The Steel Guitar Forum

Started on 6-string, which I've been playing for years, and recently began playing steel. Since I'm learning, I play more steel than 6-string.

I imagine almost every steel guitarist played regular guitar before turning to steel, and I imagine most of them still play guitar, but your poll doesn't allow that option.

I haven't started yet, but I have started working with a dobro and considering buying a 10 string Zum or Carter, it's more a matter of money at this point. Plus, I have an artifical right foot and a portion of the leg making it impossible to bend my ankle, I haven't figured out how to effectively approach volume control, because a foot pedal just won't work for me. But I am not interested in playing it out, I just want to keep it as a hobby instrument. What am I saying that's where I am at with guitar right now.

I never played Standard Guitar

Started on Steel and stayed on Steel.
Marty

Alan, thanks for the response. Yes, that was to be my first option, but somehow I messed up in setting up the Poll, then couldn't seem to edit it. But, its been a lot of fun anyway, getting to know a bunch of you guys, and the Poll really doesn't matter all that much.
Kenny, I think you needn't worry too much about that volume pedal problem. You can probably work around that. I think in the early days of steel guitar, they didn't have volume pedals anyway, and I have seen some tremendous players of the old 6 & 8 string non-pedal without the use of v-pedal. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but many years ago, didn't Kayton Roberts play some awesome steel without volume pedal?

I played pro 6-string from the early 60s to the early 70s - surf music,rock & roll, blues and a sort of funk that passes for jazz. Then I picked up a Fender 400 and it was all over. When I moved from Tidewater Virginia to L.A. in the early 70s,I found out that all my guitar heros were already here and standing in line to play for free. So I started telling people I was a steel player out of desperation and damn if I didn't start getting calls. I started thinking that maybe I should go ahead and learn how to play it so I took a couple lessons from a guy named Colin Kyffin who showed me a half dozen E9 fills and turnarounds and told me to get out and gig. E9 made a lot of sense to me and I picked it up well enough after a while to want to tackle C6 so I got an old Sho-Bud Professional. There were a lot of country joints with live music all over L.A. in those days and you could go sit and watch Jay Dee,John Noreen,Red Rhodes,Sneaky,Al Perkins,Ed Black,Doug Livingston and all the other L.A. pickers play 4 sets on any given night and that was inspiring. So I just took any gig that came my way and was soon working anywhere from 3-6 nights a week myself and in about a year or two I could play in tune and keep up harmonically with most of the bands I worked with - a modest goal and one I still try to maintain. I still play 6-string and have picked up mandolin in the last few years just for fun. I find that I'll really get into one ax for a while and then move to another one for a few months or a year and so on - mostly dictated by the demands of the bands I happen to be playing in. Steel is still really my primary ax but I never seem to be able to juggle that and the other instruments I claim to play and keep them all at the real fine edge I'd like to - kinda like women. Life is just too short for that I guess.