The Steel Guitar Forum

I remember when Alex DeGrassi, William Akerman and Michael Hedges first Windham Hill records came out in the early 80s. They played with consummate artistry but created a river of disciples who basically just exploited open tunings as vehicles for fingerpicking patterns. By and large, many of these "open tuning noodlers" didn't have the compositional chops of the originators.

It seems to me that these days, there's a similar school of Weissenborn players who are in love with the sonority of the instrument and mostly explore similar I, IV, V fingerpicking patterns and/or hammer-on licks as opposed to playing melodies. Like this guy ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FINVrtjcJC0#t=239

Here's the same performer (Guimbal) performing a more sedate song, this time with digeridoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilZ-yQp8CEA

That also seems to be a tendency with a lot of dobro players as well. If you isolated a lot of them, the song would be unidentifiable I'm afraid. I love to be able to hear a good clear melody.

I think that's true of any instrument. People reach a certain level and go with what they know. I play acoustic lap steel (a modified Harmony acoustic) and I can play well enough to gig with a band, but I'll never be a virtuoso. But then again, I don't record solo stuff as my flaws would be all too self apparent.

Back in the day I did sound for a lot of those Windham Hill guys. And for a lot of guys who you'd probably describe as "noodlers." Think of how many guys you'll hear at Guitar Center on a Saturday morning trying to be Eddie Van Halen. Maybe right now the Weissenborn is the "cool" instrument to noodle on.

I'm not anti-noodling. It's got a long, proud tradition in string music - and heck some classical compositions are just notated noodling. Just pointing out a trend I noticed. As a noodler myself, I can attest that it's a lot easier than composing a great melody.

I'm with you on that, Andy.

I've been "playing" my recently acquired Weissenborn for about 8 months now and much of what I know I've learned from Youtube videos and old David Lindley records/clips. I agree 100% with Andy's assessment. The Weissenborn is one of those instruments that can make a novice sound good and suggest mastery of the instrument because a good Weiss sounds so rich. Therein lies the danger IMO. Droning on a few chord progressions stolen from the masters gives the illusion of musicality. And when amplified correctly a Weiss can be very intimidating and it's tempting to just leave it at that and not worry about making musical sense.
The really good players don't use that "horsepower" nearly as liberally as the amateurs but when they do it counts. I hope that I'll get to the point where my noodling will amount to "real" music instead of merely pretty-sounding clichés.

I think you guys are on to something with regard to the rich sounds of a weissee and the tendancy to noodle.

I've got one dobro dedicated to open D and I can't seem to get into it.

I wonder whether one tends to be a noodler or a melody-er depends one right-vs-left brain strengths?

Here's a man who knew how to express a melody! So sad that he's gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0hxnx3YG0I

"Play to Express, not Impress"

Andy Volk wrote:Here's a man who knew how to express a melody! So sad that he's gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0hxnx3YG0I

Since the Weissenborn was designed with Hawaiian music in mind, how many of you play with a tuning such as E6, and how many have it tuned to G like a Dobro?

I have to confess that I keep mine tuned in G Dobro tuning even when playing Hawaiian music.

Guess I've pretty much been locked into D and sometimes C tuning Alan.
Truth be told, I haven't dabbled in Hawaiian music at all !

Alan Brookes wrote:Since the Weissenborn was designed with Hawaiian music in mind....

I find that every well-made guitar has it's own characteristics that are brought out by different tunings/styles of playing. I have a Bear Creek and a Brauchli Weissenborns. These are usually in D or D Sus tunings. The Bear Creek is softer and more delicate. The Brauchli has a little more attitude. Of course miking or amping makes a huge difference to what the guitar wants to do.

Bear Creek example:
http://www.reverbnation.com/patricknewb ... edal-steel

Brauchli Example
http://www.reverbnation.com/patricknewb ... oting-star

Some guitars just tend to orient themselves to certain kinds of playing (IMHO). I find my weissenborns like D/D Sus, my Tut Taylor dobro likes G, my Regal dobro likes D, my Tricone likes G, my Deneve 8 string likes C6, and my Duolian likes E.