The Steel Guitar Forum

For a song that lays so easy on the guitar, it's quite a pick twister on the steel. In Am, you might play it at the 3rd or possibly 8th frets, and it's not easy to play it smoothly. I've been messin' with it since I screwed it up live. It's a good exercise.

Joe

Joe,I don't think you could screw up ANY tune you wanted to play, DYKBC.

Here's a link to a non pedal tab for a pipeline/walk don't run surf medley if anyone is interested. Click Here

I believe Russ Hicks has been playing his version of Walk Don't Run at steel shows recently. Would be fun to hear your take on it, Joe.

There was a fine Toronto steel player (whose name for some reason escapes me right now - Mickey was his first name) who used to play it in the clubs. I finally got around to learning it and play it quite often for myself, but it has real train wreck potential as something to play live!

Hey Jim C,

You're right, Russ has been playing this one for quite some time now, and to quote him," it used to be a guitar song".

Also, I saw where you were going to be on the PA show. You still doing that Suzy Bogguss song I like so much? Hope to see you there.

Jim H

I recently recorded this for a cd I hope to have mastered by the end of March. I thought it was an original idea - apparently not.
If you play the song on C6 the signature part of the melody lays out real nice on just two frets(7&8)assuming you have a D on top.

I certainly don't plan on recording it. I was just wondering if others had some difficulty, like I did. It seems pretty straight forward, and when I was taking guitar lessons in the 5th grade, I could play it pretty good on the geetar, at least everyone said so! However, it takes some clean pickin' on the old steel.

Andy, I glanced at that tab, and it seems like the Am is being ignored (they're playing A). Am I missing something?

Bruce, I look forward to hearing your C6 version. If you think of it, drop me an email when the album comes out, and I'll buy one.

I'm sure Russ Hicks Runs and doesn't Walk through his version. He's a great picker.

Thanks,
Joe

I remember now. It was Mickey Andrews who I heard do it - he had a three piece bar band called Cabbagetown in Toronto in the early 80's and since there was just pedal steel, bass and drums he played all kinds of improbable stuff, and really well. Like Joe, I learned it on guitar when I was a kid - everyone learned "Walk Don't Run" and "Pipeline".

And of course the venerable "Wheels" was another instrumental we all learned back then - I play it on steel sometimes as well.

I've been doing that song for a good while now but I don't think you could ever do it justice on a 10 string E9 as you don't have the capability for those "power chords" needed for the into! I do it on an Extended E9 with the low G# and E strings. That's the only way you could get that Am G F E intro lick on the low strings. You could do it on an E9/B6 universal or even a C6th using strings 6, 7, and 9 but you wouldn't have the open E chord at the end of the run........

When going to the melody notes, I start with my E's lowered and my 9th string at C# (open) and start at the first fret. Most of the notes will then just fall into place. You can do the basic melody notes one time through and then improvise through the chord changes by just "noodling" around some C scale positions and notes! I'd love to have a rhythm track for the tune. Does anyone know where I might be able to find one. Also one for "Perfidia" would be nice!.......JH in Va.

Joe,
I find it to be exactly like you describe.
I can pick up my 6-string and play Walk Don’t Run pretty darn well the very 1st time even after not playing the song for many years.
Not the same on psg. And I even once figured it all out on pedal steel and could play it OK.
Sure, like everyone else, I could spend time practicing it, & probably learn to be able to execute it pretty well, but it still doesn’t feel “natural” and I think that’s the point you’re making.
I practice my scales quite regularly, but for some reason the order the notes fall in on this particular melody plays easy on 6-string but “awkward” on psg, for me anyway.
Marc

I just sat down at the psg with this song again.
I think part of the problem was that playing it on 6-string was so ingrained in my memory, which of course doesn’t help too much when playing it on the pedal steel tuning.
Now it has become easier for me to play on the psg.
I found that for me, the most awkward note was the “F” note.
Staying on the 3rd fret and playing it on the 2nd string with the ½ note lower of course works, but my brain doesn’t like that in this particular song for some reason. Also playing the F on the 4th fret, string 5 with full note raise is there, but doesn’t seem to work as well for me as---
F on the 1st fret of the 4th string
Then I slide back up to the 3rd fret and things fall into place easier and more “natural” for me from there.
I just thought I’d share that in case this approach helps someone else with a similar problem.
Feel free to contact me for clarification, if you wish.
Marc

Russ Hicks plays this and plays it with ease!

