Steel Guitar Never Had Chance

Ronnie Boettcher · Post by **Ronnie Boettcher** » 5 Oct 2010 8:15 am

This happened to me 3 weeks ago. I have been going to a acoustic jam every Wed., for over a year. It's hard to do songs with no real intros, turn-arounds, or fills. So I took my steel. This old guy, in his 8o's, has been playing music all his life, from West Virginia. He said to me that my steel sounded like a organ. I played traditional country since 1959, and I am not fancy, just do what it takes to play country music. I'll just leave it at home and when I go there, I'll just lump it and do my songs when it is my time. All the others loved it.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 5 Oct 2010 8:48 am

On second thought.......

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 5 Oct 2010 10:31 am

Sorry, guys, but I have to say it: 'steel guitar' and 'steel player' work, but 'pedal steel' (with or without 'guitar') has an elitist, trying-to-impress-someone ring to it.

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 5 Oct 2010 12:35 pm

James Cann wrote:Sorry, guys, but I have to say it: 'steel guitar' and 'steel player' work, but 'pedal steel' (with or without 'guitar') has an elitist, trying-to-impress-someone ring to it.

James, I respectfully disagree. It has been called the Pedal Steel Guitar ever since its infancy.
If I can refer back to my post about promoting the pedal steel guitar to kids. When they see and hear the it, I think the farthest thing from their mind is "elitist, trying to impress" attitude. All they hear is the beauty and want to learn to play it.
Sure, maybe some middle aged and young adults think like that, but we can disregard that. These people are not the future. The kids are.

Alexa Gomez · Post by **Alexa Gomez** » 6 Oct 2010 1:48 am

Hello Rick Kreuziger.

Just a little note to let you know just how sweet of you for your patience with those adorable little boys.

And who knows, could be the next generation of Steel Players.

Rick Kreuziger · Post by **Rick Kreuziger** » 6 Oct 2010 5:18 am

They were fascinated Alexa...

There was also a girl not seen on the picture too, btw.

When you have a thick skull like I do, you have to have an abundance of patience or I would've given up while trying to learn how to setup a guitar.

Questions were firing away, like "Why do you have those things on your fingers?", "What do those do? (fingers pointed at the floor pedals)?", "What's that for? (as I moved the bar)"

We started the set and I was nervous like I was being scrutinized on my every move at a steel guitar show!!

In ref to Bent's age comments: certainly the future is with the young, but I'm surprised at the number of fellow 6-string guitarists I meet at shows that come & ask about learning to play steel. As mentioned by someone else in this thread, though, the cost of getting started is often asked and the main deterrent.

As for the general public, the response I see is vivid... people love it and every night I get at least a couple people talking to me with questions, compliments and quite a few are fully aware of what it is.
I had a night last month with a table of late 20's-early 30's age folks who were hootin' and occasionally applauding after my lead breaks. At first I wasn't sure what was going on... lol... I was high from that for weeks.

The point is... there are younger people that appreciate steel guitar; when they get to hear it.

For the occasional "what's that thing" comments, I can't resist saying it's an electric cheese slicer first...

Rick

Michael J Pfeifer · Post by **Michael J Pfeifer** » 7 Oct 2010 3:17 pm

Last month I went to a jam in NYC. My steel was assembled,upside down, still in the case,when the bass player asked if it was an accordian!

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 7 Oct 2010 3:25 pm

Teach the old style and you'll get some converts. Probably not many, but you will get some converts. But if you want to reach a lot of young people, start exposing them to folks like Robert Randolph. They'll eventually work their way back to the old stuff and there will be a hell of a lot more of them.

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 7 Oct 2010 4:02 pm

Bill McCloskey wrote:Teach the old style and you'll get some converts. Probably not many, but you will get some converts. But if you want to reach a lot of young people, start exposing them to folks like Robert Randolph. They'll eventually work their way back to the old stuff and there will be a hell of a lot more of them.

I agree with this.
It's because of people like Skunk Baxter, Rick Derringer, Jerry Garcia, etc.,etc. that I wound up discovering players like Ralph Mooney and Tom Brumley.
Not to mention players like Lloyd Green and Pete Drake who played with rock groups which lead me to the music of Charlie Pride and Pete Drake's talking guitar and the list of great music that goes on and on.
They busted open the door to a whole new world of music for me.

Rick

Michael J Pfeifer · Post by **Michael J Pfeifer** » 7 Oct 2010 4:47 pm

Rick,

In case you didn't know Alvino Rey was inventor of the talking steel. If you can find the song,"I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do," by the King Sisters with Alvino,you will hear the orginal talking steel.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 7 Oct 2010 10:05 pm

I don't mind at all when somebody wants to know what it is,bc then I can play a little something and show them what they've been hearing without knowing it.If the curious person has some six-string knowledge I can give him an instant PSG primer.I figure every person curious enough to inquire is a potential convert.

