Pedal Steel Music

Hi guys and gals,

How many times have you been playing with a band and everything is going along wonderfully, when suddenly you look up and see another steel player come in the door. Do you a) suddenly play every nice lick you can think of to knock him out … b) cut back and not hardly play anything just to be careful you don’t make a mistake in front of him … or c) do you yawn and go on playing normally and say to yourself … “I’ll see him on break.”?

Naturally, “c” is the correct answer for the good professional player and your playing should be no different, no better, no worse, if Mr. Great Player is in there or not. This seems to be pretty hard for people to do. The person that has trouble with this scenario wouldn’t get through the steel guitar show in St. Louis without having a heart attack.

I remember as a very early player, I could play fine with a band in a situation where I knew no one in the audience, but if my parents, relatives or close friends came in, my mind seemed to turn to mush. Then many years later, I saw Doug Jernigan perform in front of 2000 people at the steel guitar show in St. Louis so calm that I thought he was going to go to sleep in the middle of the show. After the show I asked him “Doesn’t having 2000 of the best steel players in the world staring at you make you nervous?” to which he replyed, yawning, “I don’t know, I never thought about it.” I see Doug play in front of thousands of people and I see him play in front of just me in my store. He sounds equal in either place.

So here’s my tip … concentrate on playing tastefully and well within your own envelop everytime you play and in all the playing you ever do. This will make you a consistent player and consistency is what wins races and respect from your fellow players. Push the envelop during practice when you’re alone and not when you’re in front of an audience. Remember, the more you stretch the envelop at home, the more comfortable and less nervous you’ll be performing in front of great players. That’s it.

Now, warm weather is here and that means it’s t-shirt time. I have just received my spring allotment of extremely high quality t-shirts and hats. They are all black and tastefully printed with the Emmons or Sho-Bud logo and are classy looking so that you don’t look like a walking billboard. If you own one of these fine guitars, these shirts are a must to show your pride but you don’t have to own an Emmons or Sho-Bud to wear these shirts just like you don’t have to own a Corvette to wear a Corvette t-shirt. You can also show your pride by wearing one of the Steel Guitarist t-shirts.

So here’s my special offer good until the end of the month. Go to my website and go to the t-shirt page, then order any two t-shirts and get a free Steel Guitarist hat and a free six-pack of Cobra Coil .011 strings and free shipping within the continental United States. That’ll save you about $20. and that should put a smile on your face which is what you should be doing when wearing your new t-shirt!

Keep smiling, keep practicing and keep playing.

Your buddy,

Bobbe

Hi guys and gals,

It’s the kind of beautiful spring day in Nashville that makes you want to take your steel guitar out on the back porch and play til CMT starts playing country again!

Here’s some more things to ponder … if you want to improve your playing, model great players. Learn their techniques but don’t copy them note for note. Listen for execution. There are several ways to execute a note … play it a step flat and pop the pedal or “feather” the pedal for a flavorful, soulful effect. These are Lloyd Green and Tommy White techniques that give steel guitar a unique seasoning not caught by other instruments. These guys are masters of the instrument and there is much to be learned.

Steel guitar is a musical voice that you are using to communicate what’s going on in your mind to the mind of the listener. The greatest players are the ones who are the greatest communicators. What you say and how well you say it determines how great you’ll be. Remember, I’m not saying copy these guys note for note. Why say a bunch of things somebody else has already said? I’m saying watch and learn from the techniques they use and add to your own unique style. The audience wants to hear what you have to say and you should say it the best you can and always strive to say it better.

Your buddy,

Bobbe

Hi again everyone,

On my tips from a couple weeks ago concerning the ground lift to eliminate hum when using two amplifiers, Jim Smith, good friend and great steel guitar technician emailed me back and highly suggested that third prong on the amplifiers power cord not be broken off, but instead use a ground life adapter. Jim also stated that this will quite often work by lifting the ground on one amplifier.

Tip 2: Try to develop your own style by not copying everybody else’s signature licks. Music is loaded with millions of combinations of notes. Be creative and develop your own musical statements. Everytime you play somebody else’s signature lick, you don’t get credit for it, they do. No matter how many times you recite the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln still gets credit for it Unless you are trying to copy the record, you should approach each piece of music with your own musical thinking.

In this town, I see many young players in clubs and coming through my store that play just exactly like Buddy Emmons or Paul Franklin and even though they play great, they have nothing to offer musically that everybody hasn’t heard before. Play the music the way you percieve it and the way you feel it.

Tip 3: One of the last tips that I gave was concerning tone in the guitar or tone in the hands. Since making this statement and it causing a big uproar on several steel guitar forums, I had decided to do a little research last week and had several players play the same guitar in the store. These players included Lloyd Green, Steve Hinson and Randy Beavers among other great players and several players that honestly don’t play very well. The end result of the experiment proved what I said in my last tip sheet, that tone is in the equipment and execution is in the hands. No matter how good your hands are, you cannot get great tone out of a bad steel guitar, however, bad hands and a good steel guitar will give you a good tone with bad execution but the good tone can inspire you to improve your execution. Nobody feels like learning anything on a bad sounding guitar … it just takes the fun and motivation out of it.

If you’re ready to order my Slants and Reverses Video for $19.99, I need three things:

1. Your name and shipping address
2. Your telephone number
3. Your Visa or Mastercard number with the expiration date

You can email it to me at sales@steelguitar.net

Or you can visit the sale page … http://www.steelguitar.net/sale.html

Or you can click the link below to order directly online via our secure shopping cart.

Bobbe Seymour’s Slants and Reverses Video … $19.99

Bobbe

P.S. The $25. minimum order does not apply to this mailing list special.