What's making that.... "sound"!

Reece Anderson · Post by **Reece Anderson** » 30 Jan 2008 7:54 am

Throughout my playing career I have continually received comments from the general public asking....what is that “thing” you’re playing? Like many of you I have always tried to explain it as best I could, at least until I saw the glazed look in their eyes.

Here’s the routine of explanation I started using years ago.

1) When asked I will say....you may not have ever seen one, but chances are you have heard it all your life and didn’t know what it was making “that” sound.
2) I tell them I believe the sound of steel guitar is one of the most recognized on the face of the earth....and that really peaks their interest.
3) I ask them if they ever heard this sound....I then play the Looney Tunes quick octave slide, and immediately see a smile come on their face.

After they make that unique sound connection, I then proceed to tell them how steel guitar has been in all kinds of music for many years, and most who are familiar with steel guitar categorize it as being primarily a Hawaiian or Country instrument.

As with all kinds of music, there are those who don’t care for Hawaiian or Country music, so after sizing up that situation I begin naming famous entertainers I’m sure they are familiar with, other than Country, who have recorded with and/or used steel guitar in their band.

I’m sure many of you have been asked the same questions, and I thought it might benefit the steel guitar community were we to make a list of those artist entertainers which could help some of us educate the general public abut steel guitar, and at the same time we would be helping to perpetuate the instrument we all love so much.

I’ll start the list with a few artist/entertainers who immediately come to mind, and I would appreciate knowing of others so we may add them to our “arsenal” when spreading the good word about steel guitar with others.….

Elvis Presley
James Taylor
Manhattan Transfer
The Beatles
Bon Jovi
Elton John
ZZ Top
The Eagles
Eric Clapton
Dire Straits

Steve Gorman · Post by **Steve Gorman** » 30 Jan 2008 8:01 am

Steely Dan

Papa Joe Pollick · Post by **Papa Joe Pollick** » 30 Jan 2008 8:08 am

Eric Johnson shows lap steel in the credits on "Bloom"

Tommy Young · Post by **Tommy Young** » 30 Jan 2008 8:23 am

THE GREATFUL DEAD

Terry Farmer · Post by **Terry Farmer** » 30 Jan 2008 9:01 am

The Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd
Keb Mo
Ben Harper
Asleep at the Wheel
Jackson Brown
Junior Brown

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Jan 2008 9:06 am

Not having watched a Looney Tunes in years (is it even still aired?), I remember that there IS a steel slide at the beginning but can't recall the sound of it. Is it a big 6th chord, or major triad, or what? If I knew that, I could do that little demo for people too. (Whether it would gain me any new friends or not remains to be seen...)

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 30 Jan 2008 9:11 am

Paul McCartney
Marshall Tucker
The Carpenters
Pure Prairie League
Poco
Judy Collins
Bob Dylan

I'll try to remember others, there's a bunch more and get back.

Terry

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Jan 2008 9:15 am

Medeski, Martin & Wood
Robert Randolph
The Campbell Brothers

Mike Winter · Post by **Mike Winter** » 30 Jan 2008 9:18 am

New Riders of the Purple Sage
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 30 Jan 2008 9:27 am

Hartsfield
Mason Proffitt
Timothy P. and Rural Route III

!(Thanks, Jerry--Heard some of y'all's stuff at Candy's house)

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 30 Jan 2008 9:35 am

Jim The slide on the Looney Tunes was done by Freddie Tavares who worked on the original Strat with Leo Fender.Somewhere I have a recording of the Tavares Brothers.

Reece Anderson · Post by **Reece Anderson** » 30 Jan 2008 9:36 am

Jim C....Looney Tune cartoons are still very popular with kids.

A simple triad with the root on top and sliding an octave quickly will simulate the sound. I sometimes add a 6th. Either will do, and you will immediately see their face light up.

I played a number of shows for the Elementary Public School System a few months ago, and each band member explained their instrument and played something for the kids so they could hear its sound.

When it was my time, I asked them how many had ever seen a steel guitar, and seldom did a hand go up. I then asked how many liked Looney Tune cartoons and of course every hand went up.

I then asked if they had ever heard this sound....I then played the octave slide and they all went ballistic and cheered. After each show they would rush up and gang around my guitar wanting to hear more. They were mesmerized with the sound....and come to think of it, the sound is what also hooked me and at an early age, and at the time I didn't have a clue what one even looked like.

I received my first steel guitar the following Christmas and I remember being disappointed because I thought it was supposed to be made out of steel.

