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 What was your first gig playing steel? (Page 2)
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chuck lemasters Member From: Jacksonburg, WV , |
posted 05 March 2005 06:53 AM
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Hey Jerry, I found a couple of snapshots from the American Legion in Pine Grove, New Years Eve, 1974-5? They are rich, you on the Gretsch, me on the Multi-Kord and Sam playing bass, matching green cowboy shirts. That may not have been my first steel guitar gig, but it was close. For the rest of the guys I'll say the show you made your steel debut on is a tough one for a first timer. You never know what's going to happen, but you are guaranteed to be thrown a curve or two. Or three. chuck |
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Mike Wheeler Member From: Columbus, Ohio, USA |
posted 05 March 2005 07:29 AM
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I was playing lead guitar in '71 with a local hippie rock band when I bought my first steel, a Miller S-10 3+1 (worst steel ever made). Barely knew how to tune it, but used it that weekend at a bar gig. The audience went nuts!! They didn't know what that wierd thing was, but they loved the sound. That started the addiction and I've been hooked ever since. By the way, it has been medically documented that there IS NO KNOWN CURE for pedal-steelitus!! The best you can do is listen to the Big E and swear off it for a day or two....but that's about it! |
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Mike Taylor Member From: Hermersberg GE |
posted 05 March 2005 08:03 AM
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I started playing 6 string in one of the local bands "Rick and the Keens" out of Wichita Falls Texas in early 1982. Early on I got a Sho Bud Maverick and one gig we had in Waurika Oklahoma (Jr High School auditorium -- Music Show with local talent); I got to play 'Crazy Arms'. Rick never asked me to bring it to a gig again!!! A few years later I played steel full time in a band until one night our regular guitar player decided not to show, so I switched back to 6 string for the rest of my time with that group -- Newt Laird and the Cadillac Cowboys - Wichita Falls Texas, circa 1988.. Good memories!! Mike Taylor |
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Gary Oatsvall Member From: El Cajon, CA USA |
posted 15 March 2005 01:07 AM
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In 1969 after practicing every Friday night for a year and a half I mentioned to the garage band “maybe we ought to get a playing job somewhere.” The shocked look came as a surprise but the group finally gave me the ok to check it out. Somehow a job was lined up at the local Elks. Set up on the night we played seemed to last forever but finally we were ready to show them what we had. The club manager gave us a good introduction and the curtain opened to about three hundred people. We began with enthusiasm. As the steel lead approached following the guitar I pushed down on the AB pedals with my brand new extra pointed boot and somehow unknown to me this day my boot locked in between the two pedals taking on the look of street skates I had as a kid. Unable to get my foot loose and forgetting to take my foot off the volume pedal who ever was still in the wings took mercy and slammed the curtain shut. Someone yell, “somebody help that man.” I guess they thought I’d had a spell of sorts. Following an intermission the curtain reopened as I sat there barefooted to finish the set but the crowd lost it so the curtain went shut again. Never went back to that Elks Club until I had aged some fifteen years and my hair turned white. We did finish that night with one set but for the good of all, forfeited our pay. |
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Gary Oatsvall Member From: El Cajon, CA USA |
posted 15 March 2005 01:20 AM
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In 1969 after practicing every Friday night for a year and a half I mentioned to the garage band “maybe we ought to get a playing job somewhere.” The shocked look came as a surprise but the group finally gave me the ok to check it out. Somehow a job was lined up at the local Elks. Set up on the night we played seemed to last forever but finally we were ready to show them what we had. The club manager gave us a good introduction and the curtain opened to about three hundred people. We began with enthusiasm. As the steel lead approached following the guitar I pushed down on the AB pedals with my brand new extra pointed boot and somehow unknown to me this day my boot locked in between the two pedals taking on the look of street skates I had as a kid. Unable to get my foot loose and forgetting to take my foot off the volume pedal who ever was still in the wings took mercy and slammed the curtain shut. Someone yell, “somebody help that man.” I guess they thought I’d had a spell of sorts. Following an intermission the curtain reopened as I sat there barefooted to finish the set but the crowd lost it so the curtain went shut again. Never went back to that Elks Club until I had aged some fifteen years and my hair turned white. We did finish that night with one set but for the good of all, forfeited our pay. |
