Why Do You Play The Hawaiian Steel Guitar?

Andy Alford · Posted 8 Mar 2000 8:09 pm

Many people move on to the pedal steel why do some of us stay with the Hawaiian Steel exclusively?

Robbie Bossert · From: WESCOSVILLE,PA,U.S.A.

Andy,
Much warmer tone than you'll ever get out of an aluminum neck. No pedals or levers to fall back on. It's all in the hands. Those lap steels sure do add that extra something to the old Hank and Bob Wills tunes as well.
Robbie
SGWM

Ricky Davis · From: Bertram, Texas USA

Well I actually played pedal steel first and went to the Hawaiian Steel second. I love the non-pedal steel more now than ever. Like my good friend Robbie just said about the hands. I love the idea that all the work is done with the hands to play. I can sit there at the pedal steel and make 9 different chords without even moving the bar; and to me that is a style in it's own that just doesn't appeal to me as much as the hands making all the variations to the chords. The true art of playing steel with your hands and ears really does something to me that has progressed my passion past the pedal steel; to the HAWAIIAN steel guitar.

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Ricky Davis
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com

Frank Venters · From: Peru,In,USA

I'm just a little tired of the E-9th and C-6th pedal sounds. Oh,My, I'm not knocking them, but I use A-6th/E-6th/ and E-13th on the old Stringmaster and have more fun with it. I'm not constantly tweeking the guitar to keep it in tune.I love the bar slants, it's a challange.I also have a 6 string lap steel I goof around with, and I also have a Dobro when I get tired of the Amp sound.And if I want to change tunings, it's no hassle, zip up or down and it's all set ready to go...I agree with you gentlemen, it's all in the hands.

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

I never played pedal steel, but I have loads of respect for the pedalers. They deal with so many variables, and I assume tremendous forethought goes into every change.

I like nonpedal because there's something very pure about it. You're stuck with strings that can only be manipulated with a rigid bar. You cannot rely on mechanisms to get you through a tough change. It requires an element of finesse and cleverness to pull off flowing riffs.

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

I like the tone of a non-pedal steel and the whole process of doing it all with my hands.

Recently I have dabbled with the Leavitt tuning and, although I have never played pedal steel more than a few minutes, it makes me feel like a pedal-steeler. That is, playing a lot of 3-note chord voicings using a straight bar. I'm curious. Does anyone else get that sort of feeling when playing the Leavitt tuning? Admittedly, I haven't spent that much time on the tuning. Maybe that's why it seems a little "mechanical" to me.

c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

i HAVE BEEN STUCK IN A 8 PIECE HAWAIIAN BAND FOR 30 YRS AND THEY WON'T LET ME PLAY ANYTHING ELSE.

Jim Landers · From: Spokane, Wash.

I got hooked on the sound of steel guitars before they had pedals. I started out playing pedal steel(D-10 ShoBud) but I switched to non pedal after about a year.

I like mostly the old pop and Hawaiian music from the 30s and 40s and the country music from the same era. To me it just sounds better on non-pedal steel. Besides that, I like being able to do it all with my hands.

Jim

Brandin · From: Newport Beach CA. USA

As For me, it pays $$ well. Thank you Sponge Bob.

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

For me it's a combination of ingredients.

I love the sound.

I'm too cheap to afford a pedal steel.

I could never get the hang of all those pedals and knee levers anyway.

It's much easier to haul around.

I love Sponge Bob!

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 09 March 2000 at 03:25 PM.]

Robbie Bossert · From: WESCOSVILLE,PA,U.S.A.

Who in the hell is "sponge Bob"?

ebb · From: nj

i love sponge bob pants^2 too!

Eric Stumpf · From: Newbury, NH 03255

Brandin, are you the ball of fire playing that great Hawaiian guitar in the Spongebob Squarepants soundtrack? And if so, could you tell me what musical input comes from the Blue Hawaiians and Jeremy Wakefield? For you folks who don't already know, Spongebob Squarepants is a cartoon on Nick that presently is showing at 10 AM Sat's and Sun's and the music is full of wacky steel and surf guitar. Check it out!

Brandin · From: Newport Beach CA. USA

Yes, but not all the music is played by us (The Blue Hawaiians). They have us go in the
studio and make up songs. Nickelodeon buys the songs, and pays for the studio. What's are influence? Dick Dale, Hank Marvin, and
Henry Mancini to name a few.

I'm playing my Rickenbacker D-8, and sometimes my Fender 400 tuned to C6th.

I always wanted to play Hawaiian guitar. To me it's "The Sound". But, I'm no "ball of fire".

[This message was edited by Brandin on 11 March 2000 at 10:01 AM.]

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Cuz that's how me started!

Then JB came along and that sealed it. Love my PSG but nothing like that prewar '37, 7 string bakelite rick!

Go with Jesus,

carl

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

The Blue Hawaiians are a great band. I encourage everyone to check out their CDs.

As to why I play Hawaiian steel:

1) That sound!
2) I find the flute to be the most "human" of
all instruments because it's so tied to
the breath. Of the string instrument
family (including the violin), the steel
is closest to the human voice.
3) I enjoy the challenge of the technical
limitations of lap steel and transcending
them via slants, string pulls, tunings,
etc. I recognize that no musical
limiations exist. And as instruments go,
for all it's 100+ year history, the steel
is relatively unexplored.
4) The sound of glissing into chord after
chord. Ahhhhhh!

