Age range of Steelers

Bill Miller · Post by **Bill Miller** » 24 Jun 2004 7:32 am

I'm 48. Started pedal steel at 34 or 35 but there were long periods of not bothering with it at all. Now it takes up at least an hour a day of my time..lots of days more. There is a drawback...my six string electric playing is suffering a bit as a result. I started that at 8 years old.
I'm really kind of surprised at how many younger players have weighed in on this thread...didn't think there were many at all under 40. That's a good sign

It's my favorite instrument and I'd hate to see it fade away to obscurity.

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 24 Jun 2004 12:38 pm

I'm 26 and have been playing for a year and a half now and loving it!

Arty Passes · Post by **Arty Passes** » 24 Jun 2004 1:12 pm

Hey Bart -
I just turned 50 and started at 20.
Welcome to the forum and the Austin steel community - I wish there were some way we could all get together once in a while -
I still have lots to learn, and there are lots of great players here.

BTW, how the heck do you play those things without pedals?

Arty

Jud Thomas · Post by **Jud Thomas** » 24 Jun 2004 1:56 pm

I'm 32 and just started playing this beast back in March. I'm lucky enough to live in Austin too and even luckier to have found a great mentor in Neil Flanz. If you don't have a teacher already, you may want to consider him. He's really a gem. Anyway, I guess I would be considered on the young side too. There is something to be said for waiting until your children get old enough to not treat your PSG like a jungle gym!

Richard Nydegger · Post by **Richard Nydegger** » 25 Jun 2004 12:35 am

Just turned 50, switched to dobro and lap steel from guitar, banjo and mandolin a couple years ago after a breif encounter with a table saw blade. Got my pedal monster a couple months ago. Now I'm hopelessly addicted.

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 25 Jun 2004 4:20 am

hi, i started when i was 30 now i am 57. had some great teachers t.c. furlong don kates ect...

learn alot from playing in bars and clubs

paul wade
mundelein,ill

[This message was edited by Paul Wade on 25 June 2004 at 05:21 AM.]

C. Brattain · Post by **C. Brattain** » 25 Jun 2004 5:17 am

I am 72 and started to trying to learn in 1945 when I was 13. I started working in a music store in 1948 and have never did anything else except for a 4 year hitch in the USAF. I am still trying to learn. Chuck

Steve Knight · Post by **Steve Knight** » 25 Jun 2004 7:26 am

I'm 34 & just started 2 weeks ago. I've played 6-sring for 20 years prior to the psg.

I think $$ may have something to do with the age of steelers. My parents bought me a $100 strat copy for my 14th birthday. Even a used starter psg will set you back about $4-500. How many teenagers or college students can afford one?

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 25 Jun 2004 9:46 am

I'm 50, started when I was 10, and I'm still only halfway thru the first book

Played my dad's record containing Tom Brumley's version of Bud's Bounce over and over and over 'till thee record groove wore out in 1963. Good thing we now have CD's. I was finally able to get my dad a new copy.

Toby Rider · Post by **Toby Rider** » 25 Jun 2004 10:52 am

I am 30-years-old, and I just started pedal steel, after playing guitar & fiddle since I was a teen.

It's a real inspiration to me that most pedal steel players are older then I am. I recently saw Terry Kristofferson, an amazing fellow who plays with Buck Owens (and is the manager of Buck's big place in Bakersfield). He was switching off between lead guitar & pedal steel, just like he was picking out food in a buffet line.. He made switching between the two look so completely effortless.. I said to myself "by the time I'm his age, I want to be able to do that!"

So why did I not start sooner? Well as a kid, I lived in rural West Texas. I didn't know any steel players, but lot's of guitar-players & fiddlers.

When I graduated & went into the Army, I was really busy & moving around all the time.

Then when I was in college, I was too poor to afford one.

So now that I'm all grown up. I've decided to learn, because you only live once!

[This message was edited by Toby Rider on 25 June 2004 at 01:21 PM.][This message was edited by Toby Rider on 25 June 2004 at 03:33 PM.]

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 25 Jun 2004 1:27 pm

I'm twenty-two and I started playing steel when I was eighteen. Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel

Robert Thomas · Post by **Robert Thomas** » 25 Jun 2004 2:00 pm

Sounds like us old ones are being replaced just like we should be. Everything still works, but maybe just not like it used too!

Harold Parris · Post by **Harold Parris** » 26 Jun 2004 8:44 pm

I'm 55 bumping 56. I've been fooling around with pedal steel for 30 + years and have learned more good stuff about steel guitar in the last 6 months than most of the earlier years put together. You younger pickers don't know it yet but you priorities change greatly as you get older!! I made the mistake of putting my steel in the closet for about 10 or 12 years because I didn't think I had time for it. Please don't ever do that because it is hard to over come that stale period. Pick every chance you get and play with the best pickers that will allow you to sit in. That's what cultivates talent!

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Sierra Session and MSA Classic Guitars, Nashville 400, Session 400, and Evans FET 500 HiVolt, and Gretsch Nashville Pro Steel Amps, Keith Hilton Digital Sustain pedal and Digital Sustain Box .
Harold Parris email hparris9@aol.com

Rick Alexander · Post by **Rick Alexander** » 27 Jun 2004 12:16 am

I'm 57, which coincidentally happens to be the average age of steelers . . .

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Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 27 Jun 2004 8:11 am

I'm 58 and started playing Steel guitar when I was 10. My Dad played steel guitar before I was born and My Mom taught my Dad Hawiian Steel before they were married in 1944. I guess I was born into it.

I'm really pleased to see so many young people here. There was talk a while back of PSG dying. I'm so glad to see the young people's interest. My daughter's 34 and I just gave her my old MSA. She's teaching herself to play with a little advice from old dad. I'm loving every minute of it!

Jim Florence · Post by **Jim Florence** » 27 Jun 2004 5:25 pm

I'm 72, still pick when I get a chance. Last summer I was asked to add a track to a CD by a group called Blak Kat Bone. I thought it was probably some sort of joke. Not so, Got a lot of exposure out of it. I'd never recorded blues before.
Jim

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 27 Jun 2004 5:39 pm

74 now; started playing gigs 60 years ago at 14.

Shane MacArthur · Post by **Shane MacArthur** » 27 Jun 2004 5:59 pm

35 My first steel should be arriving any day...lol Converted violin player...

Mike Hoover · Post by **Mike Hoover** » 27 Jun 2004 7:10 pm

Austin Stewart is 11 and been playing for 5 years. very nice young gentleman. i play a bass, but wish i could learn to play steel. maybe some day

Mike