Pedal Steel Guitar History

It was the summer of 1993.
I had already been playing music for almost 30 years. My wife Lorilee and I were living in Santa Monica, CA. A musician friend of ours, Dr. Stephen Patt mentioned that he was selling a pedal steel guitar and asked if we knew of anyone who might be interested in buying it. I said I didn't know anyone and since I had never played one before, I didn't even have a thought of purchasing it for myself. Lorilee said something to the effect of "The pedal steel is an open-ended instrument. There's no place to stop learning on it and you'll be learning on it for the rest of your life. Not many people play it and you'll be able to get more work. With your melodic sense and the way you approach music, it would be a good instrument for you." I don't know how she instinctively knew all of that, and how she was able to see it all so clearly, but fortunately she did! So we agreed to purchase the guitar from Steve for $500.

It was a MSA semi classic S10 3 & 2, which I eventually had Michael Johnstone from Sylmar, CA add 2 additional knee levers. Even though it's called a guitar, I realized that I was going to need some instruction on this crazy contraption. I didn't know how to tune it, how to properly wear the finger picks, etc. One time I got into trouble by putting the wrong gauge string on by mistake, and John Fabian from Carter Guitars graciously assisted me over the phone, even though I had never bought a guitar from him. Of course my inexperience and lack of knowledge on the instrument didn't stop me from performing on it within the first few weeks.

Here's my story of the 1st time playing pedal steel guitar with a band.
As a matter of fact the band had no idea that a steel player (and I use the term loosely), would be playing with them that night. It was in September of 1993 and I had owned my first psg for about two weeks. I hadn't had any lessons yet and didn't even know the names of the strings, let alone be able to play anything on it that resembled good music. Having musical experience on other instruments and feeling pretty brave, I thought it would be fun and a good learning experience. So I went to the local country saloon, The Culver Cowboy, set up my gear completely off the stage and to the side. When the band came in, Kelly & The Cowboys, I asked them if I can play along with them that night. Little did they know of my lack of expertise on the instrument! I played only loud enough for me to hear it and for them and the audience to hear some kind of stringed instrument sound. At least I hope it wasn't too much louder than that, knowing me it might have been. There were even times when they would look over to me to do a solo or intro to a song. I did my best and I'm still here to talk about it. Since that point I've done many many gigs and some recording sessions with numerous bands. I hope I've gotten better. At least I know the names of the strings now!

I started playing pedal steel regularly with a band, Goin South, after playing for about 6 months. I'm sure I got the job because of my ability to double on other instruments as well.

I found it helpful to set realistic goals for myself. My first goal was I wanted to be "very terrible" within one year. My next goal was to be "extremely bad" within the next year after that. In my own warped mind I did achieve these goals because they were realistic and because I practiced about 4 or more hours every day.

I was able to get 3 lessons from Jim Christiansen before he left the area to move to Nashville, where hopefully he went on to bigger and better things. After Jim left, I tried unsuccessfully to get some lessons from Marty Rifkin, but he was too busy. Fortunately, I met up with John McClung and took somewhere between 6 & 8 lessons with him. Besides being a great player, he also knows how to teach. When I needed work done on the guitar I took it to Bob Metzger in Sherman Oaks, CA, who besides being such a fine player on both 6-string and pedal steel, was usually able to fix my guitar and accessory problems.

I played with quite a few bands in the S. CA area, and even did some recording projects. Be sure to check out the mp3s for some examples of what I did.

In 1997 I purchased a new Carter guitar, a S10 3 & 5. Even though I bought another Carter in 2003, a S10 4 & 5, my primary gig instrument is still the 1st Carter.

In 1998 we moved from S. CA to Vallejo, which is about an hour north of San Francisco. Fortunately, I have the great pleasure of being friends with Tom Bradshaw, who as most steel players are aware of, he's an extremely gifted pedal steel guitar technician, and has made tremendous contributions to the entire pedal steel community.

Now living in N. CA I'm continuing to gig as much as possible, and have done some more recordings as well. In January of 1999 I discovered The Steel Guitar Forum and I thank Bobby Lee for creating it and keeping it going. I find it to be both educational and fun, and it helps to keep our steel guitar community in contact with each other. I enjoy visiting and playing with other local steelers at the N. CA Steel Guitar Jam in San Jose, and I thank Bill Llewellyn for his efforts in hosting it.

