Audience perception of steel vs guitar - ain't it the truth!

[Andy Volk]

[Donny Hinson]

Yeah, but that’s the same audience that thought Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn were the world’s greatest guitar players.

[Roger Rettig]

Well said, Donny!

[Duane Becker]

I find the steel can have a better sustain than guitar on the hard rock stuff, especially when you add distortion to the steel. The distortion slides obtained with steel can be fuller and longer than that of a regular guitar.

[Dave Hopping]

Well...

No one ever went broke under-estimating the public's taste.

[Jon Voth]

But on the other hand-after a show SO many folks come to say how they love (and miss) a steel guitar OR are so interested in that thing they are curious about-while the guitar player packs up alone.

And SRV is among the world's greatest.

[Chuck Lemasters]

Jon Voth,
I find the same thing. Either folks have no idea what the instrument is, are wowed, “You were using your knees, too!”….or are appreciative of the fact that someone is actually using a steel guitar..

[Samuel Phillippe]

Had mine at a coffee shop when I first got it.....
First comment I heard was "Oh goodie, Hawaiian music". Then came "Ain't that cute, how does it work?"

Guitar now sits at home with me........learning how it works.

Sam

[Fred Treece]

Or…
We can be grateful to be playing an instrument that lets us concentrate on making music. Nobody will ever comment on your lack of “stage presence”, or say “you just stand there like a pillar”, because they hardly know you’re there. Let somebody else jump and prance around the stage and make big funny faces and set their hair on fire if that’s what the audience wants. Pedal steel is the perfect instrument for anyone who’s tired of that game.

Oh wait…Robert Randolph
Love that guy’s showmanship!

[Charlie Hansen]

Yeah, but that’s the same audience that thought Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn were the world’s greatest guitar players.

Steve Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix were both extremely good at what they did. Not the greatest in the world but perhaps the best of their genre.

[Roger Rettig]

I've had varying reactions. If someone shows any curiosity, I'm happy to do a 20 second demo of how the pedals and KLs function.

Unbelievably (almost), one person 'couldn't tell the difference' when I used pedals or not; I suspect they were distracted simply by the slide and sustain. Most, though, are intrigued and might thoughtfully say: 'That's a lot of coordination!'

I always reply to the effect that those skills are relatively easily learned and that the hard part, as with any stringed instrument, is acquiring touch and feel.

[Roger Rettig]

Good point, Charlie.

I wondered where Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and Wes Montgomery were when the 'World's Best Guitarists' were being selected.

'Atop their field' would be a better phrase.

Fred:
I'm just about to try all that leaping about and setting things ablaze - nothing else seems to work.

[Lee Baucum]

Over the years, I've noticed that whenever someone comes up to the bandstand to take photos, they walk up to the center of the stage, take a couple of photos of the singer and lead guitar player and walk away. The bass guitarist and the steel guitarist (me) are on opposite sides of those two. And usually the singer is blocking the view of the drummer!



~Lee

[Dave Hopping]

One of the things I've seen over the years is that the ladies are often the ones who want to start a conversation (ostensibly) about how pedal steel works.

Led to a delightfully misspent middle age...

[Chuck Lemasters]

Jon Voth,
I find the same thing. Either folks have no idea what the instrument is, are wowed, “You were using your knees, too!”….or are appreciative of the fact that someone is actually using a steel guitar..

[Phillip Hermans]

Or…
We can be grateful to be playing an instrument that lets us concentrate on making music. Nobody will ever comment on your lack of “stage presence”, or say “you just stand there like a pillar”, because they hardly know you’re there. Let somebody else jump and prance around the stage and make big funny faces and set their hair on fire if that’s what the audience wants. Pedal steel is the perfect instrument for anyone who’s tired of that game.

Oh wait…Robert Randolph
Love that guy’s showmanship!

+1 to this, I am very grateful to have no expectation for me to do a dance routine in addition to the music. Although, knee-lever and pedal manipulation is its own form of dance...

