The Steel Guitar Forum

In my location it is very hard for a band to get bookings if they just play country music. So, the band I play with does about half country and rock. I've heard Paul Franklin play good steel guitar behind a rock guitarist (Dire Straits) but that's not me. I have been playing cross harp with some of the rock, but I've been contemplating getting a 32 key MIDI keyboard to set at the right of my steel. Maybe a Edirol PCR 30 as I already have an Edirol SD 20 sound module.

Is this something some of you are doing? Do you feel that a keyboard would sound good through a Session 500? Any sugestions on which keyboard? I think I would like to keep it small because room on stage is always limited.

You should check out Marty Muse. He's the steel player for Robert Earle Keen and has a small, what appears to be only a 25 note keyboard that he keeps to the right of his rig w/ a sustain pedal. I saw him do simple "one-handed chords" with the keyboard and sustain it so he could go back to playing steel.

I always though that would be a good combination, keys and steel. 'Cept I ain't too good at either.

Kevin...If you play electric guitar better than keyboard, you might consider getting a midi guitar and hanging it around your neck when youre sitting at the steel. Learn to play Last Date and Green Onions with your finger picks on and youre off & running...


I've been making a steady living of chump change for years doubling with that set up.
I play real keyboard too, but in my case the midi guitar was easier.

Kevin: I used a keyboard rack set up in front of my pedal steel with a band I had together for 21 years. I did the keyboard parts in songs like "Lost in the Fifties". The keyboard had a pretty good string synth. in it and I'd change back and forth between the two. One word of caution. I blew up my steel amp twice because it wouldn't handle the frequency range of the keyboard. I switched to a 150 watt per channel powered stereo mixer and a 15" Peavy BW Cabinet. I used a stereo volume pedal and had seperate lines for the steel and the keyboard. We used to do weird stuff like go from "He Stopped Loving Her Today" to Eric Clapton's "Old Love" and then something like "Low Rider". We were very luck. We had three guys in the band who were excellent singers and could cover just about any song that was requested.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Bosler on 22 June 2004 at 06:37 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Bosler on 22 June 2004 at 06:38 PM.]</p></FONT>

My IVL SteelRider fits the bill for those not exclusively country gigs.

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Jim Smith jimsmith94@comcast.net
-=Dekley D-12 10&12=-
-=Fessenden D-12 9&9=-
-=Emmons D-12 push pull 9&4 (soon to be 9&9)=-
Stereo Steel rig w/Boss GX-700
IVL SteelRider w/JV-880

From spending a few years reading the forum, I think banjo is the choice of most steel players