Ben Harper playing lap steel at the NBA finals

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 13 Jun 2007 7:28 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMd_eKSEXTs

Gary Lynch · Post by **Gary Lynch** » 13 Jun 2007 8:18 am

Jimi Hendrix already did it, even better , a long time ago..........No fireworks for me.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 13 Jun 2007 9:58 am

Gary Lynch wrote:Jimi Hendrix already did it, even better , a long time ago..........No fireworks for me.

No question about the Jimi version being superior, but since members here play instruments in the steel guitar family, I viewed it from the context that it was outstanding exposure for lap style guitar playing.

Jerry Douglas took a bunch of gigs last year with his band opening for Paul Simon (and he would come out at the end of Paul's set and accompany him on "The Boxer"), which not only is a good move for his career, but he did it to get more exposure for the dobro (and a couple of songs on Forumite Jason Dumont's Lap King Bel Aire lap steel).

No doubt there were many folks who came to hear "The Sounds Of Silence" whom now have a better understanding of the dobro and the lap steel guitar.

I like Ben a lot, and no, it wasn't a great version (sounded like his intonation was off on a few notes), but I'm stoked that he chose to play it on his Asher in front of a national television audience.

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 13 Jun 2007 10:43 am

yup.....he sure played his Asher off......

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 13 Jun 2007 10:47 am

Classic Howard......you always crack me up!!! Ben Harper is hot right now & this is great for steel players everywhere.

Michael Papenburg · Post by **Michael Papenburg** » 13 Jun 2007 12:54 pm

Interesting. I didn't love the performance but I agree that it's great to have this sort of exposure for lap steel.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 13 Jun 2007 1:09 pm

I wouldn't have thought that this type of performance would endear new enthusiasts.

(sounded like his intonation was off on a few notes)

Yes..More like close on a few and nearly, almost, the right melody.!!

Gary Lynch · Post by **Gary Lynch** » 13 Jun 2007 3:00 pm

I have to voice my opinion once more. The piece he played was a lot of distortion and does not follow the 'real' melody of the tune. It's basically a 'cover' of a Hendrix idea (and once was enough). They acted like it was some superior performance that the audience should be in awe over.

There are dozens of lap and console players right here on this forum that can perform better than that performance. Often, distortion is a way to hide clean musicianship.

Lets face it, the general population doesn't know quality music from mediocre music. If they (the sponsors) did not make such a big deal out of Harper's performance I would not be going off.

It would have been a great chance to have a high quality lap steel performance is the way I am looking at it.

Well it was 101 degrees here today, maybe I'm just being a geezer.

Michael Papenburg · Post by **Michael Papenburg** » 13 Jun 2007 3:19 pm

I respect your opinion. Personally, I don't find the distortion to be the problem. I do feel, though, that I've heard him play much better. This rendition certainly wasn't inspired. I do see the connection to Hendrix but Hendrix took it MUCH further. I can easily see people making a big deal about it just because they are not familiar with the lap steel. I certainly have a lot of people asking questions after my bands shows. I can only hope that this performance will make people seek out other lap steel players.

Gerard Ventura · Post by **Gerard Ventura** » 13 Jun 2007 3:22 pm

basilh wrote:I wouldn't have thought that this type of performance would endear new enthusiasts.

Those of us over 40 don't realize how seeing a guy play live solo on an instrument, without any pre-recorded or computerized sound, is something the great majority of the american public under 30 has never experienced. It hits them like it hit us when we were 11 years old and saw/heard that first electric guitarist live....

In that regard, I say go Ben!

Chuck Fisher · Post by **Chuck Fisher** » 13 Jun 2007 3:33 pm

This version is better, shows more creativity and soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT0LKMSS ... ed&search=

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Gary Lynch · Post by **Gary Lynch** » 13 Jun 2007 3:51 pm

Can you imagine what Joaquin Murphey would have sounded like playing that tune at Ben's age?

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 13 Jun 2007 4:02 pm

Yeah, yeah, yeah...it was not a great performance - we already know that.

But don't sell Harper short, he has done some outstanding lap style playing in his career.

I'd hate to see him made into the next Garcia/Randolph style whipping boy around here!

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 13 Jun 2007 4:07 pm

If you mainland steelers have pried my mind open enough to accept Byrd as sounding Hawaiian, then Harper's performance is just as amazing to me as Hendrix's, if not more.

