Who Inspired You To Play Steel?

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 30 Aug 2006 6:46 am

Had to be Jerry Byrd,Don Helms,Speedy West,& "Little Roy" Wiggins. Then,on pedals,came Bud Isaacs,& that other "Bud" fella. I think his name begins with an "E".

I was,not yet,familiar with "Walking" Murphey.

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<pre> ~ ~
©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.</pre>

Bill Simmons · Post by **Bill Simmons** » 30 Aug 2006 6:55 am

My dad--Ron Halldorson--Lloyd Green--Tom Brumley--Buddy Emmons

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 30 Aug 2006 7:00 am

Duane Allman inspired me to play slide guitar, and after 30 years of that I got so mad at what I couldn't get it to do I had to get a pedal steel.

Fred Jack · Post by **Fred Jack** » 30 Aug 2006 7:37 am

Ralph Mooney and Tom Brumley.I have yet to forgive either of them! Oh so many years have passed.

Mike Sigler · Post by **Mike Sigler** » 30 Aug 2006 7:49 am

My Ohio Buddy Decon Morris, Weldon, Hal, And most of all MR.Jimmy Crawford, And My Good Friend Tommy White, Also my Dad & Mom for letting me know when i get to loud!

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 30 Aug 2006 8:16 am

As some of you may know I'm just getting ready to start learning as a matter of fact I'll be ready to get my guitar in just about a month I kind of had to wait until some financial matters fell in place so it's almost time and I'm sooooo excited.

Anyway there's several steel players that I have loved over the years but one in particular inspired me to think that I might be able to learn to play and some of you may know him. I haven't seen him post in a very long time in fact I don't know if I've ever seen him post but I think he use to be a member here and his name is Malcom Kirby.

He use to live up in Kentucky and I've had the pleasure to play with him many times in the past. He started out on the lead guitar and let me tell you there is no finer country chickenpicken string bending super tasty guitar picken monster than Malcom.

Well I guess it's been a long time now but I knew him when he first started to learn steel and I know he must have worked very hard at it because the very 1st time I heard him play he sounded like a pro and I know he couldn't have been playing to long. I'm not sure how long he had been learning so I can't comment on that but I can comment on how tasty and how good he played the 1st time I heard him.

It was sort of like a friend of mine that I use to work with named Sheila Knight said hey Malcom has taken up the steel guitar and I remember saying well it should fit him great because he was a string bending hellion on the 6 string. I mean the kind that would hold 2 and then bend 3 and stuff like that so I knew he would adapt pretty well.

So anyway like I said I don't know how long he had been woodshedding but not to long after Sheila told me that another friend called me and asked if I wanted to play in his new band and I asked who's playing steel and he said Malcom and I said I'd love to play with him.

Not knowing how far he had already came on the steel the 1st night I just set beside him in amazement man he really had that steel down great and we played together for quite some time and I loved every minute of it and he even helped me to become a better guitar player with hints and just listening to what he played and when he played. So that's when I actually began thinking about learning the steel guitar and that's been 15 years ago probably or maybe even more.

So Malcom if you ever read this thanks for all the encouragement that until now you never even knew you gave me and If I can learn to play even 1/10 as good and tasty as you do son* I'll feel like I have been successfull.

THANKS OL'BUDDY!!!!!!******* I'd love to hear from you sometime and find out what you're up to these days.

Big Bob

Joe Smith · Post by **Joe Smith** » 30 Aug 2006 8:33 am

Well, It was in 1949 I was 12 years old. I had a afternoon paper route and there was this old man who lived on my route. He must have been at least 30 years old. Anyway, every day when I would go past his house, he would be sitting on his porch playing this guitar. Only thing was, he was using a steel bar, two finger and a thumb pick and he laid it on his lap to play it. I always stopped in front of his house to listen. Finally one day he asked me if I would like to play it. He told me that it was called a lap steel. That's all it took to get me hooked. My dad got me a flat top guitar for 20.00 and I put a nut under the strings to raise them up and got me a steel bar and some picks. The guy's name that got me started was Gene Alexander. He and I became good friends. He started me off on the C6th tuning. I always thought of him as my big brother.

Matthew Prouty · Post by **Matthew Prouty** » 30 Aug 2006 8:42 am

I was influenced at a very early age by an unknown artist... Yes I am being honest when I say it was Porky Pig and that steel guitar glissando at the begining that got me hooked. Sometime after that I tried to find out how to make that sound. Now finally I got me steel guitar and I can make that sound. At last my life is complete.

As a side note I just watched a Porky and Daffy episode (dubbed in Pork-n-cheese) and realized that these old cartoons were really well made in comparasion to the Japanese cartoons out now...

M.

