The Steel Guitar Forum

New post on Bruce's blog: Tuning & Tone

Well thought-out, well expressed. Thanks, Bruce.

Thank's Frank. It's a bit of a broad stoke but I figured I want to share some of my experiences. Thank's to Modern Music Music Masters for inspiring me to start this blog.

This means more to me since I took Bruce's to basically learn how to play the steel in 2006 after player guitar and bass so many yrs. Bruce has good down home sense on learning. Thanks Bruce.

I read your blog on tuning Bruce. I remember playing in straight 440 once years ago. Almost got fired half way through the first set!!!! The Lead Player told me to, "Get that thing in tune". I did the same thing. I tuned the "E" string with the lead player and the rest I tuned by ear. The lead player asked me on brake, what happened? I explained that I was trying a tuning that the big "E" used. Ha! Never did that again!!! I learned also, Bar pressure and little forward or backwards of the fret. I am far from ever being a super player, but I do understand what in tune is. Drives me crazy if I hear someone in the band out of tune.

Thank’s for reading. Tunings a funny thing. Ironically there are some records that I really love ,where the pedal steel tuning is questionable. I’ve got plenty of things that I played that I wish I could have redone. As I said in the blog, the left hand is so important. There’s a spot in the Lloyd green interviews, that Paul did, where Lloyd talks about utting pressure on the front of the bar as he goes up the neck on three and five strings.

Bruce Bouton wrote:Thank’s for reading. Tunings a funny thing. Ironically there are some records that I really love where the pedal steel tuning is questionable. I’ve got plenty of things that I played that I wish I could have redone. As I said in the blog. The left hand is so important. There’s a spot in the Lloyd green interviews that Paul did where Lloyd talks about utting pressure on the front of the bar as he goes up the neck on three and five strings.

This was really good Bruce... I remember a while back on a Sunday evening on Travis Toy's Sunday get together, where you and Jay Dee were talking a bit about tuning... Some of the nuances you've mentioned are things I've not always considered. I know when I started to play in the 70's and knew squat, I'd try to tune to the piano, or straight up, and although I didn't know anything, I knew my ear wasn't happy with different combinations of strings, pedals or levers, and I couldn't figure out why, yet even back then was sweetening my tuning without even knowing the term... I didn't have anyone to school me, and couldn't understand WHY when I'm right on top of the fret, I'm okay with some combinations and not with others. Anyhow, today, I'm aware of some of those things and yet seems like I'm ALWAYS hearing something a little off lol... I think some of my issues are the larger 4-5 notes voicing's I'm drawn too, and getting that to all line up tonally. So although I'm aware, I don't always accomplish what I strive to accomplish... Truly is a life long quest.

Great real world stories we all love to hear and learn from. Thanks Bruce. You were probably my biggest influence years ago with the Skaggs recordings.

I really enjoyed reading Bruce’s blog and it made me think hard about tuning and pitch. Over the last few months I’ve had the good fortune and opportunity to play steel on a friend of mines latest project. This was my first time to record pedal steel. I had the luxury of tracking everything from home and sending him the files. (First time for that too!) I’m relatively new to psg, seriously playing about 5 years, so tracking ten songs was for me a wonderfully frightening experience. Each finished part was sent off with much apprehension. Over the last couple of years I’ve been playing some live gigs with a various local artists and have tuned mostly straight up 440, so that’s how I recorded. Listening now to the album tracks, I question whether that’s the best approach for me. I hear every mistake, but mostly I hear my struggle with playing in tune. Hopefully continued practice, better bar control, and some tuning tweaks will help me progress on this quest for the sound that feels(and sounds) right. Thanks again Bruce for the insights.

Great advice (as usual)from Bruce. I always recommended his video to new players. The section on harmonized scales is worth the price alone. Buddy Charlton told me something once that mirrors Bruce's observations about listening to the whole band. He said "If you will watch a great player, you will not see him keeping the bar perfectly straight all the time. You will see him wavering it slightly back and forth (as opposed to vibrato). He is constantly trying to find his sweet spot in the mix."

Nice read, Bruce. I have always felt there were two ways to tune-Straight Up or Just Intune...

How cool is this? I had just posted a couple of hours before and Billy Knowles and I went out to eat and Bruce called him while he was here. I got the chance to speak with Bruce about this thread.

great to reconnect Clyde! Been awhile since the Super Grit/ Good Humor Band days.

Someone should write a book about the Carolina music scene in the mid seventies. Live music was king!

Can't write that book yet. Too many people still living!

Bruce Bouton wrote:Someone should write a book about the Carolina music scene in the mid seventies.

And someone should write a book about the Twin Cities music scene before Clem, Russ, Mike, and others moved to Nashville. Al Udeen? (Sorry to drift off topic but could not resist.)

I enjoyed reading Bruce's blog post very much. For decades I've achieved the best results tuning my E's to an electronic tuner and the rest by ear. Before electronic tuners became affordable, I used one of these:

I still have a tuning fork in my pack seat. Have not used it for years. Left it there, just as a reminder of the good o'l days!!! I am using Peterson now. Great tuner.