Why young folks are not learning steel guitar

[Dirk Edwards]

Doesn't get anymore heavy metal than this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khEAuU5ShXs

[Bill Cunningham]

I don’t think it’s complicated. The same reason kids aren’t drawn to the oboe, bassoon, or French horn, etc. It’s simply not a popular instrument.

[Jonathan Lam]

It’s a shame more people don’t play the peddle steal.

[John Butler]

It's a complicated instrument. It's very difficult to learn. Like slide trombone or violin. And it helps to have a fair knowledge of music.

[G Strout]

Neil Flanz. Heard Neil play for the first time in Montreal PQ and later with Emmy Lou Harris and Gram Parsons. I went nuts!!! When I decided to search out this AMAZING instrument, the start up cost was a huge surprise to me. To give you a reference point a D8 Stringmaster new was 259.00C$ case was an additional 42.00C$ When I actually got a pedal steel and the related "accoutrement" there was no instructional material available that I could find other than the Sho Bud course and Neils' E9th course. I finally found the Winnie Winston and Bill Keith book with the floppy dic vinyl . But it was Neils course that took me on the journey ("mash the A and B pedal)
Sure wish we had the internet back then....... well maybe not. It could be time restraints, financial issues or just the commitment in terms of time. Playing the steel, with pedals or without is a commitment that many are not able to come to terms with.
Gary

[Matthew Begay]

Hey there! I started playing the steel after graduating high school! It is true that they are expensive. I literally had to set aside money from each paycheck I earned working at a pizza place over a year to afford a BMI. Now I own an MSA SSII from Marty Broussard.

I’ve had the honor of sitting in on a couple songs thanks to Marty and Tracy Byrd letting me play on stage.

I recently bought an audio interface and learned to use it and release a song yesterday actually!

It’s called Rainy Days, here’s my YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/Jf0f6axJtQw

It’s just that kids my age would rather learn rock/pop or start a rap career.
Unfortunately, there’s not really an audience for country music other than what’s on the radio for kids my age as well, the kind with a clap track and no fiddle/steel.

I was raised on a farm where my parents/grandparents primarily listened to 80’s & 90’s country. That’s where I asked my dad what that instrument was when I heard Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got) by Tracy and from then on, my love for the instrument grew and I knew I wanted to learn it someday.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I'm never worried about the future of the steel guitar. It's out of our hands. Either it will survive or it won't. It's not up to me to promote it or try and save it. It all lies somewhere in how it's used and perceived. My feeling is there will always be people who are captivated by the sound and will want to pursue it just like we did.

I believe the existence of this Steel Guitar Forum has really helped to direct interested folks to the proper sources.

Anyway, you can't force people to like something or want to do it. All you can do it play it the best you can and be willing to help those you run across who are interested in learning it.

[Steven Hicken Jr.]

I was very lucky to get into steel at a young age. I'm 22 now but I started when I was 14. I had an unfair advantage though. My dad was a seasoned player of many years on the British country scene and then later I also grew up watching my older brother Eddy playing steel on the British Americana scene. I idolized them both and I remember asking my dad to bring me back an orange pedal steel from Nashville when he went on a vacation there, when I was 5 year old. 13 years later I got my orange pedal steel...

There's a chain of problems.

The first problem is instrument identification. Even school music teachers where I'm from don't know what a "pedal steel" is. I've had university music students tell me I'm great at playing the theremin or Chapman stick. Less educated people simply tell me I'm great at playing the keyboard guitar. The closest people get is slide guitar or steel pedal. I walked into a music store called "Hobgoblin" which are supposed to be a niche folk instrument store chain here. These guys are trained to know about Chinese Zithers and traditional Greek instruments but ask them anything about pedal steels and they'll look at you blank.

The second problem is cost. The thing is, there is no real way of getting around this. Unless Asian factories build steels in the millions we won't be able to get sub 600 dollar steels. The American and Euro builders are charging very fair prices but people simply can't afford to risk spending thousands on an instrument that their kid might not take to or even wreck (like I did with my first nylon string acoustic as a 9 year old...still got it to show the scars).

The third problem is we need support from the older players. Look, I'm the biggest country guy going. A lot of friends used to joke with me at school that I was a wannabe American. (I was the guy who replaced the tie in my school uniform with a bolo tie for my leavers yearbook photo and wore pseudo cowboy boots to school).

