Just got home from a house party in someone's backyard and nobody thought to make arrangements for lighting. So the second set gets rained out. By the time we get back up, it's dark and I can't see the fretboard well at all. Just the ambient lighting from tiki torches and a couple of fire pits.
Man, am I ever dependant on my eyes to play steel. My intonation was AWEFUL and I wasn't even using bar slants!
The solution? Stayed mostly on Tele (which, by the way, I CAN play in the dark) and/or utilized only one position on steel for a whole song at a time. Interesting study of the uses of sometimes ignored pedal/lever options including the second string half-stop and the 9th string drop.
On a show with Lorena just as we were about to start a song kicked off by steel, they turned out ALL the lights just as the drummer started counting one, two, three.... I about panicked! I could see NOTHING, not my own hands, let alone the frets on the steel. I couldn't yell but I said "wait!wait!wait! I can't see anything!" loud enough for the band to hear without (hopefully) everyone in the audience. We got some dim stage lights turned on and then we started the song.
I always use a little lamp that I attach to the mike stand next to my steel. I started using this when our band bought that fancy lighting system with those flashing effects - sometimes that left me blind, especially when our bass player (who is working our lighting system) started using changer effects, that means lights are changing frequently during a song.
The lamp only costs a few bucks, but it's really worth it!
After I had been in enough dark corners, I bought one of those cheap "clamp-on" lights that has a swivel head on it. Since it accepts standard "screw-in" type bulbs, I bought a low wattage (25w to 40w) bulb and then spray painted the bulb red. There is usually something to clamp it onto where it will shine on my fretboard with a nice warm glow that is not offensive to anyone.
Just my cheap solution.
~~W.C.~~<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Wayne Cox on 26 June 2005 at 08:10 PM.]</p></FONT>
Yeah, I have this happen sometimes too - some of the guys I've played with like to play practically in the dark. Or how about psychedelic or strobe lights? I've played a few parties where that was an issue. Sometimes that's as bad as no light at all.
Ear training is obviously critical, but it's tough if I can't see anything. I've thought about trying Danny Gatton's solution: Cubic Zirconia fret markers, which apparently reflect even the tiniest amount of light.
Ear training isn't the issue, it's the problem. My hearing is SO sensitive to tuning/intonation that just a little out sounds really bad to me. I can find the right position by ear but only AFTER striking a note or chord. By then the damage is done.
I bolted a music stand lamp to a boom mic. stand. It works, but it's a pain to carry and takes up some room for the 3-leg base. I like the set-up on Steve Hinsons guitar. Where can I get one?
darkness gives me the same effect as playing while watching the needle on my tuner. Maybe Wayne Kincaid had the right idea with those old "Rayline" boards?<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mike Cass on 27 June 2005 at 10:06 AM.]</p></FONT>
Marty, you've "been in the dark" your entire career! Ha!
Still glad your back. Now go stur something up!
Now what was the statement about Lloyd Green that got you in so much trouble last time?
Your great buddy,
Bobster!
I've had too many of those "Ray Charles" moments, so I got a clip-on light. Another time, when I was playing my Emmons with the chrome fretboards. Opening song, uptempo, she calls out, "solo, steel guitar" and points to me. The spotlight hits the top of the guitar and it's like looking into the high beams with added flash bulbs. Singed my eyebrows.
The Machiavellian view of this scenario is that when the electrical power is interrupted, the piano player (not an electric keyboard) can continue playing his favorite tunes while the rest of the band goes to the bar.
This actually happened to me one night and the coup de grace was that the piano player was blind and he could have cared less that the lights were out!
Pat,I'll find out where our lighting guy got that thing and post it...It looks to me like a console light with a dimmer on it attached to some kind of a clamp...I'm pretty sure they made it.The only bad thing about it is it ain't long enough to light the whole thing...but every little bit helps!A lot of RT's show blacks the stage between songs until the downbeat...maybe that's what turned my hair gray...<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 28 June 2005 at 04:53 AM.]</p></FONT>
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 28 June 2005 at 05:25 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 28 June 2005 at 05:29 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 28 June 2005 at 05:31 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 28 June 2005 at 05:36 AM.]</p></FONT>
My thanks to Steve Hinson for posting the above photo for me. I bought this U-12 MSA, from Jerry "Dawg" Walker of Stereo Steel fame. He had reworked and customized it for himself, but eventually used it to raise funds to buy his new Fessenden. I think Jim Palenscar made the fret board, but Jerry put in the LED lights himself. Now if only my playing was a awesome as the effect of these lights!<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gary Ulinskas on 28 June 2005 at 08:51 PM.]</p></FONT>
I've gotten blinded by spotlights as I started solo's a couple times. Looking down at the neck only to see a giant red blob is a real nightmare. Its time to close your eyes, hold your nose, jump and hope you clear the rocks when that happens.
I've got one of those small, goose-neck lights like Steve's. A sound tech gave it to me about 15 years ago. It was designed to be mounted on a mixer. It has a dimmer knob attached to it. I mounted mine on a small block of wood (painted black first) and fastened a broom clamp to the back side of it. It's been a life saver on several jobs.
