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Author Topic:  What tunes are you currently working on ?
Larry Lenhart


From:
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 7:12 am    
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Just curious what tune or tunes you guys are currently working on. All of mine are on C6th 8 string, but dont necessarily use all 8 strings, 6 would work just as well. I will start it:

1. Doug Beumier's version of "Apache"...I learned this song back in hs in the 60s on regular guitar and have liked it ever since...Doug's version makes it sound like its just made for lap steel...the hardest part for me is the single string tremolo, but I am getting it...easy to do with a pick on regular guitar, but find it a challenge on the lap steel,,,with a thumb pick and getting the right attack. I forgot to mention that I add the "shooting arrow" sound that I saw Carco Clave do when he performed this song at the SWSGA or TSGA show one year.

2. "Love letters in the Sand"...I wrote out a tab for this song and like the way it lies on the lap steel...I would send my version to anyone who would care for it and would like to give me feedback on it-improvements !

3. "Kahola March"-my last lesson with Margie Mays we worked on JB's arrangement of this tune and I like it a lot !

I always try to keep two or three songs in the "works in progress" category...of course probably all of my tunes are in that category ! Smile
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Last edited by Larry Lenhart on 29 Nov 2017 9:53 am; edited 5 times in total
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Nic Neufeld


From:
Kansas City, Missouri
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 7:36 am    
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Past week or so I've been playing Andy Iona's version of Carefree, after tabbing it out in C6 (pretty sure not the original tuning). Almost all single-note, very slow...deceptively challenging, though, to get that pure, singing tone he has....lots more vibrato, too, than perhaps other later players. I need to learn the chords on guitar so I can record a backing track...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzLSRu7K5pk

But most of the time, one of the songs from one of the two Alfred Apaka albums I own will pop into my head, and I'll sit and pick it out...this weekend, it was When the Angels Placed a Lei Around Hawaii:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7-n097EMs
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Mark Roeder


From:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 8:51 am    
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I've been working on Mr.Sandman for some time now
It's a lot of fun/challenge to pick the voices and make it work on steel
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Pete Burak

 

From:
Portland, OR USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 9:07 am    
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The Theme from Carmen. The "Habanara" (not the Overture).
I like playing along with these guys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iiDq1PYGSM
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Keith Glendinning


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 9:30 am    
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Smoke Gets In Your Eyes in A6 or C6 tuning.
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David M Brown


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 9:49 am    
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Nothing on lap steel....this week I've been playing the balalaika.
Sorry to say, I've been slacking on the steel and enjoying balalaika and mandolin right now.

That JB arrangement of "Kohala March" would be a good place to begin again.
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Frank James Pracher


From:
Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 10:56 am    
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Blue Hawaii... Basil has a great breakdown of Barney Isaac Jr's version on Youtube. I'm through the first part and just need to buckle down and finish it up.
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Joe Burke

 

From:
Toronto, Canada
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 10:58 am    
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This is a fun post!

Sidney Bechet's "Si tu vois ma mere" in C6 has been keeping me busy. If I get good enoigh, I'll post it!

I've also been working on Paradise Isle. I'm using both The Alcatraz Islanders and Jerry Byrd's versions as reference. I've been playing it in E13 and C6. It's kind of cool to see where the notes and grips are similar and different.
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Stefan Robertson


From:
Hertfordshire, UK
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 11:05 am    
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Raising the Dickens Doug Jernigan's Version of chord changes.

No other songs just looking at that one made me rethink how to connect from one chord to another. May be on this for awhile.
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Mark Roeder


From:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 11:09 am    
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Also having fun creating a version of Buckaroo......
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Jack Hanson


From:
San Luis Valley, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 11:11 am     Re: What tunes are you currently working on ?
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Larry Lenhart wrote:
I always try to keep two or three songs in the "works in progress" category...of course probably all of my tunes are in that category ! Smile

I'm in a similar boat. Here's my current three:

1) Doug's version of "Penetration" has become an earworm.

2) Mike's transcription of "Chloe."

3) Always keep returning to "Blue Light Boogie" by Louis Jordan.
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Nic Neufeld


From:
Kansas City, Missouri
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 11:15 am    
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Frank James Pracher wrote:
Blue Hawaii... Basil has a great breakdown of Barney Isaac Jr's version on Youtube. I'm through the first part and just need to buckle down and finish it up.


