Steel Guitar / Pushing The Envelope

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 24 Jan 2014 3:33 pm

I get that this kind of approach on a pedal steel guitar is not for everyone. Well, evidently it's pretty much just for a handful of people based on how many views these videos get compared to others of mine. I get that. Still, I hope they inspire someone just a bit. I've got a bunch more of these in mind but just need to find the time to get to 'em.

Ain't No Bluez Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmkdGktTk4Y

Z Bluez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuQ1DL0AAS4

Bluesy Steel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-Fcu8M7bE

James Murray · Post by **James Murray** » 24 Jan 2014 7:24 pm

Hey Zane, Great stuff. You need to come down to Memphis and play. These blues boys here would love you. I sort of re-tooled a few years ago and learned a FEW blues licks and I go and mix it up with some of the better players in town and they love it. Yea, It's not the stuff we fell in love with for steel but anytime you can go play with good players, it will help you add to all those classic pedal steel licks that we love. In Memphis you get out of the box or you stay at home more than you want. Anyway, thanks for posting some of this. It gives me some good ideas to hang with the blues guys in town. I've been working every weekend for the last year with a classic country
band but when things slow down I will play some of the other stuff. JM

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 24 Jan 2014 7:59 pm

thanx zane. nice to hear pedal steel attack the basic blues. i've always thought pedalsteel could be the ultimate blues machine.
for me it will take more dedication on seeking out the chord postions and lick areas i really like, rather than just pecking around hunting them out as i've always done on the fly.
your stuff is inspirational

Ken Campbell · Post by **Ken Campbell** » 25 Jan 2014 7:19 am

Dude! You sure got that down!!!!

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 26 Jan 2014 5:47 am

James that would be out of sight to jam on Beale Street! I wonder how I could make that happen?

Thanks Chris! I think you are right that steel guitar is a beast on the Blues!

I'm working on it Ken. I've got a ton of stuff in my head if I can just get some time to get pouring through my guitar and amplifier. Stay tuned!

Jerry Humphries · Post by **Jerry Humphries** » 29 Jan 2014 8:32 pm

Zane what effects are you using to dirty up your steel? I love everything you have ever put on youtube. Keep em coming. Jerry

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 30 Jan 2014 5:59 pm

I'm using the Roland Cube 80. It is a guitar amp for the most part. Pretty easy to dial in all kinds of fun stuff!

Paul Arntson · Post by **Paul Arntson** » 2 Feb 2014 12:50 pm

Zane - that is awesome!!
Thank you so much for posting that!

Newbie questions:
Do you have any suggestions for different ways to try articulating the signature lick on Freddie King's Hideaway?
(other than using open strings of course)?
I've been messing with it for a while and haven't been able to get the right feel....

Also, are you always on the volume foot pedal or do you just use it for swells?

This is great stuff! Your sound is very inspiring.

Thanks for the clips. Looking forward to hearing more.
-Paul

Justin Emmert · Post by **Justin Emmert** » 3 Feb 2014 10:04 am

Loving this stuff Zane. With the direction of New Country today, I can see a lot of those licks coming in handy with the newer material we're hearing on the radio lately. Keep up the good work, it's inspiring!!

Dan Burnham · Post by **Dan Burnham** » 3 Feb 2014 12:34 pm

NICE

dAn

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 4 Feb 2014 4:58 pm

Paul - I will look that Freddie King tune up. Thanks for your compliments. Part of the reason why I post these things is to hopefully offer a little inspiration.

Justin - I agree! We steel players have to keep reinventing ourselves! They are not going to ever kick us out of Country Music!

Dan - THANKS! Hey man I ran into the Stoffels. GREAT PEOPLE! And man they love some Dan Burnham!

John Scanlon · Post by **John Scanlon** » 4 Feb 2014 8:05 pm

Zane King wrote:I get that this kind of approach on a pedal steel guitar is not for everyone. Well, evidently it's pretty much just for a handful of people ......

Count me among that number. Not much of a modern country lover, I very much dig seeing the instrument taken out of its bubble, but without sounding corny. You achieved that in spades. Nice work.

Dan Burnham · Post by **Dan Burnham** » 5 Feb 2014 5:59 am

Zane,
I hope you can make it to the Ill. Show this year. Jeff really loved yours and Donna's music. Tell your Daddy he needs to bring some of those SUPER COOL Lap steels to the show and sell them to SUPER COOL Players.

For everybody else reading this, you've got to try Johnny's lapsteels. AWESOME

Dan

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 10 Feb 2014 5:21 pm

Zane, great stuff. We need to hear (and see!) more of this. You just proved to the entire world that steel is so much more than country.

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 10 Feb 2014 7:07 pm

Thanks Bent for replying to this thread. No doubt, steel guitar has had some major exposure over the years to various forms of music. Still, it gets the tag of being a Country music instrument. Funny, how no other instrument really gets labeled as such. I hope I can be a part of getting the instrument more and more exposure beyond the expected audience.

Don Mogle · Post by **Don Mogle** » 16 Feb 2014 10:46 pm

Zane,

I think you need to go head-to-head with Robert Randolph! Hmm...maybe at the Crossroads guitar show!

I bet if you cut heads with RR, you'd be like Ralph Machio in the movie "Crossroads!"

Now, can you start working on Roy Buchanan's song "The Messiah Will Come Again?"

Don

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 17 Feb 2014 3:59 pm

Don. M

Very nice comments. Thank you! I do think jamming with RR would be off the charts fun. Hopefully someday it will happen.

A few months ago in a comment someone mentioned to me (might have been you) that my approach to this kind of styling was similar to Roy Buchanan. I had never heard of him so I went on a search for his music. Sure enough, much of my phrasing and risk taking is like his. I will dig further into his stuff and will check out this tune.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Zane

Don Mogle · Post by **Don Mogle** » 17 Feb 2014 4:55 pm

Zane,

Keep up the good work. Could you make some of those blues tracks available like you did with your CD?

Roy Buchanan was a legendary telecaster player back in the 60s & 70s. His command of the neck was just astonishing. I love they way he would squeeze the notes...sometimes two-three fret bends. He had a way of going from nice-and-easy to full-blown rage on the tele...in the same song. I guess he learned that from being raised around Pentecostal preachers as a kid (his Father was a minister as I understand it).

I had the opportunity to see him live in Indiana, PA back in the 70s when he came to our local college. For some strange reason, I was able to go backstage and talk to him a little while. When I asked him about the song "The Messiah Will Come Again," he responded with "Boy, the only reason I believe in God is because the DEVIL told me so!" I can't say I shared his view on that matter.

OK...enough of the history lesson. Let's get with RR's people and set up this showdown! See you in Dallas in March! I want to hear some more of those BLUES!

Don

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