The Steel Guitar Forum

chris ivey wrote:

Steve Hinson wrote:

chris ivey wrote:sounds like he's just playing the style of that era to me.

That's kinda like saying"James Burton sounds like he's just playing the style of that era"...

steve, i was referring to jeff newman here.

Sorry,Chris!I misunderstood you...a thousand pardons!

obviously mooney was 'very' special, as was james burton. the fact that they created instantly recognizable licks on records of the era (most notably merle) and their styles were simple enough on the surface for others to simulate definately became a main building block of the west coast e9 style of steel and country music.
the most valuable lesson i ever learned was how beautiful and appropriate 'one note' played with taste at the perfect time could be. that was james burton. (and that concept was reinforced to me by certain notes in performances by buddy emmons)
ralph's tone was at it's peak during the waylon years, for me.

chris ivey wrote:i'm not disputing that he is largely responsible for the style...now i've got the whole dreaded hinson gang after me?

No, not really! Moon was the major proponent of this style, which was probably driven by players Buck Owens and Tommy Collins, as well as steelers like Fuzzy Owen and Dick Stubbs. The other players who came along in the '60s and '70s who used this style and tone (Brumley and even Kleinow) likely were also influenced by Moon's style and tone.

But in the end, I give the most credit for the "twang" and simplicity of Bakersfield's sound to Buck Owens, who was as influential on the west coast as Bob Wills was in Texas.

chris ivey wrote: ralph's tone was at it's peak during the waylon years, for me.

That was when I really got interested in the Mooney thing,too...when"Good Hearted Woman"came out(the studio track,not the Willie duet)it really got ahold of me...I backtracked from there and heard the Buck,Merle and Wynn stuff...

Here's a video I made before I added the knee lever. I'll eventually make some of those Merl intros that need the lever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_PiOep3Ug[/quote]

Nice noodling Dave .

Hi all!

Iteressting thread.
I have tried the Mooney setup on my fender 400.. It wasn't easy and you really had to think twice before pushing those pedals..

My current setup is in D on my fender guitars have the standard A B C pedals and one pedal lowering my D strings one lowering my F# strings and last but not least one pedal that raises the Dstrings to E


// K

I can't help but agree that Ralph's tone was at his peak in the Waylon years. I would also add that his playing complexity peaked then too. Everyone always imitates the Buck and Merle stuff, and they get it pretty close, but how often do you hear someone imitate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qzctdbSRQI
(solo at 1:10)
Maybe its because they don't like this as much, or maybe they just can't figure out what the hell he was doing...

right on, stephen...good example and cool clip.
must be fun to work regularly with a rhythm section, voice and stylistic guitar like that.

and of course a great steve young song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu3YZNldeJs

Moon at his best.

Mule

Love the live recordings, he always played such outrageous things on stage. Only Moon could actually invent stuff like that...
Years ago I did indeed put Mooney's tuning and pedal setup (the simple version with 5+1) on the back neck of one of the two Sho-Buds I had back then (the front neck remained standard E9th). I found it really hard to get used to, it was easier to play that style (or at least come close) on the regular E9th tuning. We should always remember that Moon invented that setup himself back in the 1950s so for him it was just natural to use, whereas for everyone else it is something they have to adapt to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj8R1VdfGWg
This is good stuff

Doug Palmer playing Bottle let me down. Doug is a long time player. He played with Crash Craddock and others.
He's comming to take a look at my Encore wed. Said he's tired lugging his Emmons around.I will try to get a video of his feet and hands doing this song.
Mule