It's Easy To Revive Peak Interest In The P.S.G.

[Christopher Woitach]

Well, getting back to the subject:

At Western Oregon University, where I teach jazz guitar, I give a master class once a week. We cover all kinds of subjects - chord substitution, building lines, playing solo, etc. Twice I've brought in my pedal steel. Last time, I wrote my copedent on the board, plugged it in, and had them figure out how to play a chord progression on it. I'm pleased to say that they all were able to figure which combinations gave them the changes (yay, students!). The most remarkable thing was how enthusiastic they all were to play on the steel, and how thrilled they were to hear themselves make that amazing sound...

I don't think there will ever be a lack of interest in the PSG - as soon as a musically inclined person, particularly a guitarist, gets to try one, the wheels start turning, and no matter what music interests them - jazz, pop, country, Penderecki, blues, whatever - they can imagine how the instrument can be utilized to create a personal sound within the various genres. It's just too cool to ignore.

[Bill Hankey]

Christopher,

I'm delighted to be reminded how well you are blessed with the ability to teach a class how very inspiring a steel guitar can become, after proper instructions to get started with the basic fundamentals have been covered. I only wish that I could borrow from the youthful vigor, so common in school children. The students are very lucky for the happenstance of a teacher who happens to play P.S.G. No doubt, some "may carry the ball", and go on to become great players. Experience dictates that there will always be the selected student who visits the bookshelf with the frequency of the morning sun rising above the eastern ridges on a clear morning. I can visualize the rewards, as well as the diversions of happenstances. Very small percentages are given to becoming class distractions, while others become perpetrators of a sort of invasion on the rights of others. Activities that divert attention out and beyond the immediate study groups, must be tended to, far in advance of allowing such behavior to continue. There are many varieties of discipline, as well as rewards imposed, depending entirely on written proof of the speed of progressions. Reverting back to proven methodologies, may be necessary to achieve successes in determining who has shown the greatest interest in the workings of the pedal steel guitar. It's difficult to predict the exact amounts of tolerances various school board members would "go along" with; including the steel guitar as a class study. Such a new and complex study may be welcomed by some, due to its sustaining unresolved and elaborate construction. Perhaps the school board members would not object to a small segment of studies that merely introduces the sounds and appearances of the relatively new American musical instrument. This much, would disallow, "Out of sight, out of mind possibilities."

[Bill Hankey]

Debunking the neighboring liberal statements made in the "Steel Player's Column", by their alludings to the insignificant components necessary to distinguish a miniscule difference in tone, have lessened my faith in the accepted ideals of advanced musicians. It shouldn't require a space scientist to understand the reason for my comment.

[Georg Sørtun]

It shouldn't require a space scientist to understand the reason for my comment.

The reason, no, but maybe you could expand on the comment itself to make it more clear..?

[Joe Miraglia]

Debunking the neighboring liberal statements made in the "Steel Player's Column", by their alludings to the insignificant components necessary to distinguish a miniscule difference in tone, has lessened my faith in the accepted ideals of advanced musicians. It shouldn't require a space scientist to understand the reason for my comment.

" Debunking",now thats a word from the past,I have heared someone say bebunk in years. Yes Bill- it does require a space scientist to understand your comments.

[Barry Blackwood]

It shouldn't require a space scientist to understand the reason for my comment.

Bill, I digress …...

[Bill Hankey]

For those who are trying to distinguish slight differences in tonality, I'll have pleasure in suggesting that many have superior tones strictly through the wisdom of plugging into quality amplification. Special pickups, ample wattage, speaker cabinets specially designed to enhance the messages received, etc., are at the root of superior tonalities. Another favorable prevailing influence would, of course, remain with the best acoustics available, if a player is actively intent upon emerging with a superior overall tone, in staged settings, where differences in deliveries are immediately discernibly obvious to the trained ear.

[Georg Sørtun]

Thanks Bill, I could hardly have said it better myself - at least not in English.

[Joe Miraglia]

For those who are trying to distinguish slight differences in tonality, I'll have pleasure in suggesting that many have superior tones strictly through the wisdom of plugging into quality amplification. Special pickups, ample wattage, speaker cabinets specially designed to enhance the messages received, etc., are at the root of superior tonalities. Another favorable prevailing influence would, of course, remain with the best acoustics available, if a player is actively intent upon emerging with a superior overall tone, in staged settings, where differences in deliveries are immediately discernibly obvious to the trained ear.

Bill,Humor us! rewrite this paragraph you wrote in everyday simple English...

[b0b]

Joe, humor us. Learn to read longer sentences.

[Bill Hankey]

Joe,

Don't come knocking from foreign or domestic localities, while preparing to whitewash a bit of nonsense concerning proper tonality. # 1 : Each person's sense of hearing is measurably different. What you hear, differs, the same as opinions. The differences are so varied, as to find a wrong road or concept, after conceivably making unwise choices in whose advice we follow. This IS a prelude to simplism, as an introduction to, in part, the basic formula to imply contradictions, in this series of theories of sound bites offered by other writers.

[Joe Miraglia]

Bill, I can't hear you ! Please play louder,turn that amp.up- please

[Barry Blackwood]

Bill, don't you feel that close-miking techniques would probably negate any acoustical influences?

