Does it wear off ? The excitement of playing ste

Roland Buras · From: Kiln, MS, 45 miles east of New Orleans off I-10 USA

Does it wear off ? I began hearing this instrument in my head approx 9 years ago. Two years later i had to do something about it. i DID' i contacted the guy that put it there and said i'm ready to buy a steel and start learning. with a few lessons and much much pratice i began to hear something like was going on inside me. I was obsessed with the instrument, day and night. My wife thought i was going crazy, i could tell she was, through all the cat growls and strange utterances coming from the back room, i finally had to move to the shed. finally got brave enough to try it in public, i liked it and been there now for seven years with every opportunity that comes available. Had the pleasure of playing last weekend with Mr Bob Saxton, great person and fantastic guitarist. this weekend with Ronnie Fontenot formerly of the percy sledge band. lots of church events, benefits and this August 5th will be playing at the DSSGA, Gulport Ms. Deep south steel guitar asso. OK you steelers that's been there 20, 30, 40 years tell me what you think, does it wear Off...

R J Buras
Mississippi Gulf Coast
Excel SD12 9x7
(only playing 3 and 5 for now ) Ha!

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

In my experience, and my observation of others, the joy of playing steel rarely wears off. What wears off is the drudge of trying to make a living doing it.

Steve Stallings · From: Houston/Cypress, Texas

I go thru spells when the late nights and long drives seem to wear. Then a really great gig happens and I am rejuvenated.

The Ballad of Jake Masters

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Steve Stallings
The Songs

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

I'm a few decades in and not yet.

Doug Seymour · From: Jamestown NY USA (deceased)

I heard them (steels) in my school days on the radio....always listened to music on the radio. Melody Ranch, Wayne King, Guy Lombardo, Alvino Rey. Finally went to a live dance feturing a lap steel player who I'd heard on the radio (locally) & later 101 Ranch Boys, with LT Zinn, too! I had to have one! I got mine, mail order catalog found out HT tune it? and learned Georgia Steel Guitar (it was easier for me than steel guitar Rag?). That was 1946 and Friday night I picked up a D10 that I'm working on to help a widow sell it to a steel buddy of mine (who really ought to have it, he just doesn't know it yet?) and I am just as excited about a steel as I was 60 years ago! I don't think if it really means something to you, that it ever goes away. My youngest son, 27, just got a used Carter starter and will be just as hooked as his cousin Bobbe & I, and who knows what sort of sounds he will make on it!?? This generation hears different steel sounds (in their heads)than most of us old guys that grew up with country & western swing. I lay claim to being Chautauqua county's oldest steel "techie"! Bobbe told me if I had spent as much time working the top as I did working the bottom, maybe I would have been able to play it by now!!!?? Who knows how many steels I've worked on?!

Pete Young · From: Quebec, Canada

I say no. I have played for about forty years now,and gave it up a few times for a month or two when I got fed up with the way country has gone Then I get the urge to set it up and play again. I know if someone called me for a gig, I would say yes before I even found out where it was or how much it paid. For me to be on stage was a great thrill always, I love every min. of it.The only prob. now is to lug the stuff around I am 71 years old now

Pete young

Paul King · From: Gainesville, Texas, USA

I know an elderly gentleman who played many years ago and quit. In the 1980's he bought a pedal steel and now he plays again and goes to the conventions and jamborees. Like it was stated earlier, a good gig can ignite the spark once again. Then I can turn the radio on and hear Emmons or Rugg and it hits me again. As for me, I do not feel like I get enough playing outside of the house. My wife and children get tired of hearing me and will not go anywhere when I do play out. They get their fill of my playing here at home. It does get in your blood as the old saying goes, and I hope it never leaves my blood.

