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Topic: "Almost to Tulsa" tone-bar advice |
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 4:59 am |
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I have been working on "Almost to Tulsa" (C6 neck, pedal steel). With a lot of slow repetition of each segment, I find it pretty manageable. The main difficulty, for me, involves the pull offs at the first fret, which are the core of the sound of the tune. I have tried switching from my regular 7/8 bar to a Dunlop dobro bar, but then I lose most of my tone (which is already a pale ghost of the tone in Buddy Charleton's amazing original).
Were somewhat smaller tone bars in use when this song was recorded in the mid 1960s? Seems like it would be easier to maneuver at the first fret on this tune with a smaller diameter bar. Or, at any rate, my hand wouldn't tire as much from the long string of slow repetitions.
Anyone have advice about this or other ways to clean up my pull-offs at the first fret? |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 5:30 am
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I happened on a video of Mike Neer playing Almost To Tulsa on C6 lap steel. Don't know if it will answer your questions,
but his musical ideas are great, and does address pulling off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E3KTNIzzYs |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 6:26 am
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| Stay with it, the 7/8" round bullet-nose bar was pretty much the standard back then. (It may help if you rest a finger on or just behind the nut when you're doing most of the pull-offs.) |
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Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2018 6:53 am
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Thanks, guys.
Charlie: yes, I should have mentioned that I was starting from Mike's excellent tab and video, just applying pedal 6 as he suggests.
Donny: I'll work on the finger behind the nut. I have to keep a finger fully behind the bar for damping all those open strings anyway.
I shudder to think of palm blocking all of this, but it sure sounds like that's how Buddy got his great spit-fire attack here. Amazing. |
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