Ever Quit?.. or seriously consider it?/

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

I was talking to a friend in the chat room the other day.. He told me he stopped playing 28 years ago after playing about 3 years, and then just started up again within the last year.. If you heard him, you'd swear he never stopped .. he was QUITE good!

Anyway,I have been hearing this a LOT lately, from guys all over.. It seems more common than I would have thought ,considering the addictive nature of the unwieldy beast we play, and I was just wondering how many of our friends here have stopped for extended periods, maybe sold thier gear etc,.. I stopped a few times, but I always heeded the voices in my head ...

*** bob***,I'm your pedal steel guitar** **come touch me** ** caress me** **make me whine, sing,cry** ** make the folks laugh and point when they hear you plucking my strings**... etc etc..

I still hear the voices today,but they keep saying things like "lunatic", "mental case", "group home" ... not sure what that has to do with steel guitar???.. anyway, any former quitters??/ . bob

richard burton · From: Britain

No Way!!
I've quit gigging several times, but no way will I ever stop playing PSG or regular guitar.
These people, who have stopped playing any instrument, for 40 years etc, cannot be considered committed musicians, in my opinion, no matter how competent they are on resuming their instrument.

Andy Greatrix · From: Edmonton Alberta

Quit? What else would I do? I even dream I'm playing and singing. I feel blessed to have something that makes me feel this good.

Chris Brooks · From: Providence, Rhode Island

I didn't play for 11 years. Steel too bulky etc to take overseas. So I played 6 string and bass.

But all the time I was "thinking steel." I believe that helped when it came time to resume this fiendishly complex yet intriguing instrument.

Chris

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Carter SD-12 Extended E-9 with 5 & 6; Peavey N 112; Small Stone, Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere.

David Mullis · From: Rock Hill, SC

well, I guess I'm sort of on hiatus right now myself. I sort of got burned out in the last band I was playing with. my guitar hasn't been out of the case in over a month now, besides , there's not many places to play around here. i imagine i'll get back to it before too long though.

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

I quit music as a profession in 1984 and went to work in a TV station. I still played music on the side, weekends and casuals, but sold my psg's and only played guitar.

I did that for two reasons, at the time my (first now ex-) wife and I were in bad financial shape. The band I'd been playing with 5-6 nights a weeks (even 7 for some time) finally broke up and there was nothing else comparable available that payed the bills, we had a new baby boy to take care of so I thought it was time for a "real job" that could take care of the wife and baby with more stability and benefits.

I did the regular job for 16 years, even after that marriage ended in divorce in '87. I still played music as much as I could work into my schedule, but I never bought another pedal steel, or even non-pedal or lap steel. My thinking at the time was to concentrate on my regular guitar playing and try to get good on one instrument instead of being half-@$$ed on several. I thought I'd never be as good on the steel as I should be, but would be a better guitar player.

In 2000 I could stand it no more and quit the regular job and went "back to music"... HA! Big surprise. The state of the music business was even worse.... much worse... than it was when my full-time band split up in '84. I knew it wasn't as good but hadn't thought it would be as bad as it turned out to be.

I couldn't get steady work around Vegas, where I'd been since '81 so had to start looking about jobs out of the area. In 2001 I got an answer to an ad I'd placed online, from a lady singer/bandleader in Kansas, and by reading my bio and listening to the soundclips on my website (that I only made because my new wife insisted it was a good idea), I was hired to play pedal steel in a "new country" group.

Just one problem... I hadn't played steel since '84.... I did buy a Sho-Bud model 6139 S10 from a buddy around '97, but it only had one knee-lever and I'd played it maybe twice at church, so in all those years I really hadn't played steel at all to speak of.

