August 8, 2013
This is Bob Hempker with today’s newsletter.
I see a renewed interest in steel guitar playing. YouTube has helped steel guitar out a bunch. It’s exposed a lot of people to an instrument they’ve never seen before. I see young kids come in here wanting to try out a steel because they saw someone play one on a video.
I think it’s extended to older players who gave up the instrument 20 years ago and are wanting to get back into it. We’ve also had some older players come in here who have drug their old guitars out from under their bed and want their guitar gone over and more modern pedal changes put on them.
We’ve had a lot of young guitar players who want to add steel guitar to their resume. These younger players are at a different starting point and have a different mindset than what some of us older players were when we started out.
As many of us have done in the past, starting out with a six string lap guitar learning Hawaiian music, then graduating up to the pedal guitars, the modern day steel guitar player is usually starting with a single neck ten string, 3 pedal, 4 knee lever configuration.
We all have to start somewhere and we all have to come from somewhere, so there’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just different from the way many of us started out.
There are learning aids that we didn’t have years ago such as instructional DVDs, instructors using Skype to teach, numerous books and plenty of instruction available for free on YouTube.
You don’t have to rack up a large expense to call somebody and ask them what they played on something or how they played. We have cell phones, email, facebook, the internet. All these things can be used as tools to help us learn how to play our instrument.
There are tools such as the Tascam guitar trainer that does fantastic things. I remember as a kid taking a vinyl record and recording it onto a reel to reel tape recorder, then slowing the tape recorder down to half speed. It was a cumbersome process learning to play licks because when you slowed the speed down, it would lower the pitch down as well.
It seems as if the average younger musician is more knowledgeable about music than we were back years ago. When I was a kid I would hear something and then just try to play it. It never dawned on me that I was playing out of a certain scale or mode and this passage or lick I was learning could be phrased differently and used in other places in other songs.
I know one of the biggest impediments to getting new people into steel guitar is the cost of entry. There doesn’t seem to be any good way around this because of all the machine work and parts that go into a steel guitar which brings me to equipment for beginners.
Many people bring in a guitar they bought off ebay or craigslist. The guitar is many times beyond repair. They’ve thrown their money away trying to get a bargain.
Looking at the reality of the situation, if you’re going to learn steel guitar or any instrument for that matter, you need to be prepared to invest enough money in your equipment to get a decent enough instrument that the instrument in itself, kill your interest in learning.
There’s nothing more frustrating for a beginner or anybody for that matter, than a subpar instrument. With a steel guitar, probably the biggest irritant is a cheap instrument that won’t stay in tune. This is especially annoying to a beginner who already plays another instrument or two because their ear is somewhat developed.
Another thing to always consider in buying an instrument is its resale value. If later on down the road, you want to trade up to a more expensive instrument, a good instrument won’t depreciate as much as a poor one.
Also if you find out down the road that steel guitar isn’t for you, you’ll have something that will be easier to sell and you won’t have to take near so much of a loss as you would on something nobody wants.
Try to envision what the steel guitar player of 10 or 15 years from now will be looking for, where they’ll be coming from, plus looking at where the instrument could evolve into. It’s somewhat mind boggling to imagine what musicians, bands and individual players will sound like 20 years from now.
Bottom line, I’m highly elated to see the interest in steel guitar where it is today and I think it will grow. It’s just going to be a different breed of player than we know today.
Remember, we cater to steel players, not sound men.
www.steelguitar.net
info@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour
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Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
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Open 9AM – 2Pm Second and Third Saturday of each Month
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