The Steel Guitar Forum

I've heard a few country and country rock bands with guitarists who try to simulate the sound of a PSG with a Telecaster (with or without a String Bender). I even tried doing steel-like bends on my six string, but when I got my hands on a PSG I soon learned that there's no substitute for the real thing.

No Kidding, I was (and still am if there's not a steel on stage) one of those guys. Once I got even the most rudimentary skills together I started playing out with a few bands. Now I don't really care to play Tele on anything except a couple of tunes a night.

Shaan

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The Pickin' Paniolo

I recently picked up a used Fender B-Bender Tele-I have discovered a few neat things with it-but it certainly cannot do for me what my pedal steel can-I do like the guitar for playing Eagles tunes like "Tequila Sunrise" but I enjoy playing their tunes more on pedal steel anyway

Steel and Bender-Tele can coexist if the players are good enough to make it work.

Ricky Scaggs and Bruce Bouton worked well together. Their "Live in London" is my favorite.

I also have a custom Tele with a PW B-Bender. I agree that I perfer to only play Steel.

I played a gig with a friend with a B-bender,as he started bending away I got up and grabbed my Strat. He asked me why and i told him that there was no since both of us playing similar licks. He appologized and we worked great the rest of the night.
There is a guy here, J.D.Hoag(he used to play for Marty Robbins)That plays AWESOME
steel licks on his Musicman Tele. with NO BENDER!!
The first time I heard him I was looking around for the steel cuz I didn't notice one on stage.

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RUS-LER S-10-NV 400(dead)
TELE's,STRAT-FENDER TWIN
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jack Francis on 12 December 2002 at 03:00 PM.]</p></FONT>

Being a Tele' guy and a Steel guy, and very happy to live in both domains..there is a difference. As mentioned above..A quality Tele' player and quality Steel player are the ultimate if they work together..as soon as one ego arises, either one, the duet is doomed. At one time I played on a B Bender but have since gone back to just plain six strings a slab body and a maple neck. Not every Tele' player tries to emulate the Steel..or should..bending notes and phrases on the Tele' and pickin' away is a world all by itself, just like the Pedal Steel. Listen to some of Jimmy Crawfords early records with Jimmy Capps, it may blow your mind..pick up those Tele's and start pickin again, just don't try to be a Steel Player on the Tele'..at least not full time...

tp

In the late seventies I was at the Hall of Fame Motor Inn in Nashville, when Curly Chalker was working the lounge. A guy whose name escapes me but who was identified as Micky Gilley's road player got up with a Gibson ES-330 or some such axe (whoever he was, he was one serious player that's for sure!). Curly launched into a jazz standard, and played it so that to most ears (certainly mine) you would think it was some hot jazz guitarist - no signature psg sounds at all. Then he looked at the guy and smiled, as if to say "we don't really need another guitar player around here do we?". The guy turned the tune around a bit, somehow made it sound country, and did some of the best E9 psg imitation I've ever heard, and smiled back at Curly. Curly put down his bar and clapped! I spent three nights in a row in that lounge watching Curly, with lots of fine players sitting in, and you had to do something pretty spectacular to get Curly to clap for you.

Well... Buddy Cage and David nelso seemed to co-exist quite well with both PSG and a 'bender' tele.

For me, after installing a bender on my tele, all it did for me was made the itch to learn the PSG that much greater

Gino..yes you raised a great point about the Bender. I had been off Steel for many years, didn't even own one. I was playing locally with a kinda country band and picked up a B Bender and that was one of the pivot points which got my thought process back toward playing Steel again.

tp

I like Paul Franklin's Ped-a-bro and Albert Lee's Tele bender work on Patty Loveless' "Chains" and "Timber I'm Fallin In Love".
I had a Fender Tele, with a Glaser bender that I enjoyed for many years. I sold it so that I could go to the ISGC one year. I miss it sometimes, but I did get dependent on it. Getting rid of it actually helped my guitar playing. I would like to have another one now just to copy some signature licks once in a while. It would have to be a Glaser though, and he has about a year long wait.
Also, listen to some of the old Norma Jean records that Porter produced. Hal Rugg and Buck Trent (electric banjo with d-tuners and palm pedals) played some great twin licks on those sessions.
Michael T.

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UTILITY MAN PRODUCTIONS
'73 EMMONS D10 FATBACK, '92 EMMONS D10 LASHLEY LEGRANDE,
'85 DOBRO 60DS, '95 DOBRO F60S,
'95 MELOBAR CUSTOM, 1955 FENDER TRIPLE NECK STRINGMASTER. EVANS, FENDER, PEAVEY,
and MESA BOOGIE Amps.


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Michael T. Hermsmeyer on 16 December 2002 at 01:23 AM.]</p></FONT>

I play both Tele and pedal steel. I hate B Benders. Most of the players I've heard with benders play the same old psuedo steel licks that a novice steelie could learn to play in 2 minutes. My favourite Tele players all play conventional guitars, apart from Brad Paisley who does play a B Bender. He is just downright awesome, and never once tries to do a poor man's steel guitar. Mind you, he does have a tasty steel player in his band by the name of Randle Currey

Bob Blair... Mickey Gilley's lead player was Rocky Stone from Massachusetts, and yes, he was a monster player. Rocky passed away awhile back.

When we had the band "Tex" back in 1970, Boomer Castleman (inventor of the Bigsby Palm Pedal and Forumite) and I used to work quite well together when we played solos in harmony doing the bends together. The secret was he didn't try to out-steel the steel, and I didn't try to out-Tele the Tele. But we played similar techniques when doing twin-guitar solos.

I've occasionally worked with guitar players who seem to want to impress me (or someone) with their "steel" chops. Usually me leaning over and quietly saying "you don't want me to make you sound stupid, do you?" would do the trick.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Whoa Herb I wish I had thought of saying that to the guitar player I was working with,,,,,,,,,come to think of it, I'm not Herb,,,,so that wouldn't have worked either.
Oh well.....
Jack

Hi, Michael

Check out MY Tele/Glaser on 'Buy & Sell'...

Re: Rocky Stone, I saw him play in Boston area in a guitar & steel duo in early 70's, and later he played with, then joined, "Wheatstraw" a band for which I played steel. He blended well with steel players while employing many steel sounds. A great player.

It depends all on what they do with those benders. There´s a lot more you can get out of them than just PSG imitations. David Nelson, who is essentially a bluegrass picker gone electric, didn´t use it to copy steel licks (with a steel player like Cage in the band, there really was no need to), but more in a bluesy context. Also, listen to Clarence White on the Byrds´"Sweetheart Of the Rodeo" that also has two great steel players on it and he didn´t get in the way of the steel, but complemented it very nicely.

Regards, Joe H.


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One of these days, if I feel like it, maybe I´ll do it...!

Thanks for that info re: Rocky Stone, Herb. Sorry to hear that he passed away. Jimmy Bryant was on stage every night as well, and of course he passed away not long after that. Bryant was playing mostly fiddle, much to my surprise, but did pick up a guitar for one song.