I told the singer/bandleader I hadn't played psg in "a few years" but was sure I could get back in practice quick and I took the job and we moved to Kansas. As one knee just isn't enough to get what I used to do, I bought an old MSA D12 from Bobbe, it arrived the same day we were hitting the road for a fair and I threw it onstage and played it without even a chance to practice on it. Never played a 12-string before plus all the knees were different (I asked for it to be set up this way, wanted to try a more modern setup). I had about 20 minutes to "warm up" on it before the show, which incidentally started with a "hot steel lick". I made it!

The good thing about doing things like this is, if you pull it off OK, it takes a bit more to make you worry after that. If you bomb....well.... that's happened to me too.... another story!

So after not playing steel for "a few years" (17!) I was playing it full-time again.

I've found that I still have not recovered the manual dexterity or the ability to play instictively as well as I had before I quit. If you're thinking about quitting, beware. However, I seem to have better taste and feel in my playing now, too. Maybe just from being older and more seasoned...or something. I had less taste but more "fire" when I was younger. Normal?

Now I'm playing guitar in a group and have several things in the works, but haven't been able to work the psg or lapsteel into anything live in this area yet. I miss it.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 16 November 2005 at 05:03 PM.]

Bob Hickish · From: Port Ludlow, Washington, USA, R.I.P.

Bob you always come up with the question
of the day !
My answer is Yes several times ! the last
time was for 20 years , except for the few
times someone said grab you Steel and come
over !
Now I'm obsessed with it ! and regret not
striving to a higher aptitude , but I will
say the folks I get to pick with are some grate
musicians and they haven't run me off , so I'm
loving every moment of it .

Bob

James Cann · From: Phoenix, AZ

Once, followed by a better-than-ten-year drought which was one too many!!

Steve Stallings · From: Houston/Cypress, Texas

I started playing steel in 1979 and played for about a year. I sold my steel and just played regular guitar until June of 90. I played for about two years and then it went in the case for two years when I moved to Kentucky. I moved back to Texas in 94 and started playing again then. I'm really sorry I stopped playing for all those years but you can't change the past.

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God Bless,
Steve Stallings
D10 9x7 Rains (On order)
D10 8x10 Emmons (Black Beauty)

Bobbe Seymour · From: Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.

Ever quit? Yea, just did!

Grant Johnson · From: Nashville TN

I never quit, but I quit playing an instrument for a while. I was a semi-pro bluegrass dobro player throughout my twenties in a band called the Quitters; we played around the Pacific Northwest. I stopped playing and sold my Dobro in 98 or 99 to concentrate on a telecaster gig. I quit playing Telecaster except an occasional gig or session about three years ago to concentrate on PSG. I came close to selling my tele three times this year in order to buy a new Dobro. I pulled the tele out of its case a couple days go and dang if I didn't really dig playing it! So if I need a break from one instrument, there is always a different instrument to be fresh again.

Michael Barone · From: Downingtown, Pennsylvania

Bob, I bought my Pro-1 in '86. Practiced for a year or so, played it on stage for 3 simple songs/night in a country/oldies band. When the lead guitar player was fired I convinced them I could cover the guitar solos while playing keyboard the entire night (which meant dividing the money 4 ways instead of 5). It worked. But then the steel was stored away in a closet for many years. Couldn't carry the steel with a van load - amps, rack, keyboards, bass pedals, 2 guitars. Many MIDI cables and patches. An hour and a half set up time.

I have not performed in public since 1995, when I started teaching high school. No free time during the school year. Played steel a little while recording tracks during the summer. From Nov 2004 on, I practice an hour a day. I love it so much I found the time while dedicating many hours a week for school responsibilities. The forum really got me motivated last winter, and reminded me how much I love playing steel. I don't practice keyboard or guitar now, just steel. Saving up to buy a Carter. Hope to be good enough to play in church next summer.

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Mike Barone
Sho-Bud Pro-1 5&4 with RHL | Nashville 112
Assorted Guitars & Keyboards

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

Yeah Grant, know what you mean. Except, every time I pull my fiddle out of its case, I put it back in a little faster each time... guitar and steel are enough for me these days, but actually wouldn't mind getting my hands on another Dobro.