....And back during my delightfully misspent middle age it was quite the ice-breaker with the ladies.

Michael J Pfeifer · Post by **Michael J Pfeifer** » 8 Oct 2010 4:24 am

Dave,

I think what are writing is what others have written. The steel is a chick magnet,and a cat magnet for the lady steel players.

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 8 Oct 2010 8:47 am

Michael J Pfeifer wrote:Rick,

In case you didn't know Alvino Rey was inventor of the talking steel. If you can find the song,"I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do," by the King Sisters with Alvino,you will hear the orginal talking steel.

Michael,
I've been searching for "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" on the internet and so far I'm not having an easy time finding it. I'll keep searching.

I did discover a couple of videos on Youtube with Stringy the talking guitar though.

Now I'm interested in the music of Alvino Rey.
Thanks!

Rick

Michael J Pfeifer · Post by **Michael J Pfeifer** » 8 Oct 2010 9:14 am

Hi Rick,

I looked for it too,but couldn't find it. As you have probably found out by now,there are quite a few videos of the King sisters with Alvino Rey on youtube. My father hipped me to Alvino in the late 50's early 60's. I don't recall being impressed at that time.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 8 Oct 2010 9:23 am

I had a lady ask me if it was a sitar, cause it was a guitar you sat down to play...

Michael J Pfeifer · Post by **Michael J Pfeifer** » 8 Oct 2010 9:37 am

That's funny John. I didn't see any music clips on your website.

Tim Tyner · Post by **Tim Tyner** » 9 Oct 2010 2:20 pm

A man approached one of my best friends at the bandstand one night and asked,"Is that a steel guitar?"My friend politely replied,"No I paid for this one.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 9 Oct 2010 5:05 pm

The ignorance isn't confined to the steel guitar. Most people think the lute is a wind instrument, and the cittern is an Indian instrument. Very few people know what a hummel is.

How many of you steel guitarists out there cannot identify the names of all the instruments of the orchestra, let alone folk instruments ?

You've all seen mariachi bands. They're all over the place. Name the instruments...

Dave Giegerich · Post by **Dave Giegerich** » 11 Oct 2010 6:35 pm

A few years ago I was subbing with a band on pedal steel, dobro and lap steel.
When the singer introduced me she said "That's Dave on pedal steel, dobro, and...that thing in his lap that he rubs."

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Oct 2010 6:23 am

Dave Giegerich wrote:...that thing in his lap that he rubs."

In old hippie nomenclature, "Let it all hang out."
He's "holding his own."

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 12 Oct 2010 11:46 am

Alan Brookes wrote:You've all seen mariachi bands. They're all over the place. Name the instruments...

Violin, guitar, guitarrón, vihuela, and trumpet. (Although guitar is optional and the original folk mariachi didn't have trumpet.)

Just wanted you to know at least one of us can.

Danny Bates · Post by **Danny Bates** » 12 Oct 2010 12:42 pm

Don't forget the Bajo Sexto for Norteno and Tex-Mex.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 12 Oct 2010 1:25 pm

Norteño and Tex-Mex aren't mariachi. Mariachi is a specific tradition.

(Sorry about topic drift.)

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Oct 2010 3:42 pm

Well done, Brint, and you also know what a steel guitar is, and I bet you also know what citterns and lutes are, but unfortunately the general public aren't the enthusiasts that we are, so we'll never be able to educate many of them as to what a pedal steel is. Remember than 99% of them don't even know that the concert harp has pedals, let alone some horizontal thingummy that looks like an electric keyboard.

Come to think of it, how many pedal steel guitarists know that the concert harp has pedals, let alone that the pedal mechanism that they use originated with the harp...

Joe Yednasty · Post by **Joe Yednasty** » 7 Jan 2011 5:03 am

Rick Schacter wrote:
Bill McCloskey wrote:Teach the old style and you'll get some converts. Probably not many, but you will get some converts. But if you want to reach a lot of young people, start exposing them to folks like Robert Randolph. They'll eventually work their way back to the old stuff and there will be a hell of a lot more of them.
I agree with this.
It's because of people like Skunk Baxter, Rick Derringer, Jerry Garcia, etc.,etc. that I wound up discovering players like Ralph Mooney and Tom Brumley.
Not to mention players like Lloyd Green and Pete Drake who played with rock groups which lead me to the music of Charlie Pride and Pete Drake's talking guitar and the list of great music that goes on and on.
They busted open the door to a whole new world of music for me.

Rick

I was 19 when I decided it was time to spend my life savings on a pedal steel guitar and the reason I wanted to start playing so bad is because of two far-from-average guys: Ralph Mooney and Tom Brumley.

It was really the "Waylon Live: The Expanded Edition" album that got me hooked on steel in an irreversable way. Ralph Mooney's amazing sound was my primary inspiration for wanting to play steel. With that said, I never got into Robert Randolph...