Nasty comments on your playing/tone/etc..

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Ever have someone get in your face and say something nasty about your playing?.. A few months back, my band was working a club.. It was late, only a few people left in the place.. We finish up a song and hear in a VERY loud voice.. **YOU SUCK**!!!.. very enjoyable.

Many years ago I was given "advice" by road crew members.. that knew nothing about nothing... one said... "Your left hand needs work".. It did need work.. I should have started its career by using it to knock the teeth out of the kid who said that to me. He was maybe 18 and was an equipment grunt for a band I had just joined...

Later on the sound man of this same band told me.." Your pedal steel sound is not my idea of what a pedal steel should sound like"....... wha???... What does THAT mean???.. anyway, I'd like my friends here to share these type of "expert" opinions you have heard over the years concerning your, skill, sound, band, whatever.. Then for fun, we could round up some of the "experts" and have THEM sit down and play the torture device known as a pedal steel guitar.. See how well THEY perform!!!... I know,, bad attitude....

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Well, if you take the good, you have to take the bad too..

I try to tell people that with few exceptions, I am playing for the people that pay me, and play at the level, the parts, etc that they want to hear.

Constructive critism is probably the worst...

EJL

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Eric.... the point is ,if YOU or someone else that I considered a peer or a capable instructor had given me that advice [it was 28 years ago!]it would have been recieved with humble thanks.. To have a snot nosed pot smoking kid that hauled gear for $10 a night, and a drugged out sound man that had no conception of steel telling a guy who was doing it for a living what he needed to do to rise to THIER interpretation of an acceptable level of proficiency, was something that has been a tack in my butt for a long time.. Its funny how this just came to mind.. haven't thought about it for years..bob

Jerry Roller · From: Van Buren, Arkansas USA

After our concert last evening in a Church the town Constable came up talking to my son who was putting my guitar in the case. The guy said hey "thats cheating, I didn't know it had those pedals, I thought he was doing all that himself" heh, I thought it was actually pretty funny.
Jerry

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I can see where it might stick in your craw for sure.

But then again.... you admit your left hand needed work...

Just to be a roady for $10 a night means there was likely enough ears and love of music to take the grunt job...
Just not the level of couth to speak nicely to you.

Feedback can be good if delivered well. In this case it was not.

The "you suck" coments must ALWAYS be considered in relation to the source ;
Usually a drunken putz., who couldn't play with 5 years of lessons and $5,000 in instruments.
Just sloshed jealousy aimed at someone looking bigger that they are.

As to the sound man...
Well at that time, I gotta say I might have smoked something.. from time to time,
but I STILL could tell if the sound was like I expected.
Maybe you just had a poor choice of amp for that particular bands overall sound.

Or simply he prefered JD or Lloyd's sound ON RECORD, to what was going down live.

Maybe the sound man only though Push Pulls were the real soiund of steel.

So as you worded that comment, I didn't really see that as negative,
just an observation of differences between hyis preferences and your sound, not your playing.

Sorry if this torques you a bit, but that's how I see it.

Jerry that's a good one lo LOL!

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 02 May 2005 at 07:40 AM.]

Mike Sweeney · From: Nashville,TN,USA

Once in '93 while working the road with Shawn Camp we played a show at The Barn in Sanford, Fla. The soundman? came up to me during soundcheck and said I'd have to lose the volume pedal. I asked him why and his response was that I was playing my fills behind the singer softer than my solos. I said that's called dynamics. He got mad and said I have no control over you that way. I told him to set it for my loudest level and leave it alone. Again he said he wanted total control over my playing and went to unplug my stuff. I got up and got the mic off one of my amps and luckily the bass player got in the way before I could stick that mic in to one of that idiots orifaces and I don't mean his ear.
Needless to say the boy didn't get his way I did use my volume pedal and he was nowhere to be found that night.

Mike

Mark Eaton · Posted 2 May 2005 6:43 am

That reminds me of when my wife said "isn't that cheating to have that electronic fish finder on that bass boat?"

I said, "honey, you still gotta catch the fish-even though you might have some idea that there are actually some down there!"

------------------
Mark

Dr. Hugh Jeffreys · From: Southaven, MS, USA

That reminds me of a time when my band was booked for a country club gig in Memphis. I used my usual group: 2 horns; rhy section and psg. As I was setting up my steel, a guy passed and said --Oh..we're gonna hear some of that good country music. During the firstintermission he came over and said--I've never heard a steel guitar sound like that. I replied: "Thank you." (That's what a famous Nashville artist told me also!)....j----

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

You have to take some negative comments in stride, but interference from a sound man is a definite call to action. I have people come up to me and sometimes tell me that I am a fantasic steel player. My first response "Thank you, but you should see my friends in Nashville and Texas" because I'm not a great steel player. On the other hand playing for a country rock band the older traditional players give me negative comments about not being able to play because my band doesn't play shuffles, "I Love You Just Because", or "Steel Guitar Rag". Its all relative. Typical comment from some of the older traditional players is "They're not country". Thats right we are country rock. I just try to see the good in people because you can't please everyone. Bob, it sounds like you can't let this go. Just forget about it and hold yourself to your own standard. Very few of us will ever achieve master status in their technical ability. Let yourself off the hook. Part of my enjoyment in playing steel guitar is going to see steel players that are better than me and trying to help beginners to learn.
One other comment. I remember spending weeks in my practice studio learning stuff like "Raisin The Dickens", "Orange Blossom Special" or John Hughey's arrangement of "Deep Water" note for note. You know what? I only impressed myself and after two months I forgot how to play them. I'll be playing in front of twenty thousand people this year at one large venue, and next Saturday I'll be playing to fifty at a slug joint. It doesn't matter. I just love the steel guitar and the players that play it.

