Wot. No melody?

[acerod]

I was reading a post somewhere ( I can't find it now ) about steel players fast pickin' and losing sight of the actual melody of the song. This clip is not PSG but I think it proves the point. Listen to Marty Stuarts solo at 2:30. To my mind the only one that makes sense.

[Paul Brennan]

I saw this video some time ago and I thought exactly the same thing. A bunch of heads on a big stage trying to out play each other and only succeeding in making noise. It ends up being utter rubbish. It's left to Marty Stuart to show them all how it should be done. This video is also an uncomfortable reminder of what I'm prone to do myself - just fall back on the old reliable riffs and patterns that I've drilled into myself over the years. It's a technical exercise not music and nobody wants to hear it.

[Paul Brennan]

Of course you can always say that Marty Stuart plays it safe and just plays the classic Roy Nichols solo. However, in the context of the noise fest going on around him, it was definitely the right thing to do.

[acerod]

I went to see Brad Paisley in Castlebar. Fortunately I got the tickets for free because I walked out after 20 minutes. I don't Know why he had a steelie with him as he couldn't be heard. Maybe he thought that having a steel there made it a country band. WRONG! Had the same experience in St Louis. Everyone trying to outdo each other on C6th.

[SteelieAJK]

Doesn't jamming over a 12 bar always end up like that... best avoided IMO..

[Ken Byng]

I experienced the same feeling in Dallas this year in Zane King's set. The guy can play, no doubt about that, but he was just so OTT in trying to cram so many notes into each bar. For me it just ended up a complete and utter unmusical mess. Just continually up and down the fretboard on strings 2 and 4.

Don't get me wrong, I love speed picking as much as the next man especially at the hands of guys like Franklin, White, Jernigan, Johnson, Reid and the originator - Buddy Emmons. Why? Because there is structure and melody to what they do. I listen to Buck Reid playing Sourdough and it just floors me every time.

Last edited by Ken Byng on Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[acerod]

Yea. I agree with you Ken re Emmons,Franklin et al, But when you listen to the same tune played by 5 or 6 players one after the other all trying to outdo each other speedwise tends to grate a bit.

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

I guess I am the only guy who liked this,
It was , after all a JAM,there were four Tele players on stage and what would have happened if the first player had played the Roy Nicholl's solo.would it be good to listen to three others playing the same solo;If I could play tele like any one of these guys I would be very happy indeed,
I have been at Dallas where there were four steel guitar players on the same stage playing their interpretation of the same song,each one was great and each one showed His own touch and phrasing.
I play a small pub jam midweek and whilst we get other steel players guesting on My guitar We have,until last wee never had two steels on stage,Davie Holland payed us a visit last week and we made space for Him and We each played our bit We played different licks during the same songs and I thought it went down really well.
Just My opinion.
Billy

[Paul Brennan]

I heard from several people, all of them musicians I respect, that the Brad Paisley gig in the Olympia, Dublin was so loud it was impossible to hear anything properly. I have all BP's albums and I was looking forward to this gig. However, I ended up having to do a gig myself on that night and couldn't get to the Olympia. It turns out the only thing I missed was yet more ear damage.

[acerod]

[[qWe each played our bit We played different licks during the same songs and I thought it went down really well.
uote][/quote]]
Which I agree is fine and interesting but were you playing 347 notes a second which followed the chord sequence but bore no relation to the melody.