The Steel Guitar Forum

Did you ever stop and think that there may be a positive
side to this? Making it easier to record pedal steel just might expand the listening audience increasing the popularity of the instrument. It just may be a blessing in disguise.

Bob Grado wrote:Did you ever stop and think that there may be a positive
side to this? Making it easier to record pedal steel just might expand the listening audience increasing the popularity of the instrument. It just may be a blessing in disguise.

I'm always saying that, especially as it pertains to younger musicians and audiences. Anything that can get that sound into their imagination is a good thing because then they'll start seeing how it can make their music better. So many of them have hollow or samey-sounding songs and don't know what they're missing.

Without a thorough investigation of synthesized instrumentation’s track record, we’re just guessing at the effect it has had and will continue to have on musicians who play the actual instruments that have been sampled and processed into a computer or digital keyboard. But the issue of producing commercial music that is close enough to sell as the sound of real instruments is also something we can discuss at a gut level. You know, bs’ing. It’s a worthy topic.

My question is, how far will it go? I have a 15-year-old program that will compose an entire 12 or 16 bar solo at the push of a button. With more believable synthesized instrumentation, it could probably pass the test on the “average” listener. This is pretty much what Garage Band does, right? The follow up question is the big one, in terms of the end justifying the means - Is that what people want? It will certainly change the concert experience.

"I would love to be a fly on the wall if a keyboard player in Nashville tried to run this "keyboard steel" idea past any of the producers or engineers in town that I know. Honestly, they'd be laughed right out of the room."

Considering the garbage coming out of that town nowadays, I don't think so.

But, I'm getting my revenge...I got a synth that can let me do a Hammond B-3, Farfisa, & other keyboards on my GUITAR, and a local keyboard player who heard me onstage a couple weeks ago said he couldn't tell the difference. I can tell the difference between my synth & a REAL Hammond B-3, but the average shmo can't, and I get people coming up to the band all the time & asking where the "keyboard" is. Along with the people who call my steel a keyboard.
I wonder if the first person who uses this keyboard software onstage will have people calling his keyboard a steel.

For comparison, here is the same intro played on a real pedal steel. A/B them & see if you can tell the difference. Then, try a "blindfold" test on some people; see if you can tell the difference. Sad to say I don't think I could.

https://youtu.be/PC57z-oDPLs

Bob Grado wrote:Did you ever stop and think that there may be a positive
side to this? Making it easier to record pedal steel just might expand the listening audience increasing the popularity of the instrument. It just may be a blessing in disguise.

No; people nowadays don't care about music anymore; all they care about is a beat to dance to, Seems like people are de-evolving into a primitive species, where they only care for a "beat". Except for maybe in Texas, where real country music is still popular. I shoulda moved there instead of Florida.

Rich Upright wrote:people nowadays don't care about music anymore; all they care about is a beat to dance to, Seems like people are de-evolving into a primitive species, where they only care for a "beat". .

Boy that’s for sure. This past Saturday the band I was playing in quite literally sucked most of our second set and we all knew it. We were talking about it after the gig and a fan overheard us and she was like, “you know what? Nobody cared. They were all having a great time!” So there’s good news and bad news there, I guess.

Fred Treece wrote:

Rich Upright wrote:people nowadays don't care about music anymore; all they care about is a beat to dance to, Seems like people are de-evolving into a primitive species, where they only care for a "beat". .

Boy that’s for sure. This past Saturday the band I was playing in quite literally sucked most of our second set and we all knew it. We were talking about it after the gig and a fan overheard us and she was like, “you know what? Nobody cared. They were all having a great time!” So there’s good news and bad news there, I guess.

Another depressing thing was recently I was playing a large texas-sized country dance hall here, & when I looked out in the audience, most of the women had that blue light on their chest from staring at their phone.
Fred's right. Coulda put Buddy up there in place of me, and no one woulda noticed. OR cared. This is NOT a musical generation. But it is a pitiful one.

As a piano player I’m with Bob on this one. Each instrument has a “technique” to playing it, and each player has a “style” of playing. When I sit at a piano I think piano and play my style. An example would be like the keyboards that emulate the whole band like a Tyros or PSR. Love what they do but I have a very hard time playing one because I don’t think the way the machine does. (I play a moving base line with my left hand and these keyboards rely on the chord you play in the left hand to figure out the accompaniment. Hence passing notes in the base confuses the machine.)

Like these keyboards, this software would require you to re-learn how to play the instrument. Time consuming and oh by the way I have and play pedal steel. So I for one would simply play the instruments I know and am proficient at. Someone with loads of time might find this interesting and dabble with it, but l don’t see it replacing much of anything.

Rich Upright wrote: Another depressing thing was recently I was playing a large texas-sized country dance hall here, & when I looked out in the audience, most of the women had that blue light on their chest from staring at their phone.

There's a positive to that. At least they weren't the red glow of cigarettes like in the "good old days". I think that's a fair trade.