The Steel Guitar Forum

It kind of snuck up on me that it's been that long. I just didn't feel like it.. I've been spending a little time messing around with guitar, and a fair bit of time working on various updates in the studio (built some very cool DIY preamps, rewired a couple of racks, made up some cables, etc.)

Today I loaded up some stuff in Studio One that had a 'last modified' date of about 3 months ago, and I realized that was the last time I played steel. Hmm.. I've never thought of myself as a real steel player, more like a guitar player that owns a steel and fakes it as needed.

I might drag the Emmons out later, or not... I guess I've discovered the key to mediocrity?

Same here Bill. MOF, I don't even own a pedal steel. I have access to one whenever I want, but it's usually at the jam barn. It's been a couple months since we've done any jams though due to the virus and other things that interfere.

I thought I'd never say this, but I don't miss it too much. Too many other things taking priority right now.

I have other string instruments around that I can play when the itch starts though, so I'm set for scratching when it arises. I took this time to finish my Squier '51 to baritone mod and a few other music related projects.

I haven’t played bass, my main instrument, in months. But after years of threatening I’ve started getting serious about C6. Playing a lot, making BIAB’s and repeatedly changing my copedent. Keeps my mind active, fills a lot of time, and I can be assured of remaining retired!

Sometimes you just don't feel inspired to play...especially these days.
I know a guy who's played Theremin for 30 years... never touches the thing.

Seriously, though... sitting around playing - anything - even if it's just for few minutes - is what's making things a bit easier these days.

I’m managing to stay fairly busy. Already have 26 play dates on the calendar for next year. I just hope the calendar doesn’t have as many cancellations as this year.

I've actually been playing more, all at the house but more just the same. The lockdown has given me some opportunities to record some tracks for folks I've never even met and send the tracks via lockbox back to the producer. It's been a lot of fun, and it's encouraged me to practice more on pedal steel. A few tracks have ended up making it to vinyl.

I've also been playing a lot of ragtime acoustic guitar, which I hadn't done in a long time. I've been building some guitars again. Fixing stuff around the house. Dang, what good things boredom and isolation can lead to! I guess I've been productive just to maintain some level of sanity.

Dave

The group I work for is booking our County Fairs and Festivals for next year. Same here on the virus. I have not gave up yet!!! Still playing at home and posting on my YouTube Channel. Going to be a challenging year for me coming up. DMV took my license five years ago because of my vision. My wife has been my driver all that time. Now my wife's vision has taken a turn for the worse from advanced diabetes. I have a couple options, or just pull the plug. Have been at it for forty years now and almost 70. It was a great ride, while it lasted!!!!! My oldest sister lives in Sun City Center, Florida. Big golf cart town I hear. She told me to put my house up for sale in Michigan and to, "Get my Ass down there, NOW" HA!!!

Skip Edwards wrote:Sometimes you just don't feel inspired to play...especially these days.
I know a guy who's played Theremin for 30 years... never touches the thing.

Seriously, though... sitting around playing - anything - even if it's just for few minutes - is what's making things a bit easier these days.

I saw what you did there.........

I've never been busier at my pizza restaurant, and I've never practiced more! The takeout business is great around here,thank goodness, but I seem to fill my down time with playing and learning new songs. Now, I haven't touched my regular guitars in months. They just don't interest me anymore.

Skip Edwards wrote:Sometimes you just don't feel inspired to play...especially these days.
I know a guy who's played Theremin for 30 years... never touches the thing.

Seriously, though... sitting around playing - anything - even if it's just for few minutes - is what's making things a bit easier these days.

I designed and built vacuum tube theremins back in the 90's. I still have one or two, but haven't played one in a long time. Never played it well...

I might know your friend--there's not a lot of us whose theremin playing goes back 30 years. I started and ran the "Levnet" theremin list serv for years.

Dave

My last was October 30th. Since then, nothing. Most of the gigs since March of this year was in the state of Idaho. The majority of the folks in Idaho, do not adhere to the state laws on masks, social distancing, and closing down restaurants and bars-which I did play many dates in the state since March.
However now, I think the venues are getting the message and if they are open, they're not having bands. That Oct 30 date was at Coeur d Alene, and there was no one. The bartender and waitress and 3 guys sitting at the bar, which would have been there anyway.
I never want to lose my chops, so I play alot at home. Gone back to Hawaiian music here at the house.
To be honest, the break in playing steady has been great for me. I needed it. I just needed a rest from the 30 miles of travel one way to gigs, multidays each week.

With no gigs in sight for months, I let myself get lazy and left the steel in the case totally forgotten about. A few gigs have finally materialized and I set the guitar up to practice and found I didn't have the want to I've had for 41 years. I told my wife I was considering selling it all and she said she didn't want me to so I backed off.

Well all of a sudden I'm getting some calls from a few bands and things are looking good again. I've been practicing and the rust is going away and my mood is better.

Covid has us all beat down but it will pass and we'll be back to it like we had been before.

we are in a tuff situation, not just us Steel players, but musicians, entertainers, those who work at trade shows, restaurants etc...we are in uncharted territory.

All of a sudden we wake up , look around the room and ask ourselves, why do I have $10,000 in Steel guitars, More than $10,000 in electric guitars and amps etc.. and I have not played a gig since March 2019 other than a duo gig now and then.

Its not just us, Its all around the world now. We now have major artists coming out asking " whats up " ? We have read that many of the Nashville locals are leaving, returning back to their ROOTS home.

Over the last few months I have started "thinning the herd", maybe this reset is not such a bad thing in that regard, having Steel guitars sit in closed cases and premium guitars hanging on the walls untouched collecting dust is a wake up call regardless of the gig situation. But thats a different message.

In NC especially, the future is extremely bleak, an entire portion of the economy which is entertainment and eateries , which for all practical purposes is already shut down, is just one weekly press conf away from a mandatory nighttime curfew. Stay at home after 9 PM or else. To make matters worse the NC Dept of Health publishes data that doesn't correlate to the entertainment /eateries segment regarding the outbreak, which is calculated at +/- 3 %. NC says if the outbreak continues to rise we have to go with deeper restrictions in this segment which they themselves say is +/- 3 % of teh big picture. In the statistical world, re-adjusting the 3% world and expecting a major effect on the 97% world is not part of any equation. Sorry for being blunt. I'm certainly not a Covid denier but I also know how to use a calculator. Something is seriously amiss.


I have not touched my Legrande II in weeks, I've tried, but there is zero initiative. I'm pretty much past the point of patting myself on the back for playing Danny Boy with nobody listening !

yep, I am losing interest rapidly. kinda weird. I've heard " change is inevitable"all my life. Guess they are right

Seems like I'm not alone. I've been playing on average 75 to 100 gigs a year for nearly 20 years, and all of a sudden, other than a few online sessions, not a gig since March. A large part of my musical activity was prepping for gigs, learning songs, putting charts together, etc. That's gone, and like some above have mentioned, I'm sort of played out when it comes to just playing for my own enjoyment.

I'm actually wondering when/if the gigs do come back, will I be all that excited about it? I have to say I don't miss all the miles, getting home at 3AM, etc. I'm not 25 anymore, heck I'm not even 50 anymore..

I'm hoping if I go out and play a couple I'll get re-energized. There's nothing quite as much fun as a tight band on a good night, maybe I've just forgotten how good that is. I hope.

Bill Terry wrote: A large part of my musical activity was prepping for gigs, learning songs, putting charts together, etc.

Me as well, I was on a 2x gig /mth show schedule for 5 years running, the gig was the easy part, it was the inbetween that kept me busy preparing for the next show, then add my other band was busy at Festivals , stage shows , duos, etc... I was the most prepared for gigs than any other time in my life. It all came to a crashing halt March 2019.

I haven't played my guitar in months...not because of the pandemic...but because of back problems. I can sit in the seat for 5 to 10 minutes before pain forced me to stop playing. My heart goes out to all you steel pickers that love to play gigs but caint because of this horrible virus. I pray that things will get better...and all you great steel guitar pickers can get back to doing what you love. Tony Prior...and a lot of you guys are to fine a musician to let this virus get you down. Just hang in there guys...and dont do anything that you will regret...like selling your guitar.

Just my humble opinion.

Bill Sutton wrote: and dont do anything that you will regret...like selling your guitar.

HA ! Not to worry, I still have a barn full of Telecasters and a loaded Legrande II staring at me !

Haven't touched mine in months either. Got a real nice Excel 12 stringer and a new MSA loaded up D-10 both covered up in my music room. I do find that I tend to discover new ideas when going back to the steel after a layoff.

Just bought two 5 string banjos and going through the Earl Scruggs course on my iPad. It's truly awesome instruction if you're willing to apply yourself to learning a lot of new finger picking patterns. Not having to turn on an amp or plug anything in is a plus and I can watch TV and pick at the same time!

Greg, a "Gentleman" is a guy who can play the banjo - but doesn't !!! Now get back to your Pedal Steel Guitar :-} !!!!!!

Greg, where did you find the Earl Scruggs instruction? I bought the original book back around 1970. Never knew there was a version for Ipad. Peer International must have amped up their game. I did not realize that Peer International no longer owns the book.


Thanks

Paddy, I've got to move one of my steels out of the music room and out into my home theater and main computer area so I can have it out there where I spend most of my time. It's weird but I like practicing the steel unplugged for the simplicity of it and to give the ears a break.

Tom, I bought the Scruggs course direct from Amazon and if you run it on an iPad or IOS device, the sound files are built in and play along with the tabs. If you run it on a computer like a PC or MacBook, you can see the tabs but not play the sound files although there is a link to another source for the sound files you can use separately. The Scruggs course is awesome and goes right to the core of his style holding back no trade secrets.

With this virus going on, I play at home about an hour every day. I don't even have any gigs lined up for the near future, but that's ok, since I don't depend on that for a living. I do miss playing for an audience though.

I'm old and crotchety and retired and was more or less going to stay home and work on learning pedal steel guitar anyway. I've always been taught that if you don't enjoy woodshedding, you're not doing it right.

Yesterday a friend came over (don't tell anybody!) and we all played for a while. My wife and I played two songs we'd been working on (I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas and Settin' The Woods On Fire) and our friend sight-read through a Bach two-part invention and a gigue (he's a classical guitarist).

We had a wonderful afternoon.

--Al Evans

Back to OP Bill's comment about just not feeling like it... Whether it's steel guitar or any other instrument, I have discovered "not feeling like it" to be a pretty consistent finding among musician friends. Back around 2003 or so I packed up all my guitars, lap steel, and pedal steel; put 'em in closets and under furniture and didn't play anything at all until about 2014. I often wondered what had happened because music in general and playing an instrument and performing with other people had been a defining passion in my life since I was about 13 (71 now). I read that others had gone through similar down times and then I reconnected with some musician friends and discovered all had similar stories. Strange it is, indeed.

Regardless though, now I'm playing a lot around the house. Started with fingerstyle on the 6-string acousic and have a new baritone lap steel coming my way soon. I'm back to being fired up about the personal challenge inherent in playing an instrument and all the good things that happen colaterally like mental acuity and fine motor dexterity. Bottom line is I think all of this is just normal and common. And even if that were not the case, I'm super happy I stil have instruments to play that I can grab and amuse myself and the cats. My wife is also a musician (flute and harp) and we have played some together recently, me on Weissenborn and her on harp. Another collateral benefit!

Put them away for a while and don't sweat it. It's great when the urge returns.