Pedal Steel Music

Hello fellow players,

Everybody seems to really love me answering their questions. I guess that does make a lot more sense than me just rattling by myself. There are some questions I really like being asked. Yes I think some of them are silly, but no sillier than I probably am. So here we go.

The first question is how much do you feel tone is really in the hands? The answer is none of it is actually in your hands, but rather the way the hand picks the string, like where between the bar and the bridge, how hard and at what angle the pick releases the string. These things in relation to normal things that the string wants to do because of the way the guitar is constructed and so on, but actually the tone comes from several different things.

For instance, if you take a truly great tone player like Lloyd Green or Steve Hinson or even Buddy himself, put him behind a guitar that really doesn’t sound very good, the greatest hands in the world cannot save it. And if you take a pretty bad player in its first month or two of playing and put him behind an incredible guitar like an Emmons push pull, he’s still not going to sound even as well as Buddy with an MSA.

How much of tone is in the hands? Remember, none. It’s what you do with the hands but no matter how good you are, a good guitar will put you over the top. There are manufacturers of guitars that claim a lot of the tone is in the hands. They do this to blame you instead of their guitar that they sold you for the bad tone that it gets. If a manufacturer tells you that the tone of the steel guitar is in your hands, he’s just shifting the blame from the guitar to you. You are his excuse.

The second question is how much affect does your choice of pickups have on tone? The answer is not much, if by tone you mean timbre of the note. One can take a pickup off a horrible sounding guitar, put it on a great sounding guitar and it will have good tone.

The third question is did you take music lessons when you were a little kid? The answer is I took everything that wasn’t fastened down. I took lessons but not on steel guitar.

The fourth question is, Bobbe, you are very knowledgeable about a wide range of steel guitar styles, did you study other players. The answer is I have not studied other players, however I keep my ears open all the time, plus I analyze and think about everything I hear.

One of my first jobs in Nashville was working for a company that duplicated hits for the sound alike market, sort of a black market kind of company. I had to play the exact licks that were on hit records. This was really a wonderful learning experience. It taught me things I would have never learned otherwise.

Pete Drake was on about everything coming out of Nashville at that time, I had to learn to think like him and apply myself the way he did. It’s hard to believe but this was actually very good for me.

The fifth question is what amplifier did you use when you first came to Nashville? The answer is nobody had much choice in those days. Your only choice was Fender or Fender. I had a Fender Twin that I removed the front board and cut a single hole and mounted a 15″ JBL speaker in it.

This worked fine until I heard my first Peavey Deuce single fifteen transistor amplifier. The tone difference scared me pretty badly at first, but I loved the volume, weight and dependability much better than the Fender.

The sixth question is what was your next amp and what year? The answer is I was on tour with Bobby Goldsboro in Canada and the local music store there was contracted to furnish us with amps. They put the newly released Peavey Session 400 behind me for the show. I thought I would be disappointed because I was used to that beautiful Peavey Deuce that I had back in Nashville.

My disappointment was short lived. It didn’t take but a few seconds to realize that the new 1974 Session 400 was the killer of all time. Tone and power, size and weight was the best I had ever seen or heard. I stayed with the big Peaveys up until I got my first Peavey Nashville 112. It has been my main amp ever since. I have a big collection of amplifiers that I like, but nothing has the weight, tone and dependability of the Peavey brand.

When the Fenders were gone, so were my tube problems and distortion. Everything that was wrong with my sound was fixed when I went to the Peavey.

Other amps I have are a Standel tube amp, a ’65 Standel transistor amp, a Webb amp (a very good amp), a couple of Sho-Bud amps that I love the tone of, but they are so old now that I’m afraid dependability might be a problem.

The seventh question is what do you remember most about your early days with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys? The answer is I remember the big lush sound and the great arrangements of the band with its great dynamics between the strings and the horns. I loved the band. Nothing else was too good on it though.

The eighth question is did you play on any of the Ray Price hit records for Columbia? The answer is I did not do any of the Columbia sessions.

The ninth question is did you do your famous violin effect when you were working with Ray Price? The answer is no. We had lots of real strings to do that. However, when we did the Cherokee Cowboys album of which I played ninety percent of the lead on, I also played several string parts with the violins that Cam Mullins had written originally.

I asked many of you last week to vote for what kind of an album you wanted to hear me do next. Ninety percent of the replied were voting for a nice big Gospel album on E9th, a couple voted for big chord C6th jazz and one for big fat slow E9th country. I’m still open for ideas so don’t be afraid to let me know. It sure is wonderful to know what you all want and appreciate the most out of me.

We have not had any Emmons tee shirts to sell for a long time, however we do have a totally new design that I think you’ll love so click this link and take a look.

www.steelguitar.net/shirts.html

Ron Bailey sent me the schedule for the Heartland Steel Guitar Festival in Kansas City.

www.heartlandsga.org/Festival.htm

Steel guitar is America’s gift to the world. Steel guitar and fiddle are the instruments that make country what it is.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour
www.myspace.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

Hello fans and fellow players,

It seems as though many of you really wanted those questions answered that I answered last week. I’m glad to hear that. I would be more than glad to answer any more in the future, but first I want to relay a small story about a master guitar player that I ran across when he was but a mere child at 17 years old.

