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Topic: Some live music from a newbie |
Jan Jonsson
From:
Gothenburg, Sweden
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Posted 19 Jul 2005 12:56 pm |
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Hi fellow steelers,
I purchased my first pedal steel (a mid-70s Sho-Bud Pro II Custom) close to one year ago. About five months ago I posted a home made studio clip ('Round Midnight') that I had made using my Sho-Bud's C6 neck. Unfortunately, my proficiency with the E9 neck at that time was not worth displaying so I kept woodshedding for a while longer.
Well, now some more time have passed and Sho-Bud wizard Ricky Davis has taught me yet some more licks and tricks for that hard-to-tame creature known as the E9 neck. Moreover, the members of the country band I play with have been generous enough to also let me play the pedal steel on-stage. So I made my stage debut in March this year on a country music ferry cruise. Then in the beginning of July I had the pleasure of performing live at one of the biggest country music festivals in Sweden. At that festival our band backed up two female singers: Cina Samuelson (who we normally play with) and Austin singer Teri Joyce.
Below are some video clips from those concerts. The first song is an old Bill Monroe song, then there are two of Cina's originals and finally two of Teri's songs. I'm the guy on the right-hand side of the stage, playing the Nocaster and Sho-Bud. There are some slight playing misses and some steel intonation problems, but overall I'm quite satisfied with the results. Note: the files are quite large (between 6 and 10 MBytes a piece) so a high-speed modem is recommended.
With Cina:
Wheel Hoss (w/ Nocaster)
Get Ready (w/ Sho-Bud)
Not About Love (w/ Sho-Bud)
With Teri:
Blow Wind Blow (w/ Sho-Bud)
Belly Up (w/ Nocaster)
My equipment: Nocaster and Sho-Bud were both played through a TIM boost pedal, via an A/B switch into a TC D-Two digital delay and then into a home-made Vibroclone with a 15" Weber California.
Thanks, Ricky, for encouraging me to take the leap and start playing live.
-- Jan
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Sho-Bud Pro II Custom 8/4, Fender Stringmaster S-8, Fender CS Nocaster
[This message was edited by Jan Jonsson on 19 July 2005 at 02:08 PM.] |
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James Sission
From:
Sugar Land,Texas USA
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Posted 19 Jul 2005 1:58 pm
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| I think you sound really well. It adds a little encouragement to a newbie like myself to see someone play that well in a realatively short period of time. I played with a band last Sunday evening for the first time (on steel) in my jam room. I was amazed at how quickly my steel got "washed out" by the drums and bass. It was a good exeprience for me though, at least now I know what to expect when and if I ever play it at a gig. Its a whole different world playing with all those musicians playing along than it is with just me and a tape deck.....Thank you for sharing your music..By the way, your guitar (tele) picking is really nice...James |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 19 Jul 2005 11:12 pm
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Yes Folks; don't let Jan fool ya..ha   ...he is a longtime super great guitar player and 8-string Fender steel player that can certainly mimick Jr. Brown moreso than anyone I've heard(yes he plays steel with a flat pick and two finger picks...yeee haaa). Jan is an extreme talent that has a great great ear for music and when he wanted to dive into the E9th pedal steel not too long ago; I was honored to show him the way to the deep end..ha...and he's coming along quite nicely> I'm impressed.
Ricky |
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Klaus Caprani
From:
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Posted 20 Jul 2005 3:59 am
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Hey Jan!
That's nice playing. You seem to have come far in a comparatively short time
I've been playing for approx a year myself, but had most of my rudimentary experience from playing slide in open E major tuning from time to time.
Wish I had done some C6!
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Klaus Caprani
MCI RangeXpander S-10 3x4
www.klauscaprani.com
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Jan Jonsson
From:
Gothenburg, Sweden
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Posted 21 Jul 2005 12:44 pm
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Thanks guys,
I appreciate the positive comments. Yes, I think it is possible to proceed pretty fast if you have encouraging (and tolerant) band members, and of course some kind of teacher/mentor to guide you through the rocky landscape of pedal steelin'. I also play with a blues band and force myself and my pedal steel licks on them in order to get even more practice ... I don't know what they really think about my attempts to play rock and blues on the Sho-Bud, but at least they don't unplug me when I play ...
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| ...when he wanted to dive into the E9th pedal steel not too long ago; I was honored to show him the way to the deep end..ha...and he's coming along quite nicely. |
Thanks, Ricky! Learning to dive to the deep end is one thing ... the real problem is to get up to the surface again. This instrument sure requires your total dedication every day of the week. Nothing you do when you get a spare minute every once in a while.
-- Jan
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Sho-Bud Pro II Custom 8/4, Fender Stringmaster S-8, Fender CS Nocaster
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