Fastest Picking EVER...?

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 5 Feb 2006 5:42 am

well I guess the alternative is to have the Steel player sit out on the Hoe Downs..

just get a Banjo..

Afterall, it's just a Steel Guitar..

Maybe we should just stick to Way to Survive...but probably put a limit to how many times it is acceptable to play at local shows..maybe put the number at 15 times...

I am somewhat bewildered at some of the above comments...

Banjo Rolls..mindless licks..

Well here's my take...

Show me what YOU can do and then after that I guess I'll have a better appreciation for where you are coming from.

Sounds like were doin' Robert Randolph in reverse now...

I'm not saying you have to like Speed Pickin', but if you don't understand it and how its accomplished thats a whole different issue..

For my money, Mike Bagwell's got it right....

What do you play on Workin Man Blues at 100 BPM ?

even better..

What do you do when you are swapping perhaps 3 or 4 full verse solo's with the young Tele' Ace ? Play the same one 4 times ?

And, we aint' ever playin' HWY 40 Blues without a full understanding of the phrases, where they come from and how they work together...

Hwy 40 Blues is not a lick...

It's a career...

I still believe, given the choice, every player would play the Banjo Rolls and the mindless licks, if they could, instead of Way To Survive...

tuff crowd..

t
[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 05 February 2006 at 06:24 AM.]

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 5 Feb 2006 7:14 am

Bobby, I am sure of the past jams where Buddy fried ears with his pickin.
No doubts at all.
I do have several cd's of him, and saw him live at ISGC.
I am sure in many jams he played MUCH more "UP!"
He was no slouch at ISGC.

I regret I didn't get to hear Tommy really wail.
I have no doubts he can.
No under-estimating him here,
it just wasn't apropriate for the songs and artists
he was tastefully backing up that night.

I have heard you're pretty fast yourself,
but not had the pleasure of hearing it first hand! (or is that first ear?)

Seen Doug several times, and had a private lesson from him too.

Paul F. I never have seen, but here's hoping.
I still stand behind my observations, for
"complexity of harmonic structure coupled with speed picking"
Paul Franklin is the fastest I have heard.
And he got it on tape too.

But this in no way diminishes the other super players listed here.
To each his personal style and personal strtengths,
that makes each a unique master
of this most difficult instrument.

David M. Check out Paul's 2 cd set of his own projects.
Everything from Xmas tunes to Spyro Gyra.
He is far from just commercial country, even if he makes a good living being A-list studio guy in that style.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 05 February 2006 at 07:18 AM.]

Brett Anderson · Post by **Brett Anderson** » 5 Feb 2006 10:18 am

I like the fast stuff JD Maness played on The Dukes of Hazzard. Out here Arizona way Danny Sneed can flog it about as fast as anybody. Especially that good old Western Swing.

Duane Reese · Post by **Duane Reese** » 5 Feb 2006 12:09 pm

[This message was edited by Duane Reese on 05 February 2006 at 12:13 PM.]

Dan E. Hoff · Post by **Dan E. Hoff** » 5 Feb 2006 1:21 pm

While on the subject of fast picking..
Have any of you guys or gals ever heard,
ALMA McCOY play pedal steel guitar?
Be sure your seat belt is secured....

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 5 Feb 2006 2:10 pm

Where's Eric and his "Make it stop" graphic when you need him.

Kenny Forbess · Post by **Kenny Forbess** » 5 Feb 2006 2:34 pm

Mike P,
Along with what you said about Jimmy Day,
I once heard him say,
"If speed was where it's at,,,Rabbit's would rule the Earth ".
Kenny

John Fabian · Post by **John Fabian** » 5 Feb 2006 2:43 pm

I think I might be more interested in the TASTIEST pickin' ever regardless of whatever speed it occurred at. Good lines can be played quickly just as well as slowly.

BTW, Mike Bagwell can set a steel on fire with the best of them.[This message was edited by John Fabian on 05 February 2006 at 02:45 PM.]

Duane Reese · Post by **Duane Reese** » 5 Feb 2006 3:41 pm

I kind of thought we'd be discussing legendary steel events and/or recordings when starting this, but it's apparently just become a debate about the relevance of speed picking itself, and a comparison between players rather than actual playing demonstrations themselves.

b0b, would it have been better if I'd put this in a category other than "Steel Players"?

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 5 Feb 2006 5:39 pm

Maybe a new category, could call it "Senseless debates".

Some topics for the new category:

1. My Chevy can beat your Ford
2. My daddy can beat up your daddy
3. Dress nice or you're a stinking hippie
4. My favorite steel player is faster than yours
5. My favorite steel player is tastier than yours
6. My favorite steel player is more REAL country than yours
7. REAL country, REAL country, REAL country, etc.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 05 February 2006 at 05:43 PM.]

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 5 Feb 2006 6:48 pm

Jim,

Why do you keep reading the thread when you don't like it? DUH!!

Your post reminds me of a story about an old spinster. She tells her friend about a most disgusting obscene phone call she received. She goes on and on about how horrible it was. The friend says " he said all that"? The spinster says yeah!! he talked for over 1/2 and hour

Mike[This message was edited by Mike Bagwell on 05 February 2006 at 06:54 PM.]

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 5 Feb 2006 7:17 pm

Mike, do you like all the news you read in the paper or see on TV news? Still watch or read it?

I have as much right to comment on this and any thread as you or anyone else.

If that's not clear enough for you, let me know.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 05 February 2006 at 07:19 PM.]

Jake L · Post by **Jake L** » 5 Feb 2006 7:18 pm

I might just be the fastest steel picker at the present time... 4.75 in the 40 yd. dash.

