The Steel Guitar Forum

Last sunday I took part of a session. It was some kind of a party for a friend. There were all kind of songs being played on the spot and unrehearsed.
Somebody suggested "I've Just Seen A Face" by the Beatles. When the singer nodded at me to take the solo I was lost, although I knew the song well.
On my way home it came to me what I should have played, it would have been very simple but fitting.
I sat up my steel the next day, tried it and it did work. I was angry that I could not pull it off the day before. Has something similar happened to others?

Every day.

It wouldn't surprise me to think of a part that would have worked but not until later, particularly if the song was impromptu.
Just the creative process for me.

And, I've Just Seen A Face does go at a pretty good clip....

I understand how you feel. Maybe it wasn't fair that the front-man asked for a "solo," but that's what they do. He was in the moment."

When it happens to me I just play roots and 5ths, a little vibrato, and smile.

Don't be too hard on yourself, Joachim.

common...don't feel bad

It happened to me at the non-Pedal gathering at Palo Alto early this month. Larry sang an Hawaiian song that I was very familiar with, but when he nodded to me to take the instrumental it was unexpected and I lost where we were in the tune. That evening, sitting back at home I played the same tune in the same key several times over just to prove to myself that I hadn't lost it.

It's bad enough in front of an audience, but in a room full of excellent steel guitarists, who notice everything, it's very embarrassing.

Na, don't be angry.
Next time, just watch what you eat before playing steel. With the wrong diet, your food can sometimes digest backwards. Happens all the time to folks while driving a car, taking tests, etc.
The technical term for this is call a brain-fart.
Hope that helps!
Bud

It happens to us all.
Buddy had mentioned that, even in the 90s, he'd be driving home from a recording session and think "NOW I realize what I should have played there..."
If I start a solo with no ideas, I pull some basic licks out of inventory and use them in lieu of real ideas.
And sometimes I get the cousin of "crap, I don't know what to play!", which is getting to the end of a ride and thinking "that was SO much cooler in my head."

happens alot to me, joachim.

Happens more often than ya might think bro.

I think it happens to all of us.
It's more likely to come in the genre free-for-all , and for a variety of reasons. Often,
I don't know the tune or the progression.
It's spacey and without structure.
It lacks definitive melody, with minimal chord change.

As fate would have it, the "leader " thinks the steel would be really hip in that spot for some reason, and I got nothing.

We've all been there, and I'm sure I'll be there again.

As everyone has agreed, it happens to us all.

It's really miserable when you record a song before your most polished solo has evolved. You have to listen to a less than optimal version for eternity, knowing you could have done better. The ability to compose the cool part on the first take is why some guys get the studio calls, others, not so much.

But guess what, you'll magically do something cool the next time that song gets called out. It'll probably be better than last time and not as good as the next time.

Music: the common tongue.

that has happened to all of us and pro players as well Ive seen it happen on tv and stage
sometimes it slips up on us in a song as a solo
or a fill or intro or whatever
chalk it up to experience.......

IMHO mike

Many years ago Bobbe Seymour and I were talking about this very same thing. he said when the lead singer says take it, simply stand up pick up your steel and ask, take it where? the audience gets a laff at the lead singers expense...and you can sit back down and cross your arms....everybody there knows you can play because you have been playing all night but being caught off guard really screws me up..

No reason to feel bad unless the same thing happens again...with the same song. I can still remember the first time I had to take a ride on "Ghost Riders In The Sky". I hadn't been playing that long, so I just played some banjo rolls w/A&B pedals, and it came out really good! So, when it comes time for you to play - do something...anything, even if it's wrong (because that's how we learn).

One problem is that I think a lotta players these days get hung up on trying to use 4 or 5 levers and working on all kinds of scales, and they just don't realize (or ever learn) what can be done with just A&B.

Thats when ya gotta wing it , fake it so to speak.

donny...ghost riders is one of my most dreaded tunes to play. some people put rests or spaces between the lines differently than others.
i can't tell you how many times i've guessed wrong!

We have all been in a situation like this. Only later to end up thinking "I could/should have done this/that/anything else".
What it really amounts to is: "Is this worth to be angry about" being just like everyone else.......
The feelings stem from being thrown into a situation, which one had no control over, anyway. Most likely, this is not the first time it will happen, nor the last.

Live and learn..................Pat.

At the ISGC in 2000 (I think) the seminar was Jeff Newman and how to solo.

I'm going off of memory here, but in essence I believe that his advice was when all else fails, just play the melody.

Also, if you know what key the song is in, just play that scale. If the song is in C, play the C major scale. The order of the notes won't matter. There might be one "wrong" note, but there's a good chance you won't hear it. I didn't believe this would work until I saw and heard him do it.

Remember the impromptu solos you did nail. That would be a good topic to explore.

Who remembers the Smothers Brothers bit:
"Take it Tommy!"
..."No"

Who remembers the Smothers Brothers bit:
"Take it Tommy!"
..."No"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIfl2o44zb0

My story... The first time I played a "public" gig... and another guitar player talked to me about how much he liked steel and asked me to play on his set. It was of all things CHRISTMAS MUSIC! And he did the thing that scared me the most of all. Mid song, he turned and said "TAKE IT AWAY STEEL PLAYER!"... GULP!

I played and evidently it sounded OK...

All the time !

So I'm not alone, thanks.

And, I've Just Seen A Face does go at a pretty good clip....

Charlie what I came up with isn't very fast. It's the original solo played in thirds.
Chris, I've noticed that too with "Ghost Riders".