Mat Rhodes · Post by **Mat Rhodes** » 30 Aug 2006 8:56 am

For me it was Alan Holdsworth. He was never known as a steel player, but his "clean" tone on the 6 string was similar. He had talked about how it would take several lifetimes to learn how to play it and that its tone "killed" him. I was intrigued - I had never seen one up close until I saw one at a pawn shop in Denton, TX. It was a BMI E9th in really poor shape. Wouldn't stay in tune for anything. I paid about $400 for it in '93.

Later that summer, Herb Remington sold me a video by Tim McCasland that helped a little with licks and technique. Then that spurred interest in the Jeff Newman videos. Finally, I met Susan Alcorn in the late 90s, who showed me her C6/9 tuning along with more advanced chord voicings and pick blocking. I'd say she was the most inspirational as far as my "turning point" is concerned.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 30 Aug 2006 10:09 am

Tommy Dodd.

We would do sessions together 20+ years ago and he would play the steel and I would play electric guitar and I just enjoyed his playing so much. Finally I just gave him some cash when he was on his way to one of the St. Louis conventions and told him to just bring me back something, anything was fine. He brought me back a nice red Lloyd Green 12 string Sho Bud. Wish I still had it. I got rid of it during one of the two or three times that I gave up on ever being able to play the pedal steel worth a nickel and sold everything. Then I would get the steel bug and start all over again. I make my living playing guitar and bass and double on several other instruments just enough to play when the part calls for it. Some day I hope to be able to play the steel worth a dime, or if I'm lucky a quarter.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Aug 2006 10:15 am

Rusty Young set the hook. Then Buddy Emmons yanked on the line. After that I was a 'goner'; too much damage done to throw me back...[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 30 August 2006 at 11:15 AM.]

Joe Allwood · Post by **Joe Allwood** » 30 Aug 2006 10:16 am

Definitely Duane Dunard...back in the Lincoln Drive store days he had his Emmons sitting there...necks gleaming in the sun...ever tempting...then one day he had sitting beside it a Sho-Bud Maverick...actually affordable in my then pitiful earning capacity! He sat down and created all this beautiful music with one old wooden neck and three pedals. Then he said "want to try it?" I was amazed...how could anyone ever learn how to do all that? I'm still wondering!

[This message was edited by Joe Allwood on 30 August 2006 at 11:17 AM.]

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 30 Aug 2006 11:01 am

We can learn something from everyone! That's who we all are! (A little of everyone we listen to.)

Cheers, John! Well said!

Larry Petree · Post by **Larry Petree** » 30 Aug 2006 11:42 am

I would have to say that I was inspired first, by Herb Remington, with Bob Wills, secondly by Don Helm, with Hank Williams, and third would be a local player by the name of Billy Mize.

Dr. Hugh Jeffreys · Post by **Dr. Hugh Jeffreys** » 30 Aug 2006 11:51 am

Stan Kenton; Stan Getz; Lennie Tristano; George Shearing; Woody Herman........j....

Jim Ives · Post by **Jim Ives** » 30 Aug 2006 12:05 pm

Jerry Garcia.

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 30 Aug 2006 1:31 pm

UH-OH!!

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<pre> ~ ~
©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.</pre>

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 30 Aug 2006 2:25 pm

this record

steeler is Ben Keith.

Brendan Mitchell · Post by **Brendan Mitchell** » 30 Aug 2006 3:19 pm

In the begining it was just a vague sound but then Gerry Garcia and Al Perkins really opened my eyes and of course after learning what a pedal steel was I got into all the greats .

Ronnie Stratton · Post by **Ronnie Stratton** » 30 Aug 2006 5:31 pm

I have always loved the steel coming through on all those good ole country classics. I was inspired enough just listening to it to try to learn to play it. The real inspiration came when I spent a week recently with Doug Jernigan. I can only dream to play at the level he does. What an absolute inspiration that guy is.

Bill Thomson · Post by **Bill Thomson** » 30 Aug 2006 6:05 pm

Santo Farina (Sleepwalk), Chuck Berry, Jerry Garcia (TYCW), Rusty Young (Poco), Jules Ah See (Alfred Apaka's Hawaian Village Serenaders). I've always been attracted to the sounds of the steel guitar, both pedal and non-pedal.

The list goes on, but these were the earliest artists that got me interested in learning to play.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 30 Aug 2006 6:19 pm

The usual suspects .... JD & BE more than anyone else.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Aug 2006 7:03 pm

Hugh, did those guys inspire you to play steel guitar per se, or did they inspire you to play jazz, big band, swing, etc. musically, regardless of the instrument. I'd be curious to know who your influences were on steel guitar itself, if anyone.

Chubby Howard · Post by **Chubby Howard** » 30 Aug 2006 7:13 pm

Hey Jim Phelps that was me playing on channel 13 with the evergreen drifters with Jack Roberts and then later with Pat Roberts then had my own show on there for a long time thanks for remembering.Chubby Howard

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 30 Aug 2006 8:01 pm

Thanks Bart. Hang in there. Jody.