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Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Nah. its not bothering me after 27-28 years, its just that the guys who did the "constructive criticizing" were two drugged out roadies that had no experience with steel or steel players other than the one player who held the job before I did in this particular band...bob

Gary Lee Gimble · From: Fredericksburg, VA.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Kegel!? I love Kegel! Especially at Passover, with honey on it...

(We now return you to your regularly-scheduled thread)

Ted Solesky · From: Mineral Wells, Texas, USA

Bob, if that would ever happen to me, I would consider the source. I worked with a drummer who insisted that you play it exactly the way it was recorded or you couldn't play. This drummer would drag in meter and when he did a rift, now and then, he came back in on the wrong side of the beat. When I'd mentioned this to him, he'd get upset and insinuate that I didn't know what I was talking about.? He's heard that remark from too many other musicians, so, I consider the source whenever he says a negative remark to me. One thing you try to do is remember the good remarks that you got in the past. For sure, those good remarks should outweigh the negative ones. Want to hear something funny. While this same drummer is riding in 'my' car to a gig, he says, 'the steel guitar never contributed anything to music.'.???? I should have dumped him right there. Surely an ignorant soul - as ignorant as they get.

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Reaffirms my suspicion that most "listeners" have no idea what's making that "sound", or what goes into bringing that "sound" to life.

I've been playing with a software package that fabricates music for use behind video segments. Tell it the music genre and elapsed time in seconds, and it'll create a tune segment that will fit the time segment exactly. The synthesized "country steel" tune is crap. To whom do I complain? the monitor?, the hard disk?

[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 02 May 2005 at 09:21 AM.]

richard burton · From: Britain

I once had a member of the audience come running up to the stage in between songs, virtually pulling his hair out with dissatisfaction at my steel playing, shouting at the top of his voice for me to stop playing, he just couldn't stand any more of it.
Fortunately, I'm quite thick-skinned, and his criticism slid off me like water off a ducks back.
I just smiled serenely and carried on playing.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

A bandleader of long ago had what I thought was the perfect retort for such remarks from the audience. Once, after singing a great, tear-jerking, rendition of "It's My Way", an inebriated customer laughed and yelled out...

"Do you call that singing?"

The bandleader just smiled and said..."Laugh all you want to, fella, you're the sucker that's paying to hear it...all my drinks are free!"

That shut him up!

mtulbert · From: Plano, Texas 75023

This thread reminds me of a story that happened a long time ago on a session with Weldon. There is no one easier to work with then Weldon and he is a pleasure to have in the studio. Anyhow, on this particular gig, the producer hated everything he played. After each take, he made it a point to really put it to Weldon. After one song, and alot of unnecessary criticism from the producer who actually left the control room and went out to tell Weldon what he wanted, Weldon got up from the chair and handed this guy his picks and bar and said "play exactly what you want me to play and I will do it for you". That shut the guy up for the rest of the session and in true Weldon fashion, the rest of the session went off without a hitch.

Weldon never lost his cool and was able to put the guy in his place without it getting really ugly.

[This message was edited by mtulbert on 02 May 2005 at 09:45 AM.]

Gary Lee Gimble · From: Fredericksburg, VA.

Michael Breid · From: Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA

I've been there, but 9 times out of 10 it's people who couldn't sit down and play a chord on a steel without instruction. I never could figure out why it's usually someone who has no idea what they are talking about, becomes an expert. But, what's funny is the old karma thing. They usually get theirs eventually. They open their mouth and someone or something shuts it. Sometimes for good. IMHO that is very unprofessional if it is from another musician. If it is from a non-musician, I take their comments as a reason for them to breathe. Who was it, Grocho, or Rodney Dangerfield that said, "Everybody's a critic"!!!?

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

A bunch of years ago I had a call from from a woman singer who wanted me to play on a couple of her songs for a demo. I was unaware that the producer had wanted to use his favorite player and she had insisted on me.

At the session, he "worked me over" pretty good, however, I had had an advance copy of the material and I was familiar with the ideosyncracies. So as I was packing up, he told me, in a deriding voice, that I sounded like a '50s player, which I took as a supreme compliment.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

as written above...

" I never could figure out why it's usually someone who has no idea what they are talking about, becomes an expert"

for a minute there I was thinking this thread was about politicians !

t

Henry Nagle · From: Santa Rosa, California

Someone once accused me of playing "Pineapple Pearl Harbor music" I just took it as a complement.

Kevin Lange · From: Dickson, TN

One of the things that I've wondered about for a while now is why certain audience members who don't like the music the band is playing complain to the band about it. What they don't seem to understand is that the band is playing the music they enjoy playing. Sometimes that's the biggest compensation we receive, seeing as how most of us aren't getting rich playing music no matter what kind it is. I tried to explain that to a guy one night, and told him the person he should complain to is the owner/manager. I said that if enough people complain, we won't be back, and his problem would be solved. That was about 4 years ago, we still play the place 8-10 times a year, and that guy is still hanging around but he leaves us alone.

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

For every negative nimrod,
there are many somewhat informed people who like what you are doing. Country or blues fans, who can't polay but understand what you were saying musically.

My favorites are the completely clueless people, who just liked it, no idea what or why or even the style,
but they take the time to come up and say
they liked it.

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