The Steel Guitar Forum

I am slowly picking up more pieces to the puzzle that is Pedal steel guitar.
What songs did you learn that taught you a special lick, or brought you to a better understanding of how things work? Thanks

"Bar Hoppin'" Lloyd Green.

If you play pedal steel guitar........ WHY do you tend to
search out 'special licks'?

Why not learn to play as much of a single tune that you can do in E tuning then punch a pedal in order to expand your melody options? Out of this.......the technique for using the pedals will appear as clear as day.

Buddy Cage with the New Riders.

"Bar Hoppin'" Opened my mind to half pedaling the A pedal, and using the 2nd and 3rd pedal Great tune with a lot of good stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWNZ3iT-33E

Ray Montee wrote:If you play pedal steel guitar........ WHY do you tend to
search out 'special licks'?

.

I'd say because they're such a big part of what is memorable about the instrument. And also, because steel instrumentals aren't exactly flooding the charts right now.

Hmmm...

Taught me "special licks" & Ah-ha moments.

Probably when I first heard Buddy's Night Life w/ Ray Price, I thought that was absolutely the coolest, sweetest thing I'd ever heard. And then, when someone gave me Buddy's "Steel Guitar" album, the one with the rainbow on the front, there is so much in the way of cool licks & overall great playing that I gleaned from that album.

Also, my father worked at a radio station where they received promo records, and there were a bunch of Lloyd Green 45's there collecting dust...I was around 12 or so at the time, I spotted them, scooped them all up and played them until they were worn out!

San Antonio Rose, Feelings, and Stainless Steel were a few of my favs. from those 45's.

"I Love You Because" - Carl Smith's 25th Anniversary album featuring Curly Chalker. The rest of the tunes include either Chalker or Big Jim Murphy and for me became a C6th seminar.

"Rick Nelson's Garden Party,and Dwight Yoakum's I Sang Dixie...Both songs featuring the late Tom Brumley!

Memories To Burn by Gene Watson!

Ray Montee wrote:If you play pedal steel guitar........ WHY do you tend to
search out 'special licks'?

Because learning one simple technique or lick can open up a whole world for you, and make you think in another way, once you know how it's done. Everything is based on or inspired by something else.

For example, Lloyd Green's solo in the Byrds' "100 Years From Now" showed me the doublepicking technique that is now a regular part of my playing.

Ray Montee wrote:If you play pedal steel guitar........ WHY do you tend to
search out 'special licks'?

Because "licks" are often gateways to musical approaches that are new to a player. If a player can learn, emulate and dissect that one special lick, the knowledge acquired can often be reapplied in unexpected ways. In essence, new licks can expand one's musical thought process.

Don Williams' "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend".The main solo is pretty accessible to a beginner,although there are some just-plain-gorgeous subtleties in it if you dig deep.Somebody told me Lloyd Green played on the session.

Yes, it was Lloyd. That was the first song on my first lesson from Mike Auldridge.

Panama Red from the album of the same name, and Hello Mary Lou and Dead Flowers from the Home, Home on the Road live album.. New Riders of the Purple Sage.. I never stopped playing, EVER, all day and all night- every day and night until I could play those songs perfectly.. After that things opened up and came so much more easily, and I was on my way, playing 5 -6 nights a week with a good band.. Those cool Buddy Cage licks on those 2 albums, were my personal "A-HA moment"!
Buddy tough me how to play, but doesn't know it... bob

The first couple of bars of Buddy's ride on Adalida by George Strait; took me places on strings 1 and 2 that I'd never been. I think it might be old hat for the pros on here, but it was new to me.

Tim Russell wrote:Hmmm...

Taught me "special licks" & Ah-ha moments.

Probably when I first heard Buddy's Night Life w/ Ray Price, I thought that was absolutely the coolest, sweetest thing I'd ever heard.

+1 on that for me too! It's also an excellent example of what can be done when a player doesn't take the easy way out and "just play the melody"! Come to think of it, that little jazz progression intro would also work great on many blues numbers. You could just as well use it on "Crazy", "One For My Baby", "Georgia", etc., etc.

My "ah-ha" moment on C6th was Emmons playing "Witchcraft". I thought that dropping down 2 frets for the np IV chord was a real revelation, as was the np I chord in the V position.

when I heard Fred Justice play America the beautiful, all I can say is WOW. J.D,Foster

I just re-heard "Take Me Home Country Roads", John Denver, after many years.
A-HA!
Not only a great song, the steel part is just a perfect example of understatement.
A very simple yet effective steel part to start, then the steel just more or less plays the melody which in this case, is just perfect as ensemble to the singing and the song. IMHOP
Anybody know who played steel on this track?

For me, it was the second movement of a 6 part piece called "Capriccio Espagnol." The entire piece is on my Soundcloud page. https://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin
The movement in question starts at around 1:22.

The piece is in F. It ends on a trill between the notes F and G. I played them in =strings 7 and 6, on the 11th fret, and when I did, it hit me: I didn't have to figure out how to play it. I knew instinctively.

After busting my ass studying and woodshedding for 37 years, I now know how to play this instrument.

Bud Angelotti wrote: Anybody know who played steel on this track?

I'm not sure, maybe Eric Weissberg?

Joachim Kettner wrote:

Bud Angelotti wrote: Anybody know who played steel on this track?

I'm not sure, maybe Eric Weissberg?

Indeed!

The liner notes for John Denver's Greatest Hits lists 'Eric Weissberg, banjo and pedal steel guitar' for Take Me Home, Country Roads.

I'm with Rex - Memories to Burn by Gene Watson.

I Fall to Pieces - Sneaky Pete (Linda Ronstadt)
Cherokee - Buddy Emmons
New Riders of the Purple Sage 1st Album - Buddy Cage

Ray Price and The Cherokee Cowboys "Each Time" Unissued 1966 Here is the link.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25idl85H58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25idl85H58