The Steel Guitar Forum

Perhaps it's only my imagination but I've noticed of late that a number of folks that approach me about taking lessons on the steel guitar.........seem more interested in that instant gratification issue rather than that DEEP DOWN, BURNING DESIRE, THAT JUST WON'T LET YOU GO...........like the first time I heard JERRY BYRD playing "Moonland".

I simply could not let go of that 'sound'! Now, after several years, I still can't let go of it.

WHAT IS IT that sticks to YOU.........like glue?

There are lots of other things we could all be doing rather than dogging ourselves constantly about this tune; this TONE; this technique or whatever.

Just curious.....

Ray, for me, one big draw to steel is it is NOT simple and easy. I like to do stuff that ain't for the "faint of heart". That's why I spent 32 years as a tree surgeon--I like to do things few others would attempt. It helps to LOVE the sound of the steel guitar, too!!

I agree with James--it's not your everyday guitar.

I just recalled when I bought a Yamaha keyboard. I told myself it was for the piano sound, but really it was because it had a 'steel guitar' sound.
At the time, I never imagined I'd have a real steel, much less be able to coax 'that sound' out of it.

Accept no imitations.

For me it is that it is the ONLY instrument that does what it does.

Moving parallel harmonic changes from chord to chord.
Horn sections can do this,
or other multiple instrument groups that glissando,
but it is the ONLY one that can do it by itself.

Add to that it can cross genres if you've a mind to...
from country through blues to variations on jazz.

Ray, it is the sound that only a steel guitar can make and the player can help to accentuate that beautiful sound that is almost indescribale. I fell in love with the sound of the steel guitar when I was ten years old and that was in 1944. I have never lost the fervor for playing or listening to that sound. I still play three times a week for nursing homes and Alzheimer units and will continue to do it until I cannot do it.
Ray and everyone else keep doing what you love to do!

Ray for me it was the Speedy West stuff that got me. I guess his take on "Lover" is one that gets me. I also could not get myself to learn another instrument, not like Ive even begun to learn the Steel Guitar, but for a few years I try'd guitar and still only know my open chords.

To make a twangy piece of wire sing like the human voice has always seemed like magic to me. And, like the other DLD says, to be able to do it with harmony adds to the magic. I've always been fascinated by that sound in slide guitar blues, bluegrass Dobro, and country and country-rock.

its gotta be that crying sound that only the steel can make

We are, as a lot, a group of "strange birds." Most players of other instruments here in Nashville are of the opinion that we steel players are "more than a little strange." It's half joking... but only half. Maybe our brains are wired a bit differently than most; maybe that's what draws us to the steel to begin with.

We put picks on our fingers that put us in serious danger of being regarded as banjo players...

We put a cold, hard, cylindrical object in our other hand... and like it...

We use our feet and knees to make chords...

Anyone really wanna argue that we're not odd???

it is quite a challenge and a juggling act. true multi tasking...when I think of a melody now I always think in terms of harmony along with it. some simple some not so simple..playing the drums a bit these days too adds even more math to the puzzle..making good music is not simple.

In a word....."Ralph Mooney"! (Jay McDonald and Tom Brumley too) I was fascinated by the sound of pedal steel on all those old Buck Owens albums when I was a young'un with a Tele (well, a Danelectro at first )....

Took me many decades to finally OWN a PSG but I carried those sounds in my head and heart the whole time...

Dennis

(who pretty much stopped buying any of Buck's recordings when he took the steel out of the band... )

From a wife for 40 years I can atest to the fact that Steel guitar players are a truly unique bunch of individuals. Talent abounds! Go to a steel guitar convention and you will find total strangers becoming great friends and end up jamming all night and loving every minute of it. It doesn't matter if you have a years of experience or just starting out. The oldies are ready to help help the newbies. The road warriors are very generous with their knowledge. The love of the steel guitar is the big draw. After all of these years it really surprises me how you all can do the things you do with all the pedals, knee levers, etc.

Long Live The Steel Guitar.