[Joe Miraglia]

Joe, humor us. Learn to read longer sentences.

Blah,Blah,Blah,Blah,------------------ .
Gibber-gabberish, and blah------------ .

[Barry Blackwood]

b0b, in reading through Bill's last couple of posts, if he would do a little proofreading he would probably construct better, (aka easier to understand,) sentences by using proper punctuation. I think it's common knowledge by now that abundant grammatical mistakes are the norm in the majority of Bill's posts.

[Joe Miraglia]

b0b, in reading through Bill's last couple of posts, if he would do a little proofreading he would probably construct better, (aka easier to understand,) sentences by using proper punctuation. I think it's common knowledge by now that abundant grammatical mistakes are the norm in the majority of Bill's posts.

Not our Bill!

[Georg Sørtun]

Just to make it clear: I had no problem reading and understanding those long sentences in Bill's explanatory post. Slightly unusual use of words in that and many others of Bill's posts, IMO, but that rarely ever confuses me.

So, I meant exactly what I wrote earlier...

Thanks Bill, I could hardly have said it better myself - at least not in English.

Much harder for me to make out the exact meaning in some of the posts from others, as although I myself can, and do, get it wrong from time to time when it comes to rules and grammar as I write in what to me is a 3d or 4th language - depending on how I define "language", some of those who apparently write in their 1st language on this forum don't seem to know or care about such rules and also at times use so many short-forms, spoken forms and local expressions in their writing that even on-line dictionaries can't really help me grasp what they're saying.

I, for one, wouldn't mind if we all tried to write a bit clearer.

[Bill Hankey]

Georg,

Thanks a bunch for inducing an opinion that resulted in a breather on my part from the gunners in their shieded entrenchment. What a blessing witnessing the pair of assaulters whirling their rapid-fire verbal facades to face your unexpected return firing, by rejecting their insistence square on their backsides. It's quiet for the moment.

[Barry Blackwood]

Bill, you still haven't answered this gunner's question. Don't you feel that close-miking techniques would probably negate any acoustical influences?

[Bill Hankey]

Barry,

I have no way of knowing the extent of your genius. I've experienced the problems associated with assuming prematurely this or that in an effort to shorten the extent of an existing problem. No more! You are recognizable through your writings by seldom, if ever, conceding to more mature, or wise approaches to any problem. Just name it, and you waste no time putting holes in the various solutions offered by others who may find quibbling lay entities quite a nuisance, particularly while trying to solve problems put before them.

[Barry Blackwood]

OK, let me put it another way. You stated:

Another favorable prevailing influence would, of course, remain with the best acoustics available, if a player is actively intent upon emerging with a superior overall tone, in staged settings, where differences in deliveries are immediately discernibly obvious to the trained ear.

I am suggesting that if one uses close miking of the amplifier, room acoustics cease to become a factor.
Do you understand this concept, Bill?

[b0b]

Barry,

I believe that close miking of the amp reduces room acoustics as a factor in a recording, but it does little to solve the basic problem. Unless he is wearing in-ear monitors, a musician must hear and deal with the room acoustics.

Side note to Bill: the overuse and misuse of comma punctuation is one of the most difficult obstacles for readers to overcome. A comma often serves as a roadblock to comprehension, rendering an otherwise readable sentence unfathomable.

[Bill Hankey]

Barry,

Years ago, I played my steel in West Stockbride MA under a pavilion type outing, with the usual clams, burgers, and fries attendees gathered about. For some reason that I can't recall, I placed my Boom Box recorder opposite from where my steel was set up. Quite possibly 25-30' away from the band setup. I couldn't believe the excellence of tone on my pedal steel from that distance between speakers and recorder. The sound was not confined in the open-sided pavilion. The unplanned recording yielding unusual preferred results, causes me to meditate on occasion, while trying to decipher the reasons. Miking an amp or bass drum can become a steel players greatest handicap. If you are seeking to overwhelm the drummers in modern country bands, you must surrender any thoughts of performing in audible silky-smooth note passages. That which could amount to a sustained beautiful rendition on the pedal steel, will not happen. 98 percent of the time, the steel player is lost in the shuffle.

[Bill McCloskey]

Physically steel guitar doesn't lend itself to wide acceptance among the young, even if Robert Randolph was playing with Lady Gaga.

It is big, expensive, mechanical, heavy, not particularly portable and requires all sorts of other equipment which is also expensive, hard to find, and bulky. If a kid wants to play guitar, for $100 bucks he can find a cheap clunker and amp and he is on his way. The same doesn't exist in the pedal steel world, even with the Carter Starter. Lot easier to get kids into lap steel, dobro, and things like that. I imagine that pedal steels will eventually go the way of the Viola Gamba.

[Ben Jones]

I happen to LIKE the fact that pedal steell guitars are not widely available. I LIKE that there arent a million wannabe steelers competeing for my jobs. I LOVE that there are people who've never seen or heard the instrument before and freak out the first time they hear the instrument because it is the most beautiful thing they've ever heard. Why do you guys wanna ruin all that by making it as popular as Guitar Center Guitar Starter Packs?