Caught in The Trap

[Ollin Landers]

I'm almost ashamed to admit this because I think I should know better.

I just realized I have been trapped for the last 4-5 years playing PSG. I play almost exclusively in cover bands. Ninety percent of what I do is strictly cover tunes.

Occasionally I get the rare call to do a recording where someone wants PSG on a track here and there. But it's rare that I get to create rather than copy.

So what do I spend my time doing? Listening and copying licks from recordings or playing by TAB to get the particular solo or lick needed for the song.

OK. So that's admirable to spend time learning from those who created that wonderful music. I don't think I would be a steel player if I hadn't learned from instructional material by Jeff, Herby, Buddy and countless others willing to share their knowledge for a small fee or even free.

Yesterday I pulled out some old instructional material from Jeff Newman. I started listening to the instructions rather than just the licks as they were tabbed. I took just one phrase and played it exactly as it was tabbed, over and over. When I was sure I had the concept exactly and WHY it worked I started to experiment.

Frank Zappa famously said there is a difference between good noodling and bad noodling.

So I started noodling around with the phrase keeping in mind the intent of the instructions, which was to play a 7th scale lick/phrase over the V chord. Sure enough I started to find my own way to play a new lick based on the concept and not the TAB. I wasn't as I had done before just changing the timing or the double stop vs single string picking.

I found I could create new phrases that actually sounded really good and fit the chord structure within the parameters of the lesson. I found to my amazement I was using my ears for something more than just being a parrot.

It was like finding the hidden release catch on the trap rather than having to gnaw my foot off.

This may be old news to our more experienced players and those that truly provide guidance to us in the form of lessons. But to me it was nothing short of a revelation.

[Russell Adkins]

thats like playing an arpeggio , play it a few times and listen to where other notes can go inside of it or even outside of the given arpeggio , play that in three or even two octaves and you ll find other notes that you can play with it or even substitutes then do a half scale run maybe then back to the arpeggio , use those arpeggios and scale s to build on your ideas or somebodys ideas , i learned from my 6 string experience then took it to the steel. Its all related in some where or another , learn to phrase it all differently and you come up with other ideas that fit your chord structure ah ha a new revelation ya think . something new to you might be old to someone else but thats ok you are learning and thats why you love music its all to please the ears sooth the soul and enjoy the gift of music .

[Fred Treece]

Does playing in a cover band mean you can't be creative? Sure, you have to play the signature lick, but there's always solo time and you should feel free to stretch out a bit when that comes around. Unless you're playing Highway 40 Blues. You HAVE to cover that brilliant Bruce Bouton ride

Don't forget to consider your good fortune to be playing in a band that features so much steel. But, I think you may just be discovering why one band is never enough. Seek the outlet, Grasshopper...

[Jeff Mead]

I'd say the secret to escaping the cover band trap is to expand your musical horizons. I've been playing pedals for less than 2 years and although I try to learn the classic licks, I'm nowhere near the level where I'd hold down a gig in a band doing country covers (even if I wanted to). I've been working with singe/songwriters in other genres, rock bands, reggae, even dance.

I did a session for a guy doing what I'd call "Acid House" (which probably just proves how hopelessly out of touch I am with modern music) where I jammed along to some backing tracks and the producer grabbed bits of what I did, looped it, reversed it and put it through every studio gadget you could think of and ended up with something completely new. He was knocked out by the pedal steel and the way it slid into chord progressions. I played some simple parts on an album for a folk singer and now own a proper vinyl album with my pedal steel playing on it which brings me great pleasure.

[Fred Treece]

I wonder how many times per thread the same thing gets said. Maybe the words used are slightly different, but the idea is nearly identical.

We certainly seem to be an agreeable lot here on the forum. Refreshing, in a way.

[Dan Robinson]

Even in a cover band, doing cover tunes, there's no rule that you have to just copy the original licks.

I love playing music, but don't depend on it to feed my family. I'm playing pedal steel in a local country band. We do about 75% covers, 25% original songs. I don't worry about note-for-note copy of the signature licks. A lot of songs we cover don't even have steel in the original anyway. I just try to be creative, fit in with my band mates, play smart, and have fun.

The band is gaining a following, and we're working at least 6 times a month. Our audiences generally appreciate the pedal steel (maybe they're lying to me). Another steel player might notice, if there's one in the crowd. But he's more likely to come visit, check out my rig, and talk steel guitar than complain that I didn't play it like Lloyd.

Your musical goals may be way beyond my own. Learn from those pros, sure! But no one became great trying to be someone else.

[Josh Braun]

Interesting - we have almost a reverse trajectory in our playing. I've played mostly original music, and only in the past year have I started playing covers.