I had an incredible sharp little country jazz band working out of Colorado Springs and while we were going from one place to another in the southwest, we stopped at a club in Albuquerque. We went in and there was a great little western swing band playing. I went up to the band leader and asked him if the three of us could sit in. He said absolutely.

So I sat my Fender 1000 up and the other two members of my group, Joe Allen and Mike Elliott setup and started jamming on the great western swing song Hang Your Head In Shame. Everyone was very impressed with what we were doing including the band.

Suddenly on one turn-around, the little 17 year old guitar player in the group broke into one of the finest jazz passages I had ever heard. As soon as the band finished up their nightly duties, the rest of us musicians sat there and played until the wee hours of the morning. I finally just got up and sat in front of this guitar player whose name was Louie Shelton.

Fifty years later after having a great career in Nashville, I saw the name Louie Shelton on movie credits and on several album credits and just recently googled the name to see if he was alive and well and in this search engine. Much to my surprise, he had many mentions in google.

So I contacted Louie and just recently have continued our long lost friendship. If any of you care to look him up, please feel free to do so. There are some wonderful YouTube clips of Louie playing and I assure you he is not over-rated in any way. As a matter of fact, here’s the link to his website : www.louieshelton.com and tell him Bobbe sent you.

Here’s a question from Jim Gardner :

Okay, so here’s a question for you to answer next week. . . . What with all the “blending” of music types these days (example: Western swing styling “blending” or mixing with traditional country music styling, etc.), and having a double neck in front of you —– what influences you to choose the neck – E9 vs. C6 – to play a particular song/tune – even an instrumental? I know some players may use both necks on one piece of music, but predominantly, a player is likely to “pre-select” one neck or the other to play. What influences you to decide that…. “this song will sound better on E9, or, I can make this sound better doing a C6 thing”… ???

This issue becomes more significant if a steel player is freelancing and plays with different artists, or bands, and not just one band or artist all the time. A studio player would be a good example, too. JD

The answer is I personally never, ever even consider playing western swing on anything but a C6th neck. C6th is strictly to play pure western swing music without playing in a country Bud Isaacs style. All the great pioneers of western swing never had steel players that played E9th. The great western swing players that pioneered western swing like Tom Morrell, Maurice Anderson, Billy Bowman, Bob White, PeeWee Whitewing, Curly Chalker, to name a few, never played E9th in western swing bands.

The great bands like Spade Cooley, Bob Wills, Tex Williams and Bill Wimberley wouldn’t even hire you if you played like Nashville. So naturally, anytime you’re playing any material by these great bands, play western swing only on your C6th neck (or possibly some E13th) with as much punch and drive as you possibly can.

If you need a very smooth flowing triad style of music where one chord flows into another with a lot of sustain and tone, E9th is the way to go. Tunes like Sweet Memories, anything ever recorded by Ray Price, Webb Pierce, Vince Gill. Smooth, beautiful and simple is E9th.

I hear a lot of people say, “I don’t need a double neck because I don’t play any C6th.” Then you are only playing half a guitar. It is possible to play some substitute C6th things on an E9th tuning and some guys do it fairly well, but it seems to me like it’s a lot faster to learn it in its conventional way of playing it.

If you need help figuring out the other half of your talent, then check out my Instant C6 videos here : www.steelguitar.net/videos.html

The style of music that I record in my albums is usually governed by my buyers that I sell to. Let me know what style you would like to have me do. I have done many albums already, but I don’t mind doing another one. I can do western swing, gospel, hard country, soft country, big chord C6th jazz or something completely outside of the box like Rhythmatic. I’m going to let my readers make the decision about what I’m going to do on my next album. Just hit reply and tell me what you’d like to have me do musically.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour
www.myspace.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

Hello fellow players,

I am getting many questions and have gotten many over the past few years that I have not answered. This will be the intent to take care of many question that I’ve had over the years.

The first question is, “What kind of picks do you use?” The answer is I use a Peavey thumbpick and no fingerpicks.

The second question is, “When you were first learning, did you learn towards imitation or innovation?” The answer is imitation mostly because the little bands I wanted to work with were playing things that were on the radio and I thought sounding just like the record would impress them.

The third question is, “Did other steel guitar players teach you things?” The answer is not really because even in the beginning I could hear things one time and pretty well figure it out. However I was not above talking to any other player and picking up anything that he would tell me which had to do with tunings, pedal placement and anything that would push me forward.

The fourth question is, “Did you ever learn to read music?” The answer is yes, but I’ve pretty well forgotten it since my early days. I learned to play piano at a young age and then taught some in my father’s music school in Norfolk, Virginia. I also pretty well knew the number system thanks to dad, by the time I got to Nashville. This made my first few sessions a lot easier.

The fifth question is, “When you use vibrato do you slide the bar or roll the bar?” The answer is a little bit of both probably.

