The Steel Guitar Forum

I like doing a tele imitation from time to time.

Check out the first half of so solo on this tune I Don't Remember

On most of the tune I do pretty standard steel stuff,
but the first half of the solo has a tele feel.

My apologies for my intonation on most of this. It was one of those songs where I did my part against a bare scratch track.

I get that Tele sound all the time with this one...


My Tele/Lap with Loni's Lap Dancer Redneck...


This guy also likes a good Tele Redneck sound...

I was going to post add what David just did - a light bar will help as well.

Because you can't get the string snap against the frets, to me a compressor would be completely wrong - you WANT attack, and quick decay.

I don't agree that humbucker-equipped Teles have the "twang". Stacked ones do sometimes, but the angle/position of the pickup AND the bridge is very important. Those are some of the reasons Strats don't sound like Teles.

You can get some semblance of Tele tone with humbuckers and other setups...but the "twang" is another matter.

Sometimes the cheap stomp box style compressors will give you that snap. I still use my old Ibanez UE series rack that has a good compressor for guitar in it. Orange squeezers were good too.
Most of the chicken pickin tracks were compressed pretty hard. I like the sound of a good smasher.

I don't think a humbucking "Tele" can twang like a real "Tele", but I do think the swamp ash body contributes greatly to the traditional tone. Obviously the old butterscotch ones were swamp ash - Fender eventually began using alder and poplar for some of the solid-color guitars, I think more because of supply and cost reasons than tone. When people talk about getting "lucky" with old Fenders, and the inconsistency of their tone, there are still genuine reasons that some sound better (or at least more traditional) than others. Unless you believe in the magic wood spirits. I have built very similar Warmoth guitars, wired very similarly, out of alder and swamp ash, and there was a large difference in tone that I can only reasonably ascribe to the wood type. And the spirits, woo woo woo...

IF you don't have that so called "SNAP" in your playing style, a compressor ain't gonna help. Actually my opinion is that it may detract from the natural style of the player. sorry.

IF all it takes is a common Guitar and some effects, then everyone with a PUSH PULL would sound exactly like Buddy.

Yes, Tele's side by side are different, or can be different. But the basic Guitars are all the same.
Fresh strings on a single coil Tele, a player that has his style and execution down will make it happen.

Don't look beyond the playing execution to find the golden answer, it's the same on every Instrument. The Tele is no exception. Actually it's easier to find the execution with NO amp, just sittin' there with a nice tele and fresh strings, practicing and finding your way.

"Can you show me how to get that sound "

"yes, but it may take us some time"

"How much time ?"

"Maybe 20 years"

Tony, your last four lines are PRICELESS!

(And also quite true.)

http://www.mediafire.com/?emuxg1jqsdz

OK I went down to the basement and recorded a few licks on one of my pedal steel guitars to try to capture just some of the essence of the Tele sound.

As I said in my other posts which some agreed with and some did not...light strings, some snap from a compressor and this is what I got. For those who talked about fret sound being a part of the Tele sound, don't forget that the bar is just a moveable fret. If you lift the bar and "whack" the strings when you play, you will get basically the same sound. Most pedal players spend more time avoiding lifting the bar and attacking the strings with the nose end of the bar. You can really get some good funky things using this technique. Watch that Indian guy who plays the archtop slide guitar. He is a master at the single notes with the end of bar.

Click on the link above and it will take you to a free safe filehosting site. When it comes up just click on the download line and things will start. The file is very short so you won't have to wait long. Let me know what you think. I have used this sound before with very good results.

Anyone else have a "Tele" sound on the steel you would like to share then please do.

Bill Hatcher, that's pretty good! I hear a lot of Tele-ishness in there, and I'm a Tele player myself, as I'm sure a good many of us are. I'm sure some will prefer to quibble that it isn't quite the real thing, but it's a heck of a lot closer than I've ever gotten on a PSG. (Really makes me hanker for a twelve-string--I'd love to be able to get those low E's!)

