The Steel Guitar Forum

"Play Pretty for the People"....al

Hold the bar perfectly straight in line with and directly over the fret marker. Don't look at anything other than the fret markers.

I guess this applies to all instruments and music, but,

"When you're playing, whether it be live, or in a session, play something that really adds to the song, so that if someone heard it without what you played, it would sound incomplete."

I like this one.

He may have been having fun @ my expense, but Curly Chalker once told me to pick a pro player & copy everything they ever did on recordings....his thinking was that Id then have a vocabulary of chops & would've(hopefully), by that time, learned where things are on the guitar & how to think. Then he said to pick another player & repeat the process, etc.....He also intimated that, along with lessons from the local hawiian guitar teacher when young,this was how he, Buddy, Hal, Weldon, etc had done it; the heroes of his younger days being Jerry Byrd, Speedy West, Little Roy Wiggins & of course, Joaquin Murphey.
A lot of early days & late nights at the turntable & guitar resulted from his advice...lotta good gigs too! Thanx, Curls
This of course, was before the days of seminars, courses, forums,etc.
With the material available now
from so many sources, one should, with the proper motivation & practice, be able to learn at a much accelerated pace, as compared to before.
However, nothing can compare to having a good teacher to put you on the right track. Seeing & hearing it happen right in front of you is imho,invaluable.

Jerry Byrd told me decades ago....."Be yourself....play what's in YOUR heart".

Just a few weeks back, he again said: "Jerry Byrd has already done that..... YOU should be doing what has never been done before and make it sound the way YOU feel it and not anyone else".

Good advice. HOWEVER, had I not studied intensely, virtually every lick, riff or chord JB ever played....I likely would not have been able to reach the depth of C6th playing that I feel I have....this day.
He was my inspiration, my instructor, my mentor, and his work continues on... to this day to be my prime source of musical knowledge.

This was the day BEFORE seminars and tabletures. It worked then and still works at this time.

This isn't my advice, but it's something Herby Wallace has always espoused. And my playing has improved so much from this one idea.

He simply said, "Let the instrument breathe". Let the steel breathe > you know what he means, right?

With your beautiful steel, bar, picks, and
amp.........let those tones weave and meld.
Another way to say it is literally, take and milk this great instrument for what it can do...........and we all know what it can do.........so do it!!!!!! NO other instrument, dead or alive, can sound like THAT sound.

TEMPERED TUNING TEMPERED TUNING TEMPERED TUNING

440 440 440 440 440 440
That way you'll REALLY be in tune.

Oh no, not again!

Start slow......and then taper off.

Don't do it.

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

My first and only lesson was when I bought my first steel. It went something like this: "Well you mash those first two pedals and it turns the one chord into a four chord. The rest of 'em you'll have to figure out yourself. Will that be cash or credit card?"

Reggie, I have no problem with "simple and stupid" Maybe I have a chance at this steel thing.

Wayne

Learn to play the melody! As Boomer Castleman says, "it's all just Three Blind Mice anyway."

And I'm STILL learning to play!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Randy Beavers on 07 August 2002 at 07:23 AM.]</p></FONT>

Jay Dee once told me "get in and out of your solo cleanly and you can do anything in the middle"
JE:-)>

Freeman Cowgar gave me my first lessons and he told me if you learn to play a group scales forwards and backwards, you will be able to play any song. The enhancement comes later!
It has worked for me!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jerry Knapper on 15 August 2002 at 08:30 PM.]</p></FONT>

Put yourself in the music not above or over it. Blend.
Andy