That being said, especially where I'm from not everybody is into honkytonk crying country. The thing is, people come up to me on a regular basis through my Instagram or live saying they love the sound of my pedal steel. Usually when I'm playing more Americana. When discovering their musical tastes, they are into The Stones, The Kinks all types of rock, some pop and rap, etc. No country. The sound of the instrument isn't an issue. I've had young rockers tell me they'd love it in their band and they'd love to learn. I recently cut a Lo-Fi sample as asked by a producer, with steel as the melody.

Us younger players, while we have the chance, we need to push natural sounding steel into other genres. Maybe more ambient mixes but try to keep it sounding like a steel. The older players need to then help us keep it going. Share it about with their kids, grand kids. It would help. I've seen comments on the forum before when people have played less conventional instrumentals and some of them are really derogatory. That being said I've had some nice support when playing Oasis and ABBA covers so it's not all bad. It's just, when I play country personally I get so much more views and comments than if I try pop. The youth have appreciated them though. Just not enough people which is where sharing comes in. Getting the name of the instrument out there really relies on having some viral rock and pop videos on YouTube.

Having influencers on Instagram and places would really help too. Make it cool and attractive.

And then of course...there's actually learning how to play properly and being the best we can.

[David Mitchell]

It's ironic that producers of mainstream radio music dropped the pedal steel guitar so much. George Strait has had 62 #1 hits on Billboards country charts and that's more than anyone in history including Elvis and Conway Twitty who ran a close second and third but died young. George Strait and Conway Twitty's music was covered with pedal steel guitar. Alan Jackson another of the more successful artist also had plenty of steel.
Paul Franklin that played on most of George Strait's records is still alive and well and still available so it don't make a whole lot of sense to abstain from pedal steel to me. Seems like that would be a conflict of interest for those desiring to make money in the music business.

[Dustin Rhodes]

.

The third problem is we need support from the older players.

I've seen comments on the forum before when people have played less conventional instrumentals and some of them are really derogatory. .

This does happen here. I mean I got chastised once here in a conversation about Robert Randolph and the gentleman cited something about the ruin of music having started with Elvis Presley. I mean at that point he'd basically made a line in the sand that left most of the music I loved on the wrong side.

Way too much energy is spent on here over what was instead of looking at what could be.

[Paul Strojan]

For me, I would like to see more of a connection between lap steel and pedal steel.
When I decided I wanted to play pedal steel I envisioned that I would develop playing skills on lap steel and when I became competent at that I could add in the pedals to my repertoire. What I found is that lap steel instruction and pedal steel instruction have no connection between them.

I would like to see an lap steel instruction system that would allow a new player to have the skills and confidence to play pedal steel before buying one. Perhaps we could learn E9, C# minor, A6 and maybe some of the tunings within the C6 copedent (C6/A7, F9, A11).

[David Mitchell]

For me, I would like to see more of a connection between lap steel and pedal steel.

Lap steel is a big word like pedal steel. I think those that play non-pedal Western swing on lap steels would have more connection with Pedal Steel. Other types are pretty unrelated almost like a different instrument.

[Bill Fisher]

Why no interest? No Ernest Tubb.

Bill

[scott murray]

I recently bought an audio interface and learned to use it and release a song yesterday actually!

It’s called Rainy Days, here’s my YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/Jf0f6axJtQw

great stuff Matthew!

[Jameson Koweek]

I'd like to propose a dangerous stirring of the bean pot here that I haven't seen brought up yet on this thread.

I'd venture to say that we are still suffering the effects the 80s, and younger persons were cut off from inheriting their musical heritage, and a place in a viable musicians' economy during that decade, but a recovery is actively being made.

Adjusted for inflation, its arguable that minimum wage has never been worth more than when it was raised in 1969. Young people love to talk about adjusted income, those that lived through it, not as much. No matter how you slice it, something remains for sure concerning minimum wage in America, and that is after 1979, it pretty much flatlined for a decade.

From a history of the Sho-Bud Pro series I found on Mat Budymat's page (pedalsteel.fr) the price of a Pro I went from $895 in '76 to $1450 in '81. If wages stagnated for the next nine years, even if the guitar price did too, by the cost of inflation, that guitar would have been much more expensive by the end of the decade. In a time when they were most at risk, they were possibly most unattainable.

Most of the guys I play with were working in this town throughout the 80s, and they will all point to three factors that all but ended what was once a happening live country/western swing dance scene.

1. The VHS Player
2. The DJ
3. The DUI checkpoint (maybe not such a bad thing)

Players that went in to the decade playing 5-6 nights a week for good money to enthusiastic crowds of dancers came out of it lucky to have a Saturday/Sunday restaurant gig where the head server didn't walk by the stage and ask them to turn down every three songs.

