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Topic: Alvino Rey wild sounds (nah-nah-nah) |
Mike Ihde
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 15 Jul 2007 9:26 pm |
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I know he invernted the mouth tube and got vocal sounds with that, but thus is a new one for me.
Do you think he can really get that sound "just" from his tone control???
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ywsj5VoHVZA |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 15 Jul 2007 9:38 pm
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| What a joy to see a movie of ALVINO REY in action. As many times as I have heard him on recordings, this is the first time I've seen him actually playing. To answer the question, I think, being the genius he was, what you see and hear is what he did with that tone control. An amazing artist. Notice he only used his thumb ? And those famous high harmonics which seemed to come so easy for him. Awesome. |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 15 Jul 2007 10:41 pm
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Oh yeah, that rocked!!!  |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Todd Weger
From:
Safety Harbor, FLAUSA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 4:35 am No fingerpicks!?
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| George Keoki Lake wrote: |
| Notice he only used his thumb ? |
Yeah, I did not expect that! No fingerpicks, except a thumbpick. I love how he changes tones frequently by moving his right hand position anywhere from right near the bridge to about the 14th fret.
He did use his bare-nekkid fingers on the strings when doing that cool thing right at the end of the piano solo, using them in a back sweeping motion, again, to get different tones, and of course, for those great fingertip harmonics.
Very cool stuff! 
_________________
Todd James Weger --
1956 Fender Stringmaster T-8 (C6, E13, A6); 1960 Fender Stringmaster D-8 (C6, B11/A6); Custom-made 25" aluminum cast "fry pan" with vintage Ricky p'up (C6); 1938 Epiphone Electar (A6); 1953 Oahu Tonemaster; assorted ukuleles; upright bass |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 4:43 am
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Amazing!!
Steinar
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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Gary Lynch
From:
Creston, California, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 5:17 am
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He used every technique I ever heard of in one tune! He makes a lot of use of picking close to the bridge then back to the sweet spot for tonal changes.
In short, he worked a lot harder than anyone I have ever seen on one tune with nothing but the basics. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 5:17 am
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Awesome playing! Thanks for posting that Mike. Yes, it looks and sounds like Alvino is using the tone control only for the wa-wa. As you know, the tone control on older guitars goes from all-bass to all-treble very quickly, not gradually. That allows for much easier wa-wa sounds. I don't know if it's the capacitor or the pot that causes that to happen, but I love the effect! Most old lap steels work that way. The tone control on my 68 telecaster, and even my '74 Emmons work that way... the quick snap from bass to treble. You won't find that on current production guitars, as far as I know.
I Love the playing on the clip... but do you think it is possible that Alvino (and the band) is Not playing this live, but 'sync'ing to a recording? I see a lot of disconnect between his hands and the audio. I know this is an old clip and the audio might not line up with the video perfertly, but I notice many, many times his hands are not doing what I'm hearing... sometimes ahead of a sound and sometimes after a sound. Maybe he's not actually playing live, and there are open mics to pick up audience applause? Don't get me wrong... I love Alvino's playing, but I'm suspicious of this "live" performance. What do you think?
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 5:51 am
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Thanks for posting that clip. I thought I'd seen all the Lawrence Welk shows after 35 years of the TV business, but I missed that one.
Doug, the out of sync video you saw is because of the compression techniques used to get that video on
on the website.
I'm sure that the origingal video was fully synchronized.
The Welk shows had the best sound of any of the shows recorded in that era.
Blake |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 6:07 am Alvino Reys guitar a Fender 1000 ???
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Mike , that was an amazing video !! Loved the old Alvino Rey sounds !! Was that a Fender 1000 he was playing ?? Looked to me like the Fender knobs, pickup and the front of the old Fender but never showed the Fender logo !! ?? Didn't show his foot pedal work but hand control was amazing !! I have an Al.Rey L.P. that shows him with a special built blond Fender 1000 , looks like the same guitar ?? Hard to tell from the video ?? Eddie "C" ( the old geezer ) P.S. - I looked at the picture on L.P. again and checked against video and that is a Fender 1000 !! There is a small Fender logo on front of steel , upper left corner !! Reys 1000 had 10 foot pedals , no knees , must be around 1958 or 1960 ???
Last edited by Eddie Cunningham on 16 Jul 2007 8:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 7:31 am
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Great Stuff indeed
it was all said & done back then huh ? |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 8:35 pm
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CrowBear-Yeah, that's right. I saw Alvino in person many times in 1942, stood right in front of him and watched him. Stole all the licks I could.
I had that quick tone control on my used 1942 Gibson Electra-Harp and did Mama Blues, just using the control right on top of the board with my little finger wrapped around it and crashed the bar down , etc. or moved it to make it seem like talking. I got a lot my my ideas from him. I liked his style and big chords on his E6 tuning.