Rick Kornacker · From: Dixon Springs, Tennessee, USA

Hey Roland and all!
Ahhh..one of the big questions.I would say that many of us players have a virtual "love affair" with our instrument.That being said I believe we are subject to all things that pertain to this state of mind. It can make your life experience that much sweeter...or screw it up royally.I personally have seen both ends of the spectrum and points in between.And, for what it's worth, this comes from a guy that has been married to a steel guitar and a lovely wife whose step-father was quite a well-known steel player, an uncanny twist to my whole crazy experience.I hope I don't sound overly dramatic. "It is better to have loved and...." I'd do it all over again. Regards, RK

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Billy Carr · From: Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)

I'm a second generation steel player. My father was a big Emmons and Green fan when died in Dec,70. Ayear later, I took up the steel on the 66' p/p he had bought from Buddy E. a year or so earlier. At 14, I went to a Conway Twitty concert and met John Hughey that night. He spent 5 or 10 minutes with me and that's all it took. But the first player I must give credit to for helping me was actually Bobby Bowman. He had married into my family and my aunt brought him to Mississippi to meet everybody. Bobby took the ole p/p out of the case and set it up and got me started. I've been addicted to it ever since, through some hard times as well as the good. Mostly good times though. I still remember a question I BB when he set the p/p up and it was, " Which neck should I learn first?" He said learn'em both. So, that's where it all started pretty much. I still enjoy playing live, especially at steel shows, since the shows are for steelers.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

several decades in ..

the desire and the "wanna factor " do not wear off..they get more intense with each "GOOD" phrase you play...

t

Joe Smith · From: Charlotte, NC, USA

Well, I started back in the 50s on a 6 string guitar with a nut under the bridge to raise the strings up. then got a gibson lap steel. Next was a fender double neck then a fender 400, next was a fender 1000, then a Sho-Bud permanent, and so on and so on untill the present. I still enjoy playing the PSG today as much as I did when I started on the the 6 string. I don't play out as much, but still practice every day at least 2-3 hours a day. Now that I'm retired I have lots of time to mess around with the PSG. Now I have three steels. My friends ask me why I need three steels and my answer is " a man can never have too many steels.

I still love playing steel and I guess I will be playing untill they put me 6 feet under.

[This message was edited by Joe Smith on 30 July 2006 at 06:23 PM.]

Mike Shefrin · Posted 30 Jul 2006 5:36 pm

I gave up playing the pedal steel for a few years and concentrated on jazz guitar, but I got back into it again with a vengeance, and play every single day now, and cannot figure out for the life of me why I ever stopped.I love it and sound better each day.

[This message was edited by Mike Shefrin on 04 August 2006 at 06:03 PM.]

Marlin Smoot · From: Kansas

For me, it's not the steel I get tire of...I think it's more the band drama or club drama that wears thin.

After 3 decades, I still find I want to keep getting better and keep learning new things.

Hal Higgins · From: Denham Springs, LA

RJ....my good friend and protoge'.....no sir, it never gets tiring, or old....it just keeps getting stronger....the feeling that I have for this instrument.....When ever I think I want to quit, I just listen to one of my favorite players play a Ray Price tune......and it just rejuvinates my desire for this thing......C-ya soon.....HAL

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Be Blessed........HAL
2006 Rains w/8 & 5 Chestnut Burl Mica. Webb 6-14E Amp w/1501-4BW, Nashville 400. Evans preamp, Boss RV5, DD3, Digitech RP50, 2 Hilton Pedals, Walker Seat w/sidekick and backrest, Steelers Choice Seat with sidekick and backrest. BJS 10 string bar with birthstone. Zookies thumb pick L-30.

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

For me, the excitement of playing steel never fades away. I can remember when I was nine years old and saw a steel guitar onstage, it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen and heard. Then a few years later, I decided I wanted to play the instrument I started loving when I was nine years old. Playing the steel guitar really changed how I look at playing music with cerebral palsy, because for a while, I kept telling myself "No" to playing music because of cerebral palsy, but when I started playing steel, it helped me to think more positive thoughts about playing music. Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel, GFI Ultra D-10

Colby Tipton · From: Crosby, Texas, USA

I got out of playing pedal steel for 26 years and started back playing again 5 months ago. The bug never did go away during that 26 years. When I started back it was like I never quit for a single day, just behind the times on some of the newer licks and I'll never quit again. I gave it up to raise some kids and I couldn't do it playing in the joints. To answer your question the feeling never will leave you.

