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Topic: Mel Bay's PSG Method by Don Sharp |
J. Michael Robbins
From:
Dayton, OH now in Hickory, NC
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Posted 8 Apr 2009 9:37 am |
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I have a book, Mel Bay's PSG Method by Don Sharp, published in 1972. It states that it is for E9 tuning, 8 or 10 strings and 4 pedals. The tuning is the same as the current E9 tuning except that string 9 is tuned to B and string 10 is tuned to E. Pedal 1 raises 5th string to C#,
Pedal 2 raises 3rd & 6th strings to A,
Pedal 3 lowers 5th string to Bb,
Pedal 4 lowers 4th string to D# & 6th string to F#.
There is no mention of knee levers.
1) Was this a standard or typical tuning & copedant at the time?
2) Who was/is Don Sharp?
Thanks,
Mike
_________________
1970 Marlen D-10, 1971 Professional, 1973 Pro II, 1977 Marlen D-10, 1978 Marlen D-10, 1980 Marlen D-10 |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 8 Apr 2009 10:35 am
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| I've got that book at home, too. It came with the Sho-Bud Maverick I purchased in about 1974. I'm guessing it was supposed to be used with the old Fender pedal steels. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 8 Apr 2009 10:44 am
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No, the B and E on the bottom thing was never a "standard" tuning. A lot of Mel Bay stuff is very "dated", and dated is bad for this instrument, since so much has changed in the last few decades. I think the Don Sharp stuff goes back to the '60s, but I've heard he was more of a music teacher than he was a great player. Any learning aids that omit knee levers are practically "antique" when it comes to pedal steel.
Music is music, but if you want to learn to play today's pedal steel, don't use 40 year-old books. |
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 8 Apr 2009 2:12 pm
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| Music is music, but if you want to learn to play today's pedal steel, don't use 40 year-old books. |
...but if you would like to play yesterday's music... avoid that Don Sharp book like the stink. Cool cover, wacky instruction. A good 40 year old book (and record) on the other hand is the "New Sho~Bud" course by George L. and Scotty with Jeff Newman on the front. There are many more – Winston/Keith was '72 and it puts most of the currently in-print material to shame. |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 6:17 am #
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| Useless, the cover art tells it all. Don D. |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 8:05 am
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| Throw it out. Its useless. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 8:21 am
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No, no, no! Don't throw it away! They're just like all those National Geographic magazines that people never throw away because "they're going to be worth something some day".  |
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Bob Sykes
From:
North Carolina
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Posted 7 Dec 2019 12:18 pm Got this book this week
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A guitar player friend gave me this book this week. He told me that he was a "steel guitar owner" in the 70s, but never called himself a "steel guitar player" as it just never worked for him. I thanked him and said the book might fill in some of the gaps in my steel guitar foundation (I've been at it 10 years). He replied "I hope it helps you more than it did for me". Some of things in there were real head-scratchers, so I searched the forum and found this thread. Mystery solved! I can see why my friend had difficulty learning PSG.
My search also dug up this old post from Keith Hilton on the old forum circa 2000 which is very informative and funny.
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(Topic: So, who ARE Don Sharp and Roger Filberto??)
I know one of them very,very good. I've played in bands with Don Sharp many times. He is a 6 string guitar player. Don Sharp was a Junior High School teacher in Springfield, Missouri. He was a six string standard guitar player, and earned extra money teaching standard 6 string guitar at Hoover Music in Springfield, Missouri. In the early 1970s a steel player named Jerry Garret died. He was a good player and owned a black Emmons. Don Sharp bought that guitar. He had never--EVER--played steel. He didn't know a thing about the Nashville E9th or C6th tuning. Jerry Garret had the guitar set up stock E9th and C6th. Don changed everything around to "Strange" tunings, and wierd pedal and knee lever changes. What it boiled down to is the fact that Don didn't know a thing about pedal steel guitar---bless his heart. Don was a six string standard guitar player, and he was trying to set the steel up like it was a regular 6 string guitar. While--ATTEMPTING TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY STEEL---he wrote a steel guitar book for Mel Bay Publishing. At the time Mel Bay Publishing didn't know any more about steel guitar than Don Sharp did.
Don Sharp played 6 string guitar in a band that had one heck of a steel player. His name was Arnie Arnold. Arnie finally got Don Sharp straightened out, and they put the standard E9th and C6th tuning back on the Black Emmons. They also arranged the pedals and knees back right. Arnie then tried to help Don learn steel. This all happened after the book was published and was in music stores everywhere. It wasn't long until Don got tired of the steel, and gave it up. All this took place in about a year. Guess what----I bought that black Emmons, and it was a great sounding guitar. I traded it to Scotty for the pearl inlay guitar Shot Jackson made specially for Scotty. By the way, Arnie Arnold is dead. He was one of the best steel guitar players in the Springfield and Branson area.
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Carters Starter, D10 8+7, SD10, Chandler RH-2, Rogue RLS-1
ISO Sustainus Ad Infinitum |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 7 Dec 2019 12:26 pm
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Useless.. i tried it and it was a huge flop.. Thought it was my problem, that I was "unteachable" and then I bought the Winston book, and was on my way in no time ... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 7 Dec 2019 3:19 pm
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| Bob Sykes, your post is an excellent example of the value of the Forum’s search button! Fun and interesting information. And +1 on the Winston book. Not all 40(almost 50)-year-old books are useless. |
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J. Michael Robbins
From:
Dayton, OH now in Hickory, NC
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Posted 8 Dec 2019 2:15 pm
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Hi Bob (Sykes),
Thank you for your research and post on this book. I was curious about its history and how it came to be, since it didn't seem to make any sense. Keith Hilton had the answers all along! That was the information I was looking for.
Mike Robbins
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1970 Marlen D-10, 1971 Professional, 1973 Pro II, 1977 Marlen D-10, 1978 Marlen D-10, 1980 Marlen D-10 |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 8 Dec 2019 3:57 pm
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I find it shocking that a total charlatan could have duped a major publisher like that!
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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