Judy

For me, it was a combination of several things. The foremost being that I tried to play steel 20 years ago and I never even got close to a 3 chord change. I failed miserably. I thought it would never happen so I blew it off for 20 or so years. It took me another 18 years of guitar playing to realize I really needed to learn what I was actually doing on the guitar and why. I was frustrated because I would go to open jams and it seemed like I was the only guy around who couldn’t talk music like the rest of the musicians. So I was in this theory lesson one day and the instructor was talking about modes and he made a statement that made me really mad, mad to the point I almost walked out of the class. He was making a comparison about players when he said, "country guitar players typically know more theory than a blues guy, and less than a jazz player. But, in country music, guitar players are everywhere, it's the steel guitar that separates the men from the boys over there" Man, that ticked me off really bad,I flet as though he took a shot at me personally, when I know deep down he didn't. So, that along with having failed at once and now having a new found confidence in music,I decided I COULD play it and would play. In fact, I still have the tape of him saying that. Ok...I am off to Texas Borders in Katy Texas to make the ole BMI do its thing with RocknHorse band....James

James Sission wrote: ...making a comparison about players when he said, "country guitar players typically know
more theory than a blues guy, and less than a jazz player.

But, in country music, guitar players are everywhere,
it's the steel guitar that separates the men from the boys over there"

Well I like this teacher a lot!
A well though out reasoning.

I think every steel player is a different breed. I beleive that the sound is a big part but I feel the core is that we are: 1. Looking for new ways to do old thing (always trying to improve). 2. Want to know how things work. 3. Wants to keep learning new things. 4. Willing to help total stranges. 5. Have open minds to embrace new ideas 6. A deep desire to be good at every thing they try. 7. Embrace the need to do the right thing. These are just a few if what I think makes us stand apart.

I personnaly have been told I am skewed. I thought this was a true statement for me. To me is like a one eyed dog looking at the world. Thank God for making us all so different.

It was the sound of the steel, that wormed it's way into the depths of my heart, back in the late 60's. It wasn't until the middle 70's, that, I actually got a steel though. It was tough for an aspiring steel player to learn, back then, in the northeast. There were no teachers, that, I knew of back then, but, I perservered. Luckily for me, I found the PSGA, which helped me further my education. I have to admit that, I'm a total steel junkie today and proud of it. The steel guitar has become a distinct part of my life. It, and my music, are my alter ego. Half of my adult life has been devoted to steel guitar playing. When I hear the music that I enjoy, even though it may be played well, I'm not interested in listening to it, unless I can fit a steel part to it. Some may call that short sighted or biased, but, that's how I feel. And yes, my steel abilities and knowledge have advanced over the years, which, have enabled me to approach music with a different feeling, but, the basic steel sound and it's ability to play so much music has never left. I know a lot of my musical friends, who, don't have that feeling. They probably never shall attain that level and that's what makes me different. The steel has done that for me. I've been called crazy, eccentric, intense, and too perfection oriented. Sorry to the rest of the world. It's the way I am.

. . . in country music, guitar players are everywhere. It's the steel guitar that separates the men from the boys . . .

I've often likened it to an automotive syndrome:

"So how's your new car? What is it, a Mercedes?"
" Tut, tut, it's a Jaguar. Everyone has a Mercedes."

What makes us different? I'm not sure, but I think part of it is that we are so individualistic. Yeah - I know people complain that steel is a stereotyped instrument and everybody pursues the same basic tone, and all that. But in fact, I've never seen an instrument that is complex like this and has so many different ways to set it up and approach it.

It also has a purity of sound unlike anything I've ever heard. I think that's part of why just intonation is so often used - it's one of the few chordal instruments that has such purity of tone that one can really notice the difference, IMO.

It has as much or more expressive power than the bent-string electric guitar, plus the chordal and moving voice capability of the piano. It's sort of like a string quartet in a box, but it's very difficult to master. So it also helps to be a little crazy.

Emotional Expression....in one of it's grandest and purest forms...
You can't get that from a kazoo.

Plus, I do think, that the Great Ones spent a lot of time on the machine, developing (finding?, stumbling upon?, creating?) new note combinations that just can't be done any other way.

Listen to Buddy's reverse slant, Jimmy Day's pickin' against an open string, or counterpoint by PF. You just can't get or create that stuff anywhere else, on any other contraption.