QUESTION for the pro's

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 24 Dec 2001 11:43 am

In YOUR opinion: Which hand (right or left?)is most important for gaining the maximum performance-sounds in the playing of the steel guitar?
And WHY you believe this to be true.

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 24 Dec 2001 1:23 pm

Ray
Hard to define which is more important or
effective. I would have to say that both hands have to co-ordinate with one another
and add some brain matter and a good ear & that's what always worked for me.

I was a bit short of the latter,,,but I made
up for it some how. I guess I used both ears
and both hands and 1/2 brain. I was able to fool people for years with this technique.

You think of the funniest things

but I do like them

and you are not a bad guy yourself,I dont care what anybody says

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 24 Dec 2001 4:48 pm

Ray: I don't know when or where I wrote this nor about whom I wrote it but I said:
If it wouldn't hurt my playing so much, I'd give my left hand to play like that !!

Actually I could have said the right hand because either is preposterous. So I wouldn't want to say one is more important than the other. I don't think any rational for one or the other would stand up to close scrutiny.

I can say that in my early years I was doing most of my blocking with my bar hand and I've seen a few posts from other old timers who said they did that too. When I discovered that the really best of players were doing it with their right hand edge I felt lost. I tried to learn that but years of the old ways stood in my way.

I tried to rationalize my way out of the predicament by saying the right hand had enough to do already what with 1 or 2 or 3 notes to play in various clusters and gaps and proper placement for chimes or tone desired. There you could say I thought the right hand was more important but...

Time marches on and I do not feel that way nowadays. Both hands are equals to me. I can remember finding a Bobby Garrett pedal drop once by backing up and doing a reverse slant and keeping the two front strings togeather with the bar tip taper as Jerry just described in another thread. On a Fender 1000 you could do that and it was my first realization of a flatted fifth.

Even later when I put it on a pedal I found myself preferring the slant because it sounded better. So for me it's a no win situation !!

Regards, Paul

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 24 Dec 2001 11:13 pm

Skip, I wonder how Billy Hew Len might have answered that question ? Here's a guy who completely lost his left hand and man, the music he produced with that gloved "hand" was nothing short of awesome! IMHO, the hands are merely the tools the brain uses to get the job done. The brighter the brain, the better the music. With an IQ of -40, it's no wonder neither of my hands are worth a darn! Not so with guys like you and Jody.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 25 Dec 2001 10:27 pm

If you mean best sound, it would have to be the right hand.

But if you mean performance, then it has to be the left hand.

Without putting the bar in the right place, you are not going anywhere....al ")

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 26 Dec 2001 11:09 am

The point I was making......or attempting to make I guess was:
In todays music, one tends to hear steel guitar in a totally pristine electronic environment of accompanying sound. Often, very little vibrato can be detected but in its place, any number of gizmos..... chorus, delay, reverb, you name it.
I've noted that any number of today's pedal players display about as much finesse in operating the pedals.....as one might expect from a football field goal kicker. I've actually seen pedal rods that are bent and misshapen from being KICKED repeatedly...
In contrast, Emmons and others...actually operate the pedals so that they are barely, if at all, detectable within the melody line.
Those pedal movements being made much like the gentle caress of the stainless steel bar upon the strings.....like wind blowing thro' a field of tall, ripening wheat.
I watched in amazement one evening while a "local" steel player would dramatically lift his bar one to three inches off/above the strings AFTER picking them, producing nothing but staccato notes all evening. He could have acheived the same results by using a piece of soft, wet wood.
I miss the subtle embellishments that are so evident in the playing of such stylists as JERRY BYRD, and others.....who use the bar movement to truly enhance the melody note. Like a singer, the vibrato can't be too rapid (like Ertha Kitt? Kitty Wells?),
but more like Barbra Streishand (sp?). Male singers like Mel Torme', Perry Como, and others always used that subtle "yodel" or "crying" sound at various points within a given song.
So much steel playing today tends to be
too painfully loud, entirely too rapid, and usually lacking in "glitter" to the melody line. Of course, I could be completely wrong. What say you? My viewpoint likely wreaks of "time warp syndrome"?

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 26 Dec 2001 11:20 am

Ray
I want to wish you a Happy New Year. This
thread can result in "a controversial issue"
I dont think my heart can stand the excitment
it may cause.

I deleted the Hornets nest
comment,,,Hornets are "dormant" this time of
year.

so thats not a problem or is it?

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 26 December 2001 at 07:04 PM.]</p></FONT>

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 27 Dec 2001 4:23 pm

Ray,,,I guess the "Hornets" are alive and well. The Bee's are too,,,,hey did I ever tell you this one. Its a "poem" I made up.

THE BEE IS SUCH A BUSY SOUL
HE HAS NO TIME FOR BIRTH CONTROL
THAT IS WHY IN TIMES LIKE THESE
THERE ARE SO MANY "SONS OF BEE"S

You heard from a few of them today,,,,am I right?? hey NOT ME,,,send them my e address
I have Bee repellant...Happy New Year,,,

I have gotten "stung a few times" but I can handle them. Can you dig it???

Robert · Post by **Robert** » 27 Dec 2001 4:50 pm

Ray:
I'm not a pro, but Herb Remington is - and he sounds off on this very topic on his non-pedal instruction tapes. You could probably just e-mail him directly through the website for Remington Steel. Great player, nice guy - he'll probably get back to you right away.

Rob Yale

nick allen · Post by **nick allen** » 28 Dec 2001 12:25 am

Jody! LOVE your poem!! That's one I'm going to save.
Also I can confirm that Herb Remington is a wonderful guy to deal with, and a real gentleman (but I'm not sure he's real big on e-mail...)
Nick

Fernando Fernandez · Post by **Fernando Fernandez** » 28 Dec 2001 7:56 am

Well, of course I'm not a pro but I still believe that all the expresion, all the true sound and feeling of the steel guitar comes from the left hand.

Well, I'd like to hear the opinion of my steel guitar heroe Jerry Byrd about this topic.Maybe Mr. Jack Byrd could help us

Tom Stolaski · Post by **Tom Stolaski** » 28 Dec 2001 8:16 pm

The left hand is more important when twirling the bar.......