Maybe I should quit the PSG

Tom Gorr · Post by **Tom Gorr** » 15 Nov 2004 9:28 pm

I agree with Mike - "MORE HENDRIX" !!

I think I'm going to give Purple Haze a whirl on the "U" as a tribute to arguably the hardest rocking blues fusion god ever. Who else could have got away with a a supersaturated big muff + overdriven amp + regular use of E7#9 chord's all at once...And it sounds sooo gooooood.

Pick-up and amp suggestions anyone?

[This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 15 November 2004 at 09:34 PM.]

Ron Sodos · Post by **Ron Sodos** » 16 Nov 2004 1:43 pm

I started playing in 1976. I went to Jeff Newman's school in 1978 and played full time (6 nights a week) for over 15 years. Now I have been playing weekends. I practice 2-3 hours every day I can (3-4 days a week)and other days at least 1/2 hour. After all these years I have more of a passion for steel than ever............

[This message was edited by Ron Sodos on 16 November 2004 at 01:44 PM.]

Charles Turpin · Post by **Charles Turpin** » 17 Nov 2004 11:24 am

Fred i started playing steel in 81 i had played guitar since i was 10. I did like you i burned myself out on the guitar and was looking for a great challenge. I lived in an area where no one even had ever seen a pedal steel. I hadn't either till a man put them in a window in a shop up town. I bought it and Paul Franklins little book manual that came with a little Shobud Maverick. It took me almost 6 months before i could move my limbs with the music to create even the scale. But i told myself i was going to do this. I did. Here it is 2004 and i am still playing, but back then there wasn't even books to go to for help. But i learned that i could spend all them years playing the steel was just being me. Sure i heard what all the pros where doing and i tried to advance to get good enough to play things just like they did. But i had to just get close as i could cause i didnt have any help. I burned myself out and wanted to quite a thousands of times, but there seems there was always that one more idea that i got in my head. What if i do this , this way or that way. on a lick. I think i actualy broadened my lick response by tring to play other people peaces of licks and put them together.But if you quite i learned you are only quiting on yourself. Cause it is you behind that steel not someone else. But you know on them licks with the proper practice like Jeff and the other people say for you to do. You will probably open a world of steel on your own. Like i did.
When i finaly got on this internet after quite playing out cause of cancer. I learned i wasnt playing anyway near the way those pros where playing. Now i am tring to learn some of it though. Specialy all the tab things on Rickies site and a few other sites. But you know even some of the stuff i play actualy sounds better than the way it was recorded. Some people have told me. But to me progress on the steel is learning how to be your self and not someone else even though it is nice to learn there stuff too.But i have learned we can't always do that. So keep on working and practicing cause that is where it is at. Even if it is 10 minutes a day. It will all finaly come to you.Never no you might even be the next pro.

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Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 21 Nov 2004 11:33 am

yeah, what Larry said. Also if you can find a small gospel group to work with it might help.You don't have to be a great picker to put your heart and soul into Amazing Grace or The Old Rugged Cross.And it will lift you up, when some little old lady says " son I don't know what that thing is your playing but it shore makes a beautiful sound".When you can't practice, practice in your head. I sometimes wake up at night with some move in my head. Flip a switch and I'm pickin. Keep your guitar handy. Don't leave it in the case. Change strings often, don't over do on the effects.
Above all hang in there, were all with you, TALK TO US .TALK TO US,TALK TO US..

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 22 Nov 2004 8:28 am

I had a lap steel for a few years, and didn't really make much progress. I had other things going on, and didn't work at it.

PSG was such that I felt like it had to be WORKED on to get it somewhere worthwhile... so I put a fair amount of time in. It does take a fair amount of work, but it is a real thrill when things start coming together.

Somebody said to me a while ago "It's an instrument that lways gives you just enough back." It gives you just enough to make you come around for more punishment.

I've noticed that a player is always the least happy person about the performance of anyone in the place. It's part of the culture... you may just have to get used to being a beginner again. You've played with proficiency, and now it has to be frustrating to be stymied in making music by a steep learning curve. Just be patient, and be committed; or you can also quit.

But you wouldn't have asked if you wanted to do that, eh?

Hang in there.

Toby Rider · Post by **Toby Rider** » 22 Nov 2004 11:26 am

Having come to the pedal steel guitar, after having first started my musical journey through life on fiddle and lead guitar, one of the things that is so wonderful about the instrument, aside from it sounding so amazing, is the real brotherhood among steel-players.

The arrogance, self-absorption and nihilism among some fiddlers & guitar-players is so common that it's fodder for jokes.

At one point about 7 years ago, when I was about 24-years-old, I put the fiddle down entirely. Not because I wasn't able to play it well, but because I decided I'd really just had enough of other fiddlers. Ever been to a fiddle contest? Y'all catch my drift on this?

I then focused more attention on my lead guitar playing. That was alot better, the PSG has since become a way for me to "cross-train", which is excellent because whenever I switch between instruments, I come to it with a fresh mind and I avoid the potential burn-out of practicing too long, too hard on just one instrument.

That being said there are indeed cool fiddlers and Tele-pickers that I count among my best friends, it's just that with steel players, the brotherhood is so strong. It's wonderful.[This message was edited by Toby Rider on 22 November 2004 at 11:27 AM.]

Fred Glave · Post by **Fred Glave** » 22 Nov 2004 4:33 pm

Fred, you know by playing the 6 string that you've got to spend some time practicing in order to make progress. You sound discouraged. I've been playing for a little over a year now, and that was broken up by having open heart surgery in May. I was out for several months. All of the progress I had made to that point was almost shot. But I really enjoy the sounds I get out of that old Fender 2000, and I won't stop just because I hear a Buddy Emmons piece that blows me away. I have a very very long way to go, but Dave made a excellent point. Even 10 minutes, if that's all you got. But do it everyday.