String section parts on PSG - from Ronstadt Revue show in TX

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 31 May 2022 7:15 pm

Here's a video of Ronstadt Revue at The Barnhill Center in Brenham, TX last weekend, with John Beland sitting in. (John was Linda's bandleader/guitarist back in the early 70's, worked then with Ricky Nelson, Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Bellamy Brothers, and ultimately as a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers.)

On this song, "Long Long Time", my role is to play string section parts, trying to emulate a violin, which I do by using chorus (on my Zoom MS500G multi-effects pedal) together with an old Bosstone fuzz device. I get away with it pretty well, I think, but I know it could be done better. If anyone has a better approach, please share it here!

Thank you and hope you enjoy the video! (BTW, the song starts at 2:20 if you want to skip past John's introduction but it's fun to hear his stories about Linda)

https://youtu.be/5-m5MbeVxFU

Jimbeaux

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 2 Jun 2022 2:12 am

Jim,
Weldon Myrick played the string parts on Linda's recording. Weldon used a boss tone fuzz and an echo plex. For the pads there were three steel passes to emulate the range of a string section...He played the "ting a ling" style which emulates the bowing effect(Roy Wiggins made the ting a ling style famous with Eddy Arnold)...It happened on strings 1 & 4. The fact that those two strings had active beats widened the desired effect emulating a violin section...Weldon moved the bar for all of the violin melody lines while keeping the "ting a ling" continuously going on strings 1 & 4...He then overdubbed a Cello range part on a track and then he put the remaining missing harmony for each chord on a track...He essentially recorded what He, Hal, and Sonny had created at the Opry for years before synth's were allowed on stage.
Paul Franklin

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 2 Jun 2022 3:35 am

Fascinating.

Jim, I think it sounds very good. Cool that you're doing this when there's a Nord onstage. I guess he's just doing the cello part.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 2 Jun 2022 4:18 am

Thanks, Dave.

And, Paul, thanks for all that great history about the part. I'll see what I can do using strings 1 & 4 instead of just single lines, but I think I'm gonna get a lot of unwanted interference. Maybe if I tweak the settings on the Bosstone...

Any other suggestions for a better way to approach it in a live performance situation such as ours? Maybe there's a better pedal out there for string emulation?

Thanks, both, for listening.

Cheers,
Jimbeaux

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 2 Jun 2022 7:51 am

Splendid, Jim! Good intonation, too, at the scary end of the neck.

What amp are you using on these dates?

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 2 Jun 2022 8:41 am

One of my all-time favorite songs, and the Ronstadt Revue really does it justice. Nice steel playing, Jim.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 2 Jun 2022 10:49 am

Thanks guys. Roger, for fly dates when the venue provides the backline, I usually ask for a Twin Reverb but sometimes they give me a Deluxe Reverb. Either is fine with me. This time it was a Twin.

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 2 Jun 2022 1:25 pm

Jim it sounds great….. really compliments the song. Reminds me of Rusty doing string-like parts live. His was a more ethereal vibe, swell on after pick attack, playing octaves, some fuzz and a bunch of verb. Maybe a touch of chorus? Don’t quite remember now.

“Strings” in at 2:40
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi2NQAvXn ... tY&index=5

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 3 Jun 2022 11:51 am

Nicely done, Jim. I was in the Burritos with John...got a couple road stories, myself...

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 3 Jun 2022 11:59 am

Skip! I wish I'd known that when we were hanging together in Texas. He could've given me some good dirt on ya.

We might have something out your way next year that you guys can reconnect at. I'll keep ya posted.

Richard Alderson · Post by **Richard Alderson** » 7 Apr 2023 10:17 am

Dear Jim - Looking at this post from last year, I see that John Beland has become a regular fixture in the show this year, appearing in quite a few show dates! Congratulations ! What a deal !

(And now for something completely different....., )

Regarding steel parts. I understand that you approach the steel with a Universal mind set, and that you "normally" play on the C6th side of things; you have got your own very rich and complex set ups as far as pedals and knee levers are concerned.

Never-the-less, Do you know what Dan Dugmore's copedant is or was? I know he is the opposite of you in that respect, his Show Pro seems to have a very simple set up, I think its just 4 x 3; with stock A-B-C pedals, E raises, E lowers, and 9th string and Second string lowers, and then maybe he lowers G# down to G with his remaining knee lever? I imagine his Sho Pro does whatever his Sho-Bud used to do, back in the day. Do you have confirmation of what Dan's set up is or was, when he was touring with Linda? Any information in that respect that you can share?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 7 Apr 2023 10:29 am

Hi Richard,

Yes, we've just returned from a California tour with John and will touring with him again in Texas this fall. He's just great to work with and a great hang.

I play a D-10, not a Universal, and my copedents are really pretty simple, not as fancy as you imagine. Years ago I just copied Buddy's setup under the premise that, if it was good enough for E, it will take me a lifetime to master anyway, so I didn't see any real need to change anything. So, my E9 setup is 3+5, with all standard changes. I'm sorry to say that I don't know what Dan's setup is. Perhaps someone else can chime in on that.

Thanks for your post and I hope we make it out your way soon so we can meet up at a RR show soon.

Jim

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 7 Apr 2023 8:12 pm

Jim - I'm really late to the party, as I'm just reading through all the replies. It's cool to see John Beland still out there. I met him around '71 or so when he was with Johnny Tillotson. I have a great picture I shared with him a few years ago of him playing a Sho~Bro in a local music store.

I saw Paul's reply regarding Weldon...I remember in a Jeff Newman seminar he covered the string emulation. He did use strings 1 & 4 with 4 raised to F#. He buried it with reverb and turned the treble way down and used a BossTone. He said the strings needed to have some "beats" to provide vibrato. He also showed how to trill or "ting a ling" by continuously picking in a deliberate and alternating pattern.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 8 Apr 2023 6:54 am

Jim, outstanding job and that girl can sing. String simulation wasn't too bad. I can see you want a bit more refinement, but it's darn close.

Don Mogle · Post by **Don Mogle** » 11 Sep 2023 4:16 pm

I recently purchased a Boss SY-1 Synth pedal that does some nice string effects, organ, etc. It's worth checking out.

If anyone is interested, I could put together a video of the sound possibilities with steel guitar along with another recent purchase--a Boss PS-6 Harmonizer pedal for twin leads.

Don

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 11 Sep 2023 6:53 pm

Hey Don, thanks for your post. I'd definitely be interested in hearing some examples of both of these pedals, if you have the time. Thanks again!

Best,
Jim

Jim Fogarty · Post by **Jim Fogarty** » 11 Sep 2023 8:51 pm

Jim, that sounds great......but I would maybe look into one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYrHAERhtVI

or, if you love Mellotrons (like I do):

https://youtu.be/MiTHc8d9D20?si=YS17vZklyESjGFKB

I would just buy from Sweetwater or somewhere they're easy about returns, since you don't know how it will react to steel.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 11 Sep 2023 9:14 pm

Thanks, Jim. I have owned the Mel9 in the past and did not find anything on it suitable for my purpose so I sold it. The voicings, IIRC, sounded better for orchestral type padding than for a high, single-string violin sound or a full-bodied, realistic cello sound that I need. Pretty sure I watched a bunch of demos on the String9 too and didn't hear them in what I watched, but perhaps I've missed something and one of them really does have it? Would be happy to be wrong.