Pedal Steel Music

Hi guys and gals,

An interesting observation.

I’ve been seeing many new young players come into the store, many of whom play incredibly well. After asking many of them why they are playing steel instead of video games and what inspired them to play steel guitar instead of less meaningful pursuits of youth, an answer came that I wasn’t really prepared for, but upon reflecting back to my own past and the past of my closest friend players, I see a pattern that is very easy to understand. It seems like 95% of the great playing kids that I’m talking to have been inspired by a direct relative, most often a father or uncle. The great 23 year old steel guitarist, Travis Toy, with Patty Loveless, said it was totally his father that inspired him to be the great player he is. I remember Tommy White, present Grand Ole Opry steel guitar player, coming to see me on television shows that I was working when he was only 12, with his inspiration, his father. This is also the case with myself and and probably with most of you.

What does this mean and how does it affect the future of steel guitar? Here’s exactly what it means. Most of you have children or grandchildren that you may be influencing much more than you know at this stage of their life. While you are focusing on day to day problems such as the flow of money coming in as opposed to the flow of money going out and the many things that you are personally interested in, your children or grandchildren, whether you like it or now, are focusing on you. What you say and what you do can make the difference between them being a good to great musician or just another also ran. You may say being a musician is the last thing you want them to be but there are worse things that they can do with their life. Besides, I know many steel players, such as Tommy White, who play much better than the people who inspired them and have turned life into a rich, full and rewarding adventure.

My uncle and my father are my main inspirations and they turned me on to Buddy Emmons, Curly Chalker, Walter Haynes, Jerry Byrd, Bud Issacs, Don Helms and so many others. Now that you know what a difference you can make, be that super special someone to your sons, daughters and nephews who will remember what you did long after you’re gone.

I buy in bulk so I can get the best price so I can give you the best price. Cobra Coil has just delivered several thousand dollars worth of new strings. If you want the highest quality premium string available, check my website, they’re gonna be fresh. Remember, the more you buy the cheaper they are.

All my teaching videos are available on a hidden webpage for my mailing list members only. To get the mailing list price, you have to go to this page … www.steelguitar.net/sale.html … do not order from the regular page, you have to order from the hidden page to get the mailing list price.

Your buddy,

Bobbe

www.steelguitar.net

sales@steelguitar.net

P.S. I want to thank you for the tremendous response on the Nashville Number System Book and CD. Many of you have emailed or called thanking me for offering this set because it makes the number system easy to learn. The typical response I am getting is “If I’d known it was this easy to learn, I’d have done it years ago. It has given our whole band a new language to communicate musically with.”. This is an item that I will carry forever, however, the sooner you get it, the sooner you can benefit and be smarter musically. The Nashville Number System applies to all instruments, not just steel guitar. It’s so inexpensive and easy to learn, it should be a law you have to have it. See it all on the website.

Hi guys and gals,

Your tip this week is a taste of reality.

Know what you’re getting into if you want to come to Nashville and work for a star on the road. I have seen so many horror stories in the last 33 years concerning new musicians coming to town.

The latest example is a great steel player just hired by a famous female Nashville road act. He was hired his second day in town, told what a great job he was doing, promised the job would last forever, but when he got back to town from the first trip, they said they weren’t going to use steel anymore … to which he replied “Ok, I’ll get my steel out of the truck.” And they said “Sorry, you shouldn’t have put your steel in the truck … it’s already on the way to the next gig in New York.” The steel player said “I need my steel because I can work several club jobs here in town before that truck gets back.” The star replied “Sorry, maybe you can go rent one somewhere.” After being congratulated by everyone on the Steel Guitar forums, you can imagine how embarassed he feels about this turn of events.

Remember, most of these new stars have no business training, have had no experience dealing with people, most are still in their early twenties and have egos the size of Texas and think everybody should put up with them, do what they say and bow down and kiss their “feet” no matter how they are treated.

Does this happen with every act, you may ask? This happens with probably over 80% of the new acts and there are horror stories with a lot of the older acts too that appoint young band leaders that don’t know anymore than a young star would know.

In 1984, Alan Jackson called me at the store looking for a steel player to take to Vegas for a week. I gave him the name and number of 3 steel players, two very famous great ones and one below average one that just happened to be standing by me when he called. Alan called everyone of them and hired them, told them to be at the bus at midnight. When they all showed up, he walked off the bus and said “I’ll take you” pointing to the least qualified player and told the other two to go home. A week later when Alan got back to town, he called and said he needed some more names of steel players because the one he took was horrible. I said what about the other two. He said I’m afraid to call the other two since I sent them home. At this point, I launched into the most scathing scolding, even using some words I learned in the airforce, letting this green star have it with both barrells. I kept it up hoping he’s finally just hang up on me, but he never did. It must have been a good 8 to 10 minutes letting him know what an idiot employer I thought he was.

