How did you come to play the Steel Guitar?

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 2 Sep 2015 11:52 am

My Musical Influences:

My earliest exposure to music was from my Aunt Ida, who taught me to play the piano with numbers written in pencil on the ivory keys. So I developed an â€œearâ€ for pecking out melodies.

During that same time (Early 1950â€™s) I was influenced by music on the Radio, Television and Records. That is probably why I still love Big Band Swing and jazz standards.

My first real public performance was at my Aunt Gloriaâ€™s wedding in 1957, where I sang Elvis songs and the audience threw money to me up on stage!

I sang in Choirs all through school, so I learned some basic knowledge of music notation, In 3rd grade I was chosen for a lead role in our musical production of â€œThe Emperorâ€™s New clothesâ€ I was one of the Tailors. I sang solos in Christmas Programs at assemblies and in talent shows, and in Junior High at a school dance. But my single most influential musical experience was taking lessons on the Hawaiian Guitar.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 2 Sep 2015 11:57 am

I checked I played guitar and then steel.
But it was convoluted. I started on guitar, then went to lap steel in the late 40's and then back to guitar and bass and finally to pedal steel in 1969.

Stefan Robertson · Post by **Stefan Robertson** » 4 Sep 2015 12:08 am

I started out on regular guitar in the grunge era of the mid 90's.

I fell in love with songwriting like cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell then to Ben harper and that was it. The Lap Steel Guitar entered my life and I moved onto kelly joe phelps etc.

When I moved to London I frequented the London resonator centre asking questions. I remember however being told that the common thing was to retune your instrument depending on the song or get a spare Lap Steel Guitar.

This never sat well on my mind as I couldn't imagine having to do that constantly. Although many grunge acts use to retune but realistically you could still play any song in standard guitar tuning.

anyway long story short I stopped playing for many years and just started back again. Life is short.

Nate Hofer · Post by **Nate Hofer** » 4 Sep 2015 4:40 am

I wanted to play in bands as a guitarist. There were already too many great guitarists and no steel players.

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 4 Sep 2015 5:52 am

I played banjo for many years (still do) but loved David Lindley's playing.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 4 Sep 2015 6:00 am

I was fortunate enough to go to college in St Louis, and to stumble into Scotty at a time when I was really getting interested in pedal steel through Rusty Young and Poco, so Scotty became my first steel guitar teacher.

Chase Brady · Post by **Chase Brady** » 4 Sep 2015 6:50 am

I decided to take up lap steel for two reasons:

1) Arthritis in my left hand, mostly in the ring and little finger. I can still play conventional (armpit) guitar, but I decided it might be prudent to have a back up instrument in case it gets worse.

2) I heard Ed Gerhard playing "Homage" on Youtube. Blew me away. I still can't play it.

Once I got started, lap steel quickly got into my blood. I also quickly found that audiences love acoustic lap steel.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Sep 2015 6:52 am

Love David Lindley, Kelly Joe Phelps and Sol Hoopii. Found a lap steel at a flea market and began annoying people with it as much as possible. Have been playing guitar since age 5 or 6. These days, steel only pretty much.

The forum was invaluable to me later on in learning the history, culture and numerous important recordings to listen to. I don't think I would have grown as a player without it.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 4 Sep 2015 7:22 am

Started playing standard guitar at 12 in 1965 and played a lot during the teen and young adult years, and played sporadically after. In 1994 I decided to focus on acoustic, and a bit later heard some Hawaiian slack key and got hooked on that, which lead to further explorations of Hawaiian music and steel guitar in the mid 90s. Prteey much self taught with a lesson here and there over the years.

Mark Roeder · Post by **Mark Roeder** » 4 Sep 2015 7:55 am

About 9 years ago my son bought an Artisan lap steel for about 45.00 from M F. I started playing with it, thus began the rapid fall into the abyss of "The Strange and Wonderful World of Lap Steel". I can't stop now............to the point of neglecting the other instruments I need to practice on.

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 4 Sep 2015 8:20 am

Seeing David Lindley over the years and then Sonny Rhodes doing blues lap steel put the idea in my head. The final push came from watching Dave Hole playing Slide from over the top.

Andrea Tazzini · Post by **Andrea Tazzini** » 4 Sep 2015 9:13 am

exactly like Mike wrote "Love David Lindley, Kelly Joe Phelps and Sol Hoopii. Found a lap steel ....on eBay... and began annoying people with it as much as possible.

The forum was invaluable to me later on in learning the history, culture and numerous important recordings to listen to. I don't think I would have grown as a player without it"
Andrea

John Mulligan · Post by **John Mulligan** » 4 Sep 2015 1:53 pm

I've played guitar since I was a teenager. I saw Harry Manx play a lap style 10 years ago or so and fell in love with what he could do. Then I started looking at lap steels on Ebay because I was fascinated by them. My wife thought I wanted one, although I didn't. We were in a guitar center one time and they had a good deal on a Chandler. She strongly encouraged me to buy it. Four lap steels later I am mildly proficient. I play blues and country. The forum has been a big help. I also have a great older steel player in my neighborhood whom I look up to and that helps.

Neri Bazzani · Post by **Neri Bazzani** » 4 Sep 2015 11:21 pm

Jack Stoner wrote:I checked I played guitar and then steel.
But it was convoluted. I started on guitar, then went to lap steel in the late 40's and then back to guitar and bass and finally to pedal steel in 1969.

Ciao Jack, excuse me but...how years old are you?...

