The Steel Guitar Forum

The "Charleton" thread made me think about what an influence Buddy had on so many of us as a teacher, and wonder just how many former (and current) students are out there. I know there have been threads on that before but I thought it'd be worthwhile to see how many of his students, past and present, there are here on the forum. Several have chimed in already of course on the other thread, but still I thought it'd be cool to see how many stories of Buddy as a teacher that we could get in one place...

I started learning to play steel in the Washington D.C. area in the early/mid 70's just as Buddy came home to Northern Virginia after getting off the road. It took me a long time to get up the nerve to take a lesson from Buddy; I foolishly though I had to be a halfway decent player first before I was worthy of his time (and ended up having to unlearn some bad habits once I started with him!). Before I ever took a lesson he came into a club where I was playing five nights a week and sat right at the table in front of me (it was a slow weeknight and there was hardly anybody in the place); I had to take my right foot off the volume pedal and lean it on the floor because it was shaking so hard I got the dreaded "nervous tremolo"... Not long after that I went in for my first lesson and heard him with the student before me; he was teaching them how to put their picks on for the first time and I kicked myself for not coming in sooner.

I ended up spending an hour a week with Buddy for several years, and the experience of having a player with that incredible touch and soulful musical ability right in front of you week after week was beyond measure. The fact that he was so patient, and combined plenty of encouragement with a no B.S. attitude and a great sense of humor was great too!

There was a great club scene in the Washington area at the time so a lot of Buddy's students were "playing out" a lot and many went on to make a career of it. Several of them are forumites so I won't speak for them, but several notable players were Buddy's students then and don't post here much (or at all). Some that come to mind: Tommy Hannum, Bucky Baxter and Robbie Flint (who of course has been with Alan Jackson for AJ's whole career...). Other folks I knew from that era are still playing but had the sense to find a more dependable way to make a living!

Anyway... thanks Buddy!

I was fortunate enough to have two of the finest teachers of pedal steel guitar to learn from. Buddy Charlton and Jeff Newman. Both great teachers but just if not more importantly, great friends. Buddy has tremendous patience and if he sees you're getting it, his noticable excitement reflects on the type of person he was. Always about "the student", not about "Buddy Charlton" as we all know is among the top of the list of the most influential players every playing the instrument.

Count me in as a Buddy Charleton student. I used to drive down from NYC to take lessons and still go when I can. After sitting with him I always feel like a musician and excited to get to work. I can't thank him enough.

Keep them coming you BC students. It is heartwarming to read all these stories. I can certainly appreciate great teachers. I had one of the best in Jeff Newman. Nice to hear they were friends. In my opinion what it takes is a person with real teacher qualities to teach the students. It is not enough that he is a super picker. Obviously Buddy and Jeff were born teachers.
Of all the teachers I have had in my life(counting school teachers) Jeff was the best, alongside an English teacher I had in adult education. Both of those teachers were able to draw pictures in my brain. Exactly what is needed to make it stick.

God bless both Buddy and Jeff.

double-tap

Happy Friendly Little Eric West is a Buddy Charleton alumnus......and he sure sounds like it!

I made the pilgrimage a few years back and enjoyed every minute of it! What a nice man. I really enjoyed the stories. I'm still working on "Almost to Tulsa".

I to am a Charleton Alumnis. I took a lesson almost every Tue at 7:00pm at Oxin Hill Music a few yrs and then over at the harley shop in Indian Head for a few more. I was 11yrs old when i started with Buddy . when i was 17 he landed me a job with the Great Claude Gray that lasted for 7 yrs. personally i owe every dime and every job playing steel i ever made or had to My time with Buddy Charleton and My father of course. I remember Buddy tying my right arm to my waist with a string and having me hold a ping pong ball in my hand whenever i practiced. i think the highlight of my playing days to date was having Buddy,Kay lee,& Howard Whittington come out to Hill Billy Heaven in Alexandria Va and hear me play with Claude Gray i was so nervous i could hardly play. another quick memeory was the squirrel that would set on his shoulder or wander down his arm and on to the floor during a lesson. just priceless stuff Buddy Charlton is and always will be my Hero and Mentor I Love Buddy and Kay lee very much .i think there should be a Charleton student Reunion at Billy Coopers store some time what do you think?

Thanks Pete What a wonderful post Hoss.
Boo Miller

Well Thanks Tony. I don't think there's a mistake I don't make when I see that "kindly worried look" in the corner of my imagination. Hair just as red and eyes just as Stonewall Jackson BlueTM as they were in 76-79.

I used to come way early and listen to Bruce Bouten and a couple others take their lessons.

We might have had three whole conversations in the time I studied with him and mostly they had to do with why I thought I could get by without learning things just the way he taught them.

I wish that I could affect just a half dozen people the way he's affected hundreds, and in the larger view thousands.

