Pedal Steel Music

August 1, 2013

Fired again for being too country. This is Vic Lawson.

Yes folks, it’s true. Another country band fired for being too country in Nashville. I’ve been playing a few gigs here and there with a young man from California that enjoyed and loves playing traditional country and western swing music and we ended up playing a few gigs in Nashville recently.

He ended up picking up a month of Thursday nights at a club called Big Shotz on Second Avenue. Our first night there was last Thursday night. We played his normal set list which consisted of typical George Strait, Mark Chestnut, Keith Whitley and some originals.

The gig went well. Then I got a call last night saying we were fired because we were too country. This is getting more common in Nashville these days. I can see that there should be a club or two that wants to have more pop style music, but nowadays, it’s the opposite. There’s more pop style music and less traditional country.

I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but here in Nashville it seems the bartenders determine what kind of music is played above anyone else. For example, one of the bartenders at Big Shotz looked like she fell in a tackle box with all the piercings and tattoos.

She said, “You all are good, but kind of boring.” Even though we had a half capacity audience which we thought was good for a Thursday night.

Keep in mind this wasn’t some slouch band. We had a session player, James Mitchell playing lead guitar. Everybody in the band was a class A player. I told Buck I was ashamed to live here from a steel players point of view.

With that being said, if you come to Nashville, don’t get your hopes up too much to find traditional country music. I think it’s sad that people have let it come to this.

Here’s another story that underscores the developing situation in the Nashville music scene.

Ben Probus is Hoot Hester’s nephew. Any Grand Ole Opry fan will recognize Hoot as the Opry staff band’s fiddle player. Ben got the idea to have a jam session to help players who are new in town by giving them a chance to get up and play and show people what they can do and network and get known around town.

I was happy to be called to be the house band’s steel player. I thought it would be a cool gig. Of course, there were no new steel players to sit in which in itself didn’t surprise me. However, what I was surprised about was that out of four hours, I only played on maybe eight songs.

Not that I couldn’t have played on some of them, but I felt a little out of place because no one there was singing anything country, nor did the drummers know any of the country feels for any of the songs we wanted to do as the house band. Instead of a country jam, it ended up being a pop, rock and blues jam because that’s all these newcomers could play.

In fact, a good friend of mine, who is a female vocalist, came and put her name on the list to show support for Ben. At one point after she’d been there for an hour and a half, she told me that she was going to leave because she felt that I was the only one in the place that knew her songs and I agreed.

So to make a long story short, instead of a country jam night in Nashville, it turned out to be a pop and rock jam night. I don’t mean to sound like I dislike other genres of music. That is not the case.

From a steel players point of view, I felt out of place and I don’t think a steel player should feel that way being in Nashville. I felt like I was in some place where steel guitar was a novelty.

I can’t understand why players come to Nashville thinking they’re going to break into the country music business and make a living without knowing how to play a country song when there’s a lot of country players who can’t make a living playing country music.

Enough about this subject. I gotta keep my blood pressure under control.

I remember back in Oklahoma as a kid I had a gig about three hours from home. As I loaded my gear, I noticed a spare amp that I had setting in the corner and thought to myself, I think I’ll just take both amps tonight and I ended up glad that I went with my gut feeling because about a set into the gig, my Session 500 gave up the ghost.

I was extremely glad that I had the spare amp which was actually a bass amp, but it got me out of what could’ve been a difficult situation. If your amp lays down on you, you can’t usually run home and pick up a spare.

Even though it’s rare that you’ll need it, it’s always good to have a spare amp and volume pedal available. If you need a spare, we’ve got several used amps and volume pedals at this time and so our special this week is free shipping on all used amps shipped within the lower 48 States.

As always, we have free shipping on our new amps within the lower 48 states in case you want a brand new one.

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
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Open 9AM – 2Pm Second and Third Saturday of each Month
Closed Sunday

July 25, 2013

This is Bob Hempker and just as I expected, I got a ton of replies to the last newsletter and I wish I had space to print many of them, but unfortunately don’t.

Most of the respondents agree they don’t want to see the steel guitar changed and don’t look forward to it at all. I was surprised however, at how many people are looking forward to it and even had a bigger vision of what could be done than I do.

I want to thank everyone who replied. I love hearing what people think and have to say. Since I can’t print all the replies, I thought this one was very well thought out so here it is.

Bob,

I tend to disagree with some of your ponderings. Even though everything you mentioned can be done, I doubt it will be successful.

1. If you look at Line 6’s line of Variax guitars, they can do almost everything you mention as far as being able to change tuning electronically on the fly BUT, it is very confusing to hear one note coming from the string acoustically (no matter how softly) and another note coming from your amplifier. Gibson’s robotic tuner system that mechanically retunes the strings with motors is a much better (and probably more successful in the market place) way of doing it.

2. The steel guitar you describe sounds more like a “Guitar Hero” game controller or toy and will be no more successful for creating / playing music.

3. It is more likely that a synthesizer will acquire a very realistic steel guitar voice rather than use a steel guitar to synthesize other instruments.

4. Traditionally organs have always tried to synthesize (or voice) other instruments so it makes sense that a keyboard will remain the preferred method of synthesizing other instruments.

5. Midi output from a steel guitar might be something a steel guitar player would do on a budget in home recording session (as guitarist now do) but don’t use on actual live performances. I suspect that the variable delays in the electronics to detect the pitch and translate it into a midi signal may limit it’s usefulness to mainly recording sessions.

6. Midi sampling still can not duplicate the real instruments dynamics and related nuance sounds. For example, a sampled piano key note can not reproduce the sympathetic vibration of the other strings as that may have the dampers open etc. Ever had a classically trained piano player play a sampled keyboard? It drives them nuts. (Not just the keyboard dynamics, but the sound or note interaction as well!)

I do however see servo motors replacing the mechanical mechanisms replacing all the mechanical levers, rods, etc. being replaced with pots on the pedals and levers feeding a controller that moves small servo motors to pull or push strings as “programmed or tuned”. (Look at your modern automobile gas pedal, chances are it has a potentiometer or encoder on the pedal with an actuator controlling the throttle.) In addition if this technique is applied to the universal 10 string steel guitar (E9, C6, and 12 string type tuning on one neck), like the Delvis brand of steel guitars, it would be light and compact enough for us oldster’s to lug the instrument around.

For steel guitar to make a come back, I think we have to stop trying to compete with guitar players playing flurries of notes as fast as possible. Maybe it is impressive to other steel players to show off how fast you can play, but it doesn’t’ set the instrument apart. If you listen to the classic country tunes you will hear those amazing fills and solos with relatively few notes. Playing as mentioned in the June 20, 2013 re-run of Bobbe’s newsletter.

Incidentally, have you noticed that accordions seem to be making a comeback? Also in the LA area, tubas are one of the most stolen instruments.

Tuba Raids’ Plague Schools in California

Give it some time, the sound of a steel guitar is unique, it will make a comeback, just don’t try and make or play it into something it is not.

Thanks for the newsletters! I appreciate every one of them!

Peter

Bob Hempker with a final comment. Accordions and tubas. I hope this doesn’t portend a comeback in oom-pah-pah bands.

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
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Open 9AM – 2Pm Second and Third Saturday of each Month
Closed Sunday

This is Bob Hempker with the newsletter for today.

First off, Bobbe called and said to let everyone know he is mourning the loss of Maurice Anderson. Bobbe and Maurice go back to 1963 and there is a lot of history between them. Bobbe has often said that he and Maurice fought like brothers and loved each other the same way. He said his heart goes out to Teresa and the kids.

I’ve been sitting around pondering what changes might occur in the steel guitar of the future. I can foresee most of the mechanicals being replaced by electronics. I think this will take a long time to happen but tuning problems would be gone and cabinet drop wouldn’t exit. This could propel the steel guitar into prominence again.

I think that before this happens, the first two strings of the E9th tuning will be incorporated into the tuning. In other words, the third string will become the first string, the first string will become the second string, the fourth string will become the third string and second string will become the fourth string. The fifth through the tenth will stay the same.

You’ll still push pedals and knee levers, but an electronic signal will be sent to an electronic gizmo that will change the pitch of the string similar to a synthesizer. I’m surprised somebody hasn’t built one already. The technology already exists in many devices.

It could also have a synthesizer built in to give you different sounds similar to electronic keyboards. There will be several hurdles to overcome. First of all, there will be tone. We would want it to sound like a steel guitar. But just as they sample real drums for electronic drums, the synth could contain sample sounds of every make and model steel ever made, thus giving you a complete steel guitar collection in one unit.

This could easily be extended to make it sound like a tuba or any instrument you want to just as is done in electronic keyboards.

The steel guitar of the future will be midi compatible with a midi recorder built in, have USB ports built into it, video outputs, even a hard drive built in. You’ll be able to transpose keys at the touch of a button, just like synthesizers do today. Think about being able to program and save any pedal setup you want with a few clicks of a mouse. The sky’s the limit.

At first, I’m sure it will be hard for steel players, especially older players, myself included, to accept such changes, but it will come and we will get used to it and learn to love it just like piano players have done.

There would be a great weight savings by getting rid of all the mechanicals and the steel would become much more lightweight and portable. A set of strings would probably last pretty much indefinitely.

I think at first, steel players will be expected to play this instrument and still be able to play the mechanical instrument that we play now mainly because the tonal characteristics won’t be quite the same in the beginning. That is the part that will take some time to develop. Remember when Fender came out with the Rhodes electric piano? Consider the improvement in tone that’s been made between the original Rhodes and current model synthesizers. It will happen in steel as well.

Nowadays, a piano player can tuck his instrument under his arm, walk into a gig and play it. He could never do that in the past. That’s why a lot of bands opt for a keyboard instead of a steel. Plus, they also get all the horns and strings and everything that a keyboard player can do. Also, most keyboard players sing while most steel players don’t.

When we get to the point where we can tuck our steel under our arm and walk into a gig and play, steel guitar may come back into prominence.

I’m not looking forward to it, but it’s coming. It has to. Otherwise, I fear the steel guitar could stagnate if it doesn’t. You might someday see one in a museum sitting next to Ben Franklin’s glass armonica.

Vic will be playing steel for Daryle Singletary on Saturday, July 20th at The Wyndham Convention Center in Panama City, Florida. Show begins at 6:30 PM. Come to the show if you can.

www.steelguitar.net
info@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour

Listen To Steel Guitar Music Streaming 24 Hours A Day!

Steel Guitar Nashville
123 Mid Town Court
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
(615) 822-5555
Open 9AM – 4PM Monday – Friday
Open 9AM – 2Pm Second and Third Saturday of each Month
Closed Sunday