The Steel Guitar Forum

I don't think the problem is so much that the lead guitarists want to play steel licks, but rather that they want to play all the time and not allow is steel players any space to play at all.

Thier attitude seems to be "I dpon;t know what you do with that thing, but I'M THE LEAD PLAYER AND I'M GOING TO PLAY ALL THE LEADS."

And when you ask these guys to lay out on the choruses so the steel can play some fills, they act like you're asking them to cut off one of their fingers.

I think we've all experienced it at one time or another. Probably more than once.

Well my way has always been....its my band...I hire you ..I fire you...........you're hired as one of two singers and as a rythmn player.....if you can chuck in a few licks..thats fine....I'll play chords...you want to go out front and make announcements or tell jokes or whatever....thats fine by me........if you dont want to..well..I'll do it....you want to play a half a break and give me the other half..........thats also fine.........you wonder about the money..........you go get it and split it four ways!!!!!!!..........worked for me 20 years or more..........never had a prob with lead players overiding me..........and I had a few pretty good ones working with me
My only thing was that I wanted them to do half of the lead singinging as we were always four piece..........Lyn sang and played bass.............it worked for us!!!

If you want to control guitar players trying to play steel licks talk to your congressmen to legislate a national law banning the use of all B-Benders and Palm Pedals in America. I never had em' and probably never will...and all I thought I needed was an unwound 3rd...go figure.
Rough draft of legislation:
Legal use of benders when:
1.No steel in band
2.If steel player is playing on C6, knock yourself out.
3.If steel player is not using pedals or non pedal guitar.
4.Pitch control.
5.If you lose your place during a solo and have no other place to go.
6.If you just want to be a complete a-hole. No one said you can legislate brains.
7.Before or after a set, but not during.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Earl Erb on 05 July 2004 at 11:08 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Earl Erb on 05 July 2004 at 01:10 PM.]</p></FONT>

I agree with the statement "the leader should lead",However the general idea is that the bands overall job is to be a Band. One person is not a band.Learning the diference between a job and a party is first. Knowing there is a time to play and a time to hang out. The only other third option is get out.

It's a toss-up between Wayne and Clyde until Smiley comes to town! Larry, I've played with the same fiddler you mention. It took one song to figure out I was in for a long evening. First song, he did the intro and fills on the verse. He nodded to me to take the fills on the chorus. I got two bars and he was back in for the rest of the chorus, the turn and all other fills.I think he was getting paid by the note.

Kathy Roebrtson has a good solution to this problem when we play at the Viva Catina in Burbank. Can you guess what it is?

Earnest
She has you play Piano?

This is gonna be a good one from Earnest, I can tell.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John Floyd on 05 July 2004 at 03:01 PM.]</p></FONT>

No, it's simple: just make the stage a guitar-free zone.

Roger, I think that's the same fiddle player we have. I think he gets paid by the note and I get paid the same thing whether I play a note or not. So when he starts, I shut up. I don't know why the other band members and the audience keep telling me to "turn up".I enjoy picking so much that I just endure it.
Gere

I was in a Critter Club Band that had a guy just "show up" and saw the fiddle all night through every song. The bandleader didn't tell him "no" so after a month of weekends, we all got together and told Old Scotty to "Git" or we'd all be quitting.

He got all uppity and shot at us that "We were too good for him". I told him that that was "one way of putting it...".

I learned every pentatonic scale a guy could ever want in that month of weekends..



EJL

Hey Roger, I have played with that fiddler, but you failed to mention that when he;s not playing those other parts, he is using his right forefinger to "plink" rythm on his fiddle
Jim

Jim, that's him!

I just got back from a six night casino gig in Nevada with the "American Made" band that Mike spoke of. (As a fill in on steel and guitar.) They're a great band, although I must admit it was my first foray into the Shania-land repetoir. I don't know if their full time line-up is very regimented in the way that Mike mentioned, but in my case it was just a matter of everybody keeping their ears and eyes open and having a healthy musical and professional respect for the job at hand. BTW, they're able to play alot of good classic country and western swing in large part BECAUSE of the top 40 stuff they do.

I play lead guitar but don't try to emulate steel sounds. I've worked in many bands with steel players over the past 35 years and have not tried to "steal" their licks. I recently asked a steel player not to play too loud while I was singing and he told me to move away from him. He then asked who else thought he was too loud, I told him, then he said he wouldn't play and just stormed out of the place. He continually played whenever I or the other lead took our part. He said if he had to turn down he wouldn't play. So be it. Does it offend most steelers if they are asked to turn the volume down? I don't think the request was unreasonable.
Regards,
Larry Robinson

buy an older fender twin and turn it up to about 5 nobody will walk on your solos again ..i had a weird experience the other night gigging too..one of the guys sang a song and the croud started booing at him so i thought id try singing one and they started booing at him again<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by chas on 07 July 2004 at 09:10 PM.]</p></FONT>

I always liked the guys that if they could hear anyone else, they just knew that they couldn't hear themselves. I've also seen 'em end up playing so damn loud that they couldn't hear anything. As I've said before, I've been very lucky with this "music thing" - I play in a 7 piece, and I don't have to put up with any of that...

Jimmie

AH! The Ole Volume War thing, Where one player turns up, then another, then another until it cascades out of control.

Bill Stafford has the best approach to this as anyone I have ever known, he does the reverse, he turns down and works it from that angle, Until one guy is standing out like a sore thumb, which defines him as an idiot.

Even the Crowd quietens down, but of course, you have to play as smooth and pretty as Mr Smooth to get the job done.

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<font color="blue"><font size = "2"> The Southern Steel Guitar Convention at Saluda, SC Since 1987

For informstion on the Shriners Childrens Hospitals, go to:
http://www.shrinershq.org/hospitals/geninfo.html

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John Floyd on 08 July 2004 at 09:00 AM.]</p></FONT>

Larry, A) I wan't talking about you or your pickin', I was talking about a situation that happened to me with an entirely different guitar player, and B) I have never been asked to "turn-down", but if I was asked, and I think I can speak for just about every steel player I know, I certainly would.

Thank you,

Wayne Baker
Georgia's Handsomest Steel Player

When someone tells me I'm too loud, I move my amp so that I can hear it better. It's nothing to get bent out of shape about.

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<font size="1"><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)</font>

"Most" of the bands I work with have outstanding sound techs, so that's never an issue.

Wayne Baker
Future Californian

Wayne...soon to be the most handsome steeler in California? I guess Clyde will move into the #1 spot here.

Roger
The way Clyde tells it , He already is #1

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<font color="blue"><font size = "2"> The Southern Steel Guitar Convention at Saluda, SC Since 1987

For informstion on the Shriners Childrens Hospitals, go to:
http://www.shrinershq.org/hospitals/geninfo.html

When a band is not balanced it means they are not pros, just nosy players, pros all want every one in the band to sound good.
Thanks goodness the lead player I work with mostly is great in all ways of playing, Bobby Hannah is great. We split, twin, and back up each other, makes for a fun evening and great music.

ernie

I work in a jam every Sat. and Sunday so I get this problem in SPADES, because most of the jammers are amateurs and don't understand about jam etiquette. I try to default to the jammers as it's their time to shine, but a lot of time, it gets real hairy. My biggest beef is with lead players who actually give you room to fill or solo, then jump in on top of you when you do, then you stop playing, then they stop playing too so that there's a hole in the music. I usually jump up and go grab a beer or a pee at that point.