What's Up Doc

[mick hearn]

A bit quiet on the lap steel front of late. Anyone out there?

To keep up to date - the response to my version of Nightlife has been well received by everyone which makes me feel good inside. The response from the American forum has been overwhelming and have had requests for tab. Have to look into tab programmes now. Have a trial version of Tabledit which looks promising so might have to buy it. If I am successful I will post here as well but it will not be overnight.

In the meantime, the way things have gone for me doing regular stuff on lap steel instead of pedal steel has given me quite a buzz. Have just finished working on Hello Darlin' by John Hughey (forward and reverse slants all over the place) and also working on Girl in the Glass. I must admit the result is pleasing so far. Must also do some more swing stuff but also have a go at The White Light by Lloyd Green. All will be on C6 and no pedals. With a bit of luck I should have an interesting list for next years festivals.

If anyone is doing anything interesting then please put it on this site. Lets hear your news.

[Ken Byng]

Mick - your progression is rapid to say the least. I shudder to think where you would be now if you had taken the instrument up some twenty or thirty years earlier.

I have TablEdit, bought years ago primarily for preparing and reading 5-string banjo tabs. There was a period when I was totally obsessed with the banjo. Anyway, TablEdit is well worth its cost as you have no doubt worked out. Fred Amendola tabbed out Buck Reid's whole album using it, and a great job he did too. Much of it on C6.

Pleased to hear you are intending to attend the steel fests next year. Hope that means you will be at the SoESGF once again. I might bring my 10 string plank as well next year, tuned to C6. It'll give everyone a laugh if I do one number on it.

[mick hearn]

Thanks Ken. Looks like ~I am going to have to buy that prog.

As for lap steel - it was Bobbe Seymour in one of his videos who said playing C6 is easier than E9 and went straight into Secret Love swing style. I thought OK lets have a go and got it straight away. That was the spur. I tried a couple more swing numbers and they worked, then some slower ones. I listened to all the greats and took up some of their ideas and even tried to play like them but failed miserably but kept trying and incorporated some of their ideas. Basil posted the opening chords to Nightlife and I searched high and low for slants to fit those chords and the rest is history. Then at the NESGF I decided not to take pedal steel and could I in fact play the tunes I had set for pedal steel on the C6 lap. Misty Moonlight and Darisa fell into place so thought "Here we go - lets try some more". I must admit playing lap in front of Basil and Rod had me worried but the response from both was out of this world for me. Basil has been very encouraging.

My next step was to find more songs that I could have a go at and Hello Darlin sprung to mind and it worked a treat. OK so you cant grab a handful of strings, and Lloyd Green has proved that to make things effective you dont need more than 2 notes at a time. It's what you play and how you play them. The search still continues. I wont always play exact to the original recordings due to limitations of the steel and I don't want to go down the road of changed tunings and bent strings to accomplish this. The question is can I do it with what I have. I think the answer is Yes but make some subtle changes and be myself. In the end it will sound slightly different.

[Ken Byng]

There are lots of YouTube clips of Reece Anderson playing non pedal, and he was regarded by many who know these things as the finest non pedaler there has ever been. Basil and Rod are both brilliant exponents of non pedal, and they are both great people too. I have a superb 10 string mahogany lap steel put together by Barry Gaskell, tuned to C6 with a D on the top string (9th note) and it sustains like a piano.

Lloyd spent his formative years on lap steel and was great on that. Tom Brumley has made some superb recordings on a Rickenbacker fry pan steel, and the tone is to die for. Buddy Emmons was another incredible lapper as you would expect. