The Steel Guitar Forum

Oh Tim ,
Give us an update , Ray Santi gave me a homemade cd with you on one of his songs called ORGANIC food for thought , sounded real good there brother , didnt realize we live so close to a place called Hawg Heaven ... HAH

Well well well...if it isnt the guy that played all the good notes right out of my steel..LOL. Folks...I met Craig a couple weeks ago at an open jam...very nice guy and a great player.

Quick update...Still plugging along. Met a guy (Ray) at an open jam and he asked me to add steel to a song he wrote. First time I have ever done it so I gave it a shot. That was a great learning experience for me..it actually turned out better than I thought. Here is the song..its kinda Americana meets country. He wanted steel thru out the song and for the turnaround he said he wanted it to start off with a single string descending and then build it up. My whole thing was to keep it as simple as possible..Haha Here is a link..you have to click on the Organic Food For Thought song. https://www.reverbnation.com/raysanti/s ... fb:unknown


Its a funny thing..while playing I know every time I hit a wrong string or make a mistake...but Ive had people do recordings at the open jams and when I hear my playing there....its no wear near as bad as I thought it was while playing it.


I met Kenny Knoll a few weeks ago and he told me that if I make a mistake..just keep on going and dont make any faces...LOL. It goes by so fast that no one will even notice..he was absolutely correct. He is a very nice guy and his playing is outstanding.


I mainly do open jams because it fits with my schedule and its a challenge each time. No music sheets..just heres the song...maybe they will yell out the key and then its off to the races. Do the best you can and have fun. After I go to an open jam enough times I kinda know what will be played so if a song has steel in the original I will learn that part for the next time.


Now my claim to shame story...About a year ago I had a chance to sit in with Dale Sellers (yes the Hee Haw member) for a gig...its just him and the singer and they use backing tracks. I talked to him for a few minutes before we started.....one of the nicest people you could ever meet. We start and its a straight 2 hours of song after song. Im doing my thing and we take a break. He comes up to me and tells me about when he first got to Nashville the very first thing he learned was to not walk over other players...as hes talking it finally hit me...I had just walked over him for 2 hours because I wasnt paying attention. Felt like a complete heel. He was extremely nice about it. The next set starts and I pay attention...he was leaving every other fill open for me. So the rest of the gig went off a whole lot better. Great learning experience that I wont ever forget.


Thats about it for a quick update...basically still having fun with the steel and have no regrets about it being my first instrument.