The Steel Guitar Forum

I remember when I first took up pedal steel how I never practiced on my electric guitar anymore as it was so doggone addicting! Has anyone else experienced this?

A short time ago I was given an old National D-8 which I now have up and running tuned to E13 and C6th. I just can't seem to keep away from it! Every spare minute I have that I should be working on the instrument(s) that I make money on, I find I'm playing the National.

It's so much fun finding out different notes and positions to play and realizing just how much you can actually play on one of these things. I'd always thought I'd never enjoy being a lap player as I thought it'd be too limiting and you wouldn't be able to play all kinds of music, but I'm finding out in a hurry that it's just not true!

I think that maybe next week I might take the old National to the gig and leave my pedal rig at home as I always have my Tele to fall back on if I mess up too bad with it..........

This thing is fun!..........and addicting.....JH in Va.

man, did this one hit the nail on the head..........
been playing guitar 50 years......lap/dobro only a year of so.........play every day...every free minute...only wish I had another 50 years to play....it is such an interesting instrument......and more fun than anything I have done.......keeps me entertained for hours onhours...

My name is Richard.

I'm a lap steel guitarist.

richard..........
are ya close to new westminster.. bc.....spent a wonderful week their along the frazier (frasier) river a few years ago.....such a beautiful place..
........ch

Lap steel sure is a kick, I'm hooked
Its probably one of the most expressive instruments out there.
I'm glad to see it working its way back into todays music little by little

Summer/autumn 2005 - Epiphone Les Paul sold, 1947 National New Yorker bought. I had never touched a lap steel before.

November 2005 - $81 Oahu acoustic lap guitar bought off eBay.

2006 - another two Oahus, custom Lazy River Weissenborn ready in November!

2007 - lovely '51 reissue Telecaster sold on eBay to finance a better amp for my New Yorkers. Oh, yes, plural, got a 1937 one too.

Lap steel is the most fascinating and expressive instrument I've ever come across, and - yes - it is totally addictive.

Fred

Every time I try to walk away it pulls me back into those murky waters. Only by flailing around do I keep my head above water. A friend of mine recently observed, "It takes three times as much work to sound reasonably good on a lap steel as it does on a standard guitar." It's been 20 years, I've put in six times the work and I'm still not very good yet I can't leave it alone. The monkey stays on my back.

That monkey is determined too isn't he

Carroll:

Lived almost next door to New West until June last year. Decided to get out of the "big busy" for place about 5 hours inland.

The Fraser River is lovely. I now live along one of its tribuataries.

Cheers,

Richard

Are you kidding?
I hit this site three to five times a day.

The band that I have played with for the last 10 years is having some in fighting so we haven't played together for 6 weeks right now. I haven't touched a guitar since the last gig we did. I try to spend at least 1 hour playing music a night. Lately, I have been creeping up to the 2 hour mark and I have only been playing steel guitar. I guess I have a mistress!!

Do you find lapsteel addicting?..........

..

NO, JUST CAPTIVATING

I don't remember exactly where I heard the quote. But the upshot of it was that self discipline never helped anyone master any area of endeavor. The real masters of anything are always, always, always people who are obsessed with it. I work second shift. When the alarm goes off to tell me it's time to go, it's difficult to put my guitar down.

In the last few years I've expanded my horizons (and my instrument inventory) with a number of 6- and 8-string tunings. When I sit down in my big black recliner to "relax" with an instrument, it's usually one of those lap instruments -- where it used to be a guitar or mandolin. One major area of fascination is how all these tunings are related and overlapped. This has helped me find more scales, chords, positions, and licks on every one of them. Besides making me a better non-pedal player, I think it's helped my PSG playing a little -- by not depending on the pedals as much.