The best one has when I was sitting there sweating buckets one morning. It was one of the early lessons, and I had told him before that it wasn't him that had to worry about sitting across from Buddy Charleton.. I was nervous.

He took his picks off, set his bar on end, thoughtfully on that worn out old green ProIII, crossed his arms, like his legs, cocked his head slightly, and said "Are you alright?"

I wasn't.

We went on from there.

Never known a kinder man with as serious a view of what he did, and as I look back at it, I can't think of anyone that I'm more indebted to for the spirit of making music I got from him there in Leo Kellar's anteroom.


The things I have to thank him for, I could never adequately express.

I'm sorry too for a few things that are similar. Mostly my failings.

Again my thanks, love, and prayers.



EJL

Being originally from Baltimore, Md, I met Colts QB Johnny Unitas in the 90's and I haven't had this feeling since then...

3 weeks ago my buddy, Joe and I visited Billy Coopers, and as we entered a gentleman smiled and stuck out his hand and said to me, " I bet you're a steel guitar player". I shook his hand and looked at him and said, "I believe you play a little steel yourself" He then said (with a smile), "Naw, I don't play anymore".

As we went to check out a couple of PSG's, I realized that my fingers and feet wouldn't work because I had just met Buddy Charleton. What's a guy to do?

I bought a Jeff Newman lesson and some accessories from Billy (Billy and Wanda are such nice people). On the way home my buddy, Joe and I were still kind of thrilled about meeting Buddy, and hearing Billy tell us the story about Emmons PSG Serial # 1, which was hanging on the wall (without it's legs). What a great day!

A couple of days later Joe and I got scheduled to take our first lesson with Buddy early next month. To say we're looking forward to our lessons would be an understatement.

At the urging of Pete Finney, and soon thereafter Bruce Bouton and Bucky Baxter, I began to take lessons from Buddy at Oxen Hill Music in Maryland. I took a total of ten lessons from Buddy. I made the drive up from Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday mornings, in my little red Volkswagen bug. Being a history buff, I always took the route that led me through some Civil War battleground areas (The Wilderness and Chancellorsville).

He was the nicest and most patient man I had ever met. So soft-spoken and encouraging. Yes, he would get on me if I was doing something wrong, but always with the right spirit. There is hardly a time whenever I sit down at the steel that I don't think of Buddy Charleton. I still hear his voice in my head: "You're babying your thumb...Keep it straight!" or "Keep your elbow tucked in tight!".

Buddy required that his students tape the lessons. I still have all of my lesson tapes. One of these days I'm going to digitize them for safe keeping.

I am certain that I would not have had the blessed career and life that I have enjoyed without the influence of Buddy Charleton. I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

This is wonderful stuff guys. If you don't mind, what are some of the technique tips he stressed in his lessons? Posture, hand position, physical setup of the guitar, blocking, picking, etc.

I remember visiting my parents in Washington D.C. and my dad (God Bless him) took me down to Buddy's studio in Oxen hill, MD and gave me a solid lesson on grips, palm blocking technique, use of bar shiver and a few other things. At the time Buddy had two Emmons Le Grandes one for him and the other for the student and that was my first experience behind an Emmons guitar anyway later Buddy graciously posed with my dad and myself and I walked away a happy camper from just being in the presence of such a legendary pedal steel musician, only other time I felt that way was with Roy Buchanan of which I used to go to the Crossroads and study his technique and also Danny Gatton at the Crazy Horse in Georgetown. Obviously I was a guitarist before being a steel player but to hear and witness the skill is a humbling experience.

Billy Woo aka
Bronco Billy

I consider myself very lucky to have taken lessons from Buddy for a long time. He is a great steel player who has the ability to teach as well. I would not take anything for the time I got to spend with Buddy and Kay Lee. They are both wonderful people.
Billy

Me too, collectively for about 2 ½ years. During one of my earlier lesson, I had a plan to mess with Buddy a little, to see how sincere he was as a teacher. I told him a friend of mine lent me a cassette tape with a bunch of steel tunes, but he wasn’t sure who the players were. I figured out one of these tunes note for note, and yes, it was a B Charleton ditty, but Charleton had assumed I didn’t know it was him. In the middle of my recital, I played something that was completely out of context with this tune, just to see how Buddy would react. And react he did. He proceeded to chew me out, big time. He was furious! I won’t paraphrase what he said, but I will say at that point I knew his devotion to teaching was more that just taking his fees. As my steel playing improved, I knew Buddy was pleased because he had invited me multiple times to go fishing with him.
gLg

Stephen Gregory wrote:This is wonderful stuff guys. If you don't mind, what are some of the technique tips he stressed in his lessons? Posture, hand position, physical setup of the guitar, blocking, picking, etc.

