There has been lot's of hand-clapping about R. Randolph, Garcia and other, lesser known talents, who are expanding the base for this beautiful instrument into other musical arenas; gospel; rock & roll; jazz, etc.

For those of us who learned to play steel on "a Hawaiian Steel Guitar"....and who played in such great bands as PeeWee King, Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, The Cumberland Valley Boys, The Texas Troubadors, etc., it has been quite hurtful, to witness the new crowd constantly down-grading the instrument, based on their own very limited knowledge of the instrument and its long and endearing history, by calling it a slide-guitar, screamer, rhythm & Blues guitar,and/or LAP STEEL guitar, or worse yet a "NON-PEDAL STEEL GUITAR".

For those of us who made a living playing the original models and grew with it thro' its transitional phase into an off-shoot option, known as pedal steel......we did in fact pave the way for those of you who have only recently started lessons or developing an interest in the instrument during the last five or ten years.
If your concern truly lies in the "future" of the steel guitar, then why not start out by calling it what it is: A Hawaiian Steel Guitar and it's younger brother/sister, the
Pedal Steel Guitar.
Let's stop this down-grading of a traditional instrument and its proud history by calling it what it's not. As Jerry Byrd has said in essance, "I don't play a non-pedal anything!" "I play a steel guitar; the rest of them are pedal steels".

Instead of re-writing history and renaming
the steel guitar, why not learn what you're talking about, and when referring to it, do so with respect and reverence, not only for the instrument itself but those early pioneers that made it the popular instrument that it is.

Another point: Jerry Byrd played "religious songs" but was NEVER referred to as a Gospel Steel Guitar Player.
He likewise played pop tunes with Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell and other artists from outside his original c/w circle of accomplishments. He was never called a "Pop Tune Steel Guitarist". Jerry also played "Hillbilly tunes" and even some
"Comical" tunes with Homer & Jethro and until lately, no one ever hung a fractionalized title on his playing or his guitar of choice.

I'm sure you're beginning to see where I'm going with this. A steel guitar is a steel guitar, whether you choose to hook up pedals to it or not. That's a personal choice so why not recognize it for what it is and stop with all of this renaming everything for the sake of having something to talk about? Just curious.

carl

my steel guitar and yours are planks of wood with wires on them and have no life or spirit to have reverance for until a human being plays them and imbues them with such. it's the person that deserves respect, not the musical appliance so i agree with with you that we should respect the players that have gone before us and blessed us with wonderful steel guitar music.

that's respecting the past. as for the future, that's going to be made up of the "new crowd" who come to the steel guitar and no matter how they get there or what they call it, i'd say OUR best strategy is to teach them what we know about it and not be lumping them into broad disdainful categories as i felt you did somewhat in your post.

Whatever we all think, the steel guitar will be here long after we are, and it'll have a future that's every last bit as interesting as it's past.

Amen, uh, I mean, RIGHT ON, Loni!!

I know very few people who call their guitars 'spanish.' They just call them guitars, acoustic or electric.

Heck, someone had to modify a spanish guitar to make the first steel guitar, right? Who's lamenting that "sacrelidge??"

I feel that "Hawaiian" guitar implies a style or genre. I call it steel guitar. When someone asks if it's a pedal steel I tell them no, and point out that there are no pedals. For those that express an interest in the instrument, I usually give some of the other terms, including nonpedal, hawaiian, and lapsteel.

In my head: "Actually, it's a single cone biscuit bridge National steel guitar."

Out loud: "Yes, thank you, it is nice isn't it?"

We kind of speak a secret language, and shouldn't be surprised that people don't know what the hell we're talking about.

Them: "Oh? What instrument do you play?"

Me: "Steel guitar.. Actually pedal steel, and acoustic and electric steel guitar... No? Uhh... like, Hawaiian guitar and Dobro, and uhh... No, not actually Hawaiian music... You know, that whiny country sound? Yeah, that. Except not that."

-Travis

[This message was edited by Travis Bernhardt on 17 February 2004 at 11:18 PM.]

When I started playing, there was no "standard tuning", and steel players would not share what they did with anyone else....they even "detuned" strings on their guitar when they left the bandstand, rather than have anyone "steal" their tuning.

I have never had any help in learning to play, either by personal instruction, or by any other means....which may explain my limitations in playing today.

I envy the new players today who have so much written and other help from todays steel guitar players.

Maybe new players will evolve from the generous help that they receive from players today....I hope so!
www.genejones.com

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I rather like the term "Hawaiian Steel Guitar" sounds more interesting and exotic.

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Jessie, looks like you gleaned more from the older generation than just musical ideas.

I like the idea of not caring what we call the instrument, so long as we continue playing it.

But I can totally sympathize with Ray when he laments about the music being played today by many people my age. It's scary stuff out there.

I personally will not accept the majority of Rock N Roll as part of my musical lineage. No way no how. Yes, that's narrow-minded, but I think it's a trend amongst many people of my age as well. We're tired of the reckless, drugged up, long-haired culture. Music once had a certain class about it.

And I am only a half-wit. I recently witnessed an 18 yearold play the vibes like Lionel Hampton, to the T. I have friends who once listened to rap and reggae in high school, and are now going bonkers over the John Pizzarelli Trio. The numbers are growing.

I think the 1970's and 80's left a lot of people hungering. But presently I'm not too worried... the good stuff will come back to us.

i don't know your age, jeff. i'm 51, been playing professionally for 35 years, still have long hair ( i like it that way and so does my wife and it has absolutely zero to do with any kind of "culture") and if narrow-mindedness is any kind of trend i want no part of it.

narrow-mindedness has never done one thing for the advancement of any kind of art, culture, knowledge or anything else. in fact, i think keeping your mind narrow ultimately has the same effect that narrowing and hardening of the arteries has on you. it kills you.

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reckless, drugged up, long-haired culture.

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Not that I would recommend it for everyone ... but it always worked for me ...

Sorry Orville, the long hair comment was tongue-in-cheek. I didn't mean to offend you. Some of my best friends have long hair. I love them dearly. There are skinheads that do drugs.

Ray, I'm still haven't gotten any email from you. (It's eatmorepoi@aol.com just to make sure.)

This thread has been closed.

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