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Chris Scruggs Member From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
posted 15 March 2005 01:38 AM
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My first steel gig was in 2000 when I was 17. I borrowed a friend's 1940's double 8 National. All the clay tuner buttons on the outside neck had crumbled off, and one on the inside neck had, too. I just ignored the outside neck with no tuners, and had to tune that one string on the inside with plyers. I went out and bought a 10 string set of C6 pedal steel strings, put on eight of them, and found myself playing a four hour bar gig the day after I took possession of the thing. |
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Herb Steiner Member From: Cedar Valley, Travis County TX |
posted 15 March 2005 04:55 AM
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My first public steel performance was in May of 1968 with Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys on the Steve Allen Show, network TV. There was a close-up of my hands on my solo during "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," and my hands were shaking so badly my dad thought I'd contracted St. Vitus Dance. I told him it was probably the DT's.  ------------------ |
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Daryl Stogner Member From: Yuma, AZ (next to nowhere and north of been there) |
posted 15 March 2005 09:25 AM
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Since I'm still pretty new at steel, I have yet to play at a paying job. but I do play in our church comtemporary Christian music band, so I broke out the ShoBud and have jumped in playing chords and some small fills. No better way to get to learnin' that just jump in and play. Course lessons would help too!  Daryl [This message was edited by Daryl Stogner on 15 March 2005 at 09:26 AM.] |
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Gary Oatsvall Member From: El Cajon, CA USA |
posted 15 March 2005 02:26 PM
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In 1969 after practicing every Friday night for a year and a half I mentioned to the garage band “maybe we ought to get a playing job somewhere.” The shocked look came as a surprise but the group finally gave me the ok to check it out. Somehow a job was lined up at the local Elks. Set up on the night we played seemed to last forever but finally we were ready to show them what we had. The club manager gave us a good introduction and the curtain opened to about three hundred people. We began with enthusiasm. As the steel lead approached following the guitar I pushed down on the AB pedals with my brand new extra pointed boot and somehow unknown to me this day my boot locked in between the two pedals taking on the look of street skates I had as a kid. Unable to get my foot loose and forgetting to take my foot off the volume pedal who ever was still in the wings took mercy and slammed the curtain shut. Someone yell, “somebody help that man.” I guess they thought I’d had a spell of sorts. Following an intermission the curtain reopened as I sat there barefooted to finish the set but the crowd lost it so the curtain went shut again. Never went back to that Elks Club until I had aged some fifteen years and my hair turned white. We did finish that night with one set but for the good of all, forfeited our pay. |
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Gary Oatsvall Member From: El Cajon, CA USA |
posted 16 March 2005 04:43 PM
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Guys, I apologize for this posting appearing three times. My server kept looking at an old page and as a result I never saw my reply. Good ole bOb has straighten me out but the posts still sit here. It’s not you seeing double or triple it’s the Oatsvall's messing up. Again, sorry. |
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Jaim Zuber Member From: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
posted 17 March 2005 12:50 PM
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I'll have my first gig on steel tonight, backing up a songwriter at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. Hopefully my experience won't make as good of a story as some of yours... |
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Tim Harr Member From: East Peoria, Illinois |
posted 17 March 2005 03:18 PM
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Mine was at Chubbys Club LaSalle on 10th & LaSalle Street in Indianapolis. May 18, 1991 Band: Frank Dean and Hillbilly Central Steel: Fender 2000 Got rid of that 2000 quick and got a Sho~Bud LDG ------------------ [This message was edited by Tim Harr on 17 March 2005 at 03:20 PM.] |
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Ron Scott Member From: Flushing, Michigan, USA |
posted 20 March 2005 06:52 AM
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It was in the early 70's.I had a Fender 1000 D8 and set in with some guys I knew in Saginaw Michigan and didn't know that I needed to put my Amp behind me.I put it in front of me,facing out,guess you know the rest..Couldn't hear myself at all once the band started...What a good lesson...never had played out before so I didn't have a clue....RS ------------------ |
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C. Brattain Member From: Balch Springs, Texas, usa |
posted 20 March 2005 08:23 AM
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I will never forget my lst gig. I was 17 and had a false ID. I played with these two other older guys, one played drums and sang, the other played bass guitar and sang, I played steel guitar and doubled on lead guitar. We played weekends at a place called Mable's that sat all by its self out in a open field between Cosa Masa, CA and New Port Beach, CA. It had a upstairs where some girls would come down and mix with the other people for awhile then they would disapear back upstairs. I was so dumb I did not know at that time what was going on. But it paid very good $20.00 in the late 40's which was the same as about $75.00 today. Chuck |
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Jon Jaffe Member From: Austin, Texas |
posted 20 March 2005 08:44 AM
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Philly, 1972 Location: TLA on South Street, Thursdays Steel: Maverick Amp: Peavey (something) or Princeton Band: Saddle Sores Pay: $20 plus the hat |
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Chris Schlotzhauer Member From: Colleyville, Tx. USA |
posted 20 March 2005 06:29 PM
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Oh man, mine was at the "Wheel-In" dancehall, way out on Jacksboro Hwy just NW of Ft. Worth. The Jacksboro Hwy was lined with joints that were the ultimate training ground for paying your dues. A friend of mine, who played fiddle called me to come play with Harold Rogers and the Texas Tornados. Harold played bass and fronted, Johnny played fiddle, and I played steel. I felt comfortable about playing there because playing bad steel was the least of my worries. We played only on Saturdays, so it was perfect. It was there, where I discovered the technique of working sustain and volume. I remember the light going on in my head about a few things back then. |
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Rick McDuffie Member From: Smithfield, North Carolina, USA |
posted 20 March 2005 07:11 PM
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Herb, you kill me man... w/ Linda Ronstadt on the Steve Allen show.  I was going to tell about playing at the C&G Country Club in Lillington, NC, but forget it now. |
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Jay Jessup Member From: Charlottesville, VA, USA |
posted 21 March 2005 06:40 AM
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Let's see it would have been late 74 or early 75 and it was a four night a week bar band called 'Johnny Gray and the Rebels' in Southside Richmond Va. The other lead instrument was an electric mandolin and when the guy wanted to rock out he turned the tremolo on at about machine gun speed, quite commical when I think about it now but it wore on you after a while. I joined this band when Bruce Bouton left them, I don't know if it was his first gig but I am pretty sure it was his first steady gig. It allowed me to quit my day job (church janitor) and I never worked another day job unitl I quit playing in 82. Dems was da good ole days! |
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Tony Prior Member From: Charlotte NC |
posted 21 March 2005 07:00 AM
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Probably about 73 or 74..at the Entertainers Lounge in Norwalk Ct. I had been making the transformation from Rock/Blues to Country and bought a Maverick. About 3 or 4 months later this club owner/band leader ( Ken Erickson) called me and asked me if I could play anything yet, of course I said yes..which was pretty much a huge Pinnochio bold faced untruth. I played with them on a Friday night and they requested that I "NOT" come back on Saturday. But as the story unfolds, a year or 3 later I worked on and off with Ken for many mnay years going forward. He was a great influence and became a fine musician friend. Many years later, two of the bands I was part of became the house bands at this same club..go figure.. t [This message was edited by Tony Prior on 21 March 2005 at 07:02 AM.] |
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Gene Jones Member From: Oklahoma City, OK USA |
posted 21 March 2005 07:02 AM
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* [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 13 November 2005 at 01:11 PM.] |
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