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

This seems like a good time to share part of a letter I just recieved in the mail about 20 minutes ago.I quote in part: "Joaquin was the only one of my contemporaries that I never met,but he was so great and he and Speedy were the most exciting players I ever heard.I must say though,that I thought then and I still do,that they made a mistake when they went to pedals.Listening to them later,all of that exhilirating drive was lost and so was their musical identity.Like so many others who went to pedals-THE INSTRUMENT WAS PLAYING THE PLAYER. However,we all make calculated changes-or not,and we have to live by them ...or die by them."
signed Jerry Byrd 3/8/2K
Those of you who have met Jerry know he doesn't mince words.
Later in the letter,Jerry goes on to say: "This subject of pedals can go on and on,but like arguing two other subjects-politics and religion-it gets you nowhere." -MJ-

[This message was edited by Michael Johnstone on 10 March 2000 at 05:05 PM.]

Terry Huval · From: Lafayette, Louisiana

The non-pedal steel simply has a character that I do not feel cannot be duplicated on the pedal steel. It is like trying to compare two different styles of music. The sound, timbre and tone (and even in some cases the saturation overdrive) give the non-pedal music a sometimes raw, and sometimes polished, edge. When you get down to it, it is a matter of individual taste.
It is good to see so many non-pedal players out there today. They are adding this traditional steel sound to many different types of music. For me non-pedal is where it is.

Mats Karlsson · From: Stockholm, Sweden

Í have been woorking as a keyboardplayer for about 15 years, but I have always felt that I´m a long way from where the sound is made (the strings).
To begin to play dobro and lapsteel was like getting things togheter, what´s music is all about: communication, listning etc. I like to be able to controll every parameter of the sound with only my hands. There´s no technic stuff that can ruin things for me and I can really express myself. That´s it: to play nopedal is a short way from your heart to the expression.
I started with the pedalsteel but it was to much "mecano" and to little music for me. I sold it after 2 months and bought a Reed dobro instead.
Does anybody know anything about Bob Reed who I think has built my dobro. I would "aprichiate (bad spelling)" some info.

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Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I'll always play pedal steel but I doubt if I'll ever shed the sneaking suspicion that I'm not playing music-I'm operating machinery.And that was J.B.'s point in the statement he made.The way I see it,when you step on a pedal,you bring the note to YOU.Very handy! But that is why a lot of pedal players musical phrases sound alike - they have the SAME pedals! But without pedals,you have to GO FETCH the note with your bar - personally.Exactly how one finesses this act and the skill he/she develops to accomplish it is what gives a player an individual,recognizable style.Further,without pedals,one must pare the music down to its hard core essentials.And each player is going to do THAT differently,according to the depth of his/her musicianship.And with less to play,one must then concentrate on intonation,tone and technique.This sparse,stark immediacy is what makes listening to a great master like Jerry Byrd so intensely gripping.You know that every single note is there for a HUGE reason.I for one,have noticed myself spending more and more time over the past few years playing non-pedal - It's a musical place I want to go.Anybody else ever get the urge to sell everything you own,pack up your Stringmaster and head to Maui? -MJ-

mikey · From: New Jersey

cause I can...PS...there's no work in Maui...it's easier to get a gig in Vegas,
Aloha,
Mike

Gerald Ross · From: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Mikey,
No work on Maui for traditional Hawaiian steel guitar? What's going on there? Is it all top 40 Rock and Kareoke? What's wrong with the tourists? I find it very disheartening when your typical tourist wants to hear the same music on vacation that he hears back home. The same music he listens to when he's driving to work or cleaning the garage. These are the same people who go to Paris and eat at McDonalds. I could go on and on but I'm sure this has been discussed to death.

My fantasy is to go back in time and vacation in Hawaii post WWII and pre-statehood. Go to night clubs. Ideally I would have a pocket full of 1999-2000 era dollars.

mikey · From: New Jersey

The gigs you get now, just coming in, are solo guitar...Slack Key...Bands oddly enough, gotta be very versitile, Blues...R&B, Reggae,Dancable music, or what's real big is Contemporary Hawaiian, or Jah-waiian....Reggae w/ Hawaiian lyrics or sentiments...
Aloha,
Mike
PS I got lucky, a solo guitarist wanted to add an acoustic steel player...not electric...I'm one of the few, around here anyway....Mike
PS I just wanted to add, most of the traditional Hawaiian gigs are usually,a guitar or 2, ukulele, maybe bass...there are a couple of hotel gigs, more so in Oahu than in the outer islands for electric steel players....but you know the story, you better do it for love, cause with those hotel gigs, you gotta keep your day job!

[This message was edited by mikey on 15 March 2000 at 01:53 PM.]

Garland Nash · From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

The same thing that happened to hawaiian music in hawiia is the same thing that is happening to country music here in the U.S. Somebody from boston is telling the D.J. What kind of music he should play here in the north georgia mountains. I was really broken hearted about three years ago when I visited all the Islands and the only steel guitar I saw was being played by one of the students of Jerrys at Harry's music storein honolulu.Stillplaying my 8 string Supro.Garland Nash

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Hey Mikey
Could you please describe Jah-waiian music so that I can sound a little less stupid next time somebody asks me to play that way?

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