The Steel Guitar Forum

Has there ever been one of those songs that just drives you crazy trying to figure out what and how it was originally played.

This is just driving me bonkers.

Adalida by George Strait.

Obviously I can fake it, and still play it, but I would like to find out exactly how it was played on the recording.

Could someone please record a video of this song being played so I can watch you playing it.

Please Please Please.

Thanks

Sadly I can read tab...........
But thanks for the response.

That my friend is a tough one. There's a lot actually going on and it happens fast and it's very easy to get lost. I'll put more effort into it and see if I can do a video for you.

Until then, get the band to skip that one...lol

Thank you Dicky.

Don't know about you guys but I cannot make the 7e and 5e passages work. I think that it may be tabbed wrong and it really is 9e and 7e. I tried to ask Buddy about it in Dallas the last time he was there I think but I did not have the tab to show him what I was referring to.

It is a quite complicated little solo in all but with a lot of hard work can be done. He made it sound so simple.

Good luck.

George

I sat down and worked on it a little and I too thought there must be something wrong so I believe you're right George.

I went on You Tube, brought up the song and slowed it down to .75 speed. It seemed to be more clear.

On Buddy's system of tab, "e" lever is the one that lowers the E strings, right?

Can you post the link please. Thx.

Yes Doug, according to the set up chart I have in an old tab book from Buddy, he lowered the e's with the e-lever.

David, how far are you from San Angelo? I'm here for the winter. If we're close enough to get together I could teach you how to read tab in about 5 minutes. Heck, I could teach you everything I know in about 2 minutes.

Hi Tommy.
I’m in Ft worth.
I’ll be in San Angelo next month for a
King George show at Shenanigans. February 15th.
Love for you to come out.

Sounds good to me. I'll be the one that looks like a steel guitar player.

I've hacked my way through that one quite a few times.. This was in 2011 and I still can't play it any better than this. I'm going to blame it on the rotating stage..(and the pitchy fiddle).. LOL.

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

Buddy put that lick on a lot of records back then. I hear it at least twice on different tracks on Glen Campbell's 'I Knew Jesus...' album many years ago.

Pretty good Bill Terry. Thanks for posting the video. Is that a Carter steel? Hard to get a good focus. Sounds good.
George

I had got the tab for that lick some years ago on the Buddy Emmons site. but I don't know if his site is still up and running any more sadley.

Hey George, sorry I missed ya last time you were in town. Next time you and me and Fred Jack gotta hook-up.

Yeah that's the Carter I got from Tommy D. that I had for a couple of years, and I think that's a Session 400. Not the worst sound but the camera audio is a bit harsh (as is my right hand), in some places.

The lady that filmed that was walking around while the stage was rotating, and I guess that was before built in camera stabilization. It will give you a bad case of sea-sickness if you watch it too long.

I thought you did one hell of a good job. Well done.
I’m still working on it.

Hey Bill Terry. I think you did a heck of a job on that song. It's funny that I should stumble across this but Marty White is now here in Arkansas and I have worked with him on numerous shows. Great guy to work with. I had to quit working with him as I was already working with another band but was with him on my free days. I know he still comes down that way and does some shows. Hopefully I will be free one day when he comes back to Texas to do a show and be able to go with him. Perhaps we could hook up and pick each others brain. I did post this video on Facebook and tagged him so he should see it soon. Have a blessed day.

Hey Robert, thanks! I knew Marty had moved, and I see him pop up on FB from time to time, but I haven't talked to him in quite a while. We had a lot of fun in that band. Tell him hey for me!

Bill Terry wrote:Hey Robert, thanks! I knew Marty had moved, and I see him pop up on FB from time to time, but I haven't talked to him in quite a while. We had a lot of fun in that band. Tell him hey for me!

I sure will Bill.

David;

You can read the tab. The numbers tell you what fret and what string. Then listen to the recording to get the timing.

Best of luck!

David - here is one of those things that "everybody knows THAT" - except some people might NOT know it. So I'll apologize to those who feel it's old hat.

YouTube videos are a help, especially because you can play a small part over and over. But even more helpful, you can slow it down. In the lower right corner when the video is up, there are several icons, such as the one to make it full screen.

Look for the "settings" one - it looks like a small gear or maybe a snowflake. Click on that, and one of the options is "playback speed". Click on that, and you will be able to choose from Normal, 50%, 25% as well as speeded up 125% etc. The speed is slower but it's still in tune so you can analyze, and play along. It's great for those "what the #$%* is he doing on that part?" moments.

You may have been down that road already, but hopefully somebody who reads this will have an "ah-HA!" moment and be helped by it.

On Buddy's tab the dots at the bottom tell you the timing.

I still think it should read 9e and 7e before going down to the second fret. When I asked Buddy about it he only said "I know what I played" so I still don't know if the tab was right or not but it does not sound right to me.