Pedal Steel Music

This is Bob Hempker. We’ve been talking about how modern electronics have changed music and steel guitar in particular. Things we now take for granted didn’t exist a few short years ago.

Take electronic tuners for instance. Years ago you had to spend several hundred dollars for a strobe tuner that was way too big to be carried to a gig. Now we have Peterson strobe tuners barely larger than a pack of cigarettes and they are becoming a de facto item in almost everybody’s pack-a-seat. All I had to work with back in the day was a tuning fork and my ear. We didn’t have the luxury we have today.

We’ve also got the incredible Tascam GB-10 which a lot of players consider to be about the best self-teaching tool you can find anywhere. You can slow a song down to half speed without changing the key or you can change the key without slowing it down or any combination of the two. This was impossible a decade ago. We never dreamed such a device could exist.

Electronic drum machines and metronomes have tightened up the timing of bands all over the world. Play with a metronome ticking away and your playing will get tighter and tighter. One tip to help improve your timing is while you’re driving, start counting the beat to a song on the radio, then turn the volume down for about 15 seconds. When you turn the volume back up, see if you’re right on the beat or if you’re dragging or pushing the beat. This is something you can do every time you’re behind the wheel.

Consider how the internet has changed so many things and how it’s helped steel players. We can communicate in ways never before possible from newsletters like this one, to instant messaging to sharing videos on YouTube. We can exchange ideas and learn from each other even though we may live thousands of miles apart and have never met each other face to face.

Think of how modern electronics have changed the gear we use. Amps have become smaller, lighter, cleaner sounding and more reliable than ever before. Rack mount gear and stomp boxes have given us every imaginable combination of effects.

Electronic reverb has given us steady dependable sound. With the old spring reverbs, if the drummer had a heavy foot or if the singer started jumping up and down, it could trigger the reverb unit. It’s hard trying to play something pretty with a spring reverb going in and out.

Cell phones mean we can be anywhere and get a call for a gig. You don’t have to miss a job because you weren’t home sitting by the phone when the call came. We can also check our tour itinerary, check messages and always be up to date with what’s happening when and where. Thanks to cell phones, we no longer get important information after the fact.

We want to wish everyone a Happy Easter and since we’ve been seeing everyone else’s Easter Sale, we came up with one of our own. From now through Monday, every Bobbe Seymour video or CD is buy one, get another one free.

In order to work around the limitations of our shopping cart, after you place your order, email info@steelguitar.net and tells us that you ordered a video or CD and also tell us which video or CD you want for your free one.

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 Bob Hempker. First the news of the day. We have two brand new Little Walter Standard 50 amps in stock and ready to ship. Come on in and give them a try. You need to hear the sound these amps give. Your ears will love it.

I heard the news that one of my favorites passed away, Mr. Jack Green. Jack of course was the singer on the mega-hits There Goes My Everything and Statue of a Fool. My main memories of Jack were of him being the great drummer with the Texas Troubadour’s in the early sixties.

That band with Leon Rhodes, Buddy Charleton, Jack Green and Cal Smith in my opinion was the greatest band ever put together for a country music artist. They were so far ahead of their time. They played Ernest’s material as great as it could ever be thought of being played and they could turn around and play swing or jazz instrumentals and leave you with your mouth hanging open.

Leon and Buddy had their intricate parts worked out so well you had to listen real close sometimes to figure out who was playing the lead and who was playing the harmony. About the time you figured that out for a certain passage, they would switch and the other would be playing lead and the other be playing harmony.

They had a version of Steel Guitar Rag that was so cool I’ve yet to hear anything to compare to it. They did a lot of Duke Ellington and big band instrumentals where the lead guitar and steel guitar would be the lead instruments instead of the horn section.

When I was a teenager that was the group to listen to and I still listen to them to this day. Jack Green could swing with any drummer. He was as good as it got. Then they would feature Jack singing. The band recorded several albums on their own and Jack sang songs like The Last Letter, Since You’ve Gone.

Leon, Cal Smith and Jack sang several trio try things that were really great. Jack was a class act in every sense of the word. The last time I saw him was in 2010 at Loretta’s 50th anniversary of being in country music. I introduced him to a friend of mine as “Jack Green, my favorite drummer.” I think he got a kick out of that because I didn’t mention him singing or being a recording artist.

After Jack left Ernest, he had a brilliant career of his own. He also had some great bands of his own too. The music world has suffered a great loss.