Duane Reese · Post by **Duane Reese** » 5 Feb 2006 7:21 pm

b0b, could you please close this thread?

Thanks to all those who contributed.

Frank Estes · Post by **Frank Estes** » 5 Feb 2006 8:30 pm

The complete player can play fast. If you have to sit out during a "fiddle tune" then you should give back some of the pay!

Some playing that stands out (in no particular order)

"Rock Candy" - Buddy Emmons
"Four Wheel Drive" (live) - Herby Wallace
"Black Mountain Rag" (78 ISGC) - Doug Jernigan
"I don't Even know your Name" - Paul Franklin
"Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (live) - Tommy White on opry with the Whites on his Mullen

These guys have done other tunes maybe even faster. They can do it live or in the studio.

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<A HREF="http://frankestesmba.com/" TARGET=_blank>Frank Estes
1978 Emmons D-10 8+7 #2441D
1968 Emmons D-10 8+4 #1234D</A>

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 5 Feb 2006 11:27 pm

I don't have much chance to see live music these days (or Nashville jam sessions - yow!), so I don't know how much of Jernigan's stuff really is improvised.

Hi David, of course this is not meant to pick at you or anything negative at all but instead just to brag on my pal Doug Jernigan a little bit.

I've seen Doug in a session invironment and he would not even have the song in mind that he wanted to do yet so he would set in his booth and noodle around until he had some sort of an idea in which direction he wanted to go in. I'm talking maybe 1 or 2 minutes and then he would ask someone what about this song or that one do you like it?

Then someone would say heck yeah do that one so he would set there and noodle around for a minute or 2 and then say alright boys and girls let's do such and such in Bb at about this tempo. Then he would play it through once all the way through and after a few bars the band would jump in and play along with him. When he was through the song he'd look up and say ok kids are you ready and then of course you know what I'm going to say.

He would jump in at breackneck speed and play it thorugh and ask if everyone was ok with their parts and once they would say yes or either fix a spot he would say next song.

Very rarely woukd he need or even want to do an overdub. He did many more redo's because of me (the engineer) screwed up a level or something and he never once complained about my screw ups LOL.

Now the amazing thing if he had to do it over again because of me it would be note for note just like the 1st solo as far as my ears could tell anyway.

I just thought Doug deserved a little plug and a little truthful verbage about his great talent and he's not one that would ever say anything about himself. I think he'd rather die than brag himself in any way.

What a good friend Doug is to me and I haven't seen him in ages. I just really wanted everyone to know he could burn it up with the best and never rehearse at all other than a little humming and noodling. Man I wish I could even noodle like he does LOL!!!

Big Bob

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 6 Feb 2006 4:08 am

I would have to say Bruce Bouton on Country Boy. That was some very clean picking at warp speeds.

Robby Turner is no slouch.

I recall Buddy Emmons once saying, "everyone knows something fast".

T.W. can really rip! Very fast, very clean, and I have a feeling he could do it all day long if he wanted to and never miss a lick.

------------------
John Drury
NTSGA #3

John McGann · Post by **John McGann** » 6 Feb 2006 6:10 am

Listen to Sam Bush play his fast stuff. Mostly pentatonic-based, and somewhat repetitive--NOT THAT I'M NOT A SAM BUSH FAN!!! Then listen to Chris Thile---lighting speed, and he never seems to run out of ideas, scales, modes---whatever you want to call it.

Ouch! I am a friend of Sam's, A HUGE FAN, and he is a huge influence on my playing. I'd say you might not be well acquainted with his actual fiddle tune playing- he's a giant at Texas contest fiddle style playing as well as bluegrass and his own thing. His trad playing has NOTHING to do with pentatonic noodling and everything to do with melodic variation on the tune at hand- much different from modular lick insertion.

But Chris is a badass too

Speed is just like everything else- fast can be soulful, thoughtful, interesting, or not. It's like playing slow, but faster

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http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff. Joaquin Murphey transcription book, Rhythm Tuneup DVD and more...

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 6 Feb 2006 6:17 am

It's like playing slow, but faster

Well, that's how it should be, but I've heard enough to say that that's not how it always is.

There are some who play fast, imaginative, soulful lines. And there are some who play repetitive patterns. Disliking the repetitious stuff doesn't mean we can't play fast ourselves, nor that we don't like fast playing altogether.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 6 Feb 2006 6:37 am

Big Bob, I do love Doug's playing.
Enough to get a 2 hour lesson from him at home.
A true master and a humble gentleman to boot.
And yeah he IS "Fast"!

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 6 Feb 2006 7:31 am

I think that it's great that today there are so many fantastic musicians that play so well and keep raising the bar. When I began to try to play this thing there wasn't that many around, to my knowledge anyway. However back in the 60s I had the "good luck" to see Jay Dee up close and what he did with just his index and middle finger (with his thumb idle); I lost all ambitions of quitting my day job at that point. Today there are lots of guys that keep turning out some of the most entertaining steel picking that I've ever heard and God knows I'm grateful.

Ronnie Green · Post by **Ronnie Green** » 6 Feb 2006 7:46 am

Terry Crisp in my opinion is a SUPER picker.

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 6 Feb 2006 7:58 am

Just to add Sarah Jory, and Joe Wright to the list.

BF

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 6 Feb 2006 7:59 am

Doug Jernigan, Julian THarpe and Jimmy Crawford.

Terry

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 6 Feb 2006 8:05 am

To my ears the best speed picker was Curly Chalker.He could speed pick playing single string or chords and stay with the melody so the listener knew exactly what song he was playing.The race is on is only one example For once in my life,etc.
And of course he could also go out in left field on fast or slow songs,but still played with so much taste.
And it was amazing how fast both his feet could fly across he pedals with out looking.MHO.Tracy