The Steel Guitar Forum

I posted this in another thread in pedal steel but I thought some no peddlers would get a kick of these shots.....
This is my five year old playing...He can hold the bar well enough to get tone...

he has a better looking slant than I do. yikes!!!!

I started guitar at age 14. I started lap steel and pedal steel 40 years later.

I was 6 almost 7 in 1935. Took lessons from Oahu Pub Co in Mishawaka, IN. Did my first real gig when I was 11 in Calumet City Il.

I was 11 when I took Hawaiian guitar lessons in 1948 at the Halifax Hawaiian Studios. The first year I got a Stella guitar, the second year, I traded in the Stella for the S. S. Stewart which you can see in the picture at:
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rout_geo/album?.dir=/f281&urlhint=actn,ren%3as,1%3af,0

My nephew who looks like he is singing in that picture is now in his 50's, I'm now 67. The second picture was taken 9 or 10 years later at a company picnic. Look how multi-talented I had become with my first electric steel (a Rickenbacker S-10 on my lap) and playing ukeulele. Disregard the can of Molson beer on the amplifier, that couldn't have been mine!!!!

That 5 yr old is whole lot better lookin thanI was at 7. Looks like better technique also.

George;
I was 11 also when I started playing in Nov. 1948, but; I'm 68 now! I wonder how you managed to stay so young¡

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“Big John” Bechtel
’49-’50 Fender T–8 Custom
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15” Eminence

I also started when I was 11 in 1948. Took lessons from Hiram Hoch at Zeswitz Music Store in Reading, Pa. for 3 years.

And Big John.........I'm only 67 now, just like George. LOL! Birthday in Nov.

Happy picking.......Harry

Harry;
I started steel guitar lessons with Jos. Clemmer. Clemmer’s Music, Harleysville, Pa. in about Nov. ’48. (I have a sister in Reading, but; she's not a musician. She enjoys Line-dancing though!)

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“Big John” Bechtel
’49-’50 Fender T–8 Custom
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15” Eminence

Big John

If your sister enjoys line dancing, ask her if she ever went to any places that "Borderline" played at in the 80's or early 90's. That was my band for a good number of years, and we were quite popular, and had a h*** of a following.

Happy picking........Harry

recording music and playing
hand percusions around 7-8 years
Born into a recording household.

Trombone at 10
13 or 14 for dobro and guitar.
16 for bass
Mandolin at 36
Pedal steel at 47

I started pretty early ...

I started playing in a former life....

Well, I'm 77 now and picked up my first steel guitar, (old round hole) in 1942, about one year after Pearl Harbor. I played everything in the key of A and have now graduated to Bb ! Are there any other keys I should be aware of ?