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What gave you your biggest steel playing improvement ever? (Page 2)
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The Steel Guitar Forum
Pedal Steel Archive
What gave you your biggest steel playing improvement ever? (Page 2)
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| This topic is 2 pages long: 1 2 This topic was originally posted in this forum: Pedal Steel |
| Author | Topic: What gave you your biggest steel playing improvement ever? |
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Joe Henry Member Posts: 909 |
posted 31 October 2001 11:32 AM
quote: If I hadn´t spent a lot of time under my guitar, I´d probably be no player at all by now. There are no PSG techs around here, so I just had to learn something about the mechanical part in order to keep it running and - as has been said before - personalize it, the best setup for one player doesn´t have to be the best for another. That´s one of the reasons why I love the PSG so much. I´m a tinkerer; I´ve always loved music but have always been fascinated by mechanical stuff as well; talking about real mechanics, machines where you see how they work, not automats. (BTW, I´m also a steam locomotives freak.) What other musical instrument lets you combine those two passions like that? |
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B Bailey Brown Member Posts: 606 |
posted 31 October 2001 02:09 PM
My biggest improvement came years ago when I had to get out of my living room and get onto a bandstand! Please don’t misunderstand me, “practice” is great. I should do a lot more of it than I do.  You can learn “licks”, technique, and tone etc. all in your house.Unfortunately, when you get on that bandstand you have to come grips with real life. You usually put that “lick” you learned in the wrong place, or the timing was off so it sounded really weird and out of place. That is if the band just happens to call a tune you know, which they are usually not kind enough to do. Your tone “changed” because you were in a different room than your living room, and you had NO idea how to fix it. Oh yea, and your technique went to hell in a hand basket because you were scared to death of musicians in the band, and people in a crowd watching you mess up! Geeze, I just read what I wrote. Did I go through all that? Yup, I really did for a lot of years. But I am a much better player today for the experience. By the way…NO it was not fun! But it is the only way you will learn. B. Bailey Brown |
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rayman unregistered Posts: 606 |
posted 31 October 2001 10:46 PM
Ditto the Marrs changers on the Sho-Bud. |
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Gerald Menke Member Posts: 644 |
posted 01 November 2001 08:19 AM
Great thread. Without at doubt, plugging straight into the amp made me the most acutely awared of my playing deficiencies. These days I wish more than anything that I had put the pedal in the closet fot the first six months. My intonation is good, tone is OK, but I have volume pedal=itis; playing without it has helped immensely, for sure. Anybody else found this to be the case?
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Pat Burns Member Posts: 2896 |
posted 01 November 2001 01:52 PM
quote: ...lucking into a really good teacher...professional musician who can teach theory and how it relates to the instrument, as well as technique...and who was willing to teach on a regular basis so that there is momentum and continuity in the process... ...it meant more that just starting over from scratch, it meant unlearning wrong things and learning right things from the very beginning, but I think the progress has been steady and relatively quick...I think I'm finally "getting it".. ...all the books and videos are good, don't get me wrong, but there's no replacement for a good teacher and a steady regimen... |
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Kirk P Dighton Member Posts: 262 |
posted 02 November 2001 11:04 AM
I haven't found the comfort yet, but, I have found that sitting in on jams will "push" you to find it. I spend 3-5 hours / day on that thing and I am comfortable in a limited area. Having good friends to push and critique helps. Dennis Detweiller, Curtis Kloft, Lefty Schragge only to name a few that I have. Thanks guys. |
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ErnieL unregistered Posts: 262 |
posted 05 November 2001 08:44 AM
I think after playing in bands in my early years from beginning to end when i learned what I didn't play was just as important as what I did play.I started enjoying music alot more |
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Steel tryin Member Posts: 298 |
posted 05 November 2001 12:40 PM
No doubt U12 was a break thru. Realizing practice is measured in years, not hours per day. |
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slick Member Posts: 560 |
posted 05 November 2001 02:50 PM
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David Weaver Member Posts: 575 |
posted 05 November 2001 03:38 PM
I feel that I am qualified to read and learn from this post but I am not qualified to answer in any meaningful way. Thanks to everyone who posted and thanks, Bill for starting this subject. It has a great deal of very good information in it. |
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Bill C. Buntin Member Posts: 642 |
posted 05 November 2001 04:53 PM
I used to think that I had to do what everybody else was doing. If one guy had a new change or knee lever pull whatever, I always thought I had to have it. The single most important thing for me was learning to play what I had and stop trying to copy and just be myself. I've started to think that someday I might could actually become pretty good. The only wrong notes there are, are the ones that sound bad and if what you are doing sounds right, it is right. |
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Larry Miller Member Posts: 975 |
posted 05 November 2001 05:06 PM
How come no one mentioned "getting a divorce!?"  |
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Jim Smith Member Posts: 6399 |
posted 05 November 2001 05:13 PM
That's just taken for granted.  |
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Pete Burak Member Posts: 2750 |