Duane Solley · Post by **Duane Solley** » 13 Jun 2007 4:52 pm

I am sure please to discover that many steel players are also NBA fans. Now if everyone was rooting for the Spurs that would be the icing on the cake!

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 13 Jun 2007 5:00 pm

I would be pretty nervous myself, opening the NBA finals in center court with the cameras on me, both teams watching me, and an arena full of basketball fans waiting for me to finish so the game could get started.

I think Ben Harper did a fine job in a difficult situation, and has given more people exposure to the lap steel in under three minutes than anybody on this forum.

So there.

Ben Sims · Post by **Ben Sims** » 13 Jun 2007 5:18 pm

I usually like Ben Harper's playing a lot, but I agree this performance was a little off - I wasn't sure where he was going with some of those off-melody notes in the beginning. Things seemed to come together toward the end though. In his defense, it must have been a hard gig - they probably didn't want him to go completely crazy like Hendrix, but if you tone it down you run the risk of seeming like a pale imitation, so he was probably trying to throw some left-field things in there without being too disruptive, and maybe hadn't had a chance to think a lot about his arrangement. Playing the national anthem at a sporting event strikes me as a truly thankless task. You can play it straight and boring, or try to go a little crazy and risk being the object of a tabloid feeding frenzy a la Roseanne. I'm sure Ben Harper is not the first to have had a little trouble negotiating that line.

Chuck Fisher · Post by **Chuck Fisher** » 13 Jun 2007 5:59 pm

I just wanna say I think BH is great,he is a good singer, maybe that woulda been better, Ive seen him kicking butt, this was just not his nite.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 13 Jun 2007 6:09 pm

I'm one of the few people who cannot stand distorted amplification. When I was brought up, feedback and overloaded amplifiers were things to avoid. Nowadays the very phenomenon we were at pains to avoid is considered an acceptable effect. To me, a guitar fed through an overloaded amplifier sounds like an animal in pain. If you accept distortion you can reach the stage where, with enough effects, you can just shake the guitar and it makes a "musical" sound. Give those musicians an acoustic instrument, or a plain amplifier without any effects or overloading, and their lack of talent becomes immediately obvious...

I'm with Basil. This is awful. Any one of us could play it better... It's an embarrassment to the steel guitar world. I'm not an American, so the song means nothing to me. But if I were, I would be appalled at this and the Jimi Hendix effort. Don't even mention the Rosanne "performance". If someone played the British national anthem like this at the FA Cup Final the whole country would be up in arms.

Americans, will you put up with anything ? What happened to the sense of national pride ?

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 13 Jun 2007 6:25 pm

I love Ben Harper, but to me it sounds like he didn't do his homework and/or prepare well enough. Or perhaps he was just terribly nervous, I don't know...

Steinar

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 13 Jun 2007 6:53 pm

To respond to all the comments about distortion/ OD, If you don't like it, that's your taste- those of us who do feel that it is an art to control it and it's a bit disappointing to see it disrespected so blatantly.

Second- think about this from Ben's point of view; likely he has never before and will never again play to so large an audience, and he is playing a tune that a guitar master already did better than he could dream of doing it.

And he KNOWS it.

But he also knows that he will never get such an audience again, and he has the stones to get out there and either take the glory or the heat,dern the torpeedies full speed ahead. I have never been an huge fan, but I admire his moxie. I doubt I could have done it.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 13 Jun 2007 6:53 pm

Yeah, but how about them SPURS!!

Gary Lynch · Post by **Gary Lynch** » 13 Jun 2007 7:08 pm

My second thoughts on distortion to smooth over any conflict is this; If a musician can play his/her instrument accurately clean and tasteful when appropriate, then what the heck, let him/her distort some here and there. To always use distortion of some type would be hard to take.

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 13 Jun 2007 7:13 pm

Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock version of the Star Spangled Banner had very heavy political anti-war overtones. He performed the tune during the height of the Vietnam war.

Hendrix imitated the sounds of dropping bombs and screaming, terrified people with his Stratocaster.

BH could of done the same - there is an unpopular war going on now.

What do you think? Would he be booed or cheered if he got political?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 13 Jun 2007 7:14 pm

As a matter of interest how many viewers did the final get ?
As someone from a different sports culture, I would love to know.

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Ben Harper playing lap steel at the NBA finals

Ben Harper playing lap steel at the NBA finals

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