The Steel Guitar Forum

I think I just fell in a luck bucket.Our new bass player is also a steel player.He has attended Jeffs
school.He reads charts, and if needed he could switch off with me.The cool thing is when I say lets play Buddies Bounce, or lost in the feeling or one of those great steel tunes,he is right there, and knows all the changes.This is just wonderful and God sent.It is hard to find a good bass player let alone one that is highly aware of all the cool steel tunes.Darold will be at the steel jam so if you are there I,ll introduce him.

Many Steel pickers are also Bass pickers. One that comes to mind is named Emmons.

I remember Danny Michaels & the Rebel Playboys in Long Beach, California from years back. I went to see his band one night to hear Bobby Boydd on steel and to my surprise, James O'Rafferty was on bass and vocals. If you haven't heard of James (or J.G.) he was one of the hottest steelers in SoCal for many years. At another point Danny had Bobby on bass and Jerry Stevens on steel......

This seems to happen quite a bit in music. At one time the Big E was the bass player for Roger Miller.

Also if you watch the DVD featuring Curley Chalker that Mike Perlowin put out, the lead guitarist (Johnny Davis) and the bass player (Jim Bob Sedgwick) are both excellent steel guitarists in their own right...............JH in Va.

Hey Bob isn't in nice knowing that the bass player can hang out in the steel solos? Russ Wever is another steel player who excells in both areas.
From time to time I get to play steel with a steel player who is also one of the best resonator, banjo (sorry b0b) and guitar players around. That's Jimmy Heffernan. He's also insane and has been known to play practical jokes but thats a whole 'nother post.

Ben

i thought it was 'bud's bounce'.....course i'm not a bass player!

Maybe that's what Bud's Mother called him.

Any bets out there that 70% of steel guitar players can or have played bass presently or at one time in their lives?

I have hung a bass guitar off my shoulders for 40 years and more. In fact, I still have my first, 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar propped up in the corner of my basement. It's a little battered and tattered but it is within three feet of my steels.

I love to play bass-country and western swing, but I just love to play steel a little more. Give me a six string guitar, and I'll probably try to use it for a shovel.

I play Bass some too.

I play a lot of bass gigs and sessions.Here's most of my working Ibanez basses

I played bass for 20+ years before I played steel.

I've played a bit of bass over the years.

I have an EB0 and a Precision Plus (the one with the Jazz neck) and a Laney 400W bass head I sometimes used for steel before I got my Steel King.

Another steel player who doubles on bass is Maurice Anderson.

I suspect that most of us started on something other than pedal steel. I've played electric and upright bass since I was young, and six-string before that.

I played bass in rock bands in the 60's long before I had ever heard of a steel guitar with pedals? Was that something like a bicycle?? Or what. I still use my bass for making tracks in my little home studio.

Ernie Pollock

It has been known for some time that if your group needs a bassman.........ask a steelman.........he will know where one is.

When I played steel for Wynn Stewart in the mid 60's, Junior Knight was our bass player. He and I used to switch off as part of the show. When Junior lost his father and returned to Texas, we couldn't find a decent bass replacement so I went on bass and Mr Ralph Mooney came on board on the steel until we found one...that was a fun band to say the least...

Cal Freeman, Whew! Where have you been?
Missed you!

Bobbe

I would much rather shift over to bass than playing steel on a gig if the band can't find a bass player who doesn't suck or know the tunes. Anyway, bass is ALOT of fun!

Bobby Cox . I played Bass for a country band back in the 70's . I played Bass at our last O.S.G.A. jam . It was fun watching everyone else play steel for a change .

Stu Schulman wrote:I play a lot of bass gigs and sessions.Here's most of my working Ibanez basses

wow Stu... I have the exact twin of your old Ibanez Roadstar RP 820 bass sitting right here next to me!.. A terrific bass!!!

I started out on BASS in the 60's, went to LEAD, and now I've taken on the Pedal Steel addiction !!! (challenge)
rick

I think most guys that play steel, played at least one other instrument beforehand because of the high cost of a steel. I played lead guitar, and bass for years, before I got a steel, but by the time I got my first steel, I was almost sixty. I'm doing alright, but am running out of time(I'll be seventy this month.) I still play lead guitar, and 4, 5, and 6string bass, but, predictably, I have a long way to go on the steel! (a wide body SIERRA U-12)