My question is what is the best way to approach this type of gig? I have never really heard the pedal steel in this context and am wondering what kinds of things should I do or not do to keep the music interesting.

Also, could you recommend any recordings to check out that showcase this type of playing?

Any suggestions would be helpful.

thanks,
Todd

[This message was edited by Todd Pertll on 11 February 2004 at 09:14 AM.]

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

During the evening, I left our room to go to the lobby for some snacks, and on the way down the hall I heard a great sounding band coming from the Motel Club that I had to go inside to check out. They were doing a mixture of rock and country.

To my surprise, it was a band consisting of only two musicians. There was the vocalist who played rhythm guitar and bass with a hammond organ footpedal board and also conrolled the drum machine, and another musician who played a Fender 1000 with a guitar fretboard attached to the outside neck.

They also had a bank of electronics that wouldn't be very impressive today, but sure was back in the 1980's. They sounded like a hard driving five piece band.

I was so impressed that I went back to our room and had my wife get dressed so we could go back to the club and listen.

But back to your initial question....yes, two musicians can do the job!

www.genejones.com

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 11 February 2004 at 09:37 AM.]

It's amazing what two can do!

I played guitar and Gibson Elcectra-Harp , sang a few songs, and also harmony with Harry Clark.

He played Bass, sang and MC'd. We had a good duo, played for a couple of years 6 nights a week and packed the place every place we went and every night.

We played all the pop standards of the day, that was in 1950, and a mixture of all style of songs.

A few years later Harry went to Vegas and played with Buzz Evans for awhile. He was a great entertainer and a good bassman.

Duos cam make good money and get a lot of jobs.....Although I would prefer a larger band...al

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

[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 11 February 2004 at 06:17 PM.]

Just as a little aside; we play each Saturday afternoon at a paid jam as a duo, my partner plays his Takamini box set pretty deep along with a drum machine, he recently got himself a harmoniser unit which has its shortcomings but all in all it works out fine leaving the night for our usual trio.

There can be some really nice voicings with just the two of you plus the volume can be kept at a more peacefull acceptable level.

Depending on the situation I have a few things that seem to work with duos.

I lay out for considerable periods of time in order to make what I do play more significant.

I double signature riffs or bass string runs that the guitar player is playing.

I pad the chorus and then play a counter melody in the verse. I try to make the chorus sound noticably different from the verse.

I'll play low drones on open strings for one verse and then harmonics on the next.

I base what I'm playing on the story of the song and if the song is a well written story type song I will acentuate the important lyric (that tends to show up towards the 3rd verse) by setting up and then laying out for that sentence only.

Don't play too many bendy or slid notes. They can draw the ears of the listener away from the vocal.

Comping on the steel constantly can sound just as bad as violin players that comp all the time.

Bob

Playing wise, especially on ballads, I would usually find myself landing on string 7, both with pedals open or down. It kind of gave the songs an unresolved, plaintiff kind of sound, which the front-person generally found irresistable.

You will only learn by experience, and you will know quickly what works. I would always get a nasty look whenever I hit a country lick, so you have to be able to play stuff other than country. Play atmospheric, learn about ambience, and don't use generic country licks on songs that aren't country.

[This message was edited by Rich Weiss on 15 February 2004 at 08:20 PM.]