The Steel Guitar Forum

JamesMCross wrote:...Always try to play with people who are better musicians than you are...

That's the easiest part !

Jeff Peterson told me, "Practice, practice, practice" when I first started and I'm doin' it every day and I remember Stoney Stonecipher had said, "I believe you can handle pedal steel, even with cerebral palsy" before I started and a lot of steelers have told me to stay with the steel, which is what I'm gonna do.

Brett

My lifelong steel guitar idol,Clyde Mattox once
told me to be careful not to overplay,but when it's
your time son,let'em know you're there.Thank's
Clyde for all your help thru the years.
Tim

I've chimed in on this already but remembered what the late great Jeff Newman told me as he took me back to the airport. He said:

Get into a band as soon as you can. My reply was, "but Jeff, I'm just a beginer. No band wants a rank amatuer" He then went on to say. "You're a steel player now and any band will be thrilled to have you."

Later in the year, Paul Franklin told me the same thing almost verbatim but added "you'll be hired faster than a good player that plays to much".

I think the best advice I've gotten is to never limit yourself to the expectations of others. It's been hard to overcome a lot of the prejudice against the steel guitar, especially here at school (thinking it's only good for one purpose), but it's been fun to show time and time again that anything is possible.

Well, in 71' when I started, there were two players that said something to me I've always remembered. Bobby Bowman from Texas said, " Learn both necks at the same time". He was right as usual. John Hughey told me, "Practice and never quit". Both were correct, I'm as comfortable on either neck now and I would never think about quiting.

If you're not doing anything ... get me my smokes.

Play with authority! Maurice Anderson.

... J-D.

I had never been introduced to Scotty so how he knew I was steel player I can only guess,ugly I recon. He just waltzed up to at a convention in Sydney and said " Hit them harmonics like you're never gonna miss em and you never will". Thanks Scotty.

"Shut up and play." - supposedly from Curly Chalker.

Read this forum everyday! Only then can I have great access to advice from the pros and pro wannabes. Thanks!

"STOP noodeling!" Jeff Newman.

Which kind'a goes nicely with "play with authority (only)".

... J-D.

[quote="JamesMCross"]I got this bit of advice 10 years ago from a well known pro here in Houston: "Always try to play with people who are better musicians than you are. You will learn from them, and you will have to work harder to keep up."

That is pretty good advice and one I tried to follow in the early years. But relaxed more in the later years.

Jim Cohen and Jeff Newman's advice is pretty good too, "Just be "Yourself" and play the Melodies that you became familiar with in your career.

I learned to play melody on 100's of songs , now called Big Band, Jazz, old pop standards,Hawaiian,
and old classic country, and that is what I play now at Age 86 on Dec.10. I feel lucky to still be able to play the Melodies of these songs from long ago....al.:)

I met John Hughey at age 17 and ask him for advice and some direction and he said work with the hands to get your tone,all the good players are hands players.It took a while to understand just what he was talking about.

My mentor Frank Crawley told me "what you don't play is a lot more important than what you do."

My Dad told me back when I first started out: Learn a song like the record. You don't really know it till you're sick of it! Then...put your own twist on it and make the song yours. He used to listen to me and occasionally say "Man you can do better than that." He would expect the best from me and help draw it out. He died 25 Mar 02, less than a year before I turned pro. God knew what He was doing, Dad would have been one of those boring guys who told everybody "Have I told you who my son is playing for?". He's the reason I'm a musician. I got all of my best advice from him, not just music, but life!

Dont. Johnny Vaughn, 1958, Norman, Oklahoma

Paul Franklin heard me play when I was still a newbie to the psg and he didn't tell me to quit, so that was encouraging.
My favorite advice came from guitar player Harry Robinson who I met in LA when I was about 22. Harry had the #5 Parsons/White B bender and later played for Dolly Parton and Lee Greenwood. He was real willing to let me check out his guitar and let me pick on it a bit and he gave me info on getting in touch with Gene Parsons to get my own bender. His advice always stuck with me. He said if you're going to play in the bars "don't get involved with all the crap going on in the clubs and don't run a bar tab". I believe that was 1974, and it's still rings true.

Best Advice?

Take two weeks off.....

then quit!

Ron

Duck and run.

From Pee Wee Whitewing: "You need to call Maurice Anderson"

I took it & it's been invaluable!!

From Paul Franklin: "when practicing, be sure the guitar is in tune & use a rhythm machine"

From Joe Wright: "if you don't have a psychiatrist, then get one"

So I called Reece again!

never lean over your steel, boy when your putting on a new third string. also leave it a little flat when you tune it

It must have been the late 70's and I walked into Red Rhodes' shop in Hollywood. I had just started playing PSG. He played a few licks for me on his stereo wired PSG and he looked at me and saw my jaw on the floor. He said "Kid, you gotta realize that no matter how good you get, someone else will always come along and just blow you away". It helped me put my goals into perspective and ultimately helped me enjoy music much more. Thanks Red.

Here's some advice I want to give to all of y'all-Stay with the steel and practice hard, play from the heart and don't ever stop playin'. The more you play, the more you'll love the steel guitar. Always attempt to learn new licks, songs, and chords and don't worry about your mistakes and try to develop your own style of playin'.

Brett

The lead singer in this band I was playing in, told that less was more. In other words, i did not have to play the entire melody line of the song. Just fill and drop back.
Tommy