Why Isn't Pedal Steel More Popular?

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 5 Mar 2016 8:17 am

David, I have NO idea what the heck you JUST posted! But I hope it makes SENSE to someone. And I don't know EXACTLY what you mean by ... well pretty MUCH everything above. But have a great day. And it's God, not god... just so ya know.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 5 Mar 2016 9:04 am

David, I have NO idea what the heck you JUST posted! But I hope it makes SENSE to someone. And I don't know EXACTLY what you mean by ... well pretty MUCH everything above.

It is what it is, Tom, day after day after Jimmy Day....

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 5 Mar 2016 9:08 am

Barry Blackwood wrote:
David, I have NO idea what the heck you JUST posted! But I hope it makes SENSE to someone. And I don't know EXACTLY what you mean by ... well pretty MUCH everything above.
It is what it is, Tom, day after day after Jimmy Day....

-LLL-

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 5 Mar 2016 9:26 am

day...ohh..........day--ay--ay--ay----ohhhh
daylight come an me wanna go ho-ohhmm.....

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 5 Mar 2016 9:45 am

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 5 Mar 2016 10:15 am

Barry Blackwood wrote:

Yeah, that...

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 5 Mar 2016 1:05 pm

The pedal steel is more popular and more versatile than the pedal harp.

Playing country music on pedal steel (although I play it) is not my favorite kind of music __ the "modern country" even less my favorite.
Always, I have thought the once popular E9 sound could get boring quickly, even though some very talented musicians have accomplished some amazing things with the sound.

My non-pedal eight string guitars are my favorite to play and I like listening to a non-pedal player (if they have any talent at all) more than pedal players.

The question arises, today would the steel guitar be more widely accepted if pedals had never been added?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 5 Mar 2016 1:39 pm

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 5 Mar 2016 2:07 pm

Double no.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 6 Mar 2016 11:12 am

That's like asking whether the bugle would be more popular if no-one had put a slide on it and invented the trombone. Both instruments are now used. When you invent new instruments you don't scrap all the old ones.

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 6 Mar 2016 11:51 am

Alan Brookes wrote:That's like asking whether the bugle would be more popular if no-one had put a slide on it and invented the trombone. Both instruments are now used. When you invent new instruments you don't scrap all the old ones.

Well, would it Alan? Would a bugle be more popular if no one put a slide on it?
Apparently it would still be popular with the military __ it is.

I've never scraped a pedal steel nor a non-pedal steel. I play both and own both.
I just happen to like a non-pedal guitar better. And, I have a feeling I'm not alone.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 6 Mar 2016 12:51 pm

The pedal steel was born in a simpler time, there was no wi-fi, 4G, Social Media etc to occupy the waking hours in the 1950's/1980's, so time could be devoted to learning how to play it.
There's no time now for pursuits like PSG

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 6 Mar 2016 2:14 pm

Richard Burton wrote:...There's no time now for pursuits like PSG

Especially if we spend hours on the internet.

Wally Moyers · Post by **Wally Moyers** » 6 Mar 2016 5:34 pm

All you really need is some new exciting music that will inspire the young musicians to learn the instrument.. If someone has the burning desire to learn to play, they will do it.. With the internet these days there is more instruction available at your finger tips than I had access to during my whole playing career... I challenge the players out there to set down and write some new original steel music. Produce or have it produced professionally and get it out there.. With the internet its easier than ever to get it out there.. I don't care what the style is, jazz, rock, blues, pop, new country, old country, Texas country, country rock, Hip Hop, just something new... If we set around and depend on someone else to do it the instrument will die.. In the process new artist and producers will hear what can be done.. I'll add that there are some great players around the country already in the process of doing it.. Also, if your going to a steel show take a young musician with you and expose them to the instrument.. Next week in Dallas there will be some some of the finest players in the world playing. I promise you that JayDee or Buck Reid or Mike Johnson and many more will make them want to play because they will be doing their own thing.. These days radio does not totally control what music is popular, the box we're typing on has more great music and great steel playing available in it via the internet than all the radio stations in the world.. A lot of the great playing is country but a lot of it is something else.. Also we need to be more accepting to new steel music and support their effort.. On Facebook the other day I saw some steel players tear Susan Alcorn to shreds over her music and I heard it happened here too.. I assure you that whats she's doing is very complicated and musical. Not everyone will like it but it is to be respected... Sorry for the rant but thats my two cents...

Dick Sexton · Post by **Dick Sexton** » 7 Mar 2016 6:57 am

There are some lucky young beginning steel players, that live near this gentleman, that won't have to drudge through Red River Valley to get to something they really want to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WS2lAKjpo&sns=fb

Thank you Wally, this is great. I'm posting it on my facebook page, so my grandkids can be exposed to it...

Keep um coming...

Jason King · Post by **Jason King** » 8 Mar 2016 5:57 am

WOW! That was a awesome Wally. Your band is tight to say the least. Thanks

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 8 Mar 2016 6:20 am

That is tight, Wally.

I don't know what to think about any of this.
It reminds me of polls with agendas in the middle of them, a thesis put forward that hasn't been proven, rushing to a conclusion.

I could say that steel guitar is more popular than ever and I imagine it's so from the standpoint of numbers of players.

The death of steel guitar has been vastly overstated.

Ed Boyd · Post by **Ed Boyd** » 8 Mar 2016 12:23 pm

Just for the fun of it I will blame Bro Country.

Jamie Mitchell · Post by **Jamie Mitchell** » 8 Mar 2016 12:46 pm

Wally Moyers · Post by **Wally Moyers** » 8 Mar 2016 1:26 pm

Check this out.. Pedal steel can fit anywhere if it's played to fit the music..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OLN4U40R8rg

Steve Pawlak · Post by **Steve Pawlak** » 8 Mar 2016 1:43 pm

No S@#T Walley
That's an excellent band and vibe you got goin' there

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 9 Mar 2016 11:15 am

Wally, that is fine playing.

I think pedal steel can not only cover string section parts but also horn parts. Years ago I replaced (under arm guitar) the keyboardist in a country band. Donny Saxton had been covering all the guitar parts on his Sho-Bud. With me there to play guitar, he switched to covering all the keyboard lines. It ain't what you play it on; it's what you play on it.

David Mitchell · Post by **David Mitchell** » 9 Mar 2016 12:46 pm

I think as time goes on the world will see less and less pedal steel guitar players simply because it is no longer a lead instrument that fills the airwaves. Not as much as attraction to the instrument as the young folks of yesteryear when Green, Drake, Emmons, Brumley, Huey, etc. ruled the mainstream airwaves. At the same time however I think there will be more pedal steel guitars built than ever before simply because all the baby boomers like me that fell in love with the pedal steel now have money to buy them. And buy them we will!!!

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 9 Mar 2016 4:16 pm

so you're saying there will be fewer players but more owners?
the airwaves were filled by a dozen or so players back then.
it'll only take another dozen to fill the airwaves again when the time is right.

of course i always felt that there should be a law that artists be required to record only with their
employed road bands.
wouldn't that be interesting?

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 9 Mar 2016 4:26 pm

As long as the world population keeps growing there will always be enthusiasts for every instrument. For instance, one always thinks of the golden age of the lute as being the 16th-17th centuries, and of the harpsichord as the 18th century, but there are actually more lute and harpsichord players out there now than there have ever been. What's more, whereas in their golden ages only a few people got to hear them, now anyone can hear them or see them on the internet, at no cost at all.

The pedal steel guitar will NEVER disappear.

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Why Isn't Pedal Steel More Popular?

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