Pedal Steel Music

This is Bob Hempker with today’s newsletter. Did you ever hit a plateau in your playing? It’s like a baseball player in a slump, we all get to the point where we think we aren’t learning anything new, where our playing isn’t improving and everything feels repetitious.

When everything feels like it’s the same thing you’ve been playing since the beginning, you’ve got to figure out how to play your way out of the slump. Sometimes it’s best to knock off your practicing for a few days, take off and go fishing or work on some hobby that will take you away from it.

It’s a tough thing to do deal with, especially if we’re making a living playing. Sometimes going and listening to a really great musician that we admire helps. They might inspire us to go a different direction than the way we’re going.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a steel player. Living here in Nashville, I can go listen to Paul Franklin or possibly go downtown and find Doug Jernigan playing on lower Broad. Of course, those of you who don’t live in Nashville don’t have this opportunity.

Listening to CDs is somehow not the same as watching someone play live. It’s just not as exciting and vibrant and not quite as inspirational, but if CDs are all you have, by all means listen to them as intently as you can.

When I was on the road and found things happening in the local venues, I always liked to take the time to listen and watch the local players to see what they were doing. I’ve seen people like Maynard Ferguson, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, sax player Don Minza and many unknowns that played their rear-ends off.

Watching these players had the effect of revitalizing my interest in my playing. When you go out looking for other players to listen to, try to find somebody who is better than you. Also, I’ve always tried to play with people who are better than me. I want to be drawn up to a higher level rather than be dragged down.

I’ll usually surprise myself and play better than I think I’m capable of playing in these situations. This can give you a real lift and be a confidence booster while inspiring you to go home and work on things that you want to improve.

Another thing you can do is to go sit in with a band that you normally don’t work with that plays songs that you normally don’t play. You’re looking to expand your way of thinking and the way you approach your instrument and the challenge of keeping up and fitting in with another group can do that for you.

One instance of this was when I sat in and played with a Dixieland band all night and we had a darn good time. I wasn’t completely satisfied with what I played but I was happy that I was able to fit in and the guys in the band were happy with what I played. Of course, I’m never totally satisfied with what I play but it’s actually not a bad thing to be a bit dissatisfied with your playing because that is something that can drive you to improve yourself.

If you’re standing still as a player, you’re falling behind. You need to always be trying to improve your playing in some way, otherwise you could fall into a rut that is extremely hard to get out of.

Baseball players that hit 300 or better are usually candidates for the Hall of Fame, but if you stop and think about it, they fail over two-thirds of the time. As a steel guitar player, you’re never going to be perfect, but that doesn’t have to stop you from striving to be that way. It’s the striving that counts.

I know I keep coming back to this, but you don’t know how much I wish that I would have had the CDs, tracks, tab books and all the things we have today for new players to learn from. I firmly believe that every player trying to improve himself should take advantage of these materials. Yes, you can consider this a blatant plug for the store, but buy these books, tracks and CDs, then practice, practice, practice.

If any of you have ways of breaking through when you’re stuck, I’d love to hear them and be able to share them with everyone else so don’t be afraid to email me back. You may be reading your email in the next newsletter.

Check out our Christmas specials at www.steelguitar.net/christmasspecials.html

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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. I received this email from Ron Carpenter and it is definitely worthy of passing on to everyone, especially those seeking to improve their steel guitar skills. Here is the email.

Vic,

When I switched from lead guitar to steel I recorded off the board at live gigs whenever I could. Two things I noticed about my playing were; 1. a lack of discipline and 2. using the same riff in song after song all through the night. Not unusual for a beginning player.

By discipline I mean, we just played a western swing tune and the singer calls a ballad. I’m still getting off on the swing tune in my head and trying to play some of those lines in the ballad. Obviously, these two things are not what the audience, or for that matter, even I want to listen to. Hearing the recordings burned it into my head how out of place and out of touch with the music an instrument can be.