Larry Sasser was in last week. He is a walking, talking country music history lesson. He came to town in 1969 and worked with Del Reeves, Ray Stevens and others before becoming the steel player on Nashville Now. He also played on a lot of recordings for people during the era. It was really great seeing Larry and visiting with him.

Pat Severs was also in and traded in a beautiful Emmons push pull. Pat was one of the rockin’ members of The Pirates of the Mississippi. He played with Eddie Rabbitt, Narvel Felts and is now working with Bill Anderson. Pat is a really good solid player, the kind you can learn from if you pay attention.

Dan Galysh was in. He is also excellent player who works with Rodney Atkins.

A while back a young man in his late teens came in with his father looking at steel guitars. He sat down and immediately started playing some Leon McAuliffe type things on the C6th neck. It really caught my attention needless to say because you don’t normally come across young people who even know who Leon was.

He started strumming across the E9th neck and told me he didn’t understand that tuning. I went through a brief tutoring session showing him the major string groupings and what the pedals did. I saw the light bulb flick in his head. He sat there and played some Bud Isaacs things like Bud’s Bounce and the classic lick from Slowly.

My curiosity got the best of me so I asked him what he’d been exposed to, to learn these things. He told me he only played in church and the only country music he’d been exposed to was some old 78 records his dad had, consisting of Webb Pierce, Hank Williams, Cowboy Copas and vocalists from that era.

He told me that he played a Gibson Multi-Harp. It was a guitar Gibson made for awhile in the last forties and early fifties. Anyway, this was a great trip back in time that I enjoyed from a young teenager of all people. It’s good to see young people out there who respect the roots of steel guitar as much as this young man.

We have word from GFI that prices are going up effective May 1st. If you have been contemplating a GFI, try to get at least a deposit on one before then.

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 Bob Hempker. We’ve been busy sprucing up the store making it cozy for all you folks when you come to visit. We look forward to seeing friends both old and new. After all, this is the steel guitar toy store and we want you to enjoy yourself when you drop by.

An old friend stopped in today that I hadn’t seen in years. John Brown, about as generic a name as you can get. John and I worked together with Loretta for years. Some of you may remember John with Nat Stuckey or Donna Fargo. John also worked the Country Tonite Show up in Branson.

It was great seeing him. We had a wonderful visit. John is one of the best drummers I’ve ever worked with. He’s a metronome as far as timing and he can lay down a groove with the best of them.

Billy Poe was in the other day and got his guitar repaired. I’ve known Billy since I got to town in 1969 and he is a dear friend. Vic Lawson did some work on his Emmons for him.

Mike Johnson was in recently and had some work done to his Emmons guitar. Mike Daly and Doug Jernigan come in here all the time. These are all world class players. Mike Johnson is one of the most in-demand studio musicians in Nashville. Mike Daly plays for Hank Jr. and Travis Tritt and Doug Jernigan needs no introduction.

I’m often asked about my equipment, what I own, use, recommend and don’t recommend. I recommend buying the best equipment you can afford because you’ve got to live and work with that equipment long after you’ve paid for it. If making money depends on your equipment, that’s even more reason to buy the best you can afford.

None of us can afford shoddy equipment that can cost us work. Be sure to consider this whenever you buy something. Cutting corners can mean selling yourself short.

I’m amazed at how good the Nashville 112 performs. For decades, the thought of taking a small amp with one 12″ speaker and 80 watts of power to do a show was just unheard of.

I have had an assortment of amps through the years with 15″ speakers, 300, 400, 500 and even 1000 watts. I’ve had different configurations of preamps, power amps, speaker cabinets and the like. I’ve spent thousands of dollars. But this little Nashville 112 gets the job done. And it doesn’t take a gorilla with a crane to lift it.

From the best I can tell, the amp is very durable. I’ve dropped mine pretty hard a couple of times and it didn’t hurt it. Peavey certainly has the reputation for reliability. I’ve used it setting on the floor, off the floor and it seems to work in any situation as long as it’s placed somewhere I can hear it.

It has a headphone jack in the back, an effects loop and all the things you’d expect in a modern day amp. I know most of you already have one and some of you have two, but just in case you’re sitting on the fence thinking about a new amp, come in, sit down and give it a play or give us a call and let’s talk. It’s an unbeatable amp and you won’t beat our price anywhere.

I’d also like to mention that we get new and different equipment in daily so please check our website if you’re looking for anything. At the moment we have an especially good selection of used equipment that works just like new and you can save some good money.

We have a mix and match sale for Saint Patrick’s Day.

Here’s the link: www.steelguitar.net/stpatricksday.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