Steel survived on the radio to some extent, although with videos and the Pentatonic guitar music being pushed heavily by the big music corporations, country (steels' main stage for the previous three decades) lost a lot of its share.

There is much more I could add, but I'll just say that young people's main drive still is, and was, to connect with one another (quite often in the literal, physical
sense.) When playing music in a live setting offered this, and enough monetary compensation to make it sustainable, that was the avenue.

With the power of the internet, the pedal steel guitar has the potential to reach a larger number of people than it ever has before. With the steel's ability to create expressive and emotive music, it will most likely gain traction in a way unlike it ever has before. With builders recognizing the need for entry level steel guitars at obtainable prices (like the Justice Pro Jr.) and the growing availability of computer milling equipment, this demand can be facilitated.

To you old timers that have had to watch it fade from the limelight, and who may not get a chance to see the coming of a second golden age of steel, I am sorry. Thank you for all that you have done to push the instrument forward. Don't worry about the cheap guitar, cheap amp, cheap lick crowd. They'll find their yah-yahs somewhere cheap just like they always have.

[David Mitchell]

To you old timers that have had to watch it fade from the limelight, and who may not get a chance to see the coming of a second golden age of steel, I am sorry. Thank you for all that you have done to push the instrument forward. Don't worry about the cheap guitar, cheap amp, cheap lick crowd. They'll find their yah-yahs somewhere cheap just like they always have.

Thank you! I'm old and I believe you are correct. Steel guitar will return to all avenues and be bigger than ever. The old always becomes new at some point in time.

[Fred Treece]

I agree with Jameson’s premise, but I would push the decade marker up to the 90’s. I didn’t even get a 5-nighter or road trip until the mid-80’s, and there were plenty of them around. It was a golden age for country, in California anyway, with steel guitars in all the most popular bands. I had friends that went on from the clubs to much bigger things. The 90’s were ushered in with DJ’s, karaoke, dui laws, dance instruction classes, non-smoking clubs, etc. If not for Native American casinos and tribute bands it would have been the end for me.

As far as the future goes, all I know is we did what we could and it’s up to somebody else now. There are plenty of young people making great music. I see them at the local level at outdoor events and in restaurants - the places I used to think I was too good for - and of course on the internet.I believe the torch has been passed and they are figuring out this new world of the music business.

[Patrick Kracunas]

You guys and gals, it is very simple. We need to make the steel go "viral." Download tik tok soon...(Trump is trying to get rid of it) and post a video of you playing the steel and we can turn it into a dance. The young kids today really like to dance and post videos of themselves. This dance will be done sitting down...of course...so it's great for all ages. I'm working on a version of Cardi B's WAP. It's the craze right now...the lyrics are very provocative.

(picture of my pedal steel take on a Sharp Electronics J-SH04 J-Phone up side down and sideways)

[Brooks Montgomery]

More cleavage

[Tucker Jackson]

Just imagine how annoying it would be if everybody got their wish and a million tweens took up steel.

I only have gigs in the first place due to the rarity of the instrument. Glass is way more than half-full. I beg of you... just let it be.

[Curt Trisko]

Just imagine how annoying it would be if everybody got their wish and a million tweens took up steel.

I only have gigs in the first place due to the rarity of the instrument. Glass is way more than half-full. I beg of you... just let it be.

Lol, no kidding. It's hard to tell if the sentiment comes from wanting to share the love of the instrument or the insatiable need for validation of that love. I suppose if all these types of threads were replaced with ones saying "why good steel guitar music is no longer being made," the posters would be forced to try to understand newer music before having people respect their opinions.

[Bill McCloskey]

...

[Tom Sosbe]

really simple if it's not computer related young folks don't want anything to do with it. to much work

[Dick Sexton]

All of the above... Think it's bad now, just wait 20 or 30 years. It will probably be in the same place as mouth harps, spoons and triangles, all which were played heavily at one point or another and are still played in some emerging countries. Music will be made, just not much on pedal steel guitar.

If your really concerned that it is not being played, I have to ask what you are doing about it. Grab that snuggled tooth, snot nosed kid that is watching you at church and teach him. Seat him behind your steel and set him on fire like someone set you on fire. Give of yourself and don't charge for it, he can't afford it.

Let him fly, don't be critical. He will never be you, let him be himself.

For what it's worth...

[Curt Trisko]

If your really concerned that it is not being played, I have to ask what you are doing about it.

I suggest selling your spare ones to younger players at a dramatic discount.