JS Bach Cello Prelude No. 1

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 21 Oct 2011 5:03 pm

For those of you who might be interested, here's the beginning of JS Bach's Cello Prelude No.1 played on the pedal steel guitar.

Of course, in all seriousness, this is vintage authentic country-western music by one of its original songwriters - before Lefty Frizzel, before the Carter Family, before Jimmy Rodgers, before Stephen Foster, Utah Phillips, and Charles Ives ("it don't get no better 'n that"). I hope you enjoy this modest effort:

http://picosong.com/z3P/

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 21 Oct 2011 5:11 pm

Beautifully done.Thank you for posting.

Bishop Ronnie P Hall · Post by **Bishop Ronnie P Hall** » 21 Oct 2011 5:20 pm

Hi Susan!
Very well done! You have tremendous dexterity. Wait till Michael Perlowin hears this one.

Truly beautiful. Keep up the good work. Be Blessed!
Ron
(Bishop Hall)

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 21 Oct 2011 5:34 pm

Beautifully played, Susan. Great dynamics and intonation. Brava!

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 21 Oct 2011 5:44 pm

Terrific. Sounds like finger pads, not picks.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 21 Oct 2011 6:24 pm

Nice Susan, real nice. Jody.

Bent Romnes · Post by **Bent Romnes** » 21 Oct 2011 7:09 pm

Great piece Susan!You have dialed in a fine tone there, I love the bass strings.

Jim Robbins · Post by **Jim Robbins** » 21 Oct 2011 10:12 pm

Lovely playing, great phrasing. But country-western music before Charles Ives? I don't think so. Koethen period was country-oestlich.

Georg Sørtun · Post by **Georg Sørtun** » 22 Oct 2011 4:13 am

Enjoyed it!

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 22 Oct 2011 7:39 am

Nice playing Susan!
I love the tone of the instrument and
the tone in your touch.

Roy

Benjamin Jayne · Post by **Benjamin Jayne** » 22 Oct 2011 7:55 am

Wow...I'd love to see a video of you performing this song. I barely heard any audible pedal or bar movements in the entire song. That's harder than it sounds on PSG!

One of my favorites. thanks.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 22 Oct 2011 9:04 am

Very nice !

Richard Damron · Post by **Richard Damron** » 22 Oct 2011 9:05 am

Chills, Lady - just chills. More in the offing?

Richard

Daniel Morris · Post by **Daniel Morris** » 22 Oct 2011 12:37 pm

Absolutely wonderful stuff, Susan!
I'm hoping to soon begin working on some Bach with a guitarist buddy of mine, but I know I ain't gonna sound that fine!

Ronald Cid · Post by **Ronald Cid** » 22 Oct 2011 1:26 pm

Simply beautiful playing !

Thanks for posting

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 22 Oct 2011 1:27 pm

Beautiful!

Was this played on your MSA or your Emmons?

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 22 Oct 2011 2:59 pm

Fantastic playing Susan.

I throughly enjoyed this performance of Bach's Cello Prelude No. 1.

Seems mostly like open strings played with bare fingers.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 22 Oct 2011 3:44 pm

Wonderful Susan! That one lays really well on PSG! Great sound!

Have you ever, or would you consider putting your copedent up on the Forum?

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 22 Oct 2011 4:17 pm

brava indeed!

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 23 Oct 2011 10:24 am

I was working on this same piece on C6th for while, but never got as far as you did. Nice job, Susan.

Chuck Thompson · Post by **Chuck Thompson** » 23 Oct 2011 11:45 pm

just gorgeous

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 25 Oct 2011 11:59 am

Thank you all for your comments; I'm really heartened that you enjoyed this, and it's nice to hear from some old (as in long-time) friends. Jody, I hope you're doing well.

To respond to some of the questions and comments:

Roger and Frank: I used finger picks (and you can hear them clink on the strings at a few unfortunate moments), and I used few open strings. The first note "G" was played on the 7th fret of my 12th string.

Rick: My copedent is posted below (I hope it's readable).

Lee: I did this on the MSA. My Emmons is a D-10, and, perhaps since I've been playing an MSA for so many years, I struggle to get my own personal sound (whatever that is) on the Emmons, beautiful as its tone may be.

Benjamin: I'm glad you liked this little snippet of Bach's prelude. Unfortunately, if you listen closely in some places, particularly on the lower strings and lower frets, you can hear my bar swishing across the strings. There's not much pedal movement to hear because unlike some great steel guitarists (Maurice Anderson comes to mind) who use pedals to slide the notes around, I rarely use pedals in that manner. Usually I use them to help get the chord or note I want - I'll rarely move a string more than a half tone within a chord I'm sustaining.

Jim, you're right, of course, about Bach, and he composed in eastern Germany. What I was thinking about was that he was from a country (Germany to be exact) and it was Western (as opposed to Asian, etc.) music. I was in a lighthearted mood when I posted this clip. Also, Bach was a gospel musician - like Bishop Ron Hall.

Thanks again for listening, and I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

Steve Gorman · Post by **Steve Gorman** » 26 Oct 2011 5:52 pm

Of course, in all seriousness, this is vintage authentic country-western music by one of its original songwriters

Hmmm.... I always thought Bach's music was OLDIES.

Seriously, great job - I love your tone and the sensitivity with which you play this.

Sherman Willden · Post by **Sherman Willden** » 29 Oct 2011 10:03 am

Very nice