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Evan Searcy

 

From:
Oklahoma, USA
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 6:12 pm    
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Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster as a member. What was the first song/lick you ever learned? The first one I tried to learn was Pete's solo on Sin City. Not sure I ever did!
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Brett Day


From:
Pickens, SC
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 7:50 pm    
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The first tune I learned to play on steel was "Cold Cold Heart" by Hank Williams, and then I taught myself to play "Look At Us".
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Jon Voth

 

From:
Virginia, USA
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 8:36 pm    
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CS&N "Teach Your Children" My first performance, 6 years ago, with US Army "Country Roads" summer concert on the Capitol steps.

It was by rote memorized, I didn't know what I was doing, and my A pedal rod fell off near the end of the song. But it was an OK performance.
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Christopher Peck


From:
Seattle
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 8:53 pm    
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IIRC, the first full tune I learned enough to play all the way through was The Wallflower's "I Wish I Felt Nothing".

The first 'lick' was the intro to "Teach Your Children".
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Richard Alderson


From:
Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 8:57 pm     Didnt Everybody?
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San Antonio Rose on straight up C6th A C E G A C E G, of course! What else is there?
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Derby SD-10 5x6; GFI S-10 5x5; GFI S-10 5x5; Zum D-10 8x7; Zum D-10 9x9; Fender 400; Fender Rumble 200; Nashville 400; Telonics TCA-500.
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Dennis Detweiler


From:
Solon, Iowa, US
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 10:28 pm    
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Bud's Bounce on a d-8 Fender that had a changer bolted onto the end of one neck. A and B pedals only. Crude.
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1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8.
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Per Berner


From:
Skovde, Sweden
Post  Posted 12 Feb 2025 11:13 pm    
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Summer Clouds by Lloyd Green, I think the tab was from Scotty's.
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Jack Hanson


From:
San Luis Valley, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 4:55 am    
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Red Wing, in the basement of Suneson's Music Center on East Lake Street, Mpls, MN, as instructed by the great Cal Hand, aka the wylie butler.

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Ricky Davis


From:
Bertram, Texas USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 7:00 am    
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Well since my Neighbor when I got home from College in 1981 was Tom Brumley and he gave me my very first lessons and of course the first song he taught me was "Together Again".
I'll never forget.
Ricky
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Ricky Davis
Email Ricky: sshawaiian2362@gmail.com
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Samuel Phillippe


From:
Douglas Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 7:45 am    
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"Quinton's Theme" ....my wife always hums it as a lullaby to the grand, and great grand kids. She was humming it when I unloaded my psg so I played the first few notes and then learned it pesal steel way.

Sam
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Bob Shilling


From:
Berkeley, CA, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 9:53 am    
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Walkin' After Midnight
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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10, "Classic"
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scott murray


From:
Asheville, NC
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 10:56 am    
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Pete Drake - Pleading
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster
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Larry Allen


From:
Kapaa, Kauai,Hawaii
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 11:50 am     1st tune
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Stu Schumann taught me Over the Rainbow on his steel.. had to buy one then!!
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Excel steels & Peavey amps,Old Chevys & Motorcycles & Women on the Trashy Side
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Bobby Martin

 

From:
Virginia, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 12:23 pm     first tune
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Our hero Buddy Charleton taught all of his students, myself included how to play Bud's Bounce correctly in key of F. And hold that right elbow in tight to your side!!
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Retired my "Flying Pro III" playin' gigs with the "little bud" in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.
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Colin Boutilier


From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 2:42 pm    
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I'm still working on it, but the first piece I've been tackling was Kim Deschamps' brilliant work on Blue Rodeo's Hasn't Hit Me Yet.
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Carter Starter, Austin dobro, B/G Bender Telecaster, '75 Twin Reverb, '75 Super Reverb 1x15
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John Larson


From:
Pennsyltucky, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 6:51 pm    
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The intro to The Marshall Tucker Band's "Fire on the Mountain" first thing I ever played once I setup my pedal steel for the first time.
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Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; praise is meet for the upright. Give praise to the Lord with the harp, chant unto Him with the ten-stringed psaltery. Sing unto Him a new song, chant well unto Him with jubilation. For the word of the Lord is true, and all His works are in faithfulness. The Lord loveth mercy and judgement; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.
- Psalm 33:1-5
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Bobby D. Jones

 

From:
West Virginia, USA
Post  Posted 13 Feb 2025 8:11 pm    
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When I first started on steel, My fiddle playing uncle asked me to learn "Faded Love" He had been stationed in Amarilla and played a lot of Texas fiddle music.
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 14 Feb 2025 12:10 am    
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I tried to play Bobby Black’s intro on Truck Drivin’ Man, about 45 years ago on a Fender Stringmaster D8. I was so bad my bandmates made me stop playing it. About 9 years ago I finally bought a new Stage One and learned Streets Of Laredo from the Winnie Winston book. Killed it.
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Roger Rettig


From:
Naples, FL
Post  Posted 14 Feb 2025 5:46 am    
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Wichita Lineman: the very first! (This was around 1973-ish.)

I wasn't much of a country music fan back then (I am now) so, hearing those lovely chord changes on the Ray Charles 'cover' of this wonderful Webb composition (it was, of course, Buddy Emmons), lured me in. Gerry Hogan helped me here: he invited me to bring my new Student model ZB to his house and he asked what I'd like him to show me.

He thought 'Wichita...' a trifle ambitious, but my reasoning was that the musical scope of a complex song would teach me much more about the pedals (and the tuning) than, say, 'Jambalaya' might.

I still have my scribbled notes from that 'lesson'.

I'd do the same if I were starting today.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Frank Freniere


From:
The First Coast
Post  Posted 14 Feb 2025 6:19 am    
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"Red River Valley" right out of Winnie's "Pedal Steel Guitar." Check out Lloyd's take on RRV some time.

First self-taught: "Sleepwalk."
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Jason Altshuler

 

From:
Brooklyn, NY
Post  Posted 14 Feb 2025 9:36 am    
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Hey, Sin City was mine too!
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Jim Arnold

 

From:
Texas USA
Post  Posted 14 Feb 2025 10:57 am    
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Herb Remington's version of Danny Boy.
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