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Topic: Down to “Single string” playing |
Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 3:24 am |
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Being from the “Jerry Byrd” school … slanting the bar is a way of harmonizing a melody while staying on the same 2 or 3 strings … preserving the “flow” of sound in a passage. I remember sending JB a cassette recording of a lesson … and received a reply stating “never give up the continuous sound for the sake of an extra harmony note” … in regard to me leaving a set of 2 strings to put in a three note chord on a different set of strings 🧐
I physically can't slant anymore … at least not as accurate and/or as fast as I need it to be … so the choice was to rework my entire playlist - jumping around the fretboard to find straight bar positions & using different “grips” (which I suck at) to harmonize the melody … or … abandon the harmony and just play the melody up and down a string, preserving the “flow” …
Also, my neurologist (who specializes in Parkinsons) isn’t happy with the progressive lessoning of motor skills in my left hand and he wants me to use that hand as much as possible (in everyday life) ...
So I put my digital “whammy bar” away … and have adopted a technique using a "rolling vibrato" with an EG Smith dobro bar 🧐 ...
This certainly isn’t ideal but it's either that or just hang it up for good … so it’s down to “one note” playing with an occasional straight bar strum …
Here is “Ka Makani Ka`ili Aloha”
https://youtu.be/a1GMx9Z3c6I?si=lPjVBiNcO8axngkS |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 6:24 am
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Go, Rick! I'm glad you're keeping on playing.
The single string approach to playing sounds great to me.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 7:36 am
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Thank you gentlemen…  |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 7:39 am
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Beautiful playing.
_________________
A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Joe A. Roberts
From:
Seoul, South Korea
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 7:42 am
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| Beautiful! Thank you for sharing Rick |
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Doug Taylor
From:
Shelbyville, Kentucky, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 8:51 am
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| That sounds really nice, keep on playing. You have a great touch and tone |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 9:01 am
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Mahalo y’all …
Here’s my EG Smith bars … I “eased” the sharp edge on the small one so it doesn’t get caught up in the strings
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Jim Mckay
From:
New Zealand
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 10:25 am
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Very pretty Rick. Nice accurate playing. 
_________________
Canopus d-8
Excel Jerry Byrd frypan
T-8 Stringmaster |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 10:41 am
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You inspire, Rick!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Dave Van Allen
From:
Souderton, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 11:55 am Beautimus
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| Fab to hear and see you! Inspirational. I’m fighting my own battles with neuropathy in my feet making playing pedals a challenge, so I empathize with the effort |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 1:44 pm
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| Mike & Dave … Thank you for the kind words … |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 2:39 pm
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Keep playing, Rick. Parkinson's take take away mobility and harmonies but it can't take soul and you have a lot of soul and feeling in what you play.
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 3:39 pm
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| Thank you my friend … |
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Roger Fletcher
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 20 Jan 2025 11:17 pm
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That sounds wonderful, Rick. I much prefer that "new" vibrato to your whammy bar. I think it was Herb Remington who said that the left hand is so important because it connects directly to the heart.
Your playing also brings to mind those gorgeous single string melody lines of Dick McIntire, and I think we often forget that the steel guitar is first and foremost a melody instrument. |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 12:37 am
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| Mighty fine Rick! Nice vibrato! |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 2:46 am
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Thank you gentlemen …
Here’s “one for the road” using a vintage Steven’s Bar … a medley of old Hawaiian waltzes - “Drowsy Waters”
https://youtu.be/bsHO05goCok?si=pRyxpW8ZCfsnQJ-n
Thank you everyone for the encouragement … very much appreciated |
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Chuck S. Lettes
From:
Denver, Colorado
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 7:47 am
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Glad that you have found a way to continue on your steel guitar journey. Keep on keepin' on!
Chuck |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 8:46 am
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My Hero.......well one of them! Sounded good to me Rick.
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Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Eric Dahlhoff
From:
Point Arena, California
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 8:55 am Beautiful
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Rick, that was really beautiful.
First thing I've listened to this morning... and now I know I'll have a fine day. Thanks! 
_________________
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan) |
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Tim Toberer
From:
Nebraska, USA
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 10:12 am
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| Thanks for sharing that Rick. You sound wonderful. You inspire me! |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 21 Jan 2025 12:38 pm
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| Very impressed with the adaptive "rolling vibrato" - especially from the guy that drilled into me the correct way to hold a bullet bar several years ago. Sounds great. You continue to inspire. |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 22 Jan 2025 3:10 am
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Many Mahalos …
My long range goal is to capture “blemish free” videos of all my songs …  … and get them on my YouTube channel …
Thanks again for all the nice comments … |
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Rich Arnold
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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