The Steel Guitar Forum

Has anyone ever had the tone bar fly out of their hand just when it was time to show your stuff in the song ? How far did you have to go to retrieve it?
Ron Patrick

Only once. When I first picked up steel,a band I knew used to let me come and sit in and just play the stuff I was comfortable with. One night I kicked off a solo and the light guy put a spot on me. Sure as hell about five seconds into the solo,I fumbled my bar and had to get up and fetch it out from under a table full of folks by the side of the dance floor. The lighting guy followed me with his spotlight on my crawl of shame and the whole joint and the band was howling with laughter. After that I decided to hang onto it at all costs. I think maybe 4 or 5 times since then in the past 35 years I've almost dropped it but was able to get it back under control. I still always carry a spare and keep it real close.

I've never actually dropped it playing but I have dropped it in my lap a few times over the years.

The first string has shot a pick or two across the dance floor.

I was playin' a show in Gray, Georgia in '05 and I was right in the middle of "Bartender's Blues", doin' steel and vocals, and my bar started slippin' around, but amazingly I got it back in the right place for my steel solo. The reason for this was because of cerebral palsy in my left hand. I didn't really drop the bar, it just kinda slid around, and I think I was sittin' too close to my steel.

Brett

I've never dropped my bar, but I've seen it happen to other steel players. Didn't I see somebody drop theirs on the main stage in St Louis one time?

At any rate, I use a different bar for dobro and lap steel, so I have two bars on my guitar just in case. I also keep extra finger and thumb picks handy. I drop finger picks more than anything.

Jim

the bigger the dance floor, the longer the roll!

YES!
On stage with Dwight Yoakam. I was playing keys then had to switch to steel in the middle of a song.
Bumped the steel trying to sit down, bar fell off the steel, rolled off out of reach under a guitar amp.
Luckily the song was in E and I don't think anyone even noticed except Dwight who was just looking at me very perplexed....
Not nearly as funny as Mikes story. Having a spotlight follow you around as you pick up the bar; that sounds like 'fun'.

Joshua Grange wrote:YES!
On stage with Dwight Yoakam
...
the song was in E

This is redundant.

It's happened to me a couple of times over the years, not on shows thankfully, but in clubs. Nowadays I have three bars on stage: the one I'm using, and two spares on the floor next to my seat. If I ever drop the bar again, I'll just grab another bar and pretend nothing happened! I also keep extra picks on my guitar or on the floor next to my seat. I need those things close by in case of an emergency! Once a thumbpick broke in half, and once a finger pick went flying off, never to be seen again!

ooooo meow!
I'm just glad it wasn't a song in C.
I'd have switched to tambourine.

Wow I can't believe it! Two nights ago, right at the beginning of my big solo in "Crazy", I launched my bar across the room. That hasn't happened to me in years! Finger picks yes...bar no. Luckily it was a party full of musicians. I'm thinking about keeping it in the act...kind've like Don Rickles dropping the mic. It was by far the highlight of the evening!

Really timely post for me...

There's been threats of a youtube upload from the guy filming.

That happened a few times,I use a Carter bar now[with the grooves on the side] easy to hold on to.But I always keep an extra bar laying between the necks just in case. DYKBC.

Yup, though I can't remember it being much of a problem at the time, I just reached down and picked it up. A spare bar sounds like a really good idea though.

I don't worry about losing picks. I have nails so it's not really a problem. Half the time I have the picks off anyway...

I've been tempted to throw it a few times Yes I have dropped it playing,I hope the guitar player picks it up. Joe

I seen it happen to a very professional player. He recovered with grace and style.

For a long time I'd drop it every time that dang 3rd string broke on me. Just the surprise would do it, I didn't even have to get nailed by the broken string. It never happened in public though, so no embarassment. I think I may have invented a few new cuss words from time to time when the old standards didn't seem coarse enough for the situation. John

I've had it happen,but not in recent years. I worry about it every time I do a reverse slant. Sometimes I use a 1 1/16 stainless bar that weighs a ton. If that one gets loose it will leave a mark somewhere.

I've broken thumb pucks ,but the funniest one was a finger pickproblem. I was playing a Fender 1000 in a club when one of the small tacks on the fret board came up a little. In the middle of a solo I caught a pick under the tack,pulled it off of my finger and hung it and under the strings.

Bo one night twisted around to tweak his amp and then turned back real quick to start the song intro and hooked the front of the bar on the strings of the C6 neck and the bar fell out of his hand, bounced off his leg and rolled over by the girl singer.
She picked it up a walked over to Bo and said with her sweet little voice "here is your steelie thing"
Bo replied "honey! that sounds soooo much better than tone bar"

Happened to me years ago when i was playing at the Golden Nugget in Vegas.Was playing some fast instrumental,went down the neck and let the bar get away and rolled across the stage.
I don't recall who i was playing for at the time but he stopped the band,got on the mike and asked me to do that again as it was the best lick he had ever heard me play,I thought it was funny also.

I saw one of our finest players do it once at the Steelguitar convention in St Louis. A long time ago now but I won't say their name for fear they might not like it.....They recovered quite well I might add too.RS

Not sure if this counts but I was sitting at the bar at Gabes down on Trinity Lane one night years ago when a fight broke out.

A guy took a swing at another dude with a long neck, missed and hit the gal beside him. I am guessing the lady was either the steel players wife or girlfreind.

The steeler did a wind up and a pitch and let go with what must have been a 90 mph+ tone bar and hit the guy square in the melon from 20 paces or so! Dropped him like a 2' putt!

Talk about bar control!!!!

Ain't never droppped mine.

Back in the '50s I was in the middle of a chorus on our radio program at WAVE in Louisville, KY, when some guy walked up to the left end of my steel and stood there facing me. I couldn't look up from the steel to see who it was until the end of my chorus. I did an octave slide on the end of my chorus while looking up at the guy. It was ALVINO REY! I let go of the bar and it rolled all the way up to the pickup and bounced off onto the floor. I was so embarrassed, I didn't know what to do -- so I jumped up, fell to my knees in front of him and bowed to the floor. He and the band broke up in laughter. After the end of the program, he invited me out to the Iroquois Gardens where his orchestra was playing and got me a table next to his end of the bandstand. He came over and sat with me a few minutes during each intermission. I don't think he was impressed with my playing -- just with my comedic ability.

The Station Inn in Nashville. I hadn't played dobro in years, but I was persuaded to sit in. I had my pedal steel bar, came up to the mike for my first solo and ---SCHWINGGGG-- out flew the bar and rolled to the very back of the room.