It is too bad they don't put that tone control back on these new guitars, right near the pickup. We had the volume control there too, pretty handy...al.
_________________
Michigan (MSGC)Christmas Dinner and Jam on my 80th Birthday.
My Email.. almarcus@cmedic.net
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus |
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Dion Stephen
From:
Kansas, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 8:56 pm
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| i'm new to all of this so please excuse my vast lack of knowledge. all that said just watched the you tube welk action that gentleman is a monster! |
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Fred Bova
From:
Connecticut, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 9:06 pm
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Al, what inversion of the E6 was Alvino using ?
And what pulls did he have on his pedals ?
I know if anyone knows, you know.
Thanks again for all your input on this forum and your website,
Fred |
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Mike Ihde
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 16 Jul 2007 9:23 pm
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| I have a full length audio of Alvino playing "Wabash Blues" with the "mouth tube" hooked up to his steel if someone can help me get it onto the forum, let me know. |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 5:10 am
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| Brilliant! Just goes to show that 14 strings and 8 knee levers are not necessary when artistry and imagination are in ample supply. |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 6:55 am
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Mike, The device Alvino used was different from the later one that Pete Drake had.
The one used by Alvino was called "Sonovox" and required the assistance of another specially trained person called an "articulator" who was located off stage. With this device a transducer which looked like a pair of headphones was held to the "articulator's" throat and that person voiced the words, modulating the sound, which was picked up by a conventional microphone.
Blake |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Billy Wilson
From:
El Cerrito, California, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 10:26 am
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| Who is playing that style now? What an artform!!!! |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 10:36 am
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Blake-I remeber that Yvonne King used to stand back on the stage out of sight and put that thing on her throat while Alvino played in front. That was a big act in those days.
I didn't have that rig but played a lot using the tone control as he did many times. I used to play stuff like "Wabash Blues" using it and it was always a big hit with the Crowd. Jody Carver did that too on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Show...memories...al.
_________________
Michigan (MSGC)Christmas Dinner and Jam on my 80th Birthday.
My Email.. almarcus@cmedic.net
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus |
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 11:03 am
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Fred-Here is the E6 and E7 tunings he used on the old Gibson . He had 9 srings on each neck, I had 8 strings on my Vega Double 8. I always wished I had 9 to get that low E root. A lot of great music can be played on this setup. We culd get a 7th, dim,minor6 ,9th, maj, all on the top neck. E6(C#minor7) on the bottom.
[tab]
top neck top down.E7-9
E-D-B-G#-F#-D-B-G#-E
E-C#-B-G#-E-C#-B-G#-E...E6
I didn't have the low E on mine. there is a few pictures of me with it on my Website. Here is some the arrangements I got from him and played.
St.Louis Blues", "Tiger Rag","Idaho"(lots of bar crashes and doo wahs with the tone control, sweep with thumb and little finger on tone control.).."On the Alamo", "My Buddy", "Liebestraum", "Dream", I can still remember how to play them at my age, thankfully...."memories" again...al.
_________________
Michigan (MSGC)Christmas Dinner and Jam on my 80th Birthday.
My Email.. almarcus@cmedic.net
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus |
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Matt Johnson
From:
California, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 12:03 pm
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I've always wondered what it was like to play those pedals way off to the left like the Electraharp. Was it awkward?
Very cool website Al! It's like a mini-biography with great pictures that accompany the stories. Really neat. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 12:40 pm
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Just to make sure I understand the tunings as you have them listed, Al.
Top neck: E7-9
1. E
2. D
3. B
4. G#
5. F#
6. D
7. B
8. G#
9. E
Bottom neck: E6
1. E
2. C#
3. B
4. G#
5. E
6. C#
7. B
8. G#
9. E
Are any of those strings re-entrant (pitched between other strings rather than higher than the previous string) like on a pedal steel's E9th tuning?
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 2:08 pm
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Just to be clear, it's a Fender 1000 PEDAL guitar he's playing, and he's using the pedals, AND a foot volume pedal IN THE RECORDING, which may have been pre-recorded for the show IMHO
I have put the clip into Final Cut Pro and slipped the audio and can't get it to match what he appears to do, The lip sync on Mr. Welk at the beginning has been corrected by myself in the program, but I simply CAN'T get the hands to represent what the notes and sounds are !!
Doug could well be correct. as I maybe am.
Watch the drummer at the start of the tune
_________________
Steelies do it without fretting
CLICK THIS to view my tone bars and buy——> |
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Mike Ihde
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 17 Jul 2007 2:27 pm
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Blake,
I know, it is a bit like the mouth tube that was made famous by
Peter Frampton but instead of the sound being amplified and then sent up a tube to the "articulators" mouth it was in the headphones.
Like I like to tell my students, "There's nothing new, you all think Frampton and others came up with this sound, but listen to this cut from the 1940's" |
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