Bread's "Guitar Man"

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 13 Aug 2001 5:28 pm

Does anyone know who played pedal steel on Bread's song, "Guitar Man." (I don't really remember a pedal steel on the track, but someone I work with asked me this question.) I would greatly appreciate the answer. Thanks in advance. Boo

erik · Post by **erik** » 13 Aug 2001 6:01 pm

I went over to cdnow and they are selling the original album. It doesn't list any other musicians then the band members. And i see no listing for steel. Although they seem to have played many other instruments.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 14 Aug 2001 7:44 am

I can recall some single note bends on the straight guitar (replete with a wah-wah), but no PSG in that song.

B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 14 Aug 2001 5:26 pm

I have to agree. Bread was one of my favorite groups, and I have their greatest hits CD. I didn’t remember any steel on that cut, so I went back and listened to the cut again…I still don’t hear any steel. Donny is right, in that there is a lot of single note guitar work, with string bends and a wah-wah pedal. I would imagine it was done by David Gates who was the lead singer and a session guitar player in LA.

B. Bailey Brown

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 15 Aug 2001 6:06 am

It's my belief that what is heard in "the hook" and intro is slide guitar~

Kenny Dail · Post by **Kenny Dail** » 15 Aug 2001 8:18 am

Well, they certainly had me fooled. I thought it was a PSG since I first heard it. Not trying to start any arguments but, I am not yet convinced it was a "slide" The note grouping on the slides appear to change during the slides and I believe that it would be almost impopssible to duplicate the voicings on anything but a PSG. Just my thoughts...

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kd...and the beat goes on...

erik · Post by **erik** » 15 Aug 2001 2:23 pm

Kenny, go to cdnow.com and click their "guitar man" album. It lists all the instruments played. There is no steel mentioned. Perhaps it was two single note guitars overdubbed.

B Bailey Brown · Post by **B Bailey Brown** » 15 Aug 2001 3:40 pm

Gee, now you guys have me curious! I went back and listened carefully to the tune again. There are parts on the intro and through the first part of the song that do sound a little like a steel, but really more like a slide guitar. Kenny has a good point, in that during the latter part of the cut there are several “slide” effects, and the voicing of the notes and the feel sound very much like a steel. They really don’t sound like what you would expect from a standard guitar tuning. I guess the guitar could be re-tuned to get that, but what do I know…I’m no slide player!

I do know that it obviously is not easily recognizable as a steel, because it has none of the standard things we tend to do in country music, but then that song is NOT country. I also know that back in those days record companies were very bad about giving credit to session players. It could well have been some guitar player that played a “little” steel (just enough to get the effect they wanted), or some steel player that was brought in to do a few simple things on the cut, got his check, went home, and never got any credit.

I still tend to go with the “slide guitar” theory, but I honestly can’t tell. Either way, I am glad Boo asked the question. The tough ones are always a lot more interesting than the “easy” ones!

B. Bailey Brown

Boomer · Post by **Boomer** » 18 Aug 2001 5:02 am

Jimmy Griffin was the main lead player for Bread. Best, Boomer