I guess you'll just have to take a lesson with Buddy to find out. I've always wanted to.

One thing that I'm sure all of BC's students hold dear is the way that he says "That's it!" when you finally do something up to his standards. That's such a great feeling!

OK, I'm gonna log off now and e-mail Wanda for a lesson ...

If you don't mind, what are some of the technique tips he stressed in his lessons?

That's a logical question, and I think several people made it clear that Buddy's pretty strong on a certain arched right hand position, with the elbow relaxed and close to the body (very close to what Jeff Newman always recommended if I remember correctly). It's one of the first things Buddy stressed with me and I'm thankful; that's what's felt natural ever since...

I've got to say that I think there's one thing I got from those years that maybe over-rides any specific things Buddy might have shown me, and that is just having one of the best players ever (in my opinion) being right there in front of you every week as an example to try to live up to.

Most of my lessons consisted of maybe learning a song or solo (of Charlton's, Emmons' or others); he always had one in mind, or you could suggest one you wanted to learn and if he wasn't prepared to show you on the spot he would sometimes take the time to prepare it for later. I can't honestly say that I remember all those particulars, but watching Buddy play stuff from two feet away and trying to emulate his incredible left and right hands (and feet), with him making suggestions along the way was an incredible way to learn. I do believe for a young player it kept the standard high for what you wanted to sound like in a way that couldn't help make you a better player if you were serious about it.

In the time I'm talking about (the mid seventies) we didn't have access to all the video of the great players that we take for granted today on youtube or DVDs; you tried to catch the really great players always if they came through town and you tried to learn what you could from the guys in your own town. To have one of the all-time greats living and teaching right there was an incredible resource and I think we all knew even then how lucky we were.

So there's some more of my take on it, from a particular era. I'd love to hear more from more recent students about Buddy's teaching over the years. For one thing back in "the day" a certain style of "palm-blocking" was the norm and most players used some variation of it; it wasn't till later that the style of "pick-blocking" that Paul Franklin uses became so dominant...

Any more of the folks who were around D.C. in the seventies want to chime in? I know you're out there!

Pete,
Do You remember a fella Named Chuck Mandez (Speeling?)He was a student of Buddy's back then.
the last i heard of him he had moved to Nashburg and was working with Johnny paycheck. that was like in 1980 or so and i never heard from him again . he was much older than me but still was a good friend and i would like to make contact with him. would you have any leads to where he might be these days.
thanks
Boo Miller
Also another great player that was a Charleton student was a fella named Jeff Wise. he was a monster
he played with the Heavy Country Band and big Al Downing for a while and then he quit. I spoke with him a few yrs ago and he lives in W Virginia some where and owns an HVAC company with his dad . he said he still had his old 80's P/P but hadn't touched it in yrs.
Boo Miller

I've seen BC play / perform a couple times up close at shows but never had the chance to take lessons from him. His touch is always most impressive and the thoughtfulness of what he played.

Back in the 80's I met Robbie Flint at a club where I worked. He was playing a black Franklin with Kate Toomey & Rainbow Riders and he was an impressive player. He told told me he studied with Buddy. It appear it was well worth the time.

Technique Tips..

I remember a couple things. One was to wear your fingerpicks clamped tightly around your fingernails far enough out that you could not see flesh in the mid-pick holes looking palm toward face. Another one was the Thumb. You should pick UP and away from you rather than down. Never coming to rest against the next string. The wear on the thumbpick should be on the lower part of the blade toward the base of the thumb. Crossing over "alternating" everything you could with your thumb/ middle. Also blocking every note with a "bouncing" motion. He used to tell me to imagine a rubber ball being clutched by the hand loosely.

Now. In 78-79 he changed his classic way of blocking by starting to hold the right pinky out instead of curling it under. I believe this was an "Emmons" thing. Likwise he started to tune the 1st C6 string down to D. He adjusted many of his "cover tunes" like his Almost to Tulsa to accommodate this, and also the 5th fret with the major7/9 pedal to replace the first four string 6 chord.

I went with the latter. I continued to curl my pinky under like he always had, and uncurled it during lessons to "humor him". To this day I mostly curl it under.

I remember his biggest "thing" was to play things CORRECTLY. I would listen to him practice the smallest nuances, such as double thumbing a note like on Flint Hill Special for LONG periods of time. This was while I listened outside as I would often come way early, and stay way late BSing with Leo and Mr Birkhalter. Also WRT developing a "Style". I got the idea that of course I should, but I should not gloss over difficult but important nuances like clean blocking, accurate sweeps ending with the ring fingerpick, that other players COULD play, just because it was too hard to practice enough, and then call it a "style". Harminonics too. There were several "acceptable" ways of hitting them. My favorite was always the "Half a Mind" one hitting a three note chord at the twelfth, 7th pedals on, 5th on and off. I use it on Waltx Across Texas too, and fragments in many other places.