The sixth question is, “Do you anchor your right hand when you’re playing?” The answer is yes, up to a point. I don’t let my right hand wander around to the point that I don’t know which strings are under my fingers at any certain time.

The seventh question is, “Do you do anything special to protect your hands?” The answer is yes, I do now, but this is after two horrific table saw accidents that have pretty well butchered my left hand to the point of being pretty useless. I also have a Triumph motorcycle that I put a two-speed Honda-matic transmission on which makes it very easy to drive, but I still don’t do that much.

The eighth question is, “Do you still fly?” The answer is yes, however the space between flights is getting larger.

The ninth question is, “Could you describe the extent of your personal guitar collection?” The answer is I have five Bigsby double and triple necks, pedal and non-pedal. I have three Seymour guitars that were built and sold in the mid-sixties, all of which need restoring at the moment. My main workhorse is still a double ten push pull ’71 Emmons with 7/7, but I really love my little GFI that is light, trouble-free, sounds fine and is totally maintenance free. I have a Clinesmith double ten with 7/4. I also have a smathering of Fender non-pedal steels that I love to play western swing on. Remember, it don’t mean a thing if you don’t play western swing!

The tenth question is, “Do you keep your guitars unmodified?” The answer is yes, pretty well, however most of them are tweeked somewhere because of something that the builder didn’t do and should have.

The eleventh question is, “What’s your preference of material that the guitar should be made of?” The answer is highly figured maple because it’s the best tone wood that’s possible to obtain and nothing is really prettier.

The twelfth question is, “Are there players you admire?” The answer is yes, however fewer and fewer as time goes by, but those that I do admire are definitely worthy of my praise. A few of the new players scare me to death, however a lot of old great players that I used to admire deeply don’t really do so anymore as I get older and realize that they were wonderful for their time, but their time is over. Wow, did I say that? Now this is happening to me ha-ha.

The thirteenth question is, “Over the years many people have said they have noticed humor in your playing. Is there humor in your playing?” The answer is yes, very definitely. Playing steel guitar is a method of communication between minds, just like in my talking and saying things that I’m not really serious about at times, I’ll play things I’m not serious about. Every once in awhile, I will very blatantly steal a Pete Drake lick lifted directly from a Tammy Wynette tune and possibly insert it in a jazz tune or something similar.

Inside I’ll be screaming with laughter and will notice other players laughing along with me, however with the majority of the audience, it will go right over their head. I’ve heard many players do this, Gene O’Neal being one that leaps to my mind the most often.

The fourteenth question is, “On your albums, are they mixed to sound good in car CD players through the speaker?” The answer is my earliest albums many years ago were, but the sound system in cars, the quality they are today, I don’t feel this is really necessary. However, doubling the rhythm guitar tracks, adding tick tack and doubling the violin section is always a tasteful trick.

The fifteenth question is, “What are your plans for the future?” The answer is this is a very good question that I’m anxious to answer. I read somewhere the other day the statement that was coined by one of the great players of this time and he stated “It’s up to the older players to teach the younger players.” I thought this was brilliant and I go along with it a hundred percent.

Answering any question about my playing I feel is my obligation, it is my duty to all to share what I’ve learned and stolen from others over the years. There is a time to give back and I’m in it. My teaching videos, my CDs, interviews like this and anything I can do to help anyone be what they want to be, I’m just the guy that’ll do it. I’m not saying that I have the correct answers for everything. As a for instance, I think everybody should wear picks even though I don’t.

The sixteenth question is, “Do lead guitar players influence you in any way?” The answer is some of them influence me very deeply. Other ones don’t influence me at all. Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Thom Bresh, Louie Shelton, Leo Kottke and many others have influenced me beyond belief. Jazz players like Johnny Smith and Tal Farlow have always been great influences on my playing.

The seventeenth question is, “Anyone that really sticks out?” The answer is wow, all those I’ve named plus Hank Garland, Thumbs Carlisle, Lenny Breau and I’m sure others, but then again, there are also some I’d rather not even see again like most of the rockabilly players. Just kidding, I’ve been influenced by them too.

The eighteenth question is, “Who are your favorite rock bands?” The answer is I like all of the Detroit Motown music. Cream, Clapton, Mark Knopfler, ZZ Top, Kool and the Gang and the James Brown Band because of his great commercial arrangements. It was probably the guy that did the demos on his songs that did the great arrangements.

The nineteenth question is, “Musically, how much were you influenced by jazz and bebop?” The answer is I was influenced greatly and still am by both. However, where do I get to apply it with the state of music where it is today?

The twentieth question is, “Who were some of your great jazz influences?” The answer is Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, The MIL Combo, the Buddy Rich Band and the Johnny Smith Trio to name just a tiny amount.

Next week I’ll answer questions I’ve had about my amplifiers and gear. If you have any questions you want answered next week, send me an email.

Check out our monthly specials at www.steelguitar.net/monthlyspecials.html and we’ll try to save you a lot of money.

The friend to all bar holders,
Bobbe Seymour
www.steelguitar.net
sales@steelguitar.net
www.youtube.com/bobbeseymour
www.myspace.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