Techneque.

[slimbo]

Hi guy's, I'm a member of the Bobby Seymore fan club, and now and then some good info come from his mail, so for all you newby guys, and others, here's a little item that will interest you.

Hello fellow players,
This is Vic Lawson subbing for Bobbe Seymour today.
This is for newer players that are having trouble playing with bands and aren�t
sure what to play or how to play. First and foremost, listen to the melody of
the song. When you play fills, try to play short, simple melodies in between
vocal phrases.
Instead of strictly thinking about a steel guitar sound, think about playing one
or two notes because that is sometimes better than trying to play six or seven.
By all means �shut up�. Don�t overplay. Everyone has heard of the old saying
�less is more� but a lot of players forget that rule and an important rule it
is.
In other words, if you fill the verse, after that verse is over, be silent, let
somebody else play. The guy that taught me to play in a band was a piano
player. I was sixteen and had never played in a band ever.
He asked me, �Have you ever played in a band?�
I answered, �No. Tell me what I need to do.�
He said, �Watch me and I will nod at you when I want you to play. When that
verse or chorus is over, take your hands off the guitar. I don�t care if you
sit on them. I don�t want to see your hands on the guitar.�
I asked him why and he said, �Because I want to be heard too. It�s my turn to
play.�
That really stuck with me. Discipline is very important. You can be a
fantastic player and play many hot licks, but if you don�t have discipline a lot
of other players won�t want to work with you. You are a member of a band,
you�re not a solo artist. Kenny G gets to be the front man, but you don�t.
Did you hear about the drummer who was so despondent over his timing that he
threw himself behind a train? Speaking with drummers, with a lot of drummers
today playing to click tracks, it never hurts to practice with a metronome.
Working with a metronome will drastically improve your timing and your pocket.
The pocket is the groove essentially. It�s being able to get into the feel of a
song and make your audience feel it.
Always play from your heart. Try to make your hands an extension of what you�re
feeling in your heart. With our instrument, as sad as it can be, if you can
make your audience cry with you, then you�ve done your job. Don�t be
mechanical. Any computer can generate music without feel. Be human.
If you�re having trouble learning a particular part, you may want to try one of
the many learning tools on the market such as the Tascam GB-10 which has the
ability to slow a song down to half speed without changing the key and can also
loop a lick or solo infinitely. It will make things much easier to learn and
it�s easy to use. I use mine extensively and have for years.
Lately, we�ve had a run on volume pedal pots which is good for us, but if you
can try to improve your volume pedal technique, your pot is going to last
longer. Just try to be more smooth and dynamic instead of like a pump organ.
I think if your practice regimen is two hours a day, at least give twenty
minutes of that to volume pedal technique. Not only is it more pleasing to the
ear, but it will save you some money.
I think a lot of guys get too caught up in trying to do what somebody else does
such as right hand technique, pick blocking versus palm blocking for example.
Granted, there�s a right way to do it, but I don�t think what works for one
player will work for the other player.
I think it�s a matter of experimenting and seeing what works best for you as a
player. There�s a million critics out there, but bottom line is whether you�re
playing for recreation or for a living, as long as you�re striving to be better,
do it the way you want to do it.
You can�t learn to play with a band by playing alone in your practice room, you
have to get out and play with other people. By all means, have fun with it.
Don�t take it too seriously. Don�t let players that do take themselves too
seriously suck you into their black hole. That�ll make it more enjoyable and
easier to learn.

[Paul Brennan]

Just for fun, what do you guys do when somebody is playing all over your fills and solos?

I remember Jeff Newman telling me a story about when he was invited to play a show with a well known Irish artist and his backing band back in the 70's (a large man by the name of Thomas). The first thing that struck Jeff was the volume on stage. The band didn't think it was particularly loud when Jeff asked them if they always played that loud. Not a good start but these guys are making huge money, they must know what they're doing and things will be better when the show starts, thought Jeff.

When the show started the guitar player and keyboard player were constantly playing and filling. The whole thing was just a jumble of noise. Our hero just sat behind his steel arms folded and a beatific smile on his face (you know that Jeff smile!). After a while the band leader turned to Jeff and asked, "are you going to play?".
To which Jeff replied, "well, are you going to let me play?".

[henry]

"Just for fun, what do you guys do when somebody is playing all over your fills and solos?"
isnt that why we've got volume pedals?

but seriously, i just dont play anything.. or if i do it's occasional and loud..
and I was told at a recent gig, by the drummer, that when the guitar player played over my break that I gave him a look like I wanted to kill him painfully. so I guess i do that too

I've been getting Bobbe's newsletter for a few months now, enjoying reading it.
I'm always tempted to forward it to other band members! for this exact reason

[e9b6]

When I went on a week course at Hermitage with Jeff Newman back in 1986, the first thing he said was "I'm not going to teach you how to play - you can do that, I'm going to teach you WHEN to play".

I have been on stage when someone - be it fiddle, lead guitar, keyboard, feels that it is his job to play continuously, then I back off completely and just play the very occasional tasty lick. There's no point in trying to do anything else.

Colin

[Peter Nylund]

I have never understood the large amount of vocal fills in the middle of the steel part.

[acerod]

I think this clip of Waylons band illustrates the point about soloing:

[B.J.Weston]

Oh boy! now that was a flower for the taking. The best 37minutes I've had in a long time, thank you Roy,------- Baz.

[Tony Russell Davis]

That's the way - communicate: with each other as well as the audience.
BTW - interesting PSG, seems to have a Curley Chalker sort of setup; E9th on the back neck with CBA pedals.

[acerod]

I was once asked if I was getting paid by the night or the note. That worked on me.

[SHAKEY]

The singer of a band I played for, for many years always said to me, "Play what you know," "Play what you know," I got so sick of hearing this I said NO, I will play what I feel, like it or lump it. JD (strings here knows who I mean) I think he had a similar experience. I was only ever allowed to play one instrumental, (Blue eyes crying in the rain) and that was on condition the singer was allowed to sing a verse and chorus at the begining and a verse and chorus at the end. The lead guitarist was great though, he was actually a really good guitarist but he was more into rock stuff so he just laid back and let you do what you wanted. 15 years was enough.