Pedal Steel Music

I had two very interesting responses to the last newsletter and I’d like to print them both. So here is the first one.

Bobbe:

Are you being too harsh on musicians who are possibly still in their growth stage? Imitating the greats, and learning their special licks and styles is the beginning of extending those lessons into one’s own personal style. Also, learning the levels of dynamics, the volume levels for various musical purposes is within that learning curve. I do agree that a player should be past those early levels when playing in a club in Nashville, and certainly has to be past those levels when entering a recording studio. In any case, a player will learn pretty darn quickly when not invited to return to that club or studio.

On the other hand, there are certain classic tunes that cry out for a close imitation of the original backing and breaks. So, in agreeing with you somewhat, the key is knowing when to be unique, and when to honour the past masters.

Bryan Bradfield

I appreciate Bryan’s perspective and thank him for the email. I was trying to make the point that simply memorizing 25 licks does not mean you’ve mastered the instrument as I think too many players are primarily lick oriented when they should be music oriented. This subject probably needs 30 or 40 pages instead of just 2 or 3. Now here’s the second one.

Bobbe,

Got to tell you a funny, but disappointing true story. Your “Patsy Cline or Martina McBride wannabe” line made me remember the last time I was in Nashville in 2007 for the IBMA convention. After the exibition hall closed down, and we had put away our display in our booth for the night we decided to “hit Broadway”, or lower Broad as I called it. It was sad to see no more Linebaugh’s restaurant behind the Ryman, but I hadn’t been in Nashville since 1964, so I wasn’t that surprised that it was gone. Anywho, we hit a few clubs on Broad, and then went out to where the new Op’ry was and hit a couple of clubs out there. In every one of the clubs they had a Reba/Tanya Tucker/Martina McBride wannabe. I swore if I heard Delta Dawn”, or “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” one more time I was going to commit hari kari right on the steps of the Ryman. But the real clincher for every one of them was the Miss Wannabe’s entrance. After they were introduced and the band started playing their intro, they came out on stage with this “overreacting/straight armed/wide sweep” of clapping their hands and saying, “Hey, Nashville. How y’all doin’? Put your hands together”, and went into their song. And they were all dressed pretty much the same way too, and the hair was pretty much the same….long and blonde. Another thing that was disappointing was the lack of support by the band. While the girl was singing, the band members were talking among themselves, some even stopped playing and took a drag or two from a cigarette(?). Real professionals.

There was one high point for me though. Walking back to the parking lot from Broadway we passed the Ryman. It was locked up tighter than Dick’s hatband. I said, “Fellas, hang on. There’s something I’ve been waiting to do for fifty-five years.” I stood on the front steps and sang a verse of the old song, “Froggy Went A-Courtin'”. My friends looked at me like I’d lost it, but I said, “I’ve always wanted to sing at the Ryman since I saw my first Grand Ole Op’ry show here back in 1954, and this is probably about as close as I’ll ever get.” They laughed and we walked on. When we got back home friends asked me how I liked Nashville. I told them it had its good points and bad, but that I got to sing at the Ryman, and it was worth the trip for me. Hey, I wasn’t lying. I just didn’t tell them it was “outside” the Ryman on the front steps. I had a friend who always wanted to dance on Broadway in New York and when she got to New York, she stood under the Broadway street sign and clog danced. Some dreams can come true if only partially.

Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Ozark Mountains, Arkansas

Red, you’re bringing tears of laughter to my eyes!

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
Second and Third Saturday each Month Open 9AM – 2PM
Closed Sunday

First, I need to make a correction to the last newsletter and I want to thank everybody who helped me with the correct information.

On the song Don’t Worry About Me by Marty Robbins, it was actually the guitar player Grady Martin who played the turnaround. The sound was caused by a bad tube in the console, not by a rip in the speaker. Everybody thought the sound was so unique and cool, someone started making the Fuzz Tone to make that sound.

I also had Eddie Lange confused with Eddie Long. It was actually Eddie Long who worked for Hank Jr. I apologize for the confusion.

Now for today’s newsletter. How many beginners have I met who think they can sit down, memorize 25 licks and go onstage with a band as the steel guitarist? I’d run out of fingers and toes trying to count them. So let’s talk about developing your own style versus learning licks.

Don’t get me wrong, licks are wonderful when they fit the song and the best licks of all are the ones you create for the song you’re playing. That’s the key. Throwing in a lick you’ve memorized just because you can’t think of anything else to do is not the best idea.

Try this to see how creative and imaginative you can be. The basic parts of a song are lyrics, melody and rhythm. The rhythm is like the chassis of a car. You won’t have much of a song without it. There needs to be rhythm going on in the song at all times regardless of who is playing it, guitar or steelguitar. The rhythm needs to be much quieter than the fill instrument is.

