The Steel Guitar Forum

Every first Wednesday, I play a gig at a Portland club called Tony Starlight's. I accompany a great singer, who also plays some piano, sax and accordion. I play mostly six string, but I also play several jazz tunes on the pedal steel, usually just voice and steel. We just played this past Wednesday.

We start the night with a tune that she plays piano on, and I fill with some almost country style ballad swells, etc. It goes great - I'm in tune, nice vp, no problems. As the night goes on, my wife said at the break "How come the volume of the steel keeps keeps changing so much?" As it turns out, because my left foot is so engaged with making all the chords, and I'm concentrating hard on playing in tune, hitting the right strings, single lines with comping, etc, I was keeping time with my right foot!!!!

Obviously, I now have a heads-up, and I'm sure I'll be a better person for it, not to mention a better player, but man, this instrument continues to kick my butt!

I practice a lot, and now have more to work on... Working up "Donna Lee" is great, but you have to keep the expression pedal in mind at all times...

Christopher, you didn't fail -- you were using manual tremolo. Next time, spread the word around the club... some folks might buy it.

I use my tongue to keep the beat when playing steelor often bounce my head back and forth to the beat. Check out YouTube videos of steel players and you'll see all sorts of small timing motions.


Greg

as a drummer of 30 years, that was/is one of the biggest issues with playing steel (aside from all the normal mountains a burgeoning steel player deals with). I pulsate my foot unknowingly to keep time. Has been difficult to eliminate...

I can keep time pretty easily without tapping, but sometimes, when you're the whole band, the urge is strong...

Christopher:

Oh boy, you are not alone. I don't usually have a problem with limbs moving to the beat. For me as a beginner, when I'm operating the right knee levers the volume pedal goes all over the place.

Because my brain is SO focused on the knee action, when the sound disappears I look down to see if the cord fell out of the guitar jack! Then a split second later I realize what I've done.

I should practice that more...

I feel your pain, Chris. Jazz can be sometimes incredibly hard to follow when there's no clear and obvious "reference" to the timing. Carolyn Leonhart sometimes does rather unconventional interpretations of simple songs, and it took a lot of listening for me to wrap my head around this one! Enjoy...(that is, if you can. )


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxo8isig_BE

Donny

That was great! Afro sixes are a beautiful feel.

At this point, after playing jazz (Dixieland to very very modern) for 30 years, feeling the rhythms isn't a problem, for me. Translating the feel to steel isn't hard either, but remembering that feet are a huge part of the game - still working on it!

Chris, Larry Behm (Portland) here. Possible fixes, do not use a volume pedal; adjust the pedal so that it is always on a little so you can hear it in the off position; play with the pedal full on and adjust your amp accordingly. Need more ideas, call me or better yet come over, I could use some jazz lick ideas.

Larry Behm
971-219-8533

Thanks, Larry! I'll give you a call sometime - I appreciate the offer!

When I begin practicing a new part at home, I take my foot off the volume pedal and rest it on the pedal bar. It trains my foot not to move and put more focus on my hands. Recording myself also helped me realize how much I was over-using the volume pedal. I guess when it comes down to it, I'd rather have the audience hear my pics buzz the strings every once in a while than always miss the first half of every chord I play.

I understand the issue, especially when the band is really swingin'. My approach is to take my foot off the swell (volume) pedal and only use it sparingly - typically fills behind the vocalist in slower songs. I use my picking attack (fingers, no strings) to attain required levels...

To each his own - the worst I have done is start an intro in the correct position - on the wrong neck!!!