The Steel Guitar Forum

You can survive by learning only one instrumental...."Steel Guitar Rag", which apparently is the only steel guitar song that the public has ever heard of and the only one they will ever request.

It's like that the fiddle player is only recognized if he can play "Orange Blossum Special".

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Micky
I do use all the string and pedal combinations, and scale routes, fact is I seldom play the same song the same way ever. Some times I don't get the chance I met one guy at the sound check ran the songs and away we went on a weeks tour.

Gene
Most people in the UK don't know what a steel guitar is let alone Steel Guitar Rag. Like your website.

Alan

I'm not sure if this is too obvious to mention, but most music is built up in alternating sections - a verse/verse/chorus, verse/verse/chorus song would be written up as AABAAB, for example. Sometimes a song like that will change keys for alternating verses, like a melody played in G twice, a chorus, then the same melody transposed up and played in D twice, then back to the chorus. This would be written up as AABCCB, though the "A" and "C" sections are the same relative melody, just moved up higher in the "C" section.

If you ultimately want to construct your own solos and instrumentals, analyzing some well-built music in this fashion will offer up some clues. There are a lot of tricks that good composers use, but using enough repetition to give you something to hang on to, and enough variation to beam you up, is at the heart of it. Without repetition it's just noodling, without variation it's, well... just repetition.

Have to add my 2 cents in. Played Last Date 2 weekends ago for the first time in public, ( I've been playing for 5yrs now) it went well and I was pleased. Last weekend I was asked to play it again. We had a different bass player and I was a little reluctant but went ahead anyways, yep, it was a train wreck! So if you do an instrumental, make sure your back up has an idea how the song goes.

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Yes, Russ, there is that....

Oh yeah! Thanks Russ. Now I remember why I don't play instrumentals

However, was a time in the good old days, that bands routinely knew many of the standards like Hold It; Preacher, Remmington Ride, ect....

One of my favs.... Misty.... OK call me a romantic (at least I'm hopeful). Still a sucker for Sleepwalk too.

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Dave Wren
'95Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Twin Session 500s; Hilton Pedal; Black Box
www.ameechapman.com

I think there are a lot of great instrumentals overlooked for a number of reasons. Number one may be because they are not really country. Some of my favorites are , My elusive dream,Yesterday, Cry, Misty,Also in our area of retired folks some of the old WW2 song such as , Now is the hour, My happiness, Red sails in the sunset, Harbor lights and so on.
For some simple, but really good tunes buy Bryan Adams Cd's with the rhythm tracks.
I can't play Lost in the feelings like John Hughey but my version seems to be ok.
John's tracks are very good also.
I definitely would only play what you know well. To try and play a song that you are not all that sure of is courting disaster.
My two cents....
Also don't play something way over the back up bands head..It only makes for a bad night for everyone......
Bud

Totally agree with your last Paragraph Willis, re not to play anything over the heads of the backing band. Many years ago my first instrumental with a back up band on stage at the very first Steel guitar convention here in England, I played "Girl from Impanema" Although they were all great players, when I told them my first number back stage, I had the guitarist panicking over the middle eight.There was no rehearsal whatsoever. Turned out ok though, although a few wrong chords here and there. Therein I learned my lesson

Micky Byrne, England

Jimmy Day proved (with the Steel & Strings LP, created over 40 years ago)that any tune (almost any, at least) can be made into an instrumental if you want to. So too has Junior Knight. More than a few tunes I hear on "Hank's Place" prompt the urge to try it.

I spent two days on sweet georgia brown
we were both exhausted after that!!

I'm a lazy player, and often string a verse of one tune with a verse of another, possibly a chorus of another tune, with a few key changes to make it bearable.

This way, I only have to learn one way to play a tune, rather than a verse in a low register, and then another verse in a higher register.