Steel guitar will seldom be hired to play the rhythm. An example of a steel player being in the rhythm section is Tom Brumley playing rhythm on steel on some of Buck Owens’ faster tunes. I cannot recall anyone other than Ralph Mooney being hired for such a job, however it is possible at times for the steel player to add to the rhythm section if there is no piano on a 4/4 shuffle tune or actually about any tune.

If a steel guitar starts at the beginning of a tune playing rhythm, he should go all the way through the tune and not come in and out. The way steel players are used to thinking, this may be a very hard thing for them to do at first. Letting your imagination be your guide and not playing your rhythms very loud ever, you may inventively come up with something you can add to any song.

Learning to play tasteful licks is not an easy thing to do, however listen to players like Weldon Myrick, Tommy White, Paul Franklin, Mike Johnson and Travis Toy and you’ll hear what tasteful is. Of course, there are many more players that are very astute at backing singers and playing music overall.

If you have a good imagination, pretend you’ve been called to record an album with a brand new singer named Patsy Cline. You’re given the number charts. She starts singing and you have to create something the public will remember and love for decades to come. Are you up to it?

If you’re only armed with a pocket full of licks you’ve copied and memorized from songs you’ve heard on the radio, how do you think you’re going to be perceived by the producer, the other musicians and the public that listens to your playing?

Here in Nashville there are plenty of clubs where singers can get onstage and showcase their talents. Spend an evening in these clubs and see if you don’t get tired of listening to one more Patsy Cline or Martina McBride wannabe.

Then visit the clubs where musicians can showcase their talents and see if you don’t get tired of listening to one more steel player play the same lick in every song. See if you go back the next night wanting more. See if you don’t feel embarrassed listening to those too clueless to be embarrassed for themselves.

Do you want to be labeled a hack and a copycat or do you want to be respected as a player? Wouldn’t it be better to hear and feel and play your instrument with inspiration and passion? The choice is yours.

Of course, if any of you are inspired to become better players, you all know you can find my teaching videos at www.steelguitar.net/videos.

Bobbe Seymour

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
Second and Third Saturday each Month Open 9AM – 2PM
Closed Sunday

If you don’t think older effects on steel and lead guitars were appreciated in country music, I just had a inquiry on the Marty Robbins “Don’t Worry About Me” song asking how the steel player got the sound he got on the turnaround. Actually, he showed up for the recording session with an amplifier with a torn speaker. The speaker had been damaged by a player who had borrowed it the night before.

During rehearsal of the song, he just went right ahead and played the song the way he would’ve normally and laughed like he knew it would never be accepted. To his surprise, the producer, Marty himself and all the musicians thought it was wonderful. So he replayed it to get it as perfect as possible. Remember there was no overdubbing in those days, the whole band had to do it right at one time.

It might be a very good idea from time to time for steel players to experiment with different effects.

A few years later after much pressure from musicians world-wide, guitar companies decided to get into the effects business. Now there are many different kinds of distortion effects. Boss itself, puts out at least six different distortions that work for steel guitar and make it sound like a rock n roll guitar as we all know. The violin effect can be obtained with the correct one of these units.

The steel guitarists favorite effect has always been the Boss Tone which was made in the late sixties by a company named Jordan and then bought out by Sho-Bud because it seemed like no one but steel players were buying that particular unit.

Then when the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company went out of business, the manufacturing was handed over to other companies. The unit that I’m talking about has always looked the same, only the stick-on name had been changed. It has always been called a Boss Tone however. Too bad they’re no longer made.

As far as the lead players that I talked about in my last newsletter, most were road players and studio players only and never made any recordings of their own. Bobby Davis even as great as he was, never recorded as a solo artist, so there are no known recordings of Bobby. However, Jimmy Bryant did several with Speedy West.

Somebody asked me about Eddie Lange. I’ve never mentioned Eddie in this newsletter before, however he is a very fine player that worked with Hank Jr. for awhile. Eddie is a real character and after he left Hank, he came to Nashville and went to work with a very talented female singer. He ended up producing her record for the major label that she had signed to.

He turned into a very notable success overnight. As far as what Eddie is doing at the moment, I don’t know because I haven’t seen him in a couple years, however he has many friends in town and is as crazy in a good way as anyone I can ever remember, including Jimmy Day.

If Eddie is on my newsletter list, he should give me a hollar.

In local Nashville news, our own Vic Lawson was named Steel Player of the Year by the Broadway Music Awards, which are given for live performances on Broadway.

Bobbe Seymour

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
Second and Third Saturday each Month Open 9AM – 2PM
Closed Sunday