The Steel Guitar Forum

PROBLEM SOLVED

I am leaving that band after next Saturday.

Somethings are just not meant to be Rich, now you'll sleep much better...lol...

Yep… some things are just not meant to be… like steel on Fast As You.
There's a reason why there isn't any on the record.

It's cool to harmonize with the guitar part on this tune, or during a solo, stretch out on single string work.......check this clip out, I love the two hand staccato on the keys!!!!! http://youtu.be/PrGNlbR9wWc

Skip Edwards wrote:Yep… some things are just not meant to be… like steel on Fast As You.
There's a reason why there isn't any on the record.

That's what I tell people.

I have issues with bands that want a steel guitar in EVERY song, whether there was one on the record or not. I try to tell them, just because there is a steel guitar player on stage with you, he doesn't have to blast out a solo in EVERY song. I feel that if you have the steel playing solos in every song, it just becomes part of the overall sound of the band, which can be really mundane. Playing when it is most appropriate make the times you do play up front in a song more special for the audience and the band. This is one of the reasons I can't take watching a 3 piece band, even if there is a singer (male or female) that doesn't play an instrument for a 4th piece. Having just a guitar playing every intro, solo, endings and fills all night bores me and drives me nuts. I usually end up leaving after and hour or so. There comes a time when every song sounds the same to me, and it drives me nuts. I have some pretty good friends that only have 3 pieces, including one that has all hard rock players that were a complete rock band before my friend hired them as his backup country band. I love my friend, but can only take about an hour of listening to his band.

Well, I'm still in the mood to do it tomorrow.
It might come in handy anyway.

It's always good to learn new stuff. I am maybe going to keep playing with this band as an "uncomitted" player. The reason I was really quitting is because I have serious nerve and tendon damage in my right hand and arm, beyond just carpal tunnel. Finally got ahold of someone in the Neurology department at the hospital about my referral. I also get really bad tremors and twitches. They were so bad, that when playing last night, the tremors would look like I was doing some vibrato when I wasn't doing anything. They would make my hand move off fret so I played off fret many times during the night. I have lost almost all control over the middle finger on my picking hand. It is somewhat painful to play.

Since my DUI was dismissed, my other issues like the neurological problems and some other mental issues, have moved up to the surface and are affecting me. I do like playing with these guys, so I have been enduring the pain and stuff. I don't want to leave them in a bind, so I was leaving at a time when there was some off time for the band and they could get someone. They're willing to take the chance that I may not be able to make it to a gig, or have problems playing like I did last night.

I too, at times, have lost control over the middle finger of my picking hand.

Richard Sinkler wrote:I have issues with bands that want a steel guitar in EVERY song

I absolutely agree, it can get mundane (unless you have Russ Pahl's steel w/ Sneaky Strings and a Leslie).

Your new arrangement with the band sounds good; pick and choose what to play, conserve the wrists, save the steel
and let it be a little more special. I Like your new avatar, Richard.

Heck, you can give it a different flavor with doodads.
Phasor, fuzz, envelope. Not sure the envelope would do it, but for envelope I use the Digitech Synth-Wah, which has an octave/fuzz thingie.

A singer sat in w/ my band last night & did "Hello Darlin". He tried to give me a solo & I tried to shake him off but he did it anyway! There's a REASON there was no solo or turnaround on that tune. Needless to say it was a train wreck. When we took a break I asked him why he insisted on giving me a solo & he said "Because the song is too short otherwise". HUH? SMH!

Right on, David. It's like trying to put one in Unchained Melody.

Well, Played the song 10000 times, always liked it, and playing it...even if the song didn't have steel, doesn't mean it couldn't be put in.. just my 2 cents...

Short songs, there never short if the front man has a brain, and lets the band play, most want to do it like the record, and now he has to sing many more songs pet set, most front guy's can't read a crowed, dance floor... if ya got a full floor of dancers, stretch it out!!.. fast as you, if there dancing, play it !!!!...

Yes, Mr. Wright (since there's two Davids in here now).
But in the case of "Hello Darlin'," it doesn't really have a place to drop one in, so if you want to stretch that one, you'll damn near have to do the whole thing twice.

Lane Gray wrote:Right on, David. It's like trying to put one in Unchained Melody.

I gather that would be a case of 'play the melody, son.'

If there's anyone who could've done it right and made the steel fit it's Sñr Wright!
Maybe we should have called you when we cut the tune...

Yep, stars forget it's all about the dancing.

In a movie with an old time orchestra at a ball, the conductor kicks it off and then turns around checking out the crowd for how the room feels.
I personally can't even imagine playing any song that many times, but particularly this one. Particularly on bass.

Richard, this was fun. I'm in the process of uploading it, I'll let y'all know about it when it finally clears. Thanks to Senor Legg for uploading the midi I used

Lane Gray wrote:Yes, Mr. Wright (since there's two Davids in here now).
But in the case of "Hello Darlin'," it doesn't really have a place to drop one in, so if you want to stretch that one, you'll damn near have to do the whole thing twice.

A band I was in for 7 years played it regularly. The break was played over the first half of the tune--8 bars of steel, 8 bars of fiddle, then begin the second vocal verse. Not a problem.

True, Brint, but David had a singer sit in with the band. At that point, communication is probably gonna be an issue. The guest needs to do it the band's way, I think. Or communicate where. That sounds like a recipe for confusion.

Richard, here you go
Fast as you sample solo: http://youtu.be/VOnjXoHvOng

Thanks Lane. I'll check it out in a minute. But on the subject of "Hello Darlin'", I have played it several times in the distant past (no one plays it any more), with a steel guitar solo. I wish the band I am in now would either do it, or let me play it as an instrumental (which I have done a few times in the classic country band I played with until a year ago). 2 gigs ago, before the gig, a guy came up and asked if we did anything that was 3/4 time, and wanted to look through the set lists on my iPad. He wanted a waltz. The band doesn't do a waltz. Hello Darlin' would be perfect.

Thanks Lane. Lots of good ideas there. I never thought to try anything on the C neck. I don't do anything on the C neck in this band. Heck, I don't even tune it up.

Hope you don't mind, but I am going to download the video so I can run it in Amazing Slowdowner.

I noticed you have what looks like a brass bar. What is the difference between bars?

The brass bar sounds a LOT like the chromed brass bar, which is one of my favorites. It's just prettier. If you look at my channel, sometime back in the fall I did a little demo of a bunch of bars from SDF (Steve Gunder, here in Topeka)

I just do the organ part with an organ patch -- take the organ solo too --- that is if there's not a keyboard on stage.