The Steel Guitar Forum

I have noticed pickers that have been playing steel guitar from ten to twenty years still playing Crazy Arms, Way To survive, Farewell Party, etc, every time I hear them

Is that the best they got? Seems so

I sure don't see anything wrong or off the wall with that.
I still enjoy playing them, and remember, many of us grew
up with country music, when it was good country and we
still like it best. We strive to keep real country alive.

Can't speak for them but I will anyway. No thats not all they got. It's just that those tunes are like old, dear, friends.

I also like the old stuff too.But there are a lot artists that are not being played as much, such as Faron Young, Gary Stewart, Johnny Paycheck and more to choose from. I would also like to hear some of the players start in corporating some of George Strait,Alan Jackson, Linda Ronstadt, Don Williams Keith Whitley, and even the classic 50 and 60s rock. Theres an enormous amount of material out there that would make good steel music. I don't care what catagory its in. I just like to hear steel guitar.

Are you talking about at shows or with bands? The players that play shows do seem to overplay the same old songs. Now as part of a band, I think it is different. You play what the crowd wants. Well, people at steel shows still enjoy those songs too.

Jerry Humphries wrote:I would also like to hear some of the players start in corporating some of George Strait,Alan Jackson, Linda Ronstadt, Don Williams Keith Whitley...

Jerry,
Just FYI, I have covered two Ronstadt songs on my CDs, including "Different Drum" and "Love Has No Pride", plus tunes by a wide range of non-country artists, such as King Crimson, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Bee Gees, and others. Some other steelers who play a broad range are Tommy Dodd and Joe Goldmark.

Jim i ordered a couple of your tunes and tracks a few yrs ago. I enjoyed them very much. Tommy Dodd and Zane King i have seen a few times and they are great players as certainly as yourself. Maybe someday soon i can hear you in person too. You guys certainly cover the complete playing field of music. Oh and i didn't mean to leave out Joe Goldberg's stuff. I love his take on the Beach Boys.

It is good that way have the "classics". It's no different with songs I hear at a Southern Gospel music convention. The standards get way overused but the audience seems to demand it. Most good artists figure out how to give their audience what they want. Thus, we hear those songs used a good bit. That's normal. That said, Billy you said players that have played between 10 and 20 years play those songs over and over. Well, that explains why I have never played those 3 songs...because I have been playing for 33 years!

Thanks Jerry H. I appreciate you including me in your comments there.
ZK

SO...

OK Sweet home alabama fo EX...I have asked many road band's that i have been in, if they would consider doing another song from that artist instead of the same old exspected....You will be surprised how well the audience likes it when they shout 'SKYNERD' and you play something off the B side, they love it...But do you think i can get that through the thick skull's of the players?? No........ they want the easy way out, play an over wore out hell bent for leather crutch song that they know. One day i'll get my way and when somebody shout's 'Alan Jackson' it won't be 'Chattahoochie'!!
And god forbid, if somebody ask's for Waylon Jennings, it has to be 'Good hearted woman' instead of something really sexy and cool and un used out!

I feel your pain in some ways brother man!!

There's something wrong with that??? That's like saying to a jazz musician that you can't play "Misty" anymore. Standards are a given. Everything old is new again.

As long as they're played well I'm happy.

I NEVER,NEVER,NEVER, get tired of playing [steel guitar rag] or [sleep walk].[Been playing them for over half a century,Don't really give a damn what other pickers think about these tunes.The paying customers in the audience always LOVE these tunes,That's who I play to,NOT my peers. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Billy, they can take those songs out of rotation when I die. 'Til then, don't mess with 'em!

Charles Davidson wrote:I NEVER,NEVER,NEVER, get tired of playing [steel guitar rag] or [sleep walk].[Been playing them for over half a century,Don't really give a damn what other pickers think about these tunes.The paying customers in the audience always LOVE these tunes,That's who I play to,NOT my peers. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

it does appear that very few are stepping out of the sandbox.

I took the question as "where are we headed" . ?

A few great players literally stepped out of the sandbox several decades ago, we all know who they are... today we can probably count on a few fingers the players that routinely live outside the box..we know who they are..