Of course a lot of it is in the player--the licks and picking technique, in addition to bar technique you mentioned--but I'd be curious to know more about how you got that sound--the guitar, the pickup, amp and/or recording method, etc., if you feel like discussing any of that.

Bill that clip was great !
You rock dude !

So, evidently, as is shown by the above clip by Bill, the answer to the question is YES !

tp

Bill,

That is a great sounding track!

Really nails the tele vibe, both the tone and the licks.

Any info you could share on type of steel/bar/amp/whatever would be great.

Bill, that was outstanding. Great technique demo.

Hatch! Fabulous!
I get "snap" on my steel by actually "snapping" my fingers on the string. I use my thumb and middle finger on single string lines, exactly like I snap my fingers. Gives a kind of stuttering "snap."

BIll's demo is outstanding - the technique is great.

But -

To me, it doesn't sound like a Tele at all. It sounds like a HEAVILY compressed cross between a Strat on the bridge pickup and a P-90 equipped guitar.

It IS, however, the closest thing to a "compressed Tele tone" I've ever heard on steel and I think most listeners (players or not) would say it sounds like a Tele, mainly because of the technique.

I think the biggest issue is the over(IMO)-compression. A Tele has a natural twang just plugged into an amp, and if you dialed out the compression on that sample things would change drastically tonewise.

It's a personal preference thing - I've been a staunch anti-stompbox compressor guy for decades. I think they ruin dynamics and suck tone. So for me, when I hear a (darned good!) attempt at getting Tele "twang" on a steel and hear compression like that, I just personally see it as the wrong approach.

That is NOT a dig at Bill at all - it's just a tonal preference thing. Please don't think I'm downplaying what he did, which is great - it's just not the type of Tele tone I would go for, and I think the compression is actually anti-"twang"

I can see the compression thing both ways. I personally hate compressors for my own playing, never use any compression at all. But as far as sounding "Tele-like" is concerned, what Bill's clip most resembles is the sound that's usual in Nashville recordings, where compression on a clean Tele has been standard for decades. I know your tastes don't run toward Nashville country, Jim, so it's not surprising that the sound is not what you relate to as "Tele".

Great playing, BH! Some parts are fairly convincing, but sounds like a steel player trying to sound like a guitar player chickin pickin to me. If you heard a tele player trying to sound like a steel, you would think the same thing( I think). Great playing though, I wish I could do it! JP

Here's the song, and player, that I think influenced Bill. And I think Bill's tune is a GREAT adaptation of this style! Song starts about at 2min 40sec into the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJaSZxZJFV0

I think there's some confusion or at least cross-referencing here between the natural tone of a classic Telecaster and a technique of playing called "chicken-pickin'". Chicken-pickin' to me means snapping the strings off the fretboard, usually some quick, tight major-scale patterns often with a lot of chromaticism, often really compressed and always trebly. Steve Morse and Albert Lee do great chicken-pickin' on their signature model Music Man guitars, Danny Gatton's most popular album was recorded with a Les Paul, Johhnny Hiland now plays a signature model Paul Reed Smith with humbuckings.... cluck, cluck, cluck. (insert chickenface icon here)

The "classic" Telecaster tone to me comes from the ashtray bridge with three brass saddles, the pickup with the plate underneath, "correct" wiring and a porous swamp ash body. I also personally believe that a relatively lightweight neck, with Kluson tuners, the small peghead and especially a single-action truss rod has a lot to do with "classic" Fender tone. Mike Stern played a Tele with Miles Davis, Ed Bickert played mainstream bebop guitar, Keith Richards? Steve Vai played Paganini's 5th Caprice on a Tele in the climactic duel in the movie "Crossroads" (he played both parts you know), hmmm, that ain't chicken-pickin'.....

Thanks for that explanation David. It was much more clear than what I had tried to explain; that there's a difference between "Telecaster tone" and the chicken-pickin' style of playing that many equate to "Tele tone".

And Brint, although it's true my tastes don't run towards Nashville country I've recorded a lot of Tele stuff along those lines, but *without* the stompbox compression. I WILL use studio compression, but it does not have that "squeezed" tone.

