The Steel Guitar Forum

Les, I would tend to side with the band in most cases where it's band vs. overbearing hag.

Joe M. That's alright buddy, mistakes aside, your posts are right on.

Mistakes......Hey Joe. A true story. Back in my drinking days we were playing a song about the third set in E. I spaced out and played a solo in A! Parts of it sounded great. That solo was definitely not like the record! The lead singer wasn't impressed.

I really do start off with good intentions to play it like the record but as the night wears on, I get sleepy.

i've always tried to sorta play intros like 'nitelife' and 'all my exs' so people knew what was coming...and rides like 'don't rock the jukebox' but only in my own lazy 'good enough' manner. usually everyone else in the band is even more clueless than i am aside from a few hoity toity guitar players who are sure they know everything. i've played alot with a fiddler whos name i won't mention, but plays with top notch pros (which has always made me jealous)...but i've heard him play such bogus crap that it makes me feel comfortable to do whatever i feel like!

As they say in Nashville, "That's what it would have sounded like if I'd been on the session."

Dan Tyack wrote:Jim wrote

they've timed their every move to every note and if you don't play that note, they trip and fall down!

I've found that throwing a few bars of 5/4 occasionally is very effective in dealing with the line dancing problem.

We wrote a swing number with a 7 beat tacet in the middle to deal with the pseudo-swing-dancers who would dance while counting aloud...

We're really overrating our importance or significance with regard to playing our local gigs. The dynamic of these venues, i.e. they are not a concert, etc where the patron has bought a ticket just to come hear or see us,is that we are just, for the most part, some "sound" eminating from the stage area,really not that important to the typical bar or Fraternal club customer. Unfortunately, this is the cold truth, sorry.

Good ones, Cal and Ian!

On the contrary Stephen, it's our audience that's overrated here.

Some people just can't be satisfied, they'd bitch about getting hanged with a new rope. They'll get demanding and obnoxious to the band in a club where they didn't pay a cover charge, like we were waitresses that were too slow to bring them drinks.

Those are the type that are easy to blow off. The hard part is keeping yourself from smartmouthing them back.

Dammed if you do....

ok i stayed outa this long enough
if your in a country band and people are paying to hear you don't they have a right to expect to hear it played the way it was recorded and NOT the way you dicide it should be ...after all the song was most likly a million seller the way it was recorded so why shouldn't they expect you to play it that way
you can goof around with it anyway you like at home when no one is paying you to play it

people are paying to hear you don't they have a right to expect to hear it played the way it was recorded and NOT the way you dicide it should be

No.

You are paying for the privilege of hearing professional musicians perform. You are not their employer.

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.

Just a note on the side as I head out to get some guitar things..

I was doing a pitifully paid "retro show" with a local band and they were doing Susan Raye's "Stop the World and let me off" a couple years ago.

Through this Forum, I was able to find out directly from Jerry Brightman, that the intro was done with a drumstick on a Telecaster, pounding an A chord.

We did it that way. Fun as hell.

Also the Instrumental was just a simple 3/5 string A/B pedal affair. No melody, just what he decided to do.

We did it that way. It was GREAT to be able to get the REAL Info from the guy that did it, and incorporate it.

My thanks again to Jerry.

No relavance, but there's a lot that goes in to what we play and why we play it.



EJL

I remember going to concerts of Ricky Skaggs and the Eagles and was quite dissapointed because it exactly sounded as their records .

You are paying for the privilege of hearing professional musicians perform. You are not their employer.....WRONG
since they ARE paying you, they in fact ARE your employer for the duration of the show. so play it right or stay home

LOL

It's more like a bank robbery. Not that I have a lot of experience in that department..

You point your guitar at them and they give you the money. Sometimes I guess they bitch about the kind of gun, or the style of your mask..

Just because the bank gives you the money, doesn't mean you work for them.

If you are good enough at it they thank you for robbing them and let you know when the safe will be full again.

If not, well if you don't demand the money, it ain't much of a robbery, and you ain't much of a robber.

Also if your gun and getaway car costs more than you will ever make robbing banks...

Maybe a sign saying "This Robber Makes No Money. Please Contribute what you can. God Bless."

There's a few different ways of looking at it.



EJL

If they want to hear it exactly like the record, tell them to go buy the record, it will be the same every time thay play it. They can get bored on there own time.
These are the folks that love and support Karioke, and if they want to here it like the record, that's where they should go.
Will I play in a band where I have to play what some N.Y. bookkeeper producer that doesn't even like country music made the decisions on what the steel guitar owner was to play? NO!
Will I work for an 18 year old "star hat act" that doesn't know what the pedals on a steel guitar are for and has to tell me to play exactly, when he doesn't even know himself? Are you kidding me? This is why young guys work in these bands. Old pros won't put up with it, and don't have to.
Now, you guys that are working in clubs over the country, Go ahead and play what you want to play, but make it fit, (and with taste, tone and good execution) but if you play exactly what is on the record and do it note for note, you aren't playing steel guitar, you are just copying the noise.(like the young girl playing piano in church that has to read every note or she's lost) Use your heads, not just your fingers.
If you think you are working for the club patrons, it's time to get a better boss, because they don't know the difference if you are playing well, it's the singer boss that is trying to "be his idol" that wants you to play like the record. Now if you just want to be a copy of your idol, then copy all you want, but don't blame it on the audiance.
Jon Light, Herb, great posts, you guys sound like the pros that I know you are.


Is my post the correct answer? Who cares! It's just my humble opinion, And I love it! This is America, a free forum and I enjoyed saying it.
Now go out and get fired tonight for listening to me, Ha!
You should probably all do what you need to do about this, but get away with all you can. Push the envelope and you'll end up being better players, just rem,ember the three "T"'s, taste, tone and tenacity! And most of all, don't EVER believe anything you ever read on this forum!

Bobbe

Calvin, let's get real. The audience is NOT my employer - they just happened to show up at this venue where I'm playing on any given night. My boss pays me whether they are there or not! Figuratively, I can see the point you are trying to make, but in a literal sense you are wrong.

...if you play exactly what is on the record and do it note for note, you aren't playing steel guitar, you are just copying the noise.

Bobbe, I like that!

My approach: Play the hooks and signature lines whenever possible. I do Not copy solos note for note... except for a couple of classic steel solos (Look At Us, Blue Bayou, Together Again, etc.)
I prefer to Create a solo in the style and feel of the original.

I have heard bands that completely ignore the original hook lines and make up their own, change the arrangement, even change the chords. That's too much. That drives me nuts.

Bobbe, Music is no place to express yourself!

Clyde Mattocks wrote:Bobbe, Music is no place to express yourself!

??????????????????

In my world, no emotional connection with your instrument means mechanical playing.

I will guarantee that if you played for a Nashville top 40 road act and tried to take personal musical liberties with your steel parts you would be fired and may not even make it back on the bus. Thats a fact. I saw it happen once. As a pro road player you are obligated to play the hit. Its always been that way. If you think that your steel guitar parts are better than Paul Franklin's or Dan Dugmore's you are deluding yourself. Alot of steel players can't even figure them out correctly, thats why they butcher them. Same with the arrangement.

thanx bobbe...i'll take that as the gospel...i'm playing tonight with a band that thinks i'm incredible because i've actually heard the original cut of 'he stopped loving her today'...so i mimic what i can remember, which i'm sure falls short of reality...and then they'll set up a round of whiskey to reward my incredible prowess!!