The Steel Guitar Forum

I had a solo guitar gig tonight at a local bar. Economics around here are tough -- they'll pay a good soloist $100 for singing and playing guitar, and yet all a band can get is maybe $200. Do the math... I have an eight-piece band and we are lucky to get $25 each sometimes... So I like the solo gigs -- I have to work a lot harder, and I usually have a lot less fun, but the money is much better. And this place is so small if I'd had even a duo they would have been crawling over the guitar neck just to get in and out the door.

Anyway. I got a crazy idea -- why not take the steel? The last two times I played this bar it was nearly empty. Why not just sit there and practice my psg? So I set up the steel and my guitar and a mic, and spent most of the three hours just playing solo steel -- no rhythm guitar, no bass, no drums, no beat box, no looper -- just me and my psg, trying to play chords and melodies at the same time. Played some country, played some blues, tried some harmonic minor Latinesque stuff -- and it all worked! People loved it! (And of course tonight the place had a good crowd.) I even played a few Christmas carols, which is definitely not my usual cup of tea.

Of course if one of you REAL pedal steel players ever came to town you would blow me out of the water and steal my gig in a minute -- if the folks at this bar heard a real pedal steel player, they'd probably sue me for false advertising! But somehow tonight it was all good -- I had the magic touch, and the chords were blending, and that sweet pedal steel sound that we all love so much seemed to be enough to make everybody in the bar happy, even without a backup band.

I even sang a song while playing steel, which is another thing I had never done in public before without at least a rhythm guitarist...

So just wondering -- do any of you folks ever play solo pedal steel gigs, or am I the only complete lunatic on The Forum? Pedal steels are scarce around here, and the novelty definitely helped -- maybe this is a gig that would not float in Tennessee or Texas. But here in backwoods upstate New York, it seemed like a neat idea, and I got $100, $25 in tips, free dinner, and four free drinks for three hours of solid practice. Might even try it again...

Way to go Barry. Years ago, we had a very informal jam, at this bar every Sunday afternoon. All the players went home after a few hours. The place was packed, and I stayed by myself. Just played the songs I knew, and requests, when I was asked. The tips I got was more than my share of the paid gigs I was doing on Friday, and Saturday nights. And yes, you can entertain a crowd for 3 hours, very easy.

Hi Barry, I have been doing solo steel for over twelve years and I just decided last week to take a sabbatical for a while. I have always been well received and played mostly for nursing homes and Alzheimer units free gratis. I always had several assisted living places to play and they would pay $40 to $50 dollars per hour. I used the assisted living places to help pay for gas, strings, etc.
I would encourage any one who loves to play to try it. You will be well received and it is a very enjoyable and worthwile endeavor. By the way the reason I am taking a sabbatical is that I am about to turn 76 and I feel I need a rest, old I guess.
Keep picking and have fun while you do it.

Glad you posted this Barry. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I used to do solo work with guitar and vocals. It worked OK but I felt that my show was not really strong as I am not a really strong guitar player. The PSG is my real deal. I'm thinking that the novelty of it would definately be an attraction. I'm having a hard time imagining pulling this off without some kind of rythm track though. I can play some rythm patterns on the steel but there's just a lot lacking there!

I’m doing my first solo pedal steel concert Sunday, 12/20 from 12:00 to 2:00 at a local music store here in Fort Collins, CO.
Spotlight Music has their own café where they serve coffee & smoothie drinks, etc, and in that room they have a good sized stage with plenty of comfortable seating and provide entertainment and demonstrations on a regular basis. There’s no pay involved, but I get to promote my website, sell my new CD, solicit for students, etc.

My CD Steel My Guitar Gently Weeps is available on my new website: http://www.pedalsteelguitarmusic.com

Below are the songs I intend on playing at the show.
I created all the backing tracks myself, with the exception of the ones Jim Barron did with BIAB.
I may do a few without any tracks at all, but I’m not sure yet.

-- Marc

Misc. Tracks

1. You Belong To Me
2. Michelle
3. Norwegian Wood
4. Yesterday
5. Fields of Gold
6. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
7. Colour My World

Barrons Tracks:

1. Above & Beyond
2. Falling in Love With You
3. Crazy Arms
4. Sleepwalk
5. On the Road Again
6. Spanish Eyes
7. Walkin’ After Midnight

Holiday Songs:

1. Walkin’ - Winter Wonderland
2. What Child is This
3. Santa Claus Coming 2 Town
4. Rest ye Merry Gentlemen
5. Silent Night
6. Jingle Bell Rock
7. Hatikvah
8. Exodus

Steel My Guitar Gently Weeps

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
2. How Can I Be Sure
3. You Keep Me Hangin’ On
4. 4 Tops Medley
5. Tired of Waiting
6. Runaway
7. Sunrise Sunset
8. She’s Not There
9. My Girl
10. A Taste Of Honey
11. Little Wing

Solo is all I do. I usually play coffee shops, art walks, etc. Just got a gig at nearby restaurant and I recently recorded a one hour show for radio. It's been well received, esp. when they take their headphones/earplugs off in the coffee houses! I have a lot of fun trying to mix chords, octaves, melodies, bass lines and solos. I wanted to play my own music, wanted people to hear the steel close up by itself, was tired of accompanying others and didn't want to be held back harmonically by other players. I didn't think a bass player would enjoy me stepping on his/her territory although it would be fun to play with a drummer sometime if it was restrained!