FWIW, I'm digging explicitly copping licks. I can still solo/improv just fine, but learning note-for-note licks has sure been helpful as far as showing me possibilities I just hadn't considered on my own. Even some ways to play stuff that's much easier than my own convoluted approach!

No doubt the best approach is some combination of both learning the traditions vocabulary and then learning how to improvise lines informed by but independent of that vocabulary.

[Ollin Landers]

I appreciate the comments and most of them are very good. I didn't see anything I could disagree with.

I apologize for not being able to communicate what I was trying to say. It was my fault for bringing the cover band thing into my post. I was not trying to compare the copy licks and cover vs being creative. Or the you can or cannot be creative in a cover band. That's not the trap I fell into.

I was trying to say something about the way I've been approaching instructional material.

I pulled out some material I had from 97' that was very basic. I looked at it with new eyes. There is a vast amount of info in instructional material. If you study it correctly it goes well beyond just learning to play the TAB provided.

That's the trap I fell into. I learned the licks and phrases from the material. Yes I even took those licks rearranged them, played them backwards, added notes, picked the notes in different order, etc...

What I didn't do was learn the concept. That's the trap. The TAB was just there to support the musical idea. Learning to play the TAB as written is well and good but not the object of the lesson.

As an after thought to further illustrate the point---

I worked with a guy once in my day job. I found out he was a musician and I asked what he played. He told me he played Trumpet. So I asked if he liked or played any jazz. He answered with a very blunt NO! I asked why. He said it just sounded to him like a bunch of guys playing whatever the hell they wanted to.

His last comment after a short rant was. "I don't see how anyone can play something without the sheet music"

[Ken Pippus]

"Playing whatever the hell I want to" is about right, and the whole concept appeals to me a lot!

[Dan Robinson]

The trumpet player reminds me of an old friend who earned a university degree in music. Decent pianist, who was lost without sheet music. Must have missed something in his education.

Having said that, I regret quitting piano lessons when I was 10, and other musical instruction that demanded more discipline than I was willing to give. I short changed myself.

I hope you find some inspiration that ignites your creative engine. It seems like you have plenty of skill.

[Charlie McDonald]

I have a recurring dream where I'm sitting at a piano with sheet music in front of me. More of a nightmare.

I should have learned to read well, but it was easier to duplicate it by ear. Yes, there was a certain lack of willingness,
like Dan--or maybe there were so many other things to do. Like playing jazz with some other boys.

I think noodling is the answer. I play the wrong chord and it works on some level, so I noodle with that.
Less than consciously sometimes, we go for something out of the ordinary, so I take that as the direction I wanted to go.
Patterns emerge.It's bad noodling only if you're doing it for someone else within earshot.

[Ollin Landers]

Dan -

I hope you find some inspiration that ignites your creative engine

Stacy Phillips was asked by an interviewer where he got is creative drive from.

Stacy responded "When I get a call from my booking agent"

[Ken Pippus]

I've played with several musicians over the years who could sight read anything you put in front of them, but, to quote Jethro Burns, "couldn't ad-lib a fart after a Hungarian dinner."

I think it's actually a deficiency in many current musical education models. Even Bach was alleged to have spent a fair bit of time improvising.

[Ollin Landers]

I studied Bach in high school and college.

Bach was said to be sought after for his mastery of improvisation. I read somewhere that he was asked at a court concert to improvise a fugue on the spot and did it with unbelievable proficiency.

This was supposed to be due to the fact that he followed such strict rules of composition. I heard of an early computer programmer that used a loom and a computer. He used the music from a Bach chorale to program the loom. It wove perfectly geometric patterns in the cloth.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Ollin,
There is a thing Lloyd Green showed me a while back.
Take and lick or phrase you know and play the exact same thing on 3 different places on the neck.

It is very doable on the standard E9 tuning and should open up some doors.

Another thing to do when you need to copy parts is play them totally straight with no variation. Look for expression in the intonation, articulation and phrasing. Rhythm in particular. That is where the money is !

[Ollin Landers]

Bob,

Thanks!

That's an exercise I do quite often. I start with a single note and play it on one string then I find that same note on the next higher or lower string.

Then I do the same with a note raised or lowered then find it on the next string etc. Then I start doing the same with a simple lick or phrase.

There are always at least two places usually more where you can play the same lick. Then finding the nuance of how it can be arrived at in different positions.

The next thing you know you're making music.

[Chris Templeton]

I think the key to satisfying the band and the cover crowd is playing a solo (if there is one) that has the melody of the song.
The steel player might not be able to play the licks that are on a record. for lack of skills, tuning limitations or just doesn't know it, but if something is played that resembles the melody, I think that is fine and acceptable. Fills and musical hooks that are consistent in a song are more important to me to learn note for note.