He burned it up at our Annual Steel Show here at Marshfield last year.

Terry Wood

That song has an interesting history. I was written by the great Johnny Smith as a counterpoint to the tune "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise". His recording of it is different than most of the others. Chet Atkins recorded it too. It was Chet's version the the Ventures heard and then did their own.
It was a huge hit for them and the royalties from it allowed Johnny Smith to semi-retire to Colorado Springs.

Russ Hicks is the man. As a matter of fact he did it this January in Phoenix.

A couple of years ago Nokie Edwards ("Mr. Guitar" - is the Ventures man) - walked into the room at the show and Russ Hick was on stage and simply started playing it. He kills it everytime.

"Walk Don't Run" sealed my fate as a guitarman. That it doesn't fall easily into the E9th tuning points out the way your copedent shapes your music.

If it's easier on C6, how about Universal? Any Universal players out there tried this tune?

The fact that Johnny Smith's "Walk, Don't Run" was butchered by the Ventures has nagged at me for 50 years. A cursory listen to their "rendition" leads one to the inescapable fact that they were locked into the rock-and-roll 1-6-2-5 chord changes and thus deviated from Smith's original composition. Could be that they couldn't play anything BUT those changes. I shudder whenever I hear their abortive attempt in my mind's ear. It was - and is - a disservice to a wonderful guitarist.

I doubt that Johnny sees it that way. He said that the most beautiful thing he ever saw was the Manhattan skyline... in his rear view mirror.

Richard Damron wrote:The fact that Johnny Smith's "Walk, Don't Run" was butchered by the Ventures has nagged at me for 50 years. A cursory listen to their "rendition" leads one to the inescapable fact that they were locked into the rock-and-roll 1-6-2-5 chord changes and thus deviated from Smith's original composition.

As I remember, the Ventures played Am G F E, or 1 7 6 5 in A minor, not 1 6 2 5. Have I disremembered?
What were Johnny Smith's original chords?

Shows you what I know. I never knew it wasn't a Ventures original.

Here's Johnny Smith's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HwQxdrmwY8

Interesting. Other than the different "accent" of jazz vs rock, the chords are basically the same between Smith's version and the Ventures version. The main difference is that at the end of the main section, where the Ventures do a cadence in C major (G7 to C), Smith ends in A minor (Bm7-5 E7 Am).
(Here I transposed to the Ventures key. Smith's version in D minor.)

Also, Smith's changes for blowing on the A section are simplified to just 2 bar vamp of one minor, two-five.

Johnny Smith recorded it twice, the second version is on his late 60's Kaleidoscope album. It has an intro that I can assure you doesn't lay out simply on a six string, especially when you consider that he used a dropped D as a sixth string.

Johnny Smith recorded it twice, the second version is on his late 60's Kaleidoscope album. It has an intro that I can assure you doesn't lay out simply on a six string, especially when you consider that he used a dropped D as a sixth string.

Hey, there are lots of Walk Don't Run on YouTube.
Chet Atkins's version is cool and I can see how the Ventures may have started from there. Chet starts in A minor, but he changes in the middle to Smith's original key of D minor and plays it a bit more like Smith. Also, the Ventures definitely did not go with Chet's cooler chords in the bridge.

But I had forgotten that the Ventures start on A MAJOR, not A minor. Ick.

But I had forgotten that the Ventures start on A MAJOR, not A minor. Ick.

I'd forgotten that too! Ick is right. I really liked the Chet version.