Thanks
Fraser

Marc -- that sounds like fun. But what I did last night had no backing tracks -- just one 12-string E9 pedal steel, period. It wouldn't have kept a rowdy barful of twenty-somethings entertained (although it might if I was a faster or more spectacular psg player -- what I do is clean and smooth but not usually very flashy at all) but the relaxed older folks at the bar thought it was delightful. I might try it again in a coffeehouse or restaurant, or at an art opening...

And I doubt if I would have tried it with a 10-string psg. Having the low strings definitely helps to anchor the sound when there is no rhythm guitar, bass, or drums. I have been doing solo guitar gigs for decades and I'm used to the format -- just had never done it on psg before. Defintely not as much fun as playing with a band, however...

I just went to the restaurant where I played 3-piece gig last night, to pick up my equipment. The local police were there for breakfast and were very interested in my steel. I played a couple tunes for them and got a free breakfast.

Al Kentfield
Jonestown, Texas

Barry Hyman wrote: ...Having the low strings definitely helps to anchor the sound...

Barry, When I did solo Steel gigs I found that having the low B-string (string 12) lowering from B to A on the A-pedal was a huge help in maintaining bottom end.
I basically had all of my standard E9th changes on strings 8-12, for keeping the fullness.

My VERY FIRST gig in public was an impromptu solo gig. A small bar a few miles from my house in Titusville, Florida was having a jam every saturday night. I decided I would get in on it just to finally be out playing. I got with the bar dude and the guitar picker a week before and they said it would be great for me come down. I told them I was not that good but just wanted to play out a time or so.

Well, the saturday came around and it was POURING rain, but I loaded my stuff into my Aerostar anyway and took off. No players were there, but the bartended said they would probably show when the rain let up. Of course it never did.

I was sitting there having a beer or two when the bartender said, why don't you just set up and play. I thought it over and came to the conclusion that it was one of those "no guts no glory moments". I unpacked, set-up , popped in a rhythm track and with my hands shaking off I went.

It was a blast! People were listening, dancing and such and a good time was had by all. I played for about 30 minutes and stoppped to pack, but they wanted me to stay a while longer.

I did and to this day I think it was one of the best playing decisions I ever made.

Ricky...

These stories are great... and giving me more enthusiasm to do this thing. Are any of you guys doing vocals along with the steel, or just instrumentals?

Been doing that for 25 plus years--no tracks, no drummer (electric or otherwise--long ago found elec drummers "in a box" infinitely preferrable to live ones). Yes, and vocalizing as well. Have a repertoire of well over 500 vocal numbers, concentrating on "enduring standards"--NO contemporary country--but then I no longer play in bars--too much smoke and too many unpleasant patrons, managers, and managers friends/relatives.
Don't have to rehearse or otherwise coordinate with anyone else--no disputes about who is in or out of tune--no disputes about attire--SOLO IS THE WAY TO GO!! Develop the skillset, refine it, and if you meet someone who is interested, can contribute and enhance what you already do, has a personality you and the audience can tolerate, then integrate them.
Meanwhile, DIY!!

Yes, Mark, I did try singing at the same time on a couple of tunes; I've done a bit of that in bands, but it certainly is trickier when the pedal steel has to do the job of the rhythm guitar while you sing. (In a band I usually just play steel fills in between the vocal lines when I'm singing.)

I'm looking forward to the next solo steel gig -- for me it is like super-intense practice time -- try to get through the song without making a single mistake. When you practice at home by yourself, no one hears the mistakes, and you can always go back and do it again. But on stage, the show must go on, and I found I was concentrating harder and generally operating at a higher energy level than when I play with the band. In a band you can always stop or get soft, and the band will keep going, and you get plenty of down time (while the singer is singing or when the other people are soloing) to think or plan ahead. This solo gig was like sitting on the hot seat, but I liked it and will definitely do it again...

Takes a bit preperation but it don't get much better than this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTtR2cKQXlM

I did one time in church.It was a law enforcement appreciation service, I played a two song medley furing the tithe and offering, the songs were "Softy and Tenderly" and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". They went over pretty well with the congregation.

Tommy Shown
SMFTBL

Great post, Barry. Been thinking of doing the same thing for some time now. Time's a wastin' Don D.

A friend of mine and I have recently started playing local restaurants and community center family type places around the area.

