The Steel Guitar Forum

Are there ways of preventing klutzy spills, or avoiding costly mistakes by making attentiveness a real priority? As we age, some things that contribute to sloppy performances, include the balancing act of struggling against a gravitational pull, that is always present. Has it affected you, to the point of realizing that it must be addressed?

Bill it has happened to me a time or two. Take a song you know by heart. You have played thousands of times. You're out playing a gig and it comes your turn to provide your part in the instrumental break. You hit a bad note or you miss a note.That could really throw your night off. I know it does me.

I always remember a Jerry Garcia quote, "You can't get the last note back."

So true, and if you think about it you'll have a better chance of blowing the next note.

Forge ahead with a clear mind!
(not a Garcia quote)

one arrow, one life

... the balancing act of struggling against a gravitational pull, that is always present. Has it affected you, to the point of realizing that it must be addressed?

I don't know about anybody else, but I've gotten kind of used to gravity; it doesn't seem to slow me down too much somehow. I'm kind of glad it's there to tell you the truth!

GRAVITY: It's not just a good idea; it's the law!

Pete,

I've seen quite a number of you boys from the state of Tennessee. Doug Carver and Nancy Freshler arranged to have I would say, most of the popular singers and their bands to appear at their Home Club back in the 80's and 90's. If you were playing in a road band about 15 or 20 years ago, chances are I could have caught a glimpse of you, if you played there. True, gravity has multiple definitions. I'm speaking solely of the type that would cause a wingless bird to plunge to the ground. The combination of the pull, and the balancing act causes a destabilizing of a smooth performance.

One of the things I like about playing marimba is that the notes disappear real quick. Unless you launched into a long riff in the wrong key or something, you can recover from bad notes before anyone notices what happened.

I suspect that's why some people take up the banjo, too.

That's why I like C6th over the 9th.[just my opinion] It's a lot more forgiving.When you are playing live and hit a clunker it's GONE in a heartbeat,if you are recording and hit one AND it's not caught during mixing, it's there FOREVER. That does happen sometimes. YOU BETCHA, DYK?BC.

Last week the singer was doing an old Jack Greene song. We were all taking full breaks. When I started mine I got the first half right but got completly off on another song the second half of my break. Never could get back in right so just finished that way. I don't think anyone noticed. Also when the fiddle player plays Westphalia Waltz I have to really be on my toes or I'll get it mixed up and end up playing I'll Be All Smiles Tonight. I don't know if its old age or checking the chicks out on the dance floor .......

The other night we did Melancholy Baby. Then the singer called Write Myself A Letter in the same key. I could not switch tunes! They were just to similar.

A few years back i was supposed to play a Fri and Sat night with a band.The front man did one Ray Price song after the other so much when they gave me a ride i had no idea what song we were doing as they were all sounding alike to me by then and i had not played a Price song in years while on the road.I never even liked playing two songs in a row in the same key no matter what the song was.I did not go back Sat.night.
Not that thye cared i am sure.

The other night the band leader called out CAN'T YOU SEE by Marshall Tucker,I thought he said KANSAS CITY. I did'nt hesitate,came in the back door and kicked off Kansas City,that did'nt come off to well,Oh well was'nt the first time I screwed up,and I'm SURE it won't be the last time. YOU BETCHA, DYK?BC.

Speed pickers experience a sort of inertia in bar movements, until external forces divert the concentration, and the risk of having to resort to ad libitum becomes greater with each passage through original melody lines. Start by counting the number of times you drop something in the course of the day. The balancing act that is learned as a child, can only function through a healthy mind and body.

Bo Legg,

Do you have any sketches of "The Highway Patrol" requesting a suspected DWI driver to Walk The Line? That balancing experience provides the arresting officer with information at the very moment of suspected intoxication. Steel guitarist go under similar observations at performances like the current presentations in St. Louis. It's more of ascertaining who's who, but no arrests are made.

Joey Ace,

Thanks Joey for your contributions made in the interest of musicians who have devoted many hours of study at their steel guitars. Do you have recorded material on You Tube, or otherwise attainable for viewing?

Charles Davidson wrote:That's why I like C6th over the 9th.[just my opinion] It's a lot more forgiving.When you are playing live and hit a clunker it's GONE in a heartbeat,if you are recording and hit one AND it's not caught during mixing, it's there FOREVER. That does happen sometimes. YOU BETCHA, DYK?BC.

Been there, done that! YOU BETCHA!

When I first started playing my PSG out on gigs, I was just sticking to simple, basic playing. At the beginning, I would tune my 2nd string up to E, because at the time, I used to every so often accidentally bang into that string, (At that time I hadn't been using my 1st and 2nd strings yet) Boy, talk about waking up an audience up when you're playing a simple melody or fill on a major chord and hit that one by accident. OUCH! Now there's a klutzy move! At least, when I tuned it up to an E, if I accidentally banged into it, it was at least in key! Fortunately, I'm of course beyond that now. Well, er, most of the time anyway.

So far not yet....

However the next time I go to play and can't remember how I got there.....

Mark,

Just as troublesome I find, is the 7th string of the 9th tuning. Tuned at F# it can be a problem due to its placement between two major tones. It has the potential to mess up a good pattern of notes.

Charles Davidson wrote:The other night the band leader called out CAN'T YOU SEE by Marshall Tucker,I thought he said KANSAS CITY.

Jeff,Sometimes in a noisy honky tonk things don't sound the way they should,like when someone with their back[the steel player is always in back of somebody] to you may call a key. ever notice how much C,B,G,E,D, SOUND ALIKE. YOU BETCHA, DYK?BC.

Charles,

Classifications of habitual smokers are dreadful and way off key with nonsmokers who find smokings to be wicked sources of annoyances. A few mornings have past since I walked along the shores of Lake Pontoosuc, which is located along major route #7 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It's perfect for a brisk mid morning walk. Earlier in the year my favorite songbird (song sparrow) was there for me, wild flowers opposite the boat ramp displayed their shades of blue and pink, on either side of a large grassy area used for sun bathing. One of the bather's putrid effronteries in many situations is lighting up at the very moment that I cast a glance in their direction, of basically the lake frontage. To subdue or conquer by dissuasion is for naught. It's a horrid imbalance of humanistic rationale. Totally out of balance with logic, is the understatement for the duration of the 21st century. A pack of twenty cigarettes sold for a quarter in the 50's. Today they sell for $8.00. I could rant and rave about dollar values, but it would be useless to do so. For my part, I see smoking as an offensive habit, with distructive consequences.

I'm not concerned with the bad habits of others, provided the habits don't touch me in any shape or form. B.H.

I don't understand this topic. What does any of this have to do with Steel Guitar???

Johnny,

First of all, I'd guess that your a smoker. Please tell me that I'm wrong to get me back on track with the intended purpose of the thread. I had become concerned about steadfastness, and steadiness, as one grows older, while attempting to stay in the race with younger players. I thought that it was a reasonable concern, since we all grow old in time.