pm

Combined with pedals he could expand his sound even further.

I've often wondered about building a lap steel with a curved bridge and playing it with a bow.

Daniel McKee · Post by **Daniel McKee** » 19 Dec 2013 4:45 pm

that's interesting. It sounds good

Michael Butler · Post by **Michael Butler** » 19 Dec 2013 11:06 pm

wow, that was a lot of fun to watch him play!

play music!

Michael Laslovich · Post by **Michael Laslovich** » 19 Dec 2013 11:22 pm

Opening up so many new things to experiment with. Thanks for sharing I really enjoyed this new approach to what I used to think was a very limited instrument.

John RJ Wilson · Post by **John RJ Wilson** » 20 Dec 2013 2:02 am

That is really great. But special mention to the customisation of the old Guyatone. It would be really interesting to hear it with an electric mistress or the like or some of the latest pedals from Electro harmonix, Pigtronix, maybe the Eventide space or strymon timeline ice patch.