Your tone is always super on recordings,and I imagine its even more impressive in a concert setting as you described.. I wish you much continued success in the future,and thank you for being such an impressive and effective advocate for the pedal steel guitar!! bob

[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 17 April 2005 at 06:13 PM.]

I am glad you mentioned about note reading being a good thing for steel guitars to learn. Especially in recording sessions.

I know it is difficult to read for a steel guitar,compared to some other instruments, but a player should be able to read enough to get by with, as you say.
It won't hurt his playing..........al

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

Gary, please keep beating this drum . . . we're never too old to learn.

You have truly broadened the horizons of the Pedal Steel Guitar. So happy for you, this is great!

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Ultimately, I ended up going back to music school(at the young age of thirty) to study harmonic theory and hopefully improve my reading skills. The reason I'm bringing all of this up is to encourage others to learn to read music and hopefully expand their horizons.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Congrats,

Coincidentally, 'Best Little Whorehouse...' was also the catalyst that convinced me to acquire some reading skills - I was booked for the show in London's West End in 1981, and was horrified when I was handed the charts. I got through it, though, and I've always been grateful for that baptism of fire that forced me to make the effort to read.

I'm still no sight-reader in the strict sense, but it's been invaluable, especially on TV-jingle sessions where something more than just generic pedal steel sounds are required, and I'd be asked to 'double' a line with another instrument. I'd still need a few minutes to find the best place on the steel to play the part, but it's reading of a sort, I suppose !

Please keep us posted if there are any developments with a CD or DVD of the event.

I applaud you for this groundbreaking endeavour!

I read music on piano and sax, but never learned on guitar or steel. However, if it is a very simple song with no accidentals and in an easy key like C or G, I can read slowly on steel. I recognize the typical chords (I, IV, V7, VIm, IIm) in the written music and know where to find them and pick an inversion on steel. I also know how to play a scale in the open pedal position, and so can recognize any scale note in the written music and know where to find it on steel. Accidentals and chromatics are kind of dicey, but if I think about it I can find them.

But as Gary mentioned above, just finding a single place to play the written note is not enough to play steel properly. Even just a simple scale can be played across the strings (in any one of several positions) or played by moving up the neck (on any one of several strings). How you choose to play it will affect the harmonies and glisses available, and therefore the whole sound.

Once you move beyond a simple key I know, like C or G, it gets tough for steel. You have to recognize the chords of each key and know the scale and where the black notes are. Learning scales and chords for all 12 keys is more than I will ever have time for in this lifetime. The other approach is to learn the written note for every string at every fret and with every pedal/lever combination. That is 12 x 12 or 144 notes for an octave, plus the pedal and lever changes - maybe more than 200 written notes for a single octave of the instrument - compared to 12 notes for any other instrument.

However, these complexities are somewhat offset by some other advantages for steel in reading music. You can treat the steel like using a capo on guitar. You could just learn to read one key really well, say the key of C. These days you can get computer programs that transpose any written music into the key you know, C in this case. If the piece is in G, you just go to the G fret instead of the C fret, and read it just the same. This would be similar to using the number system. The number system is great for chords on steel, but not helpful for melodies and timing.