Mark Edwards · From: Weatherford,Texas, USA

Ric Epperle · Posted 31 Jul 2006 3:24 am

I too am a second generation steel player. My dad started playing steel before there were pedals and moved through all of the changes of the instrument over a period of 50 some years. I started taking up the steel in the mid nineties after his health would'nt allow him to play anymore. He passed away May 29th, 2003 and I decided I would truly carry the torch. I'm so addicted to it now, I don't think I'll ever get over it.

[This message was edited by Ric Epperle on 31 July 2006 at 04:26 AM.]

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

No.
Practice steel for afternoon, get fatigued...
Lay Off for a day...
Hear steel on radio, get steel "jones"...
Practice steel at once... get steel "fix"...
The cycle repeats...
(Sounds like a "dependency" issue, went to see the shrink, he said to not come back until I knew the C6th fretboard cold...)

[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 31 July 2006 at 06:31 AM.]

Dave Grothusen · From: Scott City, Ks

Howdy Rick, hey I need to know, what came first------the guitar, the girl or Jeff?

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

This is a GREAT question, but I am not sure if there is a clear cut answer.. at least not for me..

Overall, I would say if you become somewhat proficient, the spark will always be in you somewhere, although I DO know of some good players that have just quit,never to play again... I would say I get no great joy out of sitting home alone playing these days, I am just getting bored with THAT aspect of the steel playing experience..

I would bet my last dollar however that if a really quality ensemble of musicians were to call and want my steel as part of thier sound, I would be excited beyond reason and would practice as hard as I could to do justice to their music,REGARDLESS of the genre .

Like many, I suppose I need a challenge,a goal as it were, to really ignite the flame.. I DO enjoy studio work when I get it and work hard to be prepared for sessions, so I know the desire is still there ,perhaps just a little latent..

I would be VERY excited if I were given the opportunity to be JUST a steel player in a fine ensemble... It is MUCH less rewarding playing steel in 4 or 5 songs in a rock band.. That seems more of a "chore" these days, and I would actually prefer NOT to have to set the steel up..

I guess the answer to the question is this.. NO the excitement never wears off totally, but it can and does wax and wane depending on your circumstance..People DO lose desire to play for decades at a time and jump back in with both feet after 25 years.. I would percieve this situation as the excitement "wearing off".. but it DOES come back for many... but not all... bob

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

I never get tired of playing but I sometimes feel like I'm in a rut until I learn some new licks then I'm ready to go some more.

One thing that wears on me more is playing in a band that tends to want to learn new songs with little to no steel but it all pays the same I suppose.

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

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

I think that a steel player never tires of playing the music that excited and motivated him or her in the beginning.

The "wear off" of excitement comes with the reality of having to compromise what you want to play to adapt to playing music that you are "not excited" to play.

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www.genejones.com

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 01 August 2006 at 04:42 AM.]

Jody Cameron · From: Angleton, TX,, USA

I agree with Jim Cohen. I have played for 25 yrs. now, and I still love it as much or more than the day I started. I'm still obssessed.

I have been burnt out once though. I was on the road for 4 yrs. with the same act back in the late '90's, and I got to where I couldn't realy "play" any more. I did the same 21 songs in the same order with the same jokes for so long that what little creativity I had went away. I put my steel away for about a year after quitting the road the first time.

I worked a day gig for a while and eventually the bug got me again, and I've been back at it full time for a while now. I still travel and play, but not 90 days away from home at a time like before.

JC

Randy Gilliam · From: San Antonio, Texas, USA

I can only stay motavited by Playing In several Bands. I get Really burned out Playing with the same want too Be a Star who brings One mike so its A One Man show.I like Too Play different Tunes and Hear lots of Good Or Bad singers .Randy Gilliam.

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