My friend plays rhythm guitar and sings old 50-70's country/honky tonk music using a Digitech 4 Harmonizer and I play my Sho-Bud LDG. We're not great, but have been well received and are having a ball.

This was our goal a year ago...We have been blessed.

We will NOT play beer joints!!!

Tommy

Barry, I have played for many years now doing just solo steel and I agree with you that it would be much more difficult on a 10 string. I play a universal 12 and love the bottom end. As a matter of fact my newest CD is "Hymns of Steel" which is nothing but just pedal steel. It has almost an 'organ' like sound. I love doing solo steel.

Blessings, Albert

This is a good thread. Once I was asked to play a solo steel guitar gig at a big hotel on Maui so I did it on PSG playing Hawaiian standards. The gig went longer than my material lasted so I figured I'd just make up some "Hawaiian" sounding melodies because the people there were probably from New York or Texas or some other place where they wouldn't know the difference. After the gig was over I asked a waiter where the folks were from. He said, Honolulu! I said, Oh no...
I remember Jeff Newman talking about playing solo gigs. He told some good stories about that. Don

I was hired to play steel at a memorial service. I played etherial major modal stuff as people entered the chapel. I don't think many people knew what the steel was. It was just me and the minister at the altar. Halfway through the service the minister stopped speaking and I played "Amazing grace"; melody first, counter-melodic second and took it home with the melody again. At the end of the service I played the etherial stuff again as people left the chapel. The service was for a woman who would occaisionally come to a night club where I worked. The daughter hired me and told me how much my steel playing meant to her Mom and the family because her late father was also a steel player and the Mom really loved hearing steel again. It was a very moving and sentimental gig.

Guess I have it all wrong I have played solo at Church,Picnics and nursing homes
Will be making my own backing tracks with BIAB the way I want them! It will be great to have somewhere to hide when I crash and burn!

I've played only two Herb-only gigs in my career that I can remember.

The first was for a wedding in the chapel at Randolph AFB in San Antonio. The instructions were to play the Wedding March as the bridal party approached the altar, Faded Love as the guests were seated, and Mendelsohn's Recessional as the bride and groom left the altar. It paid really good money so I put in the work. I had the piano music to both the wedding pieces and spent a couple nights learning the complete melodies and arrangements, which, trust me, are a lot more involved than just "here comes the bride... etc."

It was the wedding of a male and female airmen couple. The only *guests* were their commanding officer and their sergeant. I played Faded Love a couple times through, then the wedding couple came in, by themselves, and I hit the Wedding March. I never got past the first "all dressed in white" line before the minister signalled me to stop because they were at the altar in record time. After the very brief ceremony, the captain and sergeant just came up to the altar and everybody schmoozed informally, so there was no recessional. Oh well...

A few years later, I got a call from a friend who's mother had just passed on, a woman I knew well myself. She was a mover and shaker at the Univ. O' Texas music dept., a great and gracious lady. Her favorite song was "Where or When," and Tina asked if I'd play it, a capella, at her mom's funeral service. I was floored by the request and put I every drop of emotion and care into my performance. It would be the only thing appropriate for the woman whose memory I was honoring.

I've been playing solo guitar gigs (coffeehouses, bars, schools, restaurants, art galleries, weddings, funerals, retirement parties -- whatever pays) since the sixties, so a solo psg gig was not that different conceptually -- it's just that my steel chops are not as fine-tuned as my guitar chops, so I was nervous about the idea the first time. But, as I said, it went well, people seemed to love it, and I just scheduled another solo psg gig for Saturday night.

This is with no backup tracks, by the way. (That's a whole different ballgame, much easier, more like playing psg with a band, which I do all the time.) No tape, no computer, no drum machine, no looper -- just 12 strings, five pedals, five knee levers, a sweet Hilton vp, and the improvisational spirit.

I often tell my students that improvisation is like surfing -- when you get a good wave, there's nothing like it, but you are just as likely to get your face ground into the sand with the board coming down hard on the back of your head. Luckily for me at least I get paid. (Plus dinner, drinks, and tips. Not a bad deal for three hours of high-intensity-no-mistakes-allowed practice time!)

Was it on this thread or another one where someone said he wouldn't play beer joints? What's wrong with beer joints? I'm a gig slut -- if it pays, I smile sweetly! And someone else in another thread was talking about how he would never play at a prison. I play music for a living, so I don't make any such lofty moral distinctions. I'd play at my own funeral if they would give me free beer!

Barry, That was funny! I just laughed out loud sitting alone in a coffee house with my laptop. You sound just like fellow forumite, Billy Wilson. I know he fells the same way and so do I. The steel guitar owes a lot to beer joints. Don

Great thread. I am inspired now that there are so many solo acts out there. You can only imagine the novilty value here in Aus because of the lack of players and consequently exposure to the general public. "paid. no mistakes allowed, practice" I love it!! To the nursing home I go! ( to play that is!! )