Just Watched a Video of me playing Steel......

Kirk P Dighton · Post by **Kirk P Dighton** » 16 Apr 2003 5:00 am

OK. I really thought I was doing well after playing steel for 3 years. I played at a show at Norhteast Iowa Steel Guitar Jam in February and at the time I really thought I had done well. Then....a friend of mine who had recorded it, gave me a tape. I was so excited to watch it,,,,and then,,,,,I heard everything I actually missed, the technique and tone issues. This definately took me down a notch. I have resorted to practicing without any effects and concentrating on the technique and tone quality without all of the cover-ups. Have any of you ever experienced this "let-down" and what did you do to overcome your own issues, other than Practice Practice Practice (which is key, I know). Thanks in advance for the hints. Kirk, S.P.I.T. (Steel Player In Training)

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 16 Apr 2003 6:13 am

What you experienced is not uncommon. I would suggest most would feel the same, INCLUDING the greats.

Remember what WE hear and see when WE are playing is NOT what others hear and see.

And it is here that makes the difference. Video is a fantastic method of "working the kinks out" IMO.

carl

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 16 Apr 2003 6:15 am

Kirk:

Don't sweat the small stuff. I played dozens and dozens of recording sessions back in the 40's -- and I have always been disappointed with my work when I heard it played back. Listening to your playing is something you should do every chance you get. You will learn that you are the best critic of your own work -- and you are usually tougher on yourself than others would be. Listen to something you recorded at some point in time, then record the same thing a year later and compare the two. You will be shocked at the difference. Practice may not make "perfect" but it will make you better than you were earlier.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 16 Apr 2003 7:03 am

Kirk, maybe you are being a little too hard on yourself. Unless your friend is a pro with high level equipment, most amateur video cameras are lousy sound recorders - tons of wow and flutter. They can make anybody sound bad, and instruments with long sustained tones like steel sound the worst. Did the whole band sound worse than you expected, or just you?

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 16 Apr 2003 7:40 am

I have a cabinet in my music room full of "live,on the job" audio and video tapes that I have never listened to beyond the first three or four songs on the tape, because it was too painful to listen to myself playing that bad! www.genejones.com

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 16 Apr 2003 9:32 am

This is true for one's speaking voice also. I recorded the message on the answering device built into my telephone about five times before I had gotten it right.

When I'm practicing steel guitar alone, I practice in front of a full length mirror and try to imagine what the audience is hearing. It's not very difficult to glance up every few seconds. It's like glancing down at the speedometer when driving. It really does give you a good picture of what you are presenting to the audience.

Rick

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 16 Apr 2003 9:53 am

A very famous steel guitarist that I'm proud to know has revealed to me that HE NEVER EVER listened to what he'd record on a session and that he had NO collection of his recorded material.
For me it's hard to believe, but I do understand it. It's easy to second guess everyone around you.........but far easier to be hyper critical about one's own playing.
Play it, and forget it! Once it comes out of the box, the world has heard it so forget it. Move on to the next challenge.
If you gave it your best....how much better could it be?
I've listened to my old radio/TV shows, live from the bandstand, etc....and while I'm proud of some of it, much of it really discourages me and I've threatened for years to quit playing forever.
But when someone YOU DON'T KNOW, comes up to you and compliments you on your performance........it's a real high.
Just strive to do your very best. Stay away from those pesky gimmicks that don't really make you a better musician but rather a fad player and noise maker. If you do use them, minimize your reliance on them.
Don't get down on yourself. As long as it's from the heart........keep at it.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 16 Apr 2003 9:59 am

Remember to practice smiling when you play also.

Paul King · Post by **Paul King** » 16 Apr 2003 10:08 am

Kirk, Do not let this drag you down. The steel guitar takes time and patience to learn. Ron made a statement that practice may not make you perfect but you will improve with it. I had a gentlemen tell me in my early days of steel playing that if you ever think you are getting good pull out that Hal Rugg record and give it another listen. Some people have a natural talent for playing and it seems playing comes easy, while some really have to work harder and practice more. You will improve in every aspect as time goes by. I like to hear myself on tapes or video to make sure I am still playing clean and smooth. One thing I have noticed is that it sounds different to me on tape than it does while I am playing. I would bet that in no time you will be surprised as to how much you have improved.....Paul

Mike Delaney · Post by **Mike Delaney** » 17 Apr 2003 5:32 am

I have always hated my own playing when I hear it played back, because I know where every litte fluff is. However, I will like it a lot better six months from now, when I forget where the fluffs were.

From a psychological standpoint, I think this is natural. Musicians must be confident, or they would never get on stage. A great deal of this development takes place in our imagination. When I think of myself playing, I "see" and "hear" myself doing it perfectly. When I hear a fluff on something that I have played, this doesn't match up with what I have imagined, so it really bugs me. Then, as I said earlier, six months later it doesn't sound so bad. Selective memory, perhaps?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 Apr 2003 4:10 pm

I have a studio axiom... TAPE IS CRUEL.
I have said this at almost evey session I have ever recorded and/or play on.
It forgives nothing.
I don't know one honest person who has finished an album that thinks it is all correct. And not just those with the fix it in the mix metality.

There is something not right in EVERY performance including those legendary things we all love. The guy, or lady, who did it, knows there was something they would have done the centime differently sharper or flater earlier or later... That's just the way it is.

But that said, what you search for is the "Magic" where the good things far outweigh the normal things.
That's why Buddy, Paul, Tommy and Lloyd get so many good gigs.(If I left you out I was still thinking of you anyway)

Ivan Posa · Post by **Ivan Posa** » 17 Apr 2003 4:56 pm

It seems a common fault among steel players to be over critical of their own playing. Mistakes and botch-ups will happen in a live performance. As Lloyd Green said at the start of the E9 video he did with Tommy White, " There will be some mistakes but hopefully there will also be some great moments." This sums up live playing exactly. The music is the sum of all its parts not just the individual musicians. Some of the greatest and most enduring pop, rock, country music was and will be made by musicians of quite limited technical ability while there are many technically brilliant players who will never get much recognition. I am sure the figure would be greater in the US, but here in NZ 99% of the people I play for don't know what the instument is and care even less, but I do get comments on how much they like the sound. Neither they nor I worry much that I am not a very good player. I practice the instrument a lot to try and improve my technique, but I also try to focus on just the song when it is time to play. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes not so good, but it's always enjoyable....IP

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Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 17 Apr 2003 5:36 pm

Kirk,
Relax and enjoy what you'r playing,the mistakes will get fewer and fewer as time goes by.
The biggest high a steeler can have is for a friend(another steel player that you know is better than you)come up to the bandstand and ask you to play(insert your favorite song here)and says, you played that the other nite and blew me away...BF

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Bill Ford

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 17 Apr 2003 11:30 pm

I can always remember the Late Chet Atkins saying he disliked most of everything he recorded except "Canned Heat" and I could never get too much of his playing.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 18 Apr 2003 8:08 am

If musicians were in control of all their takes on tape, we'd probably be missing a lot of great music. Visual artists are usually in control of their work when finished and they regularly destroy a lot of it. Many great artists have had this problem. Great paintings are often found painted over by later paintings, sometimes considered worse. To get published, writers have to at some point turn their work over to an editor, otherwise they'd just keep rewriting it forever.

The Japanese had a different feeling about this. There is a tradition among the finest pottery artisans to always intentionally add an obvious flaw when a work is finished. This is to make it clear the artist is sensitive enough to recognize that nothing he does is really perfect, and humble enough to admit it. Myself, I have never had to add any flaws intentionally.