The Steel Guitar Forum

I hate to sound stupid...but I have never understood
how John Hughey and others get that "falling-sound"
while transitioning from one lick or chord...to
another.

Can somebody tell me how YOU do it....and more
that that...how I can get that effect!

Stan...

Hey, Stan:
The only truly stupid question is the one not asked.
If you're referring to John Hughey's "crying" passages, with a generally descending pitch, try using your 5 and 8 strings. If you're starting on a G chord, you can hit those strings at the 15th fret, maybe rock on and then off the A pedal (that raises the 5 string), and then "shiver" the bar as you slide to the 10th fret and add the A pedal back on when you get there. Shivering means roughly that - you move the bar down the neck, while using what amounts to a heavy vibrato; think how you'd be moving the bar if indeed you were shivering from the cold.
Hope this helps; sorry if it doesn't, in which case someone else can probably help out.

Lots of B/C pedal with strings 3,4,5,
G chord 3rd fret, pick 345, press B/C, then slide to fret 6 with E's raised and pedals off [G7th]lots of Vibrato and glissando, thats just a small lick he does, but you can build on it. Dont pick every move, he may pick once and slide 3 times.
Go backwards an octave higher and connect to all the other chords.

Stan, The original texts for Hughey's style would be the Conway Twitty vinyl LP's on MCA. The following sides are available from iTunes:

(1) I See The Want To In Your Eyes
(2) I Love You More Today
(3) Lost In The Feeling
(4) (Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date
(5) There's A Honky Tonl Angel

Also available for download are: Fifteen Years Ago/After The Fire Is Gone/To See An Angel Cry/I Can't Stop Loving You/You've Never Been This Far Before/Hello Darlin'/Touch The Hand/This Time I Hurt Her/Linda On My Mind/Next In Line/She Needs Someone to Hold Her/Feelin's/How Much More Can She Stand/She Needs Someone To Hold Her/I Can't See Me Without You/Next In Line/(I Can't Believe)She Gives It All To Me....and many more

Here's "Georgia Keeps Pulling On My Ring" another masterpiece from John & Conway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z7umRsEY1o

Conway Twitty w/ John Hughey on the pedal steel guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JitrY4JHTzk

Stan,
Here you can see (sorta)what JH is doing.A picture worth a thousand words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67GSo3Mx ... re=related

Another thing he does quite a bit is, when he is sliding and shivering, he fades out completely before he reaches his destination. Say sliding from the 17th fret to the 12th fret, you won't hear him actually play the chord at the 12th. He's faded out by then.

Bill, that clip is too beautiful. Thanks for posting that.
Right around 33 seconds in the Hello Darlin' clip, you'll hear a great example. Wow.
It seems to be a combination of two close chord voicings, choice pedal manipulation, and a very distinct vibrato.
I'm afraid it's probably like picking up a pen; everyone makes their own mark... and that's the way it sounds when John Hughey did it.
-John

I'll add to that by also saying, that regardless of what instructional material, or watching and listening to it, that's about as close as anyone will ever get to pulling it off in the way John did.

That's just one more example of how much each of us, differ from one another. Although close, everyone has his/her own signature, more or less, to what we play.

It's also, a perfect example of something so simple, and played with such ease, grace and emotion, and yet can only be duplicated precisely, by the man himself, for the very reasons above.

RIP John

Hey Stan,

There is a man in Dallas that gives free instruction on you tube by the name of Mickey Adams. He cannot give you the emotion but he gets close to the licks that JH played in "Look At Us". see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR33BSyw ... re=related. I have learned so much from him and I just started playing in December. What a legend was John Hughey!

Thanks
Darrell Hodges

The times I've seen the great John Hughey perform, he always seemed to have a lot of gas in his volume pedal. That way, he would not run out of volume as he descended. Some of that descending magic also seemed to come from his use of keeping one note raised on a two-note descent, such as descending two frets on the 3-5 strings and engaging the A pedal to keep the lower note raised. Hard to explain, but I hope you get my drift.

All in all, however, it was John's heart that inspired his playing and made it so special to all of us.

Bill Ford-- That vid is worth a thousand dollars if you want to learn the Falling Phrasing!!! Greg

ps Check out that sweet stool he's sitting on........

Greg,Here is the one that everyone wishes he/she could do.Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvFYj9-LU80

I had always thought it was as Daniel Morris said above, just the A pedal on 5 and 8 with alot of shiver, but in Bill Fords Hello Darlin video it sure looks like he is using that LKL (E raise?) also.

????

Those JH clips are amazing, a touch like nobody else....

Does anyone have a video of "I've Just Destroyed The World I'm Living In" ?

That is another one of John's entire signatures all the way through it from one end to the other, of his fantastic (really into it) playing ability.

The kickoff, also really grabs your attention being again, so subtile, simple, and yet so unique for a kickoff Intro..

If you haven't heard it, try looking it up. I couldn't find it listed under videos, but possibly it is in audio only. It'll knock your socks off.

Ben Jones, John played the Day setup, so the LKL may be the Es lower.(yep,just looked it up,Es lower)


On the first one below @ 2;40...typical Papa John, Man, nobody, but nobody can do it like him. On the second one, he does one of BEs with the signature JH "stuff"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh_T255pSiM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnjHc_-h ... re=related

I've listened to that video of Conway with John, singing "Hello Darlin'" more than a few times,

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=67GSo3MxGi0

and there are two places in there where he does incredibly beautiful "falling" moves, one at 0:33 and another at 1:02. Both of them are impossible to tab out the emotion and vibrato, but they do involve some fairly definite positions and pedal moves.
The first, at 0:33 -
[tab]
G7
1-----------------------------
2-----------------------------
3-----------------------------
4--10~~~10L~~9L---8~~~8L~~8L--
5--10a~~10a~~9a---8a~~8a~~8---
6--10b~~10b~~9b---8b~~8b~~8b--
7-----------------------------
8-----------------------------
9-----------------------------
10----------------------------
[/tab]
And the second, which is even more difficult to capture with tab - It seems almost like one big connected drop, but with very small pauses at the tabbed positions:

[tab]
...C7.................................F
1-----------------------------------------
2-----------------------------------------
3-----------------------------------------
4--15~~14~~13---13L~12L~11L~~9L~9L~~8~8~~~
5--15a~14a~13a--13~~12~~11~~~9~~9a~~8~8a~~
6-----------------------------------------
7-----------------------------------------
8-----------------------------------------
9-----------------------------------------
10----------------------------------------
[/tab]

I hope that's interesting and useful to someone.
-John

For anyone wanting to see (great camera work) and hear John at his best, the DVD, "Jumpin' Time" by the Time Jumpers is a must. After viewing the video several times, his solo on "Sweet Memories" and his version of the instrumental, "My Weakness Is Too Strong" still move me. The absolute master of soulful playing.

Bill Ford wrote:Stan,
Here you can see (sorta)what JH is doing.A picture worth a thousand words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67GSo3Mx ... re=related

That is sick playing! John was amazing. (And you gotta love Conway's hair!!).

While this thread is about JH I just wanted to say how surprized I was when I saw him play live in Atlanta at the Steel Guitar Show a few years ago - his speed picking and C6th playing was impressive,
Something you usually didn't hear on the Conway recordings.

A master of tone and taste - but his speed picking and c6th playing was something to behold. After meeting him, found him to be one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet.