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

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

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

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Well said, Donny! Smile

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Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
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Duane Becker · From: Elk,Wa 99009 USA

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 · From: Aurora, Colorado

Well...

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

Jon Voth · From: Virginia, USA

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 · From: Jacksonburg, WV

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 · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

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 · From: California, USA

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 · From: Halifax, NS Canada and Various Southern Towns.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

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.
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Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
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Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

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. Sad

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Roger Rettig - Emmons D10s, Quilter TT-12, B-bender Teles and old Martins.
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Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

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!

Rolling Eyes

~Lee

Dave Hopping · From: Aurora, Colorado

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... Winking

chuck lemasters · From: Jacksonburg, WV

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 · From: Berkeley, California, USA

Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

Andrew Frost · From: Toronto, Ontario

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 · From: Wellington, Florida

... 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. Very Happy

... J-D.
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Was it JFK who said: Ask Not What TAB Can Do For You - Rather Ask Yourself "What Would B.B. King Do?"

A Little Mental Health Warning:

Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.

I say it humorously, but I mean it.

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

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.
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Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; praise is meet for the upright. Give praise to the Lord with the harp, chant unto Him with the ten-stringed psaltery. Sing unto Him a new song, chant well unto Him with jubilation. For the word of the Lord is true, and all His works are in faithfulness. The Lord loveth mercy and judgement; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.
- Psalm 33:1-5

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

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 · From: Austin, Tx

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.
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Bob

Bill Lowe · From: Connecticut

I hope I dont age out before I stop sounding irritating 😠
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JCH D10, 71 D10 P/p fat back, Telonics TCA 500C--12-,Fender JBL Twin, Josh Swift signature.

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Glenn Suchan · From: Austin, Texas

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