[Don R Brown]

Over the years, I've noticed that whenever someone comes up to the bandstand to take photos, they walk up to the center of the stage, take a couple of photos of the singer and lead guitar player and walk away. The bass guitarist and the steel guitarist (me) are on opposite sides of those two. And usually the singer is blocking the view of the drummer!



~Lee

When a YouTube video is posted by the band it usually gives everyone face time. But I have seen too many made by an audience member who has no clue which instrument is making that sound when the singing pauses. I recall seeing one posted by a female, who apparently felt the singer was cute. All during the steel ride the camera was on the singer, just standing there silently. I was yelling at the screen "show the damn steel!" Nope! No surprise, I have no recall of what group that video showed.

In some cases a fixed camera captures most of the band. The video posted shows everyone except for one musician. For the whole length of the show.

[Andrew Frost]

I don't know about all that in the meme.
I find in general there's absolutely no shortage of love for the pedal steel from most people and most musicians. And always plenty of genuine curiosity about it from audience members.

[J D Sauser]

... besides some guitarists being some very versatile musicians, a great many of them are ENTERTAINERS. Most steel guitarists are not.

Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, both can be found on youtube reminiscing about Jerry Lee complaining how they could move around with their guitars while he was glued on that piano, and Carl Perkins suggested "well, I don't know but do you think you could play that standing up, Killer?" and next thing they knew, the stool took a flight across the stage and the rest is history.

Speedy West was a true Entertainer. So was Jerry Byrd in his own way. Jeff Newman and Buddy Emmons both were too. Them cats were cool and fun, while rest of us mostly look like the "in-house accountant" working on "something", "any thing" BUT being entertaining.

... J-D.

[John Larson]

What's the old adage? The difference between a jazz cat and a rocker is the jazz cat plays 1000 chords for 3 people and the rocker plays 3 chords for 1000 people.

[Brett Day]

When I was a kid, I loved both the guitar and the steel guitar(I still love both today), and ever since my aunt Denise told me what a steel guitar is while watching a Ricky Skaggs video, I kept the name of it in my mind, then when I was eight years old, I went to the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and saw a steel guitar onstage for the first time(a ZumSteel played by steel guitarist Myron Smith)-that's when I started loving the steel. In 1996, I was watching the band Ricochet singing their hit song, "Daddy's Money", and their steel guitarist Teddy Carr was sitting behind his Emmons D-10 in the video, and he wasn't looking at the necks of the guitar, he was dancing around when he wasn't playing steel parts. When I started playing the steel in 1999, I would tell people at the high school I went to that I'm a steel guitarist, and this one girl said, "You mean, you play it like a piano?" So I had to explain to her that it's not a piano or keyboard, you've got strings, picks, bars, and pedals.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Pedalsteel gives us the opportunity to be the old guy in the band. The skill sets we need to develop in order to not sound irritating take years and help us to not age out.

[Bill Lowe]

I hope I dont age out before I stop sounding irritating

[K Maul]

One of the things I've seen over the years is that the ladies are often the ones who want to start a conversation (ostensibly) about how pedal steel works.

Led to a delightfully misspent middle age...

Yeah…the smart guys learn to work with what they’ve got!

[Glenn Suchan]

Yeah, but that’s the same audience that thought Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn were the world’s greatest guitar players.

Donnie, this isn't a response to you, but to the 'audience' you've mentioned:

Both were amazing entertainers and showmen, but Jimi and Stevie can't be compared. IMHO, Jimi was an innovator who was ahead of his time, as evidenced by all those that came after him who copied or were influenced by him (Robin Trower and in particular, Randy Hansen come to mind).

Stevie, on the other hand was much less an innovator and more of an influenced player. His rock style was heavily influenced by Jimi (think "Voodoo Child"), his blues style was heavily influenced by Albert King and his attempts at jazz were influenced by Kenny Burrell.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Stevie. There's nothing wrong with being influenced. Most accomplished steel players are influenced by someone that came before them. I just think that an influenced musician who doesn't take the influence and then innovate to something original doesn't qualify for the superlative of "World's Greatest".

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn