1950's steel guitar music

Judith A Helms · Post by **Judith A Helms** » 16 Jul 2014 7:06 am

Believe it or not, after almost 60 years I have been blessed with the recent possession of my original 3 neck Magnatone Steel guitar. It still plays beautifully, and yes, even at 71, I can still play it.

Now for my request- I am looking for some of the music I played back then, such as E13th rag, the is Southland, etc.

If anyone knows where I can purchase these pieces I would be grateful. I remember many of them and have been able to play them in part, but would love the original music if it is available.

thanks- judy

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 16 Jul 2014 4:15 pm

I can't help you with the music, but I think it's wonderful that you're reunited with your steel and taking the time to get back into it. Well done!

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 16 Jul 2014 4:54 pm

Picture please!!!!

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 16 Jul 2014 5:14 pm

A triple neck Magnatone 60 years later! There's a story here and we'd love to hear it.

Try doing a search on ebay of "steel guitar sheet music". There's also a section of this forum titled "For Sale: Music, lessons, etc." Good luck!

Judith A Helms · Post by **Judith A Helms** » 16 Jul 2014 6:54 pm

As a bit of background, I played this steel at the 1955 national convention in Long Beach California. I was 13 at the time and came in second place in the solo division.
As time marched on, I married and eventually traded my Magnatone back to Starr Studios in Fresno CA, for another instrument. As a result of the music theory learned while playing my guitar and various other instruments I began composing and arranging music, and have continues to do so down through the years.

Fast forward to about a month ago. My husband, who also plays guitar, purchased a single neck 6 string steel from Musician's Friend. When it arrives, I started right off with "Steel Guitar Rag." I couldn't believe it. The old brain was still working.
Although I liked the guitar, my husband could tell that I wasn't really enthralled with it, so he promised to build me a 2 or 3 neck one in the winter. As a result we began looking for plans and parts on the net. The next thing you know we typed the word, "Magnatone Steel" in the search engine, and up popped a three neck Magnatone on Ebay. As I looked across at his computer screen I couldn't believe my eyes. There is was. MY GUITAR!!! I really wasn't sure at first, but when he read the description which stated it was from old Starr Studios in Fresno, I had no doubt, as I was the only one playing the Magnatone all the years I played with the bands associated with the studio. Needless to say, we pushed "buy it now!"

The best part of this story is that my 93 year old mother's great wish was to hear me play the steel guitar for her once more. This last Sunday we celebrated her 93rd birthday with a mini-concert, as my husband (on guitar) and I performed her favorite Hawiian music. She was thrilled.

As far as I am concerned this was a arranged by the hand of God. Who would have thunk it!!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 16 Jul 2014 7:14 pm

As I looked across at his computer screen I couldn't believe my eyes. There is was. MY GUITAR!!!

Fabulous! What a great story... to be reunited with your original steel guitar after all those years! Thanks for sharing the story with us. Enjoy your guitar.

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 17 Jul 2014 5:40 am

Fantastic story Judith!

(I am another triple neck Magnatone owner...it's may favorite steel. I can't imagine not having it)

Jay

Jerome Hawkes · Post by **Jerome Hawkes** » 17 Jul 2014 7:09 am

what an incredible story/journey!
that is amazing - finding your own steel after so many years.

often ebay is the best place to find old sheet music, every once in a while someone will have a stack they sell as a lot vs individually. search for 'hawaiian guitar' thats usually how they are listed vs 'steel guitar'

Steven Cummings · Post by **Steven Cummings** » 18 Jul 2014 12:01 pm

You have certainly been blessed. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful story.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 18 Jul 2014 4:12 pm

Judith A Helms wrote:The best part of this story is that my 93 year old mother's great wish was to hear me play the steel guitar for her once more. This last Sunday we celebrated her 93rd birthday with a mini-concert, as my husband (on guitar) and I performed her favorite Hawiian music. She was thrilled.

Awesome. You're so fortunate to still have your Mom and that she's able to enjoy this incredible adventure with you and the steel guitar again. I wasn't expecting much from your initial post, Judith, but beside hoping you find the music you wish but this story just made my day!
Neat too that you picked up right where you left off. Keep posting!

Judith A Helms · Post by **Judith A Helms** » 18 Jul 2014 9:16 pm

I am glad to see that all of you seemed to get a "lift" from my story- could be we all needed one this month.

Thank you for the advise regarding the music. I looked on Ebay and elsewhere, but to no avail. However, I have been writing up all the pieces I remember, with notes, tabs, and accompanying guitar. I would be happy to share, if this is the proper forum.

Just a thought.

Judy

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 19 Jul 2014 5:46 am

A beautiful story!

Norman Markowitz · Post by **Norman Markowitz** » 19 Jul 2014 6:27 am

Wonderful story. I think we all would love to see a little video of you playing that steel.

Tom Campbell · Post by **Tom Campbell** » 19 Jul 2014 11:05 am

Judith

I just sent you an email via the Forum regarding a Hawaiian music source.

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 19 Jul 2014 2:07 pm

Judith, that is an amazing story. You are one lucky gal.

FWIW, here's a thought about the sheet music: Some of the method (instruction) books use some of those tunes to illustrate a technique or just for practice. If you don't need (or want) the lessons, you can of course go straight to the music. Personally, I don't care for some of the books that are tab-only, but others have conventional notation as well. Some of Scotty's (DeWitt Scott) books come to mind. If you haven't already, you might check out a few of those on line to see if they have what you are looking for. b0b has a bunch of them -- it's the 'Instruction' link at the top left of the page.

HTH. Good luck and have fun with your return to the steel.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 20 Jul 2014 10:59 am

Judith, the music that you had back in the 1950s... was it Oahu Co. music? Did it include notes and tablature? It shouldn't be too hard to get standard notation for almost any song nowadays, but getting the tablature is another story. And of course there are many different tunings. A lot of the old Oahu stuff is in E7 tuning. Toward the end Oahu did some C6 material. Like Michael said, you might want to check out some of the songs/tab that are currently available on the market. Most of the non-pedal instruction is for 6-string lap steel, but it will usually work on 8-string too.

James Nottage · Post by **James Nottage** » 20 Jul 2014 11:25 am

Judith:
Some time ago, Doug send me a stack of music found with a Fender Stringmaster he had just acquired. I am happy to share with you. You can e-mail a postal address and I will drop a nice selection in the mail for you. I am at jhnottage@aol.com

Judith A Helms · Post by **Judith A Helms** » 20 Jul 2014 12:41 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions. As far as regular music is concerned I can write up my own and put it into tableture if needed. What I am really looking for is specific songs-E13th rag, Georgia steel. I can even write them up if I hear them, so even a CD would do.

At the present a lot of the tunes are coming back to me, so I'm just working on putting the pieces together. Since it has been my privilege to pick a lots of very talented brains over the years, I have acquired the means to publish my own music, so I just need to hear it.

I have really enjoyed this forum- it's a new gig for me.

J

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 20 Jul 2014 1:48 pm

Judith, you can hear a lot of these songs on Youtube.

Here's "Georgia Steel Guitar" --click-it--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU8v0DCsl3g

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 20 Jul 2014 3:27 pm

Judith & Doug

I forgot about that old tune

I have a suitcase full of that old Oahu training material - I think theres a copy of â€œGeorgia Steelâ€ if i can find it , I could scan it and post it , if it would be of any help to you . from your comments I donâ€™t think you will need much help getting back on top of the Steel

good luck

Judith A Helms · Post by **Judith A Helms** » 21 Jul 2014 7:13 am

Norman-

I am going to make an attempt to upload the video clip from the birthday party on Sunday.

Don't laugh! I think we did pretty good for two out of practice seniors. Accept for a few "Senior moments," we kept on pressing forward, as was drilled into both of us by Mrs Starr, of Starr Studios in Fresno, CA.

She always told us if we gave our audience a good intro, and a great finish, they would overlook anything else in between. I don't know if that is entirely true, but what stuck in our minds was, DON'T STOP!

Below is a "Drop box" link to the video.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/frevxberljus6 ... 0steel.mpg

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 21 Jul 2014 7:34 am

Very nice playing, Judith! I especially liked Mapuana... I liked them all. Your slants are right on... right in the pocket. That was a lot of fun to watch and hear. The Magnatone sounds excellent. Keep up the great work.

if we gave our audience a good intro, and a great finish, they would overlook anything else in between. I don't know if that is entirely true...

Yes, there is a lot of truth in that. A solid intro and ending are very important, especially a strong ending. Audiences respond to that.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 21 Jul 2014 8:02 am

I love this story!

Mikiya Matsuda · Post by **Mikiya Matsuda** » 21 Jul 2014 8:12 am

This made my day. Thanks for sharing, Judith!

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 21 Jul 2014 5:33 pm

I think that I can safely say that we all love this kind of story.....any history of steel & steel players are soaked up like a sponge here......

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