I'm currently playing quite a bit with The Dave Russell Band. He has a new CD coming out soon, and I played steel, keys, and guitar on it. Be sure to check out the website from my "Links" page.

Here's a portion of a post I made in The Steel Guitar Forum in 2003. I think it pretty well sums up my current level of steel playing.

I bought my first pedal steel about 10 years ago, and try to play it as much as possible on gigs, but probably the reason I gig so much is because I double well on keyboards and guitar, and also sing a little. I pride myself in being a true team player, and besides having a pretty good ear, I usually know when to play and when not to play, and what stylistic attitude is required to make the song work.

I feel I'm good at my job which to me means supporting and enhancing the music in the following priorities - the singer, the song, the band, and then of course myself if there's any space left over.

Playing In The Zone:
The other night I was added to an existing band to play at a County Fair. The band normally consists of female vocalist, drums, bass, guitar, keys & fiddle, so I was the 7th person on stage. I played with my old gear, and not any of my new stuff, except for the pac-a seat. Normally I spend much time jumping around from one instrument to the next, with quite often 2 in the same song, but in this case I found myself sitting there trying to look good for most of the song and only playing a few fills and maybe one or two solos per song. Also, since I was not familiar with how they customized their arrangements, I paid even closer than normal attention to what everyone was doing. One rule I made immediately was if I saw the fiddle player go up the microphone to play (her pickup wasn't working), I stopped playing until she walked away. I jumped in on fills when I knew it was appropriate, and only played lead after given the sign from the singer or guitar player. It all worked out quite well. As a matter of fact, I felt like I was at the top of my game for almost every note of every song. It was one of those magic nights where it seemed totally effortless to play tastefully, and tuning was no issue at all. I was playing aggressively, yet totally relaxed. I even did stuff that I normally only try at home when practicing, and that worked out as well. It felt really good when after playing an improvised solo in a slow song, the guitar player was making the "we're not worthy" motions and the musicians I recognized in the audience were all looking at me and smiling. Within my own limitations, this was pretty much the best I can do on this wonderful instrument at this time. At this point I don't know if this was a nice exception to the rule, or hopefully setting a higher bar for me.

Below is a guide of what music to listen to on the mp3 section of my website. I of course invite you to listen to all of it, some of which focuses on my keyboard and guitar playing, but the following pertain to the pedal steel guitar particularly.

Dangerous:
It was in 1996, with "Spaghetti Western" one of my 1st "official demo projects. It was the 2nd take, playing live in the studio, on the MSA.

1 Step Over the Line:
It was in 1997 with a group called Fit 2B Tied. This is the title song of the album. That's me on the organ solo as well as some distorted psg in spots.

Rollin Thru Carolina:
1997 - Fit 2B Tied The steel solo follows after the guitar solo. Maybe not as fluid as I would have liked, but I really like the ideas and the attitude of the lead and the fills, and still enjoy listening to it today.

Ghost Town:
It was in 1999, a demo with "Dustin James"

Walkin' After Midnight:
1999 Live taping of a club gig, with Lorilee singing

Place In My Heart:
2001 with "Longhorn" Plenty of steel throughout, even during the bridge with Major 7 chords.

Don't Take My Beer:
2001 - Longhorn -- Steel solo follows guitar playing a fiddle sound solo, then steel plays all the way out to the end.

Song For Cecil:
A song my wife Lorilee wrote and sang inspired by a friend who died. A good example of psg in a non-country song.

Sharp Dressed Man:
2003 with "Medicine Man" I was asked to play an aggressive melodic lead on the steel, but sounding like an angry guitarist. It was the 1st take, and the steel hadn't even been "officially" tuned, but everyone loved it. I think I did a good job of nailing the feel & attitude!

Hatikvah:
2003 - From my Steelin' The Holidays CD, the whole song, 4:08. Good example of playing the melody on psg in a Minor key for a non-country song!

Exodous:
2003 - Steelin' The Holidays, Another example of psg used to play melody in a minor key non-country song.