The Steel Guitar Forum

I believe that most steel guitarists are pretty smart people in general, and I wonder how many of you also play chess.
The game of chess requires abstract thinking, memory, focus and creativity.

Dom Franco

It also requires a certain competitive spitit. Me, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

I suck at chess, even worse than I suck at banjo. (Did I ever mention on the forum that I suck at banjo?)

Well, Mike, I wouldn't worry too much about how the banjo is going ...

... a friend of mine brought a guitar over to my house and decided to show me a few chords ... after I tried playing a bit, he took his guitar back and said "Don't give up your steel guitar job!"

I play against the computer several times a day and after 1200 games I still only manage to beat the computer 50% of the time.

I have had several 7 game wining streaks but the computer manages to catch up quickly.

ok @ SG: lousy @ chess

I love chess! Bobby Flores is a master, and taught me how to play back in the 90s when we were both touring in the same band. I still love to play, but don't get the chance very often now. We had as many as four chess boards on the bus back then, all going at once! We passed countless hours from one end of the country to the other playing chess! The good ole days, haha.

I don't like to brag but i can now make two movws before losing the queen.

When I was a kid, everybody told me I was a chess phenom. I bought into it for awhile and was unbeatable....until that dark day when I was checkmated by an even younger kid...and a girl no less!

That was the end of my chess career, and the beginning of my life trying to figure out girls.

I still think harmonically there's alot of similarities between music and the chessboard. Patterns and strategy.

Long before computer chess, we had magnetic travel chess sets, me and my bandmates on tour always had a game going in the van between gigs. The miles and hours just flew by.

Dom

Chess hmmmm .

I've got a rabbit tail mind.[SHORT] could'nt handle chess. YOU BETCHA, DYK?BC.

I've been playing chess for 50 years. I learned from my father and older brother who cut me no slack. When I beat them I really had to work for it. I'm not a master at that or anything else but I understand the game pretty well.I used to think I was a pretty ok player and use to beat most of the guys I ran across on the road until I played a black jazz trumpet player named Joe Banks I met in a bar in Seoul in 1976 who beat me in 8 totally unorthodox jujitsu-like moves and I realized how deep that game really was. Nowadays I enjoy playing with my 9 year old daughter and she recently kicked my ass for the first time and I got a thrill out of that. I can't think of a better game to instill logic,strategy,patience and critical thinking into a young mind. Like steel guitar and billiards - it's best learned when long hours of practice and study are sanctioned by the realities of youth.

been playin' chess ever since i learned from them guys at the chess tables in washington square park nyc
a most enriching game

I didn't see a column for "Play checker and plunk on steel"!

I play Chess ever time I play my Steel....fret markers ya know

I was playing chess the other night and got my hand slapped turns out , she didn't play..

I've played both. Don't ask me if I'm good at either one.

Mike Perlowin wrote:It also requires a certain competitive spitit. Me, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

I suck at chess, even worse than I suck at banjo. (Did I ever mention on the forum that I suck at banjo?)

I suck at chess too Mike,and I ain't that great of a fiddle player either.
Tommy Shown
SMFTBL
STEEL MAN FROM THE BAYOU LAMD

Does anyone know why MSA pedal steels have chess pieces as fret markers?
Sounds like a joke question, but seriously is there some reason?
Dom

Damm Dom, so you can play chess and play steel guitar, If I remember right, the markers may have come from a ol T.V. series called Half~Gun~will travel...remember his business card, ???