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Author Topic:  What's the first song you learned on lap or non-pedal steel?
C. E. Jackson


Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 11:45 am    
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Having a nostalgic day again. Remembered the first song I learned on steel guitar in 1949.
Red River Valley on my 1949 Silvertone Lap Steel. My memory is that I learned from an old
tab version which my dad had made. Later, in 1950, my brother, Joe, and I played Red River
Valley at a high school talent show before an audience of maybe 1,000. We were pretty
nervous, didn't win, but had a lot of fun. I don't ever remember playing before that large an
audience again.



Photo of me, left, and Joe, right, on stage at the talent show. Joe is playing a 1948 Silvertone Lap steel.
Notice we both played with round bullet-nose bars. I still have my bar which is 2 3/4 x 3/4 chrome plated steel.

C. E. Very Happy
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William Hoff


From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 1:18 pm    
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A very crude attempt at Mercury Blues, David Lindley version. Very inspiring piece.
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David Knutson


From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 1:30 pm    
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"I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes", on an old, black Stewart arch-top with a raised nut, in standard Dobro tuning. I was hooked on day one.
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Nic Sanford

 

From:
Oklahoma
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 2:34 pm    
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Believe it or not, a very simple version of Red River Valley. I also took some open E bottleneck stuff I was trying to learn and transferred it to the lap. Such as, a horrible attempt at Ry Cooder's cover of Vigilante Man, and the vocal lines from Sam Cook's Bring It On Home. Never got those right, but I still warm up with them before practicing.
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Jack Hanson


From:
San Luis Valley, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 2:51 pm    
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Wabash Cannonball.
On a brand-new OMI 60-DS.


Last edited by Jack Hanson on 4 Jun 2017 8:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Joe Snow


From:
Argyle,Texas, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 2:57 pm    
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Home on the Range. Oahu lesson #1.
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Cartwright Thompson


Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 2:58 pm    
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"Panhandle Rag" on a double Stringmaster, in about 1991
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Michael Maddex


From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 4:31 pm    
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'John Hardy' on a Silvertone Flattop tuned Spanish with a nut riser and a Stevens bar. I have played that song on guitar for as long as I can remember so I just picked it out in the new tuning with the 'new gear'. I started out with visions of the bar flying across the room and denting a wall or breaking a window, but I was doing pretty good it seemed to me in a couple of hours. The thumb-pick and finger-picks were not new to me either. I still play that one from time to time, often as a part in a Carter Family Medley.
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Joe Burke

 

From:
Toronto, Canada
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 7:16 pm    
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You Are My Sunshine
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Joe Elk


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 8:00 pm    
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The Bells of Saint Mary's I May have to revisit that I have not played in years!
Joe Elk Central Ohio
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Levi Gemmell

 

From:
New Zealand
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 9:05 pm    
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I second "You Are My Sunshine."
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Lee Holliday


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 12:02 am    
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it may have been little Red Rooster but Rolling in my sweet babys arms seems more likely.

Lee
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Andy Volk


From:
Boston, MA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 1:26 am    
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Everything Is Gonna Work Out Fine by Jerry Douglas, worked out by ear. Love the photo of you and your brother, C.E.
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Last edited by Andy Volk on 5 Jun 2017 2:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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Bill Groner


From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 1:32 am    
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Sleepwalk for me. Although, I am still working on it. Seems I can never play it the same twice! It maybe a life long endeavor. Sad
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Last edited by Bill Groner on 5 Jun 2017 5:23 am; edited 1 time in total
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Scott Duckworth


From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 2:38 am    
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Amazing Grace
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Larry Lenhart


From:
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 5:27 am    
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"Steelin the Blues" in 1968 on a Fender quad...sounds crazy but that was my first steel and tune...I was 21 and teaching guitar in the studio where I learned to play guitar and heard the owner teaching that tune to a steel student...that was it ! I had to learn that ! I STILL cant do that tune justice after all of these years ! Sad
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David M Brown


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 6:17 am    
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First song I learned on steel guitar?

"Aloha Oe" in A low bass.
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Stephen Abruzzo

 

From:
Philly, PA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 6:19 am    
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Elmore James.....It Hurts Me Too.........Open E
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Andy Henriksen

 

From:
Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 6:56 am    
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Other than a few originals played with a technique that only slightly resembled anything remotely proper, I think Merle Haggard's "Swinging Doors" was probably the first.

Of course, Merle's version is PSG (Mooney, I think), but there are plenty of great melodic licks that translate fairly well to non-pedal, including the intro and solo break. It's still one of my favorites to play with a band - I love the trade-offs between steel and armpit guitar.
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Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 7:25 am    
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Sleep Walk was the first song for me, about 1970.
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Bill Groner


From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 7:31 am    
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Doug Beaumier wrote:
Sleep Walk was the first song for me, about 1970.


Good to know. Hope everything else falls into place Exclamation Exclamation Exclamation
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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 7:54 am    
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"Beginner's Waltz" in A high bass on an acoustic Oahu guitar.
One like this:

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Butch Mullen

 

From:
North Carolina, USA 28681
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 8:59 am    
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steel guitar rag
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Wally Pfeifer

 

From:
Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 9:15 am     First Song
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Very Happy In 1939 on my brand new acoustic Hawaiian guitar with the pink & yellow cowboy scene on the front,- it was a single sheet of Bronson music titled "Nearer My God To Thee". Played it a couple times in church. Then went on to
bigger and better things. Didn't get my first Fender (6 string) Champ until about 1951. Those were the days.
Wally Very Happy Very Happy
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Bill Groner


From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2017 4:13 pm    
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Doug Beaumier wrote:
Sleep Walk was the first song for me, about 1970.


I say we get Doug to do a "Sleepwalk" video for Youtube and post it. Anybody with me? I for one would love to hear him play that song. Very Happy
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