Pedal Steel Music

We had a great Little Walter amp workshop yesterday. Today will be spent processing and uploading the videos to YouTube and we will have the links in Thursday’s newsletter.

I guess that makes this about the shortest newsletter we’ve ever had. See you Thursday.

www.steelguitar.net
sales@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
Closed Saturday and Sunday

This is Bob Hempker. Here it is time to come up with another newsletter and we’re scratching around for new ideas. I have to tell you it’s not easy being brilliant. I say that jokingly because hard working is more like it. Usually, it’s hard enough just finding the time to sit down to write about something, then we’ve got to come up with something to write about.

We apologize if sometimes we don’t mention everybody that you expect us to mention, but we try to present a general concept and illustrate it with a few examples, not every possible example. We are sorry if we overlook your favorite player, favorite song, favorite steel intro or whatever. It’s not our intention to insult you with an omission.

We’re trying to pass along information in a casual way and not trying to write a doctorate thesis so please excuse our loose use of grammar and punctuation. We are trying to reach out to each and every one of you regardless of age, experience, musical background and preferences in genres of music.

We encourage people to ask us about things they are curious about because it gives us something to write about. We thoroughly appreciate all your encouragement and support for these newsletters.

We write these newsletters pretty much spontaneously, oftentimes as a result of what someone says, does or asks when they come in to the shop. We try to be as helpful as we can while at the same time making sure that all the guitars are in tiptop shape and ready to go.

I’m glad to see more and more manufacturers making products specifically designed for steel guitar usage and not redesigned guitar equipment. This is great news for steel players. Companies like Peavey have shown their support for our instrument by building amps from the ground up with the steel guitar player solely in mind.

A product that originated as a steel guitar accessory that has found a market with guitar players are the George L cables. I’m happy to see expanding markets for these products. Another steel guitar product that I’ve seen catch on with guitar and fiddle players is the Goodrich volume pedal. The Hilton is also showing up more and more.

I remember when my dear friend Keith Hilton was first designing the Hilton pedal. When he formally came out with it, it was a really, really hot item. It continues to be one of the most sought after accessories for steel guitar players. I personally have two of Keith’s pedals. I’ve had them for ten years or so and have not had one iota of problems with either of them.

Keith is a great guy and I’m really happy for all his success. I lived near Keith when I lived in Branson. During the fifteen years I lived there, we became very good friends.

These are the kind of people I try to support because they really have the steel guitar players interests at heart.

Another company that is responding to steel guitar players is the Little Walter company. We are very fortunate to have the builder coming in this Sunday to give us a hands-on workshop and answer all the questions we can throw at him.

We want as many of you as possible to show up for this event, however if you are unable to attend, we will be videoing parts of the workshop and will put them up on YouTube.

We received so many replies to Vic’s last newsletter, I wish I could print them all, but there was one that particularly inspired all of us.

It’s from Ike Anderson, a steel player in Switzerland. The English is broken, but the message is clear. Here’s what Ike had to say.

Hi Vick Lawson

I’m born once in US but lived in Switzerland since long, my name is.. Ike Anderson..60…..I had some different brands of Ped.Steels for long… Was never happy with the sound, Came in contact with Bobbe, according my problem.

He recommended me a Emmons p/p… found one for me, sold it to me.

And Wow!!…. He was right, I needed some time to figure out the new diff. way of tuning etc as he also said….

I play today also, in some symphonies Orchestra here in C-Europe.

Yea! You read right…. the Ped. Steel has now become requested , also in some bigger of them!

I played Classic music for the first time on my p/p in Italy (Rom) about a year ago… and it became standing applauds for at least 5 min.

Afterwards, plenty of the audience asked if they could come up on stage and see this… “Hm.New” instrument with this “Himmelskt sound” that they NEVER heard or seen before..

I was hired then for 6 hours! I got paid for 9 hours…

The Steel are on its way into a new line of use, that’s for sure…And with only an old “Stereo” Emmons p/p D-10.. Twin Peavey 112…mixed into their stage sound device, Hilton volume ped.. some old music theory and off course… Nashville Number system in my head.

The Number system are a absolute, Classic music are based on fixed tunes on “Papers” and can’t be read at the same time as playing….

But it’s simple with the system in the head

The Steel Guitar did turn critic classic music audience into a new “Haven”… They just loved it… Today I play Classic at least 2 weekends a month in different Countries

I’m a Country music loving man…But today I found also a new line that gives perspective on music….

And as all you who write news on “Steel Guitar Nashville” news, said before…

Oh Yea…There aint NO limits on a ped Steel…There are a “Hooooole” universe to discover

The only limits there is?….Our own feeling and fantasies..

Dear Steel players out there?… listen to this great players who give from them self, to us out there.

Bye their theory/practical DVDs etc…They help much, to shorter the way to learn more and make it more interesting way to “Grow” our playing. No matter music stile

I did once, even thought then!… I don’t need that…Wrong!. It would taken me two life times to figure out all they tell/Show, by my self…

Thank you so much….Best to Bobbe and All of you..

Ike “Capt.” Anderson Switzerland

Ob..Sorry for my English but I’ve bee gone from US to long…

Back when I was playing with Loretta and also when I was with Roy Clark, we played numerous things with symphonies. Many of the musicians would come down and be curious about the steel guitar. They’d want to know how it’s tuned, what the pedals do and all that stuff.

When we worked the Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe circuit, we’d always use the house orchestra but we had our own conductor. I spent many hours with the conductor showing him the copedant to the steel and the range of the instrument so he could write and arrange for it.

If you listen to Bach much, Bach would’ve loved steel guitar. The next time you’re looking for a fresh way to look at steel, try some classical.

www.steelguitar.net
sales@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
Closed Saturday and Sunday

This is Vic Lawson with today’s newsletter. Being in the position I’m in, I get to talk to a lot of newcomers to pedal steel guitar. I fortunately sell guitars to these people. While talking to them I ask how they came to get interested in steel and who they have listened to. To my surprise, a lot of them don’t know who to listen to.

One of my new customers in the last year came in to buy a set of strings and I asked him if he ever listened to any Sonny Garrish stuff. He replied, “Who’s that?”

We have a lot of new people to steel guitar, utility players, guitar players wanting to add steel guitar to their arsenal, which is great, however I hope that they would go back and listen to the country music that steel guitar dominated.

I realize some of our readers are older and some are younger, so I’m going to stick to what I’m familiar with. I’m familiar with Noel Boggs, Herb Remington and Leon McAuliffe for example, but they didn’t influence me as much as other players who were current when I started playing.

To me, not just because I started playing in the seventies, but looking back I think the seventies were one of the greatest decades for pedal steel. I feel like some of the young players and utility players need to go back and listen to some of that.

I know I’m going to miss some names, only because I can’t mention everybody in the space of a newsletter, but here are a few that come to mind that were dominant players in the seventies. Lloyd Green, Sonny Garrish, Hal Rugg, John Hughey and Weldon Myrick. That will be more than enough to get you a start.

If you study and listen to the way these records were recorded, you’ll find there’s more to steel guitar than what you hear in today’s music and by all means not taking anything away from today’s players. They are definitely capable of playing anything.

Music always evolves and every new crop of players builds on what the players that came before them did. This is why it’s important to go back and listen. I find there are a lot of players who aren’t listeners. They know their instrument but they don’t know songs.

When I was growing up in Oklahoma my grandfather was a huge Bob Wills fan. In fact, him and my grandmother used to go to Bob’s dances. When I got my first pedal steel, my grandpa would talk about Leon McAuliffe and at the time I didn’t see the real need to listen to that “old” music because I was too busy learning the current stuff.

As I progressed musically, I realized that there is so much to learn from the older stuff if you really sit and listen to it as a musician. There’s many nights I’ll sit on the bus with a fiddle player I work with and we’ll listen to Bob Wills until four in the morning. It’s truly amazing how the next day, you’ll play differently by listening to this.

So please be a listener and don’t diss the old stuff just because it’s not what’s happening now.

It seems to me like around early to mid seventies they started putting musician credits on album artwork. This makes it easy to find out who played steel and thus easier for you to learn from a player you find interesting.

If you’re a newcomer or someone just getting interested in steel guitar, I hope this newsletter gives you a direction to get deeper into the subject.

Don’t forget about the Little Walter Workshop on Sunday January 13th. You’ll learn more about amps than you thought there was to know.

www.steelguitar.net
sales@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
Closed Saturday and Sunday