Bishop Ronnie P Hall · Post by **Bishop Ronnie P Hall** » 5 Sep 2015 7:21 am

The year was 1953, and a little 9-10 year old boy, picked up an old Gibson acoustic F hole guitar with 4 strings on it, along with a butter knife for a bar, sat down in his mom and dad`s pentecostal mission church, and made some of the worst sounds that had ever been heard in anybody`s church. This magnificent historical event happened 62 years ago. And to this day, that little boy is a part of that which became known as "Sacred Steel" and a founding member today. (I`m still learning how to play this thing!)

Bishop Ronnie P. Hall Th.G.,D.Div.

Adam Johnson · Post by **Adam Johnson** » 29 Sep 2015 12:36 am

I started out learning to play an old Kay acoustic. My grandfather taught me a few chords, and went on to teach self after that. He also left me a 1960 fender deluxe 8, shortly before his passing. I have been learning with material found online, and through a collection of books I bought on eBay.

Larry Lenhart · Post by **Larry Lenhart** » 29 Sep 2015 12:10 pm

I was 20 and teaching guitar in a studio in Oklahoma. The owner of the store, Bill Pruitt, had been my guitar teacher and he also played and taught steel guitar. One day I heard him teaching some student how to play "Steelin the Blues"....I was mesmerized...I had to learn how to play that! and that was the beginning. He soon sold me his Fender quad (wish I still had that one!) This was in 1967 or so.

john buffington · Post by **john buffington** » 30 Sep 2015 9:30 am

My folks bought me a "Cowboy" guitar for Christmas one year, it had metal sides and chipboard top/bottom with a printed cowboy riding on a horse, playing his guitar and looked like he was singing. It did have metal/nylon strings. I found my dads Case pocket knife and slide it up and down on the neck trying to get those funny sounds just playing with it. A few years later, he bought a Gretch MOT 6 string, cloth cover cord lap steel for $10., and that included a song book with music notes, a Stevens Bar and 1 thumb pick. We found a music teacher in Tulsa, Milas F. Morgan at the Tulsa Institue of Music. After 6 months of lessons he determined since I could not read music I would never be able to play steel. That was 45 years ago. The Lord has blessed me and I have been playing since. Made my living at in fact, for several of those 45 years, and am still playing and doing sessions today!

Fraser Moffatt · Post by **Fraser Moffatt** » 30 Sep 2015 4:04 pm

In summer 2013, after 30+ years playing guitar, bass and drums, I had a bit of an accident and severed the nerve and tendons in the index finger of my left hand. After a couple of surgeries and several weeks of recovery, I realized that I wasn't going to have the feeling or dexterity in that finger and my guitar playing days were pretty much over.

So, having been something of a hack slide guitar player, I thought "why not steel guitar". With a tone bar, I don't need to bend my index finger. I traded a nice Fender Custom Shop Jazz Bass for a BMI S-10 and started on the road to figuring it out. IN fact, my hand was still bandaged up, but I was able to hold the steel bar and start figuring things out. Less than six months later, I had my first gig on pedal steel.

Also was concurrently teaching myself to play dobro. Learned a whole bunch of material and hit a bunch of open stages accompanying myself on voice!

Motivated by this, last summer (2014), I answered an ad for a country band looking for a lead guitar player. I pitched the idea of steel guitar/dobro to the BL and was invited to audition. More of a jam really, but I fit in and started playing with them. Was having feedback issues with the dobro so I dabbled briefly with an S6 lap steel before moving to an S8 C6 console. Now playing 100% C6 console with these guys. Getting "decent" on lap steel, dobro and S8 console was pretty intuitive to me. Didn't take much in the way of learning to get there - not great, barely "good", but decent enough to play with a group of old duffers.

The BMI doesn't get a whole lot of attention right now - but it's there and I play it about once a week - I figure that's more of a long term project anyways. If anyone called me for a pedal steel gig, I'd sit down and learn some songs.

Also got back to gigging on bass (a year after the accident) and have just recently been able to make some of the chord shapes that we eluding me on the six string guitar. Not nearly as proficient as I once was, but I can hack around a bit.

A bit of video of me on the Guytone with the band recently...kinda rough, but there ya go!

https://youtu.be/ZG21blzg63s
https://youtu.be/qs0Rqhu07-g

And if you're curious - here's a short clip of the other band with me on bass

https://www.facebook.com/nadyne.rompre/ ... nref=story

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Sep 2015 4:37 pm

Scotty was my first teacher. Then Jeff Newman, Buddy Emmons, Paul Franklin, and Maurice Anderson. After that I had spot lessons with a lot of others.

Derek Quinn · Post by **Derek Quinn** » 1 Oct 2015 4:50 pm

I had already been playing guitar/bass/keys for 25 years when I became enamored of the Hawaiian-style steel guitar that Richard Bennett played on a tune called Aquanetta. I liked Hop Wilson and Freddie Roulette, but I really didn't develop an interest in steel until I heard Bennett. I thought it was such a cool sound that you really don't hear much of anymore. By that time I was fairly adept at bottleneck style blues and wanted to explore new (to me) territory.

Since I joined I've been blessed (cursed?) by being constantly turned on to players I've never heard before like Marcel Bianchi and Poly.

Frank Welsh · Post by **Frank Welsh** » 2 Oct 2015 4:17 am

I played standard guitar for about two years and then took up the steel after hearing "Sleepwalk." I learned mostly be ear.