How many other stories do I have like this that I’ve seen in Nashville in the last 33 years? Way too many. I blame this on the fact that I pointed out earlier … the stars have no experience running a business because they don’t look at what they do as being the business that it is. It seems to me that a star that makes at least $100,000. a year would look at what they do as being a business and try to run it like one … but unfortunately, fame and fortune has smiled on most of them before they know how to handle what they have been blessed with. We, the steel players that are hired by these new high-school mentality stars, with our many years of experience and professionalism, are the ones who have to suffer the consequences of their juivenile and immature decision making.

The reason I’m saying this to all of you is a warning for any of you that want to come to Nashville with stars in your eyes and expect the stars that hire you to run their show as a business not to be disappointed when things don’t work out the way you expect it. To put it bluntly, I am sick and tired of seeing wonderful young steel players come to town and be treated with such disrespect. So if you’re coming to town, wear a thick skin and remember that you have a friend who understands at Steel Guitar Nashville.

The next time you see a famous road act and you see the steel player sitting there and you think how lucky he is, after a week of trading places you might be happy to go home. All that glitters is not gold.

All my teaching videos are available on a hidden webpage for my mailing list members only. To get the mailing list price, you have to go to this page … www.steelguitar.net/sale.html … do not order from the regular page, you have to order from the hidden page to get the mailing list price.

Your buddy,

Bobbe

www.steelguitar.net

sales@steelguitar.net

P.S. I have been shipping the new Peavey Nashville 112 with the mod for the past couple weeks now. I think it’s only fair to offer our mailing list customers the deal they deserve for being on my mailing list so I’m offering a tremendous discount on these highly sought after, great sounding amps. Power and tone of these amps is beyond belief. If you want a stage 2 model with a Black Widow installed, let me know. I’m not allowed to tell you the price on the internet so you’ll have to call me at 615 822-5555.

Hi guys and gals,

After considerable thought concerning what the players on this mailing list would like to hear from me in this newsletter, I have put myself in your place and asked myself “what would I like to hear that would do me the most good as a steel guitarist trying to better my playing?”

First of all, because of all the tremendous quality input that I have gotten from you several thousand emailing list, I have come up with a great variety of learning video tapes. I feel most of you have bought several of them judging by the great response that I’ve gotten from you. However, I am now expanding my catalog of video tab tapes to extend to the players that need something a little more complex and meaningful on a professional level. I will still be explaining what I’m doing in a very slow and easy to learn manner. The video tab series itself is about to be extended to videos 5 and 6. This will include some very famous licks, runs, fills and turnarounds.

As before, I am all ears in listening to you and wanting to hear your suggestions on what direction to go in these teaching videos. Two that I haven’t done yet are how to work with a band on a professional level and how to play rock-n-roll licks, turnarounds and fills. As you all know, we as steel players get trapped, no matter what the band we’re working with or where we’re playing, into having to take an instrumental break on Johnny B. Goode, Blue Suede Shoes, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock or some other rediculous non-steel guitar song. After having to do this for 45 years myself, I have pretty well come up with some answers on how to shine your brightest when all is darkest around you. These tapes will be forth-coming. These ideas came from you folks on this mailing list. What more great ideas do you have?

This week I just finished one of my favorite video series, one that I’ve wanted to do since the beginning of my steel guitar playing days. The non-pedal steel guitar series volumes 1 and 2 were filmed on an 8 string non-pedal steel guitar but will apply directly to 6 or 10 string also. This video course will show the non-pedal player how to easily keep up with the pedal player. These videos can also be a big help to the C6th pedal player. As a matter of fact, I recommend these videos extremely highly for anyone wanting to learn C6th pedal guitar because this course teaches where the notes need to go to make the chords. The non-pedal player slants the bar or leaves certain strings open, the pedal player can do the same thing by using pedals. This course is extremely important for learning C6th on either type of guitar.

The new Non-Pedal videos are available on a hidden webpage for my mailing list members only. To get the mailing list price, you have to go to this page …

www.steelguitar.net/sale.html … do not order from the regular page, you have to order from the hidden page to get the mailing list price.

Your buddy,

Bobbe

www.steelguitar.net

sales@steelguitar.net

P.S. I have been shipping the new Peavey Nashville 112 with the mod for the past couple weeks now. I think it’s only fair to offer our mailing list customers the deal they deserve for being on my mailing list so I’m offering a tremendous discount on these highly sought after, great sounding amps. Power and tone of these amps is beyond belief. If you want a stage 2 model with a Black Widow installed, let me know. I’m not allowed to tell you the price on the internet so you’ll have to call me at 615 822-5555.