I think the biggest thing I got from him was his obvious thrill at getting something RIGHT. It was a glee only those that know him know. After so many years, it was that of a (civil war) general winning a battle, an athelete making a goal, or maybe just the praise of god for the things he gave us. I wouldn't understand it until years later when I found how many parts of my life it saw me through.

I'll give you one more since Gary Lee did..

I used to hang out at the Village Barn at the feet of Don West. He was perhaps Buddy's "alter ego" in many ways. He was way friendly not that Buddy wasn't but he was the opposite end of the spectrum as things he played sometimes trailed off into infinity. "Solos From Mars" I think Larry Bell once said.

Well.. I showed up one Saturday, kind of hung over, I guess and proceeded to "improvise" over part of the song for the week. I got asked why I thought it "went like that".. I kind of sheepishly said ""Well it was kind of like what Don West would have done". Well that was not the right thing to say.. He got a little peeved, and said "Oh no it's Not.. Hey we can call him and ask him..(they had known eachother a long time..)" I didn't think it should have peeved him like that until I understood that I was paying HIM to teach me the tunes, and once, MUCH MY FAULT after glossing over some important detail, he intimated that unless I was willing to do the tunes the way he taught them... Well needless to say I went hitchhiking home up the Beltway in tears to AAFB. I did the next lesson RIGHT.

I think I was a great example of someone that he thought enough of to get "down" on. I"m sure many of his students, he didn't get upset with.

I thank God with all my heart for the time he took with me. I've always tried to not emulate his playing as much as trying to get his glee at doing something RIGHT and enjoying helping other people. Don West was the one that I got more of that from, as he'd spend all the time he could inbetween sets showing people that showed up "how he did things".

It's actually a fault in my overall playing I guess, because unless something sounds right, I won't even try to play it. It does limit me somewhat. Others I envy go out and run through things like the lates NVl chromatic phrases, that start out sounding out, and then greadually "come together". I just don't feel right in the "interim".

The ONLY regret I had after MANY years was that I tried to use those Blue Hercs, which did not fit my thumb as tightly as the did his. I ended up 4 yrs ago cutting Dunlops down to fit better and give me more blade length. Other than that, None whatsoever.

That and not playing out until a year after I stopped taking lessons.

Like I said, I thank God for my time with Mr Charleton with all my heart, and only wish that we all got to live a hundred years as young men and women to relish those times.

Even then, I never since or before met such a mixture of kindness and firmness.

And as many know, that "kindly worried look"..

I'll see it in the corner of my mind this weekends at the Longview Eagles, the next weekend at Jollies in VanWa.

God willing of course..



EJL

PS. I wonder if anybody remembers "Boots", or Brynson Reed? Or the Navy guy that milled us all a bunch of "classified steel mix" bars.

I am amazed at the wonderful stories I am reading.
The man certainly is a legend in his own time. I am realizing, like I never did before, that Mr Charlton is one of the true innovators in the pedal steel world.

Lets all enjoy this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViY2WXvV ... re=related

Hey Al,

I remember Chuck Mandes; knew him a little in D.C. and remember him playing with Paycheck here later on. He got into video production and worked on all the Nashville Network shows, among others. I used to see him around a lot but it's been a while.

Another former student of Buddy's that doesn't post here is Robin Ruddy, who's not doing too badly; She owns a publishing company and studio here with her husband Larry, and has been playing with Rod Stewart for the last few years... not too shabby!

I took a few lessons from Buddy in the early 70's. He was teaching at a small music store in Maryland outside DC. I came in using 3 finger picks and a thumb pick. He fixed that problem real quick. He was very patient with me and an excelent teacher. I owe him much. I moved out of state and went on to play with many famous Nashville Stars. To this day when I play 'Waltz Across Texas' I think of him. Thanks Buddy!

Doug Palmer

Hey Pete,
If you ever run into Chuck or know how or where to contact him would you steer him to the forum and have him contact me?.I have thought about him often. the last time i saw him i was around 14 (I thought he was the coolest guy i had ever met besides Buddy Charlton) LOL!! we were at whipperwil lake in warrenton Va and i won some sort of contest that Buddy & Chuck Kind of encouraged me to enter. I remember the stringdusters played for all the talent on that show and of course buddy was there. he had to tune my guitar in a hurry that day cause i hadnt figured that part out yet I played Tom Brumleys "TOM CAT'N" That i had learned as a lesson from Buddy the week before. I still remember seeing Buddy Grinn'n as he and chuck watched from the side of the stage. I cant wait to call my dad and tell him what chuck has been up to he ask almost everytime we talk have you run into Chuck Mandez yet. Cool stuff and great memories. i sure wish i could have those days back somtimes.
Thanks Pete
Boo Miller