[Tony Prior]

TAB, well it's an excellent tool but if we are not actually learning where the phrases come and how to connect the dots, rather than just playing the written information in front of us, we have missed the very large boat !

TAB serves two very important purposes, it shows us rather quickly something we have been searching for while at the same time teaches us where the music lays on the fret board so that we can apply that PHRASE or PHRASES to another song or countless songs .

When we studied chord theory out of the Mel Bay book, the chords were written for maybe 5 or 6 different songs. The point was not to learn just those 5 or 6 songs but rather how to use those chord shapes for any song. An unknown number of songs.


same thing with TAB. It's not about learning cover songs but rather where the music is on the Steel Guitar fret board. The cover songs just come along for the ride !

Next time you sit and play a TAB phrase, STOP..look..ask yourself what the heck you just did. Did I just go from an A to an A7 (or substitution) to a D to a D minor, back to A to an E7 resolving back to A, which is the the root ?

also known as

I-I7-IV-IVM-I-V7-I

There is a wealth of information on TAB , some by accident, some quite on purpose, don't let it just slip by without notice.

If we learned how to play Sleepwalk across the written chord structure, do we have any idea how many songs we just learned and can play chords or solo over ?

In Jazz/Blues, one of the most common turnarounds on the planet is the I-VI-II-V . When we see it and learn it from TAB for the very first time we should have a party !


One thing I do agree with, and this from one who writes and offers TAB programs, if we live by just the TAB for everything we do we have missed the big picture. TAB should be used to not just lean a song such as a cover song but it should be fundamental to learn where stuff comes from, how the dots are connected. Otherwise, then yes, we are just playing a song by TAB.

Thats the trap, not the cover songs.

Imagine for a moment if we could remember everything we ever played from the many TAB programs we have and why the phrases connect, then applied small bits and pieces from each of them to just one song on stage...

[Steve Sycamore]

I don't think it's characteristically true that Bach followed strict rules of composition, even while improvising. The situation is that you can go from any chord or mode in a particular key to any other key you choose and Bach did so. There are of course infinite ways of doing that but certain series of chords allow us to do that both efficiently and appealingly. Bach knew a lot of those guidelines and could pick and choose as he cared to do.

One of the limiting factors of modern music in any genre is that almost no one knows those concepts and guidelines. So most music you hear is essentially statically fixed in one diatonic tonality.

On the other end of the harmonic scale, I often pass street musicians in town. Once, one was alone playing a saxophone. For hours he played the same note. He did so in a constantly changing number of ways very masterly. It was inspiring and captivating.

[Dan Robinson]

... Once, one was alone playing a saxophone. For hours he played the same note. He did so in a constantly changing number of ways very masterly. It was inspiring and captivating.

Steel players should be able to relate to this. The sax player was exploring "That Sound." We do that too. It's why we are captivated by the simplest phrases played with finesse through a nice amp. It just sounds good.

When I first discovered Eric Clapton it was the way each note sounded that got to me. The attack, the bend, the sustain with his vibrato. Build phrases with that and, wow, there it is.

I won't ever be a champ speed picker. Instead I strive to get "That Sound" from what I play. The way just two notes can move, create tension, then resolve, supported by the nuance in the hands, it's sublime. Sometimes I do that well and everything seems right in the world.

Take it from there, and build on it.

To reply to Tony's point, if we use tab, learn a certain phrase, how it works, and what emotive impact it has, then we can apply that wherever we like. It's not just copping a lick that matters, but understanding why/where it feels special... that's where the magic is.

[Fred Treece]

In the Ted Green guitar theory books, you will find things like 20 pages of I-vi-ii-V. It is not about asking you to learn a very common chord progression. It is about learning the guitar.

I am in the process of applying the same concept to the Winnie Winston bible. Once I learned Red River Valley, I am on to playing it other keys and positions and finding phrases from it that work in other tunes or progressions.

[Mike Wenger]

I have only been playing for a couple of months. Using tabs has been very instructive in showing me how basic, but very important, things are done. For example, in the “Swinging Doors” intro, you start really high with open pedals on the 15th fret, then go down to the 10th fret with AB down, but still with the same G chord. I started to think “why,” but then saw that this was the way that players go back and forth between lower and higher voicings of the same chord. This might seem kinda stupid, even for a new player, but I never even thought of this before I tackled that tab.

I’m sure that even after years of playing, I will still be learning things like this, almost accidentally, simply by looking at what other players do. This probably applies to even the most advanced players. So, I say keep tabbing.