posted 06 November 2001 09:04 AM
I think that going to steel conventions had a huge impact on my desire and motivation to become a better player. I started playing around '79/'80 but didn't make it to my first convention untill Dallas '98. Also the advent of this forum had a huge impact on my learning curve and inspiration to play and learn and try new things. Also, after playing 5 nights a week from 9-1:30 for most of the '80's I took a few years off to go to college. When I returned to steel playing in a band in '95/'96, I had a strong desire to learn to play new stuff. Absence makes the heart grow fonder?! |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 08 November 2001 08:24 AM
The biggest help to my improvement is playing right now on Live 365. Jimmy Day !! Regards Paul |
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Bobby Lee Sysop Posts: 14849 |
posted 08 November 2001 08:30 AM
Thinking about it again... one of the biggest boosts I ever got was from Fred Layman's theory book. I forget what it was called, but it tied together all of the chord and scale positions on the E9th. Before I read it, I was just play licks with the A & B pedals. After, I was playing melodies with harmonies. It was a dramatic improvement, because of the way it unified the tuning in my mind. ------------------ |
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Darvin Willhoite Member Posts: 2322 |
posted 08 November 2001 08:33 AM
The thing that helped me the most was getting a new Williams steel in '93. I had played a jurassic Clark Custom for about 15 years, and had no idea that a steel could be so easy to play. I almost had to learn all over again because there were so many more things available on the Williams and it was so easy to try different pedal and lever setups. ------------------ |
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Jody Carver Member Posts: 7455 |
posted 08 November 2001 11:40 AM
Staying off the computer and Forum and putting my head and hands into the guitar where "satisfaction RULES" Im "HISTORY" |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 08 November 2001 03:39 PM
You know, if I was to think really hard, it would become obvious to me that one a the greater influences in the steel guitar world back in it's most recent heyday, would have to be JODY CARVER !! Even if you aren't a Fender man, look at who gave Ron Lashley one of his biggest boosts up the Emmons ladder of success. If nothing else it got him out of NC and into NYC ! And reading the Forum lately, I read a lot about the old Fender Amps. They are still treasured by steel players and Jody sold more than his share of them ! Quad 8s and the Fender 400/1000 series pedal guitars gave OK, so he's HISTORY . I didn't like it in school but nowadays I've learned to regret what I didn't pay attention to like my folks told me I should ! Best Regards to Jody; Paul |
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CrowBear Schmitt Member Posts: 6016 |
posted 09 November 2001 12:44 AM
Discovering the "Forum", and steppin' up from a Maverick to a ShoBud Professional D10 (from SGN) were the most significant improvements for me. and i'm Steel on the Way... |
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Tony Prior Member Posts: 4672 |
posted 09 November 2001 04:50 AM
Way back when I could still see and hear, I was in Nashville on business I was in the "Alley' and sat about two feet from Gene Oniell for the entire night. He played with so little effort that it seemed like magic. I had many discussions with him during the night and when I went home I started all over again with a totally new approach. Kind of like the guitar, when you start playing across the neck instead of up and down, you actually begin playing the instrument as intended. TP |
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Jody Carver Member Posts: 7455 |
posted 09 November 2001 06:49 AM
Thank you Paul for the nice compliments. You are truly a most considerate and proffesional human being. Not many on this media are aware of just how I have always been a "Fretts" booster,,your Thanks again and be well. You are truly a |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 10 November 2001 11:43 AM
Jody; And thank you as well for the compliments. I don't know why these coincidences on Live 365 keep happening but as I'm writing this, Noel Boggs in playing and that old Fender sound that he and you and Speedy had is really something to enjoy. He's playing Steelin' Home and I used to do that. I think I'll revive it tonight. Dang me but Noel can do that bar dance, Can't he ? And please give my Best Regards to anyone and everyone you talk to from the old days. Regards, Paul |
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Joseph Barcus Member Posts: 711 |
posted 10 November 2001 12:34 PM
mine was hearing my wife say your never going to learn how to play that thing, ------------------ |
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RichardMcKinney Member Posts: 97 |
posted 11 November 2001 08:46 PM
I'm still trying to get half this stuff down.There are times when I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.However I get inspired when I hear Artist's Like George Strait,Kenny Chesney,Merle Haggard,Alan Jackson,The Artist's that perform real country.I can honestly say that this is fun and very frustrating at times.However I think the frustration builds character and someday will enable me to be a decent player. I refuse to give up.IMHO This the sweetest sounding instrument there is.Thank's you all for all your help here on the Forum. ------------------ |
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Doug Earnest Member Posts: 395 |
posted 12 November 2001 06:55 PM
Working part time for Bruce Zumsteg has helped me a bunch. I was really bad before, now I'm just terrible ! But at least I know what I should sound like. Bruce is well known as a great builder, but I don't know how many people know what a fine player he is. Having someone to answer a question or show you a lick in person is a great help. ------------------ |
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Drew Howard Member Posts: 2390 |
posted 12 November 2001 08:02 PM
Lots of practice. Drew Howard ------------------ |
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