When you think of classic twang of the 50's, 60's and 70's, very rarely did it have that type of compression. It seemed like when guys in the late 70's were all trying to do the Albert Lee thing and could not play fast with any sense of touch, they started relying more and more on compressors - usually Dynacomps at the time - to level the playing field and make up for (IMO) bad technique.

For FAR too many players, it became a crutch. I know many a Tele slinger who absolutely cannot play without a compressor, which covers up wild inconsistencies in right-hand dynamics. I like them on 12-string Rics (to avoid the "sitar falling down stairs" sound) and light use on slide - but never on 6-string, even with country playing (which I have done FAR more of than I think many of you can imagine, although I rarely do now).

Thanks for the encouragement fellows.

I was just trying to as I said get the "essence" of the Tele twang thing for the guy who asked for it. You will never make a PSG sound EXACTLY like a Tele. That is not the point here. The objective is to get some of that sound and feel to add to your arsenal of licks and tricks. It took me more time to turn on all the recording gear than it did to just play a few licks for 1:36. I could have gone to the trouble to wire up a tele pickup in my steel, fire up a vintage Fender amp and spend a few hours trying to get even closer and I could have, but I just used what was hooked up--a little Roland Cube 60 with the Blackface amp model dialed up with a little grit on it and an old Ibanez UE 400 compressor.

In regards to the discussion of what is ground zero for a Tele tone, the fact that there are so many Tele heros out there with all sorts of Teles and amps and pedals getting all kinds of great sounds is evidence that no one sound rules anymore. They all have some merit.

I must be missing something. If I want a Telecaster sound I use a Telecaster, and if I want a Pedal Steel sound I use a Pedal Steel.

Sherman....one thing I have noticed is that a pedal steel guitar generally has a middier, deeper tone than a console steel which is much brighter and twangier (and, honestly, sounds much more beautiful to my ears). As you didn't specify what kind of steel you would be playing in an attempt to emulate a Tele-twang, I might suggest that you see if some of the sound you are looking for resides in a console steel. I think you'd find just what you're looking for.

I must be missing something. If I want a Telecaster sound I use a Telecaster, and if I want a Pedal Steel sound I use a Pedal Steel.

Alan,there may be situations where in a band you are the only lead instrument. 40 pedal steel solos a night can get a little boring, both for the audience and the player. So trying to play some 6-string type riffs/leads can help mix things up a bit without resorting to just hitting a switch and using an effect.

Sneaky Pete did it back in the 60's with the Burritos; he'd play a steel solo, there'd be a verse, then he'd play a "guitar" solo. It didn't always work perfectly, but when it did it was amazing, and it always kept the music more interesting.

Exactly, Jim.

Sneaky, from the liner notes of "Sneaky Pete Kleinow: The Legend and the Legacy":

"When I began playing professionally I somehow seemed to end up working with trios, usually guitar, bass, and steel. I guess that's how I evolved such a crazy approach to the instrument. I think it was actually some small degree of boredom that made me attempt to get a guitar sound or an organ sound or whatever out of that old ax. You see I was playing all the solos and all the fills and I desperately looked for variety. So all the while I was learning to play the steel I was unconsciously learning the techniques of other instruments through the medium of the Steel Guitar."

My 2 cents.

Kick your Volume pedal back 1/2 way, PSG Pickups are Very, Very Hot compared to a Tele pickup.

Then, take your foot off of the volume pedal.
Let the string decay without goosing the volume pedal.

Pick the string DOWN, toward, into the pickup.
Vertical, not horizontal.
Way diff. effect on the mag. field.

Rest your Right palm, lightly, right on top of the changer fingers for that guitar player Bridge Rest/Mute effect.

And, if you want a little James Burton "thump", go to James friend, an "Orange Sqeezer".
But remember to put the "Orange Squeezer" AFTER the Volume pedal, and keep the Volume Pedal at 1/2 Volume or less. Otherwise you will Swamp the Compressor and it will not react like it does when feed from a Tele.