Kevin mentions Jazz players and Misty...in one sense he is correct but in another, Jazz players use the head as a way to get into the real song which is the jam...that's the part we listen to, that's the part where they bring everything they have to the table....and it's not a I,IV,V progression...


As a long time player, of course I love to listen to fellow players of all abilities, but I too have been thinking...where is this Instrument going because it's not the Instrument..it's US that are responsible for it's destiny....

I know I run the risk of being slammed here, but I pretty much stopped going to Steel shows several years back, how many times do I want to hear HWY 40 Blues with the famous Bruce Bouton solo...to be frank here, I don't even want to play it in the band anymore !

But I do get it, if we show up at a local show playing a Jazz set, which I do not do, how many will be bored out of their wits and want to hear HWY 40 Blues instead ! And in fairness to the player who shows up wanting to play half dozen Jazz standards..tell me the truth here..how many in the house band would be able to keep up ? Charts or not...

It's quite ok to play the "old" songs for our on stage/gig experience, everyone likes the old songs...but it's equally important to do something else as well...as we all play Way To Survive each week..we honestly can't ask ourselves why the Instrument and we, as players ,are stagnant, can we ?

Another artist may ask...

" Why would I want that Steel Guitar in my band, all its good for is Release Me "....


Another thing that has been brought to my attention ( wife) is that many of us look like we just walked in off the Boardwalk from Miami Beach as we sit behind out Steels !

No, I don't have the answers and I too am pretty much in the same egg box with regard to Pedal Steel..but the past two years has found me more on Dobro , Mandolin and back on guitar so my direction is skewed...and I am finally writing and recording an "acoustic instrument" based CD of original tunes, limited Steel and electric guitars......I am certain I will sell 2 or 3 copies !

quite the dilemma

One hundred years from now what will be the "standards?"
What present automobile will be considered a "must have!"
Are bands, shows playing what the audience wants or what the band leader thinks they want.
There are songs that almost demand a steel guitar.
Playing Cold Cold Heart with violins, horns and a harp would be almost sacrilegious.

Billy Henderson wrote:I have noticed pickers that have been playing steel guitar from ten to twenty years still playing Crazy Arms, Way To survive, Farewell Party, etc, every time I hear them

Is that the best they got? Seems so

So Billy, what are you playing these days that is any better?

I like playing the "Old standards",I like to change the arrangement somewhat but it's still "Your Cheatin Heart,Way To Survive,etc.Jazz em' up a bit & people will ask for more.

"better" isn't the issue....if all we are doing is striving to play the exact same thing, style, song, genre etc as what the last guy played yesterday , then what are we to expect tomorrow ?

I don't say "do not play all the good old traditional tunes" I say..reach beyond that in addition to the good old tunes...

t

Good for you Jim Cohen!

Thanks, Theresa. Of course, the bottom line is that I'm doing pretty much what the other guys are doing: playing the music I grew up on 5 decades ago. It just so happens that I grew up in a different place and time, with different music around me... In a parallel universe somewhere, I'm sure I'm regarded as stodgy and 'old-fashioned' (come to think of it, my 23-year old son probably thinks of me that way but he's too polite to say so)

I also play all those classic songs that you consider to be "geezers", but, I can also play other venues. The problem is, that when I play more modern and diverse music, no one wants to hear it on a steel guitar.

Does a drunk yelling, "I wanna hear steel-guitar rag" bring a shudder from anyone but me?

"That's like saying to a jazz musician that you can't play "Misty" anymore. "

I don't think any jazz musicians would have a problem with that.

Other than Errol Gardner, I don't think I've ever heard a jazz musician play Misty. I have always thought of that tune as more of lounge act tune, not a jazz tune.

The ones that really piss me off are the combos like the London Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New York, Chicago Symp's, those guys got their lazy snoots so high in the air it's like Merle Haggard and the Grateful Dead never even happened - couldn't play "Truckin'" or "Okie from Muskogee" if it walked up and bit 'em in the ass and said "Hi! I'm "Truckin"...!!! My theory is, those weird duds they wear constrict the blood flow to their brains, and they get stu... OUCH! DAMMIT! WHAT the HE... frrrgh... oh.... O.K... it was just the cat.