Reading Music on the Pedal Steel Guitar

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 12 Jun 2015 1:53 pm

For some reason, every time I try to play the file I get the error message that "This page can't be displayed"...

Jim Priebe · Post by **Jim Priebe** » 12 Jun 2015 1:59 pm

It's the traditionalists jamming it Jim !!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 12 Jun 2015 2:11 pm

Jim, if I had your email address, I'd send you a copy (if Dave wouldn't mind, and the composer is dead).
You might try another browser.
Or rightclick on the link and you should get the option to "save target as" or "download file"
The link is to a music file, not a regular page.

Christopher Hillman · Post by **Christopher Hillman** » 12 Jun 2015 2:31 pm

Glad to see this thread has taken off!! Sorry i didnt reply sooner.

The show is actually 'the best little whorehouse in texas' like Chris did. When i spoke to the MD he said it wasn't the same as the Dolly one i heard on Spotify. There was talk of meeting up previously to the show but, this seems an important skill to grasp and if any tours get in the way, that wont be an option.

I do read music on the guitar... not the best but i did do a lot of sight reading at University. My ears a a lot better than my eye to hand coordination these days.

Dave that sounds beautiful! i'm going to try myself. nice work!

Mike, I'd love to read the article you wrote. E-mail send.

DG Whitley · Post by **DG Whitley** » 12 Jun 2015 2:36 pm

...the file never showed up for me and I couldn't download it either, so I'll just take everybody's word it was good, way to go Dave!

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 12 Jun 2015 3:33 pm

chris...the record i found was made before the dolly movie version, i think. i just looked for it but didn't dig deep enough in the garage to find it.
....but it was, as it said on the cover, the original soundtrack to the broadway (?) play.
it was pretty much just like the music score. good steel. the first thing you have to do is learn to follow the whole score just to get to the places you're supposed to play.
if you think it would help to find the exact name of the record, i'll dig further.

Harry Dove · Post by **Harry Dove** » 12 Jun 2015 7:32 pm

I consider my flat top and electric guitar as secondary instruments for me and my pedal steel, lap steel, and dobro as primary. However I can take music for a song I have never heard and just play it by sight on the guitar. In fact I often start a new song by playing it on the flat top, even though I have played steel much longer. When I sit down with sheet music at the pedal steel, I start out playing the notes at the no pedal chord position and the AB pedal down position. I then start working my way up and down the neck swapping for better sounding places to play certain notes and positions better suited to the chord changes. The more times I play it the more complex it becomes. My point is just how hard it is to play from notation on steel compared to other instruments, for me anyway.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 12 Jun 2015 9:51 pm

Dave Grafe wrote:... the "standard" Emmons 3+5 E9 setup has everything needed to pull it off.

The E9 tuning works extremely well for playing classical music. The late Al Vescovo once teased me about playing “the hillbilly tuning.” I answered that E9 is “The Mozart tuning.”

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 13 Jun 2015 7:59 am

there is a fine line when playing classical music on the steel guitar. if you bring in too much of the inherent shapings of the steel, it detracts from the music.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 13 Jun 2015 10:06 am

Bill's caution is well placed. I don't have the skill to tackle anything classical yet, but I hope to. I think it will be important to choose something that will be enhanced by the steel, not corrupted. I would go for Schumann before Mozart - romantic rather than strictly classical.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 13 Jun 2015 10:19 am

it's all just notes. it depends on how you play them.

Carl Mesrobian · Post by **Carl Mesrobian** » 12 Jul 2015 4:34 am

Beautiful, Dave. Always nice to hear a different style on any instrument

Karl Paulsen · Post by **Karl Paulsen** » 13 Jul 2015 6:50 pm

Really lovely work. A great reminder of the breadth of what can be done on the PSG.

Christopher Hillman · Post by **Christopher Hillman** » 8 Sep 2015 12:24 pm

Hey guys, finely got the score through and have about a month to learn this... i'm trying to decided right now if i can do this or not. I'm deffinetly not an amature steel player but touring and recording is more my kind of work. Although... i've only opened the book and had a look though it yet.

Heres a picture of the score. I thought maybe someone would recognise the score as being one they have worked on in the past. Maybe its the same one you did Chris? it says 1977-78 by Daniel Music a division of MCA.
I havent been given a copy of any audio yet.

Chris $:\$

Jamie Mitchell · Post by **Jamie Mitchell** » 8 Sep 2015 12:30 pm

Christopher Hillman wrote:Any advice on reading music on the pedal steel?

I've got a theatre gig coming up and apparently all the steel is scored out. Theres a few months yet and i will get the CD but, it would be a good skill to have.

do you read, just not on steel?
or do you not read at all?

j

Christopher Hillman · Post by **Christopher Hillman** » 8 Sep 2015 12:59 pm

yeah i read a bit. slowly going through it now. i can follow stuff follow it but have to do my interpretation right now.
The steel on the musical i found is close to this and pretty mad! mad in a good way. not sure who it is. sounds a bit Lloyd Green.

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Reading Music on the Pedal Steel Guitar

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