What do you play first?

Marc Friedland · Post by **Marc Friedland** » 12 Nov 2003 1:28 am

Not that it's all that important, but it seems like it might be an interesting topic.

When you sit down at your steel, what's the first thing you play, or do you tune before playing anything? And do you have a particular reason for your choice, or is it just a habit that you're not even sure why you do it any more?

I find that I change every so often, but sometimes I might play the same thing for a couple of months or more. Sometimes it's a pattern or lick in open strings with no bar. Sometimes it's a harmony scale, and sometimes it might be a just a couple of 2 note harmonies. Very rarely is the first thing I play, a song or anything very complicated. Some times it might be an intro or something particular I've been thinking about or previously working on. My guitar set up at home holds tune quite well and I usually don't tune at all, for a while unless something is very obviously out.
On gigs it's a different story, as I feel I have to be warmed up and ready to go faster, but I think it's a mental thing more than a physical thing. With the sound off, I might go over the first thing coming up in the set that's a little tricky or difficult. But basically I just want to make sure I get at least a small amount of warm-up time and that I'm comfortable with my picks, seat, etc.

-- Marc

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 12 Nov 2003 6:43 am

Parchessi, then dominos.
Eventually when I lose, I play a blues,
and try to get in tune.
After that some jazz chords, which often prove I need not have tuned anyway.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 12 Nov 2003 7:47 am

I go straight to the 5th fret and play a made up song that uses every pedal and lever I have and a bunch of combinations that I use often. It's a little bit of Night Life, a little bit of At E's, a little bit that I pulled out of thin air. What it does for me is threefold: it warms up my strings by playing it for a minute or two; gets my fingers loosened up; and it gives me assurance that all the pedals and levers are working correctly and helps me find pulls that might need to be tweaked.

Another thing I do is tune my guitar pretty thoroughly before leaving the house for a gig. I rarely even use the wrench on stage. After playing for a couple of minutes, I check the tuning. The whole process takes less than five minutes.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 12 Nov 2003 7:52 am

Easy question. The first thing I play when I sit down is almost always the last thing I played when I previously got up.

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Jeff's Jazz

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 12 Nov 2003 7:55 am

Well..yes I tune a little bit but not enough to hurt me..then I warm up with my version of the Star Spangled Banner..which has many knee movements and chord changes..

Then I move onto to what it is I want to accomplish in my sit down session with the Steel

T
[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 12 November 2003 at 07:57 AM.]

Paul King · Post by **Paul King** » 12 Nov 2003 10:19 am

I play at church most of the time so I usually tune first. I tune the E9th then the C6th. Most of the music we play is going to have a country flair and we do not play very much that the C6th would fit on. I do play it as much as I can. After tuning I try to loosen up the fingers and try to work on more fast licks before anything slow. I do not play as much as I did a few years ago so getting my mental and physical together sometimes takes a little time.

J Fletcher · Post by **J Fletcher** » 12 Nov 2003 12:22 pm

When I sit down to practice, I play scales and licks, without using pedals or levers. Then I play a bunch of stuff using only the lever that lowers my E's. Hank Williams type stuff, and a bit of Western Swing. Then I start using the rest of the pedals and levers.

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 12 Nov 2003 12:39 pm

depends on which guitar I sit down to...

if it's the ZB, then Tom B's solo from "Buckaroo"

if it's the Zum, then it's a solo arrangement of a Stephen Foster melody I worked up..

Bob Carlson · Post by **Bob Carlson** » 12 Nov 2003 8:41 pm

I start on the thrid fret, A&B down (C) and run the scale on the three and five strings up to the fifteen fret (high C) then back down. Going back down really helps learning to land on those frets you can't see because your hand is in the road.

I some times don't play mine for a week then for a couple of weeks thats all I do. It't when I haven't played for a while that this really helps.

Bob