Me too! And likewise with Basil's walkthrough, he's a great teacher. However, I got a bit lazy and stopped at the key change, so I'm still just playing verse/chorus (although I did transpose that lovely little run that he ends the song with back down to the original key).
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David Matzenik


From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 12:28 pm    
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Some really great tunes mentioned so far. I would be happy working on any of them. I'm messing around with B11, Mapuana and When You Wish Upon A Star. And Falls of Akaka on the Weissenborn low bass G. I had put the fiddle aside for something like 13 years. I am putting a lot of time into it again. Don't want to lose the touch.
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George Macdonald

 

From:
Vancouver Island BC Canada
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 12:42 pm     New tunes
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I recently worked out "Mary Did You Know", to play at a Christmas banquet at our Church. Roy Thomson's version here on the Forum inspired me to learn it, and I found a nice track at Christwill.com.
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Mike A Holland


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 1:05 pm    
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Just worked up a tune called "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues" in C6/A7 and now working on the Carlos Santana song "Europa" in C6. Both on 6 string Lap Steel!
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Einar Baldursson


From:
Stockholm, Sweden
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 2:18 pm    
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Christmas Island from Jerry Byrd's Christmas in Hawaii album. Ricochet Rag is another one I'm currently looking at. It's an instrumental from the Clint Eastwood movie Honkytonk Man. Herb Remington plays steel on that one.
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Tod Johnson

 

From:
Hawaii, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 4:24 pm    
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I'm a beginner so all of them.
Here's a Christmas season one that takes very little work though and after seeing it used in a snowy but non Christmas movie I figured it would be good to know for any winter occasion, since a Christmas Carol repertoire for any instrument is difficult 'cause you only commit to practicing them for about a week out of the year. You experts probably don't even need a tab for this beginners version.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

Tab -
http://steelguitarwizard.com/freelessons/learn-a-holiday-song-winter-wonderland
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Steve Atwood

 

From:
Massachusetts, USA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 6:39 pm    
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This is my second Christmas season working on El Noi de la Mare (Catalonian Folk Song - The Child of the Virgin).

Good classical guitar version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsgif07IPMw

Lots of beautiful 4-note chords, but you can find almost all of them on a 12-string tuned to DGABC#DEGBDF#G.

Another fun song for Christmas is Roy Thomson's tab of Sleigh Ride.
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Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 7:48 pm    
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Larry, regarding the tremolo picking in "Apache", you might notice at the top of the arrangement it says "A flatpick works best for this song". I played the entire song with a guitar flatpick, and that's what I recommend. It's the best way to get the fast tremolo picking. And the flatpick produces a certain "snap" sound that fingerpicks don't IMO.

What I'm working on this week... I have some pedal steel gigs coming up in Dec. and Jan. and I've been working out the steel parts to "Walk Out Backwards", the Teea Gones version. It's not hard to play, just getting harder to remember as I get older! Also reviewing a bunch of classic country standards by Hank, Patsy, Merle, George & Tammy, etc. for an upcoming gig. Also working on some ukulele arrangements for my students.

Winter's coming so it's time to hunker down and do some woodshedding!
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Last edited by Doug Beaumier on 27 Nov 2017 8:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Larry Lenhart


From:
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 7:58 pm    
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doug wrote:

Larry, regarding the tremolo picking in "Apache", you might notice at the top of the arrangement it says "A flatpick works best for this song". I played the entire song with a guitar flatpick, and that's what I recommend. It's the best way to get the fast tremolo picking. And the flatpack produces a certain "snap" sound that fingerpicks don't IMO.


Doug, I feel dumb, I did overlook that, and I tried it and of course you are right, I could play it right off with the flatpick ! Thanks for pointing that out to this dumb Okie ! haha Smile
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Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 8:05 pm    
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No worries, Larry. A couple of other guys asked me about that tremolo part. I should have made it clearer that I played that song with a flatpick. I seldom use a flatpick on steel guitar, but one other time was on my video of "The Lonely Bull". The pick just adds a certain sound, similar to a standard guitar sound, and it seems appropriate on certain songs... especially surf, spy, and western theme instrumentals.
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Paul Seager


From:
Augsburg, Germany
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 10:29 pm    
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I'm actually trying to get my vocals to work whilst playing steel (and vice versa!) The four songs on my practice list are old Western Swing faves:
    Roly Poly
    Blues for Dixie
    Devil ain't lazy

and the most challenging one to sing ...
    Right or Wrong

I've also got a bass gig in January playing "background jazz" for a Honda dealership. So 30 jazz standards to get through and, as we are a trio, I get a solo on every song!

\ paul
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Ken Campbell

 

From:
Ferndale, Montana
Post  Posted 27 Nov 2017 10:42 pm    
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Well, I'm nothing if not overly optimistic:

Maybe you'll be there

I'll be seeing you

Red river valley

Hickory wind
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Andy Volk


From:
Boston, MA
Post  Posted 28 Nov 2017 4:25 am    
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Doing more listening than playing this week ...

The reissue of Erroll Garner's "Concert by the Sea". Garner's playing was amazing - florid, impressionistic, romantic than, in an instant, percussive, rough and swinging - a distillation of a big band in full throttle. He was in a class of his own; completely unduplicatable.

Worked out a simple version of Autumn Leaves (yet again) this weekend after listening to Garner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ_si4imwac

Also one of my favs from the 80s, new-age nylon-string guitarist David Qualey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JWh34-4Qh8
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Mick Hearn

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 28 Nov 2017 10:58 am    
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Buddy Emmons version of "I Love You Because", from the Exploring E9 album. As usual I will be on C6 lap.

Several in the pipeline - Lady Be Good - I Just Destroyed the World and Rose Coloured Glasses - all adapted for C6 lap with lots and lots of bar twists.

So many good songs out there.
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