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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 27 Jan 2003 1:27 pm |
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Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 16 Jan 2018 2:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Jan 2003 1:33 pm
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| I play both and each has advantages and disadvanges depending on the venue. My experience has been, the more skills one has, the more doors get opened, if that's what you want. |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 27 Jan 2003 3:14 pm
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| I have Bruce Clarks Sample C.D. and on track six (an excerpt from Vol. 3 of "The greatest guitarists you've never heard of!"), there are two steel players playing "Pan Handle Rag". A non-pedal steel is playing the head and it sounds to me like a pedal steel is playing backing chords. I think the two sound great together this way. Since my main instrument is guitar, I am looking forward to working with a pedal steel player, where I can play non-pedal as well as guitar. |
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Zayit
From:
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted 27 Jan 2003 3:55 pm
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Hi Jeff! Thank you for "kicking the hornets nest" occassionally & getting the discussion going around here from time to time.
My 1st try at steel playing was with an S-10 Sho-Bud Maverick 3+1 back in "83". I thought I'd pick it up like I picked up mandolin & bottleneck. I found out quickly though, that if I could use both hands AND feet at the same time, I'd be a drummer & have a paying gig EVERY nite!
...So I put the S-10 in the closet & didnt think about it for about 18 years or so. I also took time away from music to have a family & graduate school & that kind of stuff.
I had one of those epiphany things about 3 years ago. I realised that I had been living without breathing oxygen (music) & I better start breathing again. So I wandered into the Mid-Canada-Steel Guitar convention that we have here in Winnipeg every year http://www.outwestpacseat.ca/winnipeg_steel_guitar_convention.htm & saw guys like Billy Jones & Joe Delaronde playin jazz, swing, pop, blues & Hawaiian just fine without any pedals thank you. The rest is history.
PS: I love the sound of PSG, Dobro & bottleneck too. You can just call me a gliss' junkie!  |
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Andy Alford
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 4:16 am
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| Who in our brotherhood loathes what his brother is playing?Everyone that I know started out on a lap steel and some learned pedals.Many like myself play pedals,lap,and dobro.All three are important in the steel guitar world. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 7:37 am
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We all belong to the Brotherhood of Steel Guitar. And the Good Lord loves us all, no matter what we play!
Erv |
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Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 8:13 am
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First, I like the sound of non-pedal steel. Although there are many great sounding pedal steels, to me nothing sounds as nice as a non-pedal. I recall Bob Lee posting a while back that he quit taking his Sierra Lap Top along on gigs where he also played pedal steel. He found that after hearing the lap the pedal steel was a let down for him and the audience, as I recall. That should stir up the old hornet nest!
I like the idea of doing it all with my hands. To me it makes the music more personal, more expressive. And really, most of those chords the pedal steelers get are not something I'm that interested in playing.
And of course, those pedal guitars are heavy (and expensive)! I have a bad back, so pedal steel is really out of the question. I'm a part-time, recreational player, so portability means a lot. About half the time when I play electric it's at a small party or jam, so I leave the Stringmaster at home and just bring the Bakelite and a small amp.
Sitting at a pedal steel when the rest of the group is standing has to be a real drag.
The lap steel's "fade into obscurity" is our good fortune. Vintage non-pedal steels are really reasonably priced. Have you checked the price of a 50s Telecaster? They are several times that of a similar vintage Stringmaster. Good six string laps are often found for $500-600, or less.
I don't loathe pedal steel. I'm just not interested in playing one. |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 9:04 am
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Arch Nemesis.....Jeff, I love it! Sounds like it's time to don the tights and cape.
Superman had Lex Luthor
Batman had the Joker
The Flash had Grodd the Gorilla
Green Lantern had Sinestro
Spiderman had the Green Goblin
The X-Men had Magneto
The Steel Guitar Forum had Marty Pollard
and Rickenbacher had Sho-Bud....hmmm, don't worry, I'll think of something, Lois! Wait! The Cabinet Drop ray gun, it's experimental, but it may just work![This message was edited by HowardR on 28 January 2003 at 09:10 AM.] [This message was edited by HowardR on 28 January 2003 at 09:15 AM.] |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 9:20 am
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You forgot:
Jerry Byrd had Jeff Au Hoy   ....
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 2:25 pm
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...
Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 16 Jan 2018 2:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gary Slabaugh
From:
Scottsdale, AZ
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 3:38 pm
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| I would opt for part of Bob Stone's responses not carrying the extra weight. Mind you I do not have a pedal, but do have a double 8 on a stand, and two 6 strings. I thought if I every get out into the pubic to play the expectations might be higher if I had a lot of gear (like a pool player with his personal custom stick?) so if I bring out this double 8 with it's pretty totem pole necks (National Grand) and set it up on the stand verses setting that old brown bakelite 6 string on my lap I might get a little more respect when the playing begins (in my dream at least). |
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Del Rangel
From:
Clayton, NC
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 4:01 pm
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So what,
you like beef or something Jeff?
Did you just call pedalers a bunch of mullets laddat? |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 5:50 pm
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I play lap steel because I like it. I like pedal steel too, but I have not been back to try playing pedal steel since a bad experience with an Ernie Ball pedal steel in the 1970s.
Lap steels are cheap, easy to transport, visually interesting, and great sounding.
So what's your beef with pedal steel, Jeff? Do you have a thing about Phillips screwdrivers vs. flat head screwdrivers too? 
They're just tools. They do the job.
------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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mikey
From:
New Jersey
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 8:38 pm
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I actuallly originally DID go from Dobro to Pedal Steel....I love 'em, it's just that it is a completely different instrument...whereas you can transpose/correlate or whatever from a regular guitar to a NON PEDAL...you can't play a Pedal like it was a non(well you can, but it doesn't sound "right") I took a few lessons on pedal, and the teacher told me to forget everthing I know or even think about a regular guitar (or fixed string instrument)because it will just make for the "wrong" way to play...he was right...it is just a completely different instrument...so I went back to Dobro and then on to 6 string electric lap steel....and fell in love w/ that tone and it was more accesable to a guitar player like me...where the Pedal Steel was downright confusing!!!.....one tip I'll never forget...beginners...don't slant...don't run the bar around the board..stay in a couple fret spot..(depending on key)...and always start w/ the pedals DOWN...backwards from what I thought..I started playing then pushed the pedals...you just don't get the right sound..
Mike |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 28 Jan 2003 10:52 pm
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Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 16 Jan 2018 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 29 Jan 2003 2:58 am
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Hi Jeff
I have joined this section on a permanent basis.... why you may ask .... well it has to do with pedal steels.
SEE :- http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/005119.html
I stil play pedal but NOT country NOT Emmons only Fender and Gibson.
BTW pat and I booked our Hawaiian holiday yesterday.
We WILL be in Hawaii for three weeks from the 25th of April.
Maybe we'll get to meet some of our friends then... even JB with a bit of luck (That's if he hasn't put out a contract on me !!)
Baz www.waikiki-islanders.com
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| Steel players do it without fretting |
http://www.waikiki-islanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 29 Jan 2003 5:48 am
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Mikey !!
I can't for the life of me see how the pedal steel is confusing to an established guitarist.
With the RIGHT pedal arrangement the positions can relate directly to guitar positions.
As an example,for me the 3rd fret represents the keys of G, C, or Eb, with ALL their relative chords in CLOSE attendance.
What is the difference?.
Further, if you extend the type of chords, the relationship STILL can be similar ie.at the third fret,C9,C13, F9, Ebmaj7, Eb6, G6, Gmaj7, Gmaj7/9,and so on, the range of available chords in MY pedal arrangement is much more that those examples.
See :- http://www.waikiki-islanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tunings.html
Baz |
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John Kavanagh
From:
Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.
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Posted 29 Jan 2003 6:51 am
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I love the lap steel tone. It's different from pedal steel, and I can't even quite say how. Fatter, slinkier, a sort of purring sound to it. More open.
The big reason for me is sound. I like the old-fashioned country and especially Western Swing sounds that were and are made with lap steels. I don't see why you couldn't play pedal steel in the same style, but the tone isn't the same to my ears. The pedal sounds that appeal to me most are the Sacred Steel players - a very different approach to that instrument.
Tone's a separate issue from style, or maybe part of the bigger issue of "sound", however you want to define that, and I sure don't. But I find the tone of lap steel very seductive, and pedal steel, though I've enjoyed certain players very much, doesn't speak to me that way.
It's like... well, if I were to play a wind instrument seriously, it wouldn't be the trumpet, even though it's impossible not to like Louis Armstrong. Some sounds grab you so much that you want to have the instrument and make some of that noise yourself, other things: well, it sounds good when someone else does it.[This message was edited by John Kavanagh on 07 February 2003 at 07:56 AM.] |
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