The Steel Guitar Forum

Carl "Lucky" Kilmer and his wife graciously invited Anne and I to spend a day at their place for a combination of learning PSG fundamentals and generally visiting. I picked up several valuable tips and ideas that a person can only get with 1 on 1 instruction . I bought my guitar from him back in September and am to the point now where I have a lot of questions. These questions were mostly how-to questions and just really, how to play and make the most of my practice time.

More importantly, "Lucky" knows how to relate to a beginner and has the patience of a saint He had me choose the songs that I wanted to work on then walked through them chord by chord and drilled me on any areas that I was getting hung up on. I cannot begin to express what it means to a (55 year-old) beginner to have someone go out of their way to make sure that you have your questions answered and that you're heading in the right direction. As if all of that wasn't enough, they loaded us up in the van and took us out for lunch and swiped the check so I couldn't pay it It was a great day with a great steel player and his wife and I hope they enjoyed us as much as Anne and I enjoyed them.

They always say show a pic or it didn't happen so....

WOW! I never expected anything like this. All I can say is we enjoyed a
wonderful day. Randy and Anne are wonderful people to know and have as
friends. They are like part of the family now. Just wish we lived closer so I
could be of more help to him, but we do spend a lot of time on the phone
which is a big help too. For the short time he's had the steel, he's coming
along fine. His main goal was to play traditional gospel songs, but between
his sweetheart Anne and me, I think he'll become a good country player.
Thanks for such a heart warming post Randy. We hope to see you and Anne
again real soon. Anne and Jean seem to have a lot in common too
Lucky and Jean

Lucky is the real deal!

hes a super nice fella

good player too!

mike

Many thanks Mike, having great friends like you is what keeps me going.
We've both had some real bad times thru these last years but God has
helped us both get thru them. We both enjoy helping others on the steel.
Looking at the picture you can see I'm getting older and loosing too much
weight. I down to 149 lbs now, and I continue to get weaker all the time.
They say these are our Golden Years, but I've never seen any of the Gold.
All I've seen so far is the Rust, but I still do my best with what I have.
Hope you and Yvonne have a very Happy and Healthy New Year my friend.
Lucky & Jean

hey Carl we wish you and Jean the best

eat more bro and ill eat less

I'm gaining myself that's not good

hope your health improves ill keep you in my

prayers yes we have been through some rough

places but as you said God saw us through

be blessed mike

Lucky is the Man for sure. Wish I lived closer so He could try to teach me something. Lucky and Jean are great people, and We miss seeing them.

I second to all of the above Lucky's a great guy !!!!

Still playing the Ritt I got from you Lucky!!!!

Thanks Larry, Happy New Year to you and Jean. We sure miss seeing you folks.
I know you've both had health problems, but sure hope your much better now.
We always had great times together. Hope you can make Bobby's next show.
Send me your phone #. My computer died and I lost all my emails and Ph #'s.
I got a new XP computer a couple weeks ago and trying to replace what I lost.
Love you folks.................Lucky & Jean

Lee, many thanks my friend and a Happy New Year to you as well.
Glad you have the Ritt, sure wish I'd never sold it. I think it was
about the best SD 10 Gary ever made. I think about it all the time.
Please send me your phone # as well. Miss talking with you.
Lucky

Carl I'm a little late here but do want to thank you for all you have done for me in instructing me and for going above and beyond to help me and to thank both you and Jean for being such a great friends to my wife Sue and I. I hope some day to make all the notes flow as pretty as you do. You are a real asset to myself and so many others and I also want to thank Randy for making this post and congratulations on your progress and your purchase of a great steel. You got a couple of great friends as a bonus plus the wonderful bunch in this forum as well. I'm not quite sure if Lynn Owsley is on here much but I would like to thank him for his contributions to us all but especially for introducing me to Mr. Lucky "Carl"

Hey Mike, thank you my friend. Hope you get your car fixed soon before the snow
gets here again. At least you don't have to bring too much equipment with you.
I'll stay in touch with you and hope you'll be able to make it again it a few days.
I got 12 more tracks today and we can work on which ever one you'd like to try.
Lucky

Thanks Carl a.k.a. Lucky. it is going to be a complete rebuild on the transmission and when i asked if he would have it done by the weekend he said he would try but couldnt promise anything.I'm making up for it though by getting much extra "in home" practice in while i wait. i am so fortunate to not be too far from you and always a phone call away. I cant wait to see your new downloads. If it weren't for you I would have 2 steel guitars in their cases and under the bed in storage. thank you again for all you do not just for me but all who you help as well

Such a great example of fellowship. No matter what age, steel guitar brings us together and we become ageless.

Well said Ron. My greatest friends are all in the Steel Guitar Community,
and whether we're good, bad or indifferent, we always help each other.
I'm not what you call great, but for a old man I love to help others the best
I can, to learn what I can still do and I never charge anything to help them.
God has helped me in many ways, and wants me to help others in return.

Lucky, I sent you a E mail, Larry

Everyone needs at least one "steel buddy"....you never forget the guys that took the time to share their knowledge with you. We haven't met, Lucky, but I know we'd get along just fine

Larry, many thanks bro. I sure enjoyed talking to you tonight.
Glad to see you and Jean are getting better and your able to
play the the steel again. It sure hurts not to be able to play
for a long while. You'll get back to where you were real soon.

Hi Jeff. Many thanks you sound like another great friend I'd like to have.

HI Lucky,
You have a PM from me which I sent on Jan 15th.....clark

There is a lot to appreciate about Lucky but one of his best assets is how he tells it like it is. I have sent him several recordings to listen to and to give his opinion on. He tells me what he likes about a particular recording but he also tells me what he feels that I need to work on to be a better player. He doesn't just tell you what's bad and leave it at that. He'll follow it up with a tip or a technique to try to help cure what went wrong in that song.

This is exactly what I need. It doesn't help a person improve if all you hear is the good and none of the "bad."