Ricky Thibodeaux · Post by **Ricky Thibodeaux** » 30 Jan 2008 9:39 am

Aldus Roger & the Lafayette Playboys
sa c'est bon

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 30 Jan 2008 9:54 am

Reece, you're selling the masses short.

I think most all of them know that those "whiny noises" come from a double-decker table-slide thingamabob.

Steve Gorman · Post by **Steve Gorman** » 30 Jan 2008 10:13 am

The Pointer Sisters, remember "Fairy Tale?"

Beautiful playing by Weldon Myrick

Fred Eddie-Quartey · Post by **Fred Eddie-Quartey** » 30 Jan 2008 11:07 am

Nigerian Juju artists:

King Sunny Ade
Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey
Dele Abiodun
Segun Adewale
Shina Peters

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 30 Jan 2008 11:55 am

Reece, I loved your story about the grade school kids and how they went ballistic at the sound of the familiar Looney Tunes slide.
Young kids are so accepting to 'new' sounds. Their brains are void of biases like "oh that sounds like country, I don't like that stuff!"

Take my little granddaughter Kate who just turned 3.
(I have told y'all before but it's worth telling again)
When she comes over for a visit she comes over to where I am in front of the computer. She gets up on my lap and clamps the earphones on her head and has to listen to Curly Chalker play Alberta Bound three times in a row.

You think she might grow up loving the sound of the pedal steel?

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 30 Jan 2008 1:03 pm

Some more from the rock, pop, or folk arenas -

Ween, Ryan Adams, The Byrds, Danny Gatton, Mike Nesmith, Neil Young, Shawn Colvin, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Sheryl Crow, Linda Ronstadt, Ian Tyson, Jewel, R.E.M., David Byrne, The Black Crowes, Tracy Nelson/Mother Earth, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Bonnie Raitt, Karla Bonoff, Red Rider, Lyle Lovett, Little Feat, Joe Cocker, Delaney and Bonnie, Frank Zappa, The Bee Gees, John Lennon, Fleetwood Mac, Martha and the Muffins, Billy Bob Thornton, Drive By Truckers, U2, Dickie Betts, Robert Earl Keen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, The Mermen, Taj Mahal, Mike Bloomfield, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Tom Paxton, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Goodman, Joe Henry, The Dead String Brothers, Harvey Mandel, Steve Stills, Brewer & Shipley, Ann Murray, ...

There are plenty more.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Jan 2008 1:07 pm

Dave, the problem with your nicely-done list is that pretty much anyone who knows those artists/groups is no stranger to steel guitar. Let's face it, most of those artists and groups were active 30+ years ago! (I can't believe I said that). Brewer & Shipley?? Oh Mommy!

Joe Miraglia · Post by **Joe Miraglia** » 30 Jan 2008 1:09 pm

Reece- Sat. night playing a gig, two girls on the dance floor asked me what I called what I was playing.I answered "a steel guitar",than added "I bet the first time you girls heard a steel guitar, you were about 3 years old.Just before Porky Pig said "da,da,da, that's all folks". I then played that famous lick

And they said,"Yes,that's it!" Joe
www.willowcreekband.com

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 30 Jan 2008 1:32 pm

Ever visit Jay Dee Maness's web-site and look at the list of people that he's worked with? However, in this area, when it comes up in conversation, most are not familiar with it.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 30 Jan 2008 1:33 pm

I've been asked not what is is but, "how come you call it a steel guitar when it's not made of steel at all"?

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 30 Jan 2008 1:47 pm

Jim - Ween, REM, The Black Crowes, Jewel, Bonnie Raitt, Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Zappa, The Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, U2, and so on? I don't think the mainline fans of these types of bands/people are particularly into steel guitar at all. At least not the ones I know.

I was trying to list artists outside the realm of country music or steel-guitar jazz, who might be more familiar to fans of popular music of all ages - older or younger, and not particularly fans of steel guitar.

btw - with the exception of Bon Jovi (25 yrs?), all the artists in Reece's original list have been around for at least 30 years.

Dave Burr · Post by **Dave Burr** » 30 Jan 2008 2:14 pm

Great job Dave! Don't forget "The Flying Burrito Brothers", "Manassas" and "The Wallflowers".

You're right there are MANY more.

Respectfully,
David Burr

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 30 Jan 2008 4:08 pm

Reggae artists Toots and the Maytals used one on one of their recordings. Bob Marley may have used a lap steel on one too, but it might have been a standard 6 string guitar played with a slide.

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What's making that.... "sound"!

What's making that.... "sound"!

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