Does our focus on the past limit the appeal of Lap Steel

[Tom Cooper]

We have an avante guard guy in town playing steel and I have to admit he rocks. Great feel, tone, intuition, creative tunings, musicianship, etc. I love his playing. He even built his own lap steel and it sounds amazing. In my group I play retro stuff but sitting in with people it is refreshing to branch out and try different things. I do both I guess. Dont really care what steel gtr snobs think. Having too much fun to care. Just play the damn thing and ignore the bs later. TC

[Bill McCloskey]

Who is the guy?

[James Mayer]

I disagree. If you go to a "guitar festival" you really don't know what you are getting. They don't exist without being more specific. If you go to a "steel guitar festival", you know what to expect.

Too bad you didn't come to the Steel Guitar Festival I put together in NY, you would have seen something much different.

When is the next one? Please put me on the mailing list.

[Tom Cooper]

Lauris Vidal

[Thomas Ford]

Check out this video,This is what you are more apt to see of today's young guys playing Lap Steel.Its all good if the musics good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=30_djCrPcgU

[Roman Sonnleitner]

Youtube link doesn't work for me ("Video not available") - whose performance were you linking to?

[Thomas Ford]

Youtube link doesn't work for me ("Video not available") - whose performance were you linking to?

Its a band called KingBilly playing the song Liza Jane with Josh Matheny on Lap Steel and Vince Gill on Guitar. Sorry about the video not coming up. I don't know what happened.

[Thomas Ford]

Try This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_djCrPcgU

[Roman Sonnleitner]

Works now - cool stuff, exactly my kind of music...

[Steve Ahola]

I think that the style of lap steel that you play (Hawaiian, Western, 50's, modern) is largely determined by the audience you have chosen. So what works for basilh is what his audience wants to hear. And what works for Ben Harper is what his audience wants to hear. I do not see what this argument is about.

Speaking from a personal point of view I am a blues guitarist with minors in rock and country. After dabbling around with lap steel for over 40 years I have finally decided to pursue it seriously and see how it fits in with my musical directions. I am playing lap steel to expand my own musical expression, and certainly not to illustrate the proper way to play lap steel.

David Lindley pretty much introduced lap steel to a rock audience inventing his own style as heard on all of the recordings he made (and collaborated on) with Jackson Browne in the 70's. IMO his playing was influenced by the great blues lap steel players of the past (like Oscar "Buddy" Woods) more than the country western steel players. I suspect that he used something like the Stevens bar intended for dobros, rather than the big fat tone bar used by the Western players. What Lindley brought to the table was not just the technical expertise in his style of lap steel but a very beautiful lyricism to his lines and solos, which he would also play on violin.

I like to think of the Steel Guitar Forum as being a big tent that encompasses all varieties of steel guitar, and treats both the pros and the n00bies (like me!) with respect.

Steve Ahola
www.blueguitar.org

EDIT: I thought I should add that I am studying traditional 8 string non-pedal steel guitar from all of my favorite country songs from the 40's and 50's- like Don Helms with Hank Williams. I hope to digest some of that and add it to my basic vocabulary. BTW I love Junior Brown's playing on his guit-steel which has some very traditional roots but he does take it in some new directions.

[Tom Gray]

When David Lindley started on the steel he was trying to sound like a saxophone. The same with another instrumental icon, Jimmy Smith on the B-3. The sacred steel players emulate singers. Jerry Douglas has said he studied horn players. The list goes on. I believe we should look to the greats of our own instrument for technical expertise and inspiration, but if that's the only place we look we get stuck in an ever-tightening spiral that leads nowhere. It's a much wider world out there.

[Bob Hoffnar]

This guys work is way off the grid:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 57#1583457

[James Mayer]

This guys work is way off the grid:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 57#1583457

Whoah! What do we have here? Bass strings? Variax electronics? I guess the bass strings allow enough tension to play it as a steel or to fret it with fingers. Having only three strings allows for easier bowing, maybe? He's got some pretty cool ideas.

[Steve Ahola]

When David Lindley started on the steel he was trying to sound like a saxophone. The same with another instrumental icon, Jimmy Smith on the B-3. The sacred steel players emulate singers. Jerry Douglas has said he studied horn players. The list goes on. I believe we should look to the greats of our own instrument for technical expertise and inspiration, but if that's the only place we look we get stuck in an ever-tightening spiral that leads nowhere. It's a much wider world out there.

Tom:

That's a really great post! To come up with your own style for soloing you often have to look to other instruments for your inspiration.

Steve Ahola

P.S. I did not know that about David Lindley.