Jerry Byrd Video Seminar on YouTube

Tom Snook · From: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Brian Benitez uploaded JBs seminar vid on YouTube. I haven't seen it in at least 40 years.Mahalo Brian
ALOHA
Is there any copyright stuff involved? Just curious Question

He made it look so easy.And even making a instructional vid ,he put his heart into every note he played and every word he said
ALOHA
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Jouni Karvonen · From: Helsinki, Finland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1yUe8L7mTQ

Ron Hogan · From: Nashville, TN, usa

Such a great capture of history and knowledge. A jewel!

Sebastian Müller · From: Berlin / Germany

I have Jerrys course but seeing the master in action is so amazing.
How great it would be to have a similar seminar taught by Sol Hoopii, Dick McIntire, Andi Iona, Juels Ah See, M.K. Moke, all sharing their unique approach to the instrument !
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Ron Hogan · From: Nashville, TN, usa

I already burned it to DVD for my Byrd collection.

Ron Hogan · From: Nashville, TN, usa

Plus vol 1 & 2 of the book course.

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I am still very much an amateur, so I am grateful to JB for making that video. Some nice nuances, especially in the second half. Interestingly, I found myself thinking, geeze, he gets some nice tone out of that Excel. And then I realised I had my computer plugged into a cheap Roland solid-state amp.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

He stated his famous quote... â€œIf you can play it doesnâ€™t matter what guitar you use. And if you canâ€™t play it doesnâ€™t matter what guitar you use.â€ ...stressing that the player, not the gear, is the most important ingredient in the sound.

I really like the last section where he talked about playing with feeling and communicating your music to the average listener, playing simple melodies that audiences can relate to, and Not just playing a bunch of hot licks that only steel players might want to hear.
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Bruce Bouton · From: Nash. Tn USA

I was lucky enough to see Jerry in 77 during the St Louis convention. Same year that Buddy did the live album. Tone for days!
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Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

Doug's right. Most people who are not players like to hear the melody rather than a string of fast fancy licks and notes.
For years I was scared to play out because I just couldn't do all those fast licks my hero could do.
Then one happy day I realized it didn't matter at all as long as I played something well that fit the song with feeling.

Thanks for posting that Jerry Byrd video link. There is a lot of really good stuff in there... Wish he was still with us, but feel so lucky I got to hear him live twice.
Thank God for gifts like him.
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Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
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Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Thanks for this link, Tom and to Brian for uploading. A timeless lesson from one of steel guitar's iconic masters.

I remember going back and forth with Jerry several times in letters during the late 80s about creating a a video with him. He was really against it as he felt he didn't have the energy, was worried people wouldn't buy it and that it would all cost too much to produce. I tried again in a letter to convince him but he was adamant against it. Then, about 2 years later he did this video through the HSGA. With 30 years hindsight, I'm really glad it happened and can be shared with future generations.
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Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

Thanks Andy.
I didn't realize you had been involved it that.
Only got about half way through because I had to re-organize my computer and back up about half the day.

The only negative is the old video quality, but still plenty there to learn from a real master. Perhaps the quality had something to do with our internet being slow today.
Gets that way here now and then.
Thanks again for your efforts back then,
Andy Very Happy

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Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.

Tom Snook · From: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA

I bought the vhs video and accompanying booklet at Harry's Music before I left Hawaii in 96.The wife wanted to go back to the mainland as her folks were getting up there in age.I would have loved to have stayed and continued my lessons with The Master and become a Hawaiian Musician,and make lots of money like Jeff Au Hoy, but here I sit broken hearted Shocked

ALOHA
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

A lot of times when I am coming up with arrangements, I think of how I could push myself to play the melody with more expression or just maybe take it to another level to create a more interesting reading of it. This also applies to Sol Hoopii, who influences me to be more inventive. But Mr. Byrd set such a high standard of excellence and even though most of what I do is improvisation, there is still always a voice that makes me want to achieve a higher level of expression.
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Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Andy, thanks but I had nothing to do with this video. I was just trying to get one going 2 years before it happened (with zero involvement from me). From a production standpoint, there are things I wouldn't have done, but now that JB's gone, ANY video of him breaking down the JB magic is invaluable.
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K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Thanks so much for this! I have the VHS tape of this but no longer have a player! His advice is worthy of any Great Master and valuable to any player of any instrument at any level of skill.
I was fortunate as a boy of 11,12,13 to see him almost daily playing on the Bobby Lord Show on WSM-TV in the mid Sixties. That was before I even tried to play steel or dobro but his sound and manner of playing fascinated me and has stayed with me all my life.
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David Ball · From: North Carolina High Country

Andy Henriksen · From: Michigan, USA

That was very cool - one of those things that needs to be watched several times to really take in all the great wisdom he's putting out there.

I've been going through the Paul Franklin PSG method, and I find some of the differences pretty interesting. Yes, they are two totally different instruments, but they are more similar than they are different.

But, for example, Paul recommends using a really long bar that fits snuggly into the "pocket" of your thumb and first finger, and he advocates keeping your index finger flat against the bar. JB, in contrast, points out the value of keeping an arched index finger for easier pivoting in and out of slants. And, sure enough, one of the things I noticed that PF does when playing a slant, is that he rotates his whole hand, bar and all, never changing his grip on the bar (much). Coming from a lap steel background, I was always taught you should move the bar under your hand (like JB does).

Make no mistake - I'm not saying that Paul's technique is wrong, or "less than", but rather that it tends to reinforce the notion that there are multiple "right ways" to do some things, and we should all probably be open to that, and not take any one thing as 100% gospel. (but yes, there are some undeniable wrong ways to do certain things.)

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I think that video quality could be cleaned up digitally. But on improv' you have to remember that JB is trying to get people started with this video. He's not saying don't improvise, he saying don't fixate on improv. He was a great improviser as his arrangements show, although his tend to be tight measures within the melody.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Yes, the video needs color correction, gamma correction etc but it still does the job "as is."

As for JB, as an improviser? Jerry had more astounding (and hard-won) technical skills than almost anyone plus an astounding palette of nuances and expressive bar shadings to his music that deeply connected with listeners. But as masterful as he was, I would not call him a great improviser. Murph, Boggs, Remington, Chalker, Emmons - great improvisers; Jerry, not so much. He certainly could play ad lib, but there was a flat-on-the-beat quality to his improvising.

In his book, Jerry said that he never got to play the type of gigs where he could stretch out and improvise like Curly Chalker. And, In the liner notes to one of his LPs, Chet Atkins wrote that he and Jerry were great melody players rather than improvisers per se, like his brother-in-law, Jethro Burns.

That said, there's a wealth of riches in JB's gorgeous playing and tons to get out of this video, no matter how long you've been playing. It's very cool to see/hear it again after all these years.
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David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

With such a powerful genius, I find it hard to believe he is not watching this thread.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Mike A Holland · From: United Kingdom

I think this is gold.........anybody learning the instrument should just watch and take in as much of Jerry Byrds advice and information as possible. He spent is whole life developing his technique and way of playing. In this one hour of video he imparts so much information. Even if you decide your steel playing is going in another direction there is a lot here to think about.....excellent!

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I am going back to Andy's observations about Chet Atkins and Jerry Byrd not being improvisors. I have been thinking about that and I have come to the conclusion that I make the error of thinking of variation as improv. Both Chet and Jerry worked out great variations, but I suppose improv means inventing a variation in mid-performance, a rather different matter.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Ron Hogan · From: Nashville, TN, usa

I happen to be in the area here in Nashville where Jerry lived. So I took a picture of his house.

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