The last group I played with before deciding to retire, the piano man told me the trouble with my playing was I always played the right lick at the right time and then laid out. These were skills learned listening to those tapes. I told him that’s what the song needs, and laying out keeps me from having a train wreck with the other guys. He said, I know, but nobody else plays that way. You don’t even comp rhythm. I said, unless your playing small group jazz, the steel padding chords gets in the way.

We never came to an agreement. As I look at it now I think it was a fine compliment. To play the right line, and not replay a line from a song over & over through the night, and avoid train wrecks with the other players…on a 4-5 hour club gig that’s a good night.

Enjoy what you’re doing now. When your heart gets diseased enough you can’t carry your own gear, or your ears get overused to point where you can’t tune without a tuner, (or in my case both) then you’re just an old dog sitting on the porch watching the pups play.

Ron Carpenter

Thank you Ron for those words of wisdom. I want to thank you for elaborating so eloquently on the idea of recording every gig you can in order to listen back and learn what areas you need to improve in. Nobody can ever critique your playing as well as you can critique it yourself. Being able to hear yourself as the audience hears you can be a real eye opener.

We’ve had a very busy few days with not much time to give to the newsletter, so we’ll try to make it up to you in Thursday’s newsletter.

Check out our Christmas Specials at www.steelguitar.net/christmasspecials.html
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. We have had a great response to Bob’s last newsletter about “boredom” on stage. You’re really not as bored when you’re a beginner or part-timer because it’s all fresh and new to you. The pros are more apt to get bored because they play more often.

Not to kick a dead horse, but I’d like to add my two cents. We all can get bored whether it be an artist gig that lasts 75 – 90 minutes or a four hour club gig. And although some tunes require the “signature” licks, most of the time I try to think about the way I would play it if I were the one recording it.

If I’m downtown in a club, I don’t want to play something like Lloyd Green would play, I want to play something I would play. If I’m on a show where everybody is expecting the signature to be true to the recording, then that’s the way I’m going to do it.

I fall into the trap when we play covers of remembering what was originally on the cut. I played with James Mitchell last Saturday and he has the ability to completely ignore what was originally played and create something fresh and new. In other words, he takes songs that were recorded in 1972 and brings them up to 2012.

This makes it very enjoyable to work with him, whether it be in a recording session or a club. It makes me think differently and brings out more creativity. Being creative is especially important in a recording situation.

Playing with people like James seems to help me on my toes because one of my gigs I have been on for seven years, twice a week, four hours at a time, playing the same songs for the most part. So try playing something you would play instead of what is on the record.

Also, I had a customer in yesterday and he was asking a lot of questions about how to get better, and I was reminded about what a friend of mine had been told. The best way to really learn is find the worst band in your area and go out and play with them.

It will really make you learn what you need to when you play in a band situation and as you get better you will find the bands you play with will too. This really helps beginners I think because it not only helps with steel guitar but your musical learning as well.

You can sit in your bedroom and practice all you want, but the first time you sit in with a band, it’s a whole new ballgame because you’re now part of a team and you have to learn to work as a team versus solo in the bedroom.

The more you play with live musicians, the more you learn to work in the real world. You can study all you want, but until you put it into practice, you haven’t really learned. So get out and play with other musicians because that’s how you really how you achieve your goals.

Don’t quit practicing because you need both. To sum it up, if you play live with a band, that will tell you what you need to go home and practice on. It will show you where your weak spots are. If you’re able to record the live performance, you’ve got something you can take home and listen to and help you figure out what you need to work on most because there are so many things that you learn from listening back.

If anybody would like to hear me and James playing, check out Justin McBride’s new CD, called “Everybody Loves A Cowboy”. His website is justinmcbride.com

We have a Mullen Discovery guitar on the showroom floor that I’ve been playing with. It’s a great guitar, sounds good, great quality, lightweight. I’m really thinking about buying one for myself because it’s a great guitar at a nice price and it’s good to have a second guitar that sounds good.

Call me if you want to talk about this guitar in a little more depth and I’ll be glad to give you my impressions.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have a few exciting things on our agenda for the next year and when the time comes, we will elaborate.

Check out our Christmas specials at www.steelguitar.net/christmasspecials.html

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