Yes I am a LAP-HEAD

WARNING:The steel guitar is CONTAGIOUS !
There's no known cure !!

to my thinking, lap steel is one of the most beautiful and expressive instruments on Planet Earth ( and I cannot speak for other planets)...because of the total control of the sound, tone and timbre with right and left hands (and maybe a foot). pedal steel makes a beautiful expressive sound but relinquishes some left hand control to the knee and foot courtesy of the pedals and levers....we write and draw with our hands...

a violin or a cello also make beautiful expressive sounds but lack the attack of the right hand.... a trombone can emit gorgeous glissandos too but works with air blowing through a reed with not the same degree of "attack". ..

steel guitar is yet one of the lesser known instruments in the music world...

A while back I was given an old National D-8 which had all the tuning key buttons disintegrated and broken and had been laid up a long time unused. I've got the buttons all replaced and the tone knob and with some wax and chrome polish, it's ready to go! I've decided to leave the pickup covers off as it feels better without them......

I'm going to take it to a gig for the first time tonight and leave my pedal rig at home. It's classic country and I play both lead & steel with the band so if I get lost on the National I can just go to the guitar.

Russ Wever is in town this month and gave me a couple of packaged sets of strings for E13th & C6th which I have it tuned to. I can't wait to try it out on a gig.......

It has the old screw on type of connector but I have an adaptor to take a 1/4" phone jack. I've been thinking of permanently mounting a phone jack in the guitar but was wondering, would that take away from the value or collectability of the guitar?

Here's some shots of it with a close up of the adaptor. I found an old walker at the thrift store which makes a pretty good stand. It has rubber across the hand rails that holds the steel in place very well..........JH in va.

YES ! after doing a session playing C6th for some Hawaiian fills, I have decided to restore my wifes Dads Fender Custom Triple Neck (1953) and I bought a $79 Rogue 6 string from Musicians Friend which just arrived
and I can't stop playing it !

Oh, and it's Black so it obviously sounds better !

Regarding the Fender, we are going to keep the body as is, it has wear marks from Bonnies Dad which are timeless. Mostly it's the chrome and the wiring that needs the face lift. The PUPS work fine.




and heres the $79 toy that arrived today ! With a case to boot !

Jerry: On this Forum you're preaching to the converted

We're all addicted. That's why we're reading this.

My name is Kevin. And I'm a lapsteelaholic. I have been a drummer for many years. I had always wanted to play another instrument. And I loved steel guitar. 2 years ago my friend Mike let me borrow a Silvertone. So I started pickin at that thing. And I kept pickin. Soon after, I was cracked out on lapsteels, buying lapsteels left and right like some kind of dope fiend. I would be on the computer at all hours of the night(like tonight), scouting for dealers to get my next score. Again and again I would get my fix as the lapsteels piled up in my room. Again and again, all my money spent on my new habit. Finally, I had to go to L.A.(Lapsteels Anonymous), and get treatment for this merciless affliction. The only cure was to spread this epidemic to the masses. I had to do the unthinkable, and rid myself of all unnecessary steels in order to get my blood toxicity levels down. I proceeded to deal lapsteels to other lapsteelaholics, the newly initiated, and the unsuspecting. I sold lapsteels on the internet, in the alley, out of my house, through the mail, on the corner, at the gas station, to old people, to young people, it didn't matter. I knew I was doing the devil's work. My conscience told me it was wrong, but my wallet told me it was right. I'm just glad I made it out alive. I had to retain four lapsteels to keep my blood levels from getting dangerously low, otherwise my body would go into shock from severe withdrawal. I have sold my soul to lapsteel.

Add my name to the list. Lap steel, pedal steel... it's all good. On gigs I play mainly PSG, and sometimes lap steel, but at home I always reach for the lap steel first! I find it to be challenging, and it has a tone that is not found in a PSG.

Do you find lapsteel addicting?............

...not really. I once gave it up for two weeks.

"a trombone can emit gorgeous glissandos too but works with air blowing through a reed with not the same degree of "attack". ..

Hey Kay...I've been associated with Big Bands most of my 60 (of 80) years in music. I have yet to see a Trombone which uses a reed !

And the plural is GLISSANDI ..