Love the name of your band, The Quitters, ha. When they finally broke up and people asked "what happened to The Quitters?", did you say, "They quit!" ?

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

got frustrated , sold my carter starter then after about a month couldn't stand not having one so i bought a Zumsteel. think about quitting all the time ...but now i just leave it sitting a few days then i'm glad i didn't sell it

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ZumSteel

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

There ain't no way I'm quittin'. I love playing steel guitar! I can't stop playing this beautiful instrument! Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel, GFI Ultra D-10

[This message was edited by Brett Day on 18 November 2005 at 11:53 AM.]

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

Started playing in 1982 quit 1993-1995 started in 1996 and probably will continue to play until somebody says stop.

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Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

I quit on the morning of January 1, 1990, the morning after my ex-girlfriend and very-soon-to-be ex-band partner threw my NYE's money in my face, screaming "I wanted to marry you, you sorry MOTHER F*^%ER!!"

After 23 years in the music biz, stars, singer/songwriters, copy bands, whatever. I'd had it. Burned out. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Et cetera, baby. I decided the bullsh*t in the band business just wasn't worth it, and I was gonna concentrate on being the best newspaper advertising manager I could be. I also prayed for guidance that the next woman I have a relationship with will be a problem solver, not a problem creator. I then decided I would spend my weekends bass fishing and only play a job if it was 1) very lucrative, 2) with excellent players, and 3) if it was convenient to the house.

So basically, I didn't work much for two years. I met the woman I've now been married to for over 11 years, concentrated on the advertising bidness, and bought a bass boat. I also let my chops slide precipitously.

In January of 1992, my wife insisted I go down to San Antonio with her for the Texas Veterinary Convention and help her decide on a computer system. I didn't want to go, but she said Johnny Bush was gonna play for the dance, and I knew my friend Jim Loessberg was gonna be on the gig. Jim had even called me to fill in for him with another band that night, but I told him we were going to San Antone.

At the dance in SA, Jim came off the bandstand and told me he was just too busy with school and work to do this gig anymore, and would I be interested in filling in. I told him I was retired from steel playing, didn't know any of Johnny's material, and would just as soon not do the gig. He allowed as how it was easy, he'd show me some stuff if I needed it, and he introduced me to Bush.

Johnny and I got along great with each other immediately and I agreed to do two gigs as a fill-in. After the second gig he offered me the job as the regular steel player. Still cynical about music, I said, "let's see how it goes." Incidentally, I'm about to start my 14th year in the Pack-a-seat.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 16 November 2005 at 06:45 PM.]

Joe Shelby · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

I still struggle with just getting myself to practice. The most that happens is I'll just
let it set for a few days and pick it up again. I almost always feel better when I do take the time to practice or push myself to do so.
For me, depression and anxiety have been the
main roadblocks for over twenty five years, and it's still a daily fight to stay motivated.
I started playing at 16 (1973) and even in
those years there was depression, but it never got in the way of what I then wanted so badly to do, which was play. One week after graduating from high school I was gigging, and in a short time I was playing
most nights of the week. I balanced (thanks to youth) going to SFSU full time with a full
gig schedule.
Things continued, my playing got a lot better, I was working with better players and
I hit the road during my fourth semester of college. I let go of school after that (I still don't regret that choice) and would practice six hours a day, then go out and play at night.
At 22, after a long spell of depression, panic anxiety came into the equation. I didn't know I needed to get help, and despite
extreme discomfort being on stage, or just going to visit friends during the day, I continued gigging until 1985 (age 2 Cool

.
I stopped playing altogether, got a day job
doing residential/commercial glass replacement, and finally started to get help
for my illnesses.
Three years later, I got a new steel and practiced at home, but couldn't bring myself
to get out and gig. Though I had slowly started to recover from anxiety and depression, the thought of playing in public just seemed like too much.
I went back to gigging in the early '90's, for about five years, but had to drink to cover my anxieties, and my playing was erratic in performance situations. I stopped
playing altogether for six years.
In the last couple years I have been practicing at home. I have tried in the last year to get out and play with something other than tapes or BIAB, but nothing has caught on yet.
I stopped drinking five years ago, so in some senses I'm starting over, but a lot of
mental baggage remains. There's something in
me that refuses to give up on getting out and playing with others. Some say "just get out and do it," but things don't want to work that simply.

Joe.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

After about five years in live television work with a fine group of musicians the ELVIS craze hit and hit hard. Clubs and dance halls were all going to R & R where they could 8-10 kids jumping and screaming for 25% of what they were getting four or five professional quality musicians for.
Surrounded by a house full of quality musical instruments and amps capped by decades of musical training and practicing...
I was at a low point, to say the least.
Had I been able to get my hands on a chain saw with easy to read instructions, I most likely would have sawed everyone of my g'tars in half. Gadd!
Now some forty years later, surrounded with even more beautiful instruments and no place to really play them (except for "free")
I can actually feel the burning desire starting to "cool", the flame is flickering and with no place to play I've just about reached that point of hangin' it up.
If it wasn't for the Jerry Byrd Fan Club and the one or two complimentary emails I receive now and then for my effort, I most likely would have folded my tent early last year.
How can something so deeply instilled within one, cause such pain simply because you can't go play your heart out?

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

No.

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

Me neither.

I tried after I got fired by a drunken slob about 5 years ago to stay home and rebuild my Panhead.

It lasted two weeks.

Gotta admit that in my off time, it's all going into my Tele and Strat, and working them onto the bandstand.

EJL

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

I have been addicted to music for 56 years,and cigarettes for 50 years,never been able to break either habit.I'm not kidding when I go I hope I'm on a band stand in some smokey honkey tonk,instead of a hospital hooked up to a machine. Yes I have had many aggravating,crappy,discouraging,and disappointing things happen in my musical career,but I NEVER ONE TIME thought about quitting.The Pro's allways out weighed the Con's.Maybe I'm a nut,but i can't comprehend music not being a big part of my life. The only thing that would make me stop playing,would be a physical handicap,not the knuckle heads that surround me sometimes!!!!

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

When I was at the TV station, despite still playing weekends and casuals and getting great money and benefits from the station job, whenever I'd hear a good band live or on TV it was like a knife went right through my heart, especially killed me when I was at work at the station and on the TV comes an artist I'd played with, or some musicians I'd played with. I can't even explain it. Not jealousy, though I'm sure there may have been some envy, but that knife in the heart feeling was as Ray said. A burning pain to play your heart out, and nowhere or way to do it. Totally frustrated and sick inside. In fact I'm still halfway there now, got a few things going here but not enough. Don't sell your stuff Ray, then it's just worse cuz you know you can't play even if/when you get the chance and the pain is still there.

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

Sometimes I have had 5 bands in different ratios, almost always very different styles too.

Other times have been falllow, no band, but composition or song writing.
But sometimes few ideas, others ideas bouncing off'n the walls.

Others seem in retrospect to be nulls and were a recharging time,
where apparently nothing happened.
But looking back, a cleaning up of stylistic low points happened.

But I rarely ever get the itch to quit,
because the bigger itch was always to want to play,
especially when seeing a good live show.
Dang, I got some notes boppin in the bean now,
wish I was pick'n with them now!

Or just being around someone who musically interests me.

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 16 November 2005 at 08:17 PM.]

Jim Peters · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA, R.I.P.

I've been playing out for 40 some odd years, 'cept for a 10 year stretch in marriage #1, when I concentrated on being a good dad.
I can't imagine not playing out! The only reason I play guitar or steel is to play out, mostly in clubs. If I couldn't play out, I wouldn't bother with the learning curve on steel. I practice much more when I have a gig. I play it as long as there are gigs. JimP

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