The Steel Guitar Forum

Inspired by Doug Beaumier’s excellent post and track showcasing PSG style playing on a lap steel, here is a brief sample—a double chorus of a country track I’ve been working up with a classic fiddle-style feel.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/s5jCovzjgixmegbi9

Awsome !!!

Thanks John. Playing it brought me some bounce and cheer on a cold gray winter day!

Great job,

Well done Nelson!

Excellent. Good blocking!!

Thanks John. Playing it brought me some bounce and cheer on a cold gray winter day!

Thanks Bill, Roy and G. I used a combination of palm and pick blocking. Also I used my Emmons lap steel (later model with their 8-string pedal steel pickup, not the DeArmond style) for more of a PSG and less vintage lap tone.

Really nice and clean and slippery.

Thanks Mike! “Slippery” indeed!!

Wow, that's really cool, Nelson... very pedal steel-ish. I'm sure a lot of steel guitarists would assume you're playing a pedal steel!

I was also impressed with the C6 recording you played for me when I visited you a couple of years ago. It sounded exactly like C6 pedal steel to my ear, and I was surprised when you told me it was played on a lap steel! Well done.

Thanks, Doug, for your kind words! I hope that you’ve been doing well during and in spite of the times we’re in. Hopefully we’ll be turning the corner and music will get back to the clubs and streets in 2021!

I’m posting a link to the C6 track Doug refers to above (that I posted a few years back on the forum). Its an exercise where I attempted to reverse engineer for 8-string lap steel a pedal steel solo from Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite” played by the great Jim Cohen. (My take is running at about 75% of Jim’s tempo). Hope you enjoy!

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/4GBcMAfQtkv2gBgM8

It's great to hear that again. Thanks for posting it.

Nelson Checkoway wrote:I’m posting a link to the C6 track Doug refers to above (that I posted a few years back on the forum). Its an exercise where I attempted to reverse engineer for 8-string lap steel a pedal steel solo from Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite” played by the great Jim Cohen. (My take is running at about 75% of Jim’s tempo). Hope you enjoy!

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/4GBcMAfQtkv2gBgM8

Hey Nelson! I missed that a few years ago when you posted it so thanks to Doug B. for drawing my attention to it now. I'm flattered that you would find my solo worthy of study and reverse-engineering. That's a tough job, especially changing from pedals to nonpedals, and ya did well with it! Bravo!

Thanks, Jim, for the thumbs-up! And thanks, Doug, for passing the word along!

This is great! Love the lick at 0:23

It reminds me of Tom Brumley (Buck Owens)... west coast style pedal steel. Snappy and clean with kind of a mid-range of tone.

Wow that's cool!

Thanks guys! Hey Doug you won’t believe this but I was listening to old live Buck, Don and Tom for the past hour! Together Again. My Heart Skips a Beat. And one of my favorites: Love’s Gonna Live Here Again. Such superb playing and singing and great songs!!!

Bakersfield vibe for sure! Excellent technique, Nelson.

Thanks Joe. And yes Doug, I dig that sound. In fact I came THIS close to buying a Zane Beck built Scranton era ZB Custom D-11 fixer upper a few years ago. No knees 6 pedals 650 bucks. Whew. One that got away, but I knew I didn’t have the time or dinero to make it play. I’ll stop now before this thread gets kicked over to the PSG section. LOL!!

Sounds great!

I’ve been trying to get pedal steel sounds on a non pedal 6th tuning as well. Still searching for all the pockets.

I only listened once to your track. I’m guessing you were not pulling strings behind the bar, right?

Thanks for sharing! 👍

Please share your secrets!

Hey Dave - thanks and good to hear from you. I enjoy the tracks I’ve heard you on—very tasteful stuff and I dig you on the ZB!! You’re right-no string pulls on that track. All slides for the single note bends and you the final G to C tag — GBD to GCE — is a severe slant on strings 234 from frets 7-7-7 to 7-8-9.

BTW I saw you did some work with Commander Cody Band in the Northwest a while back. I played a show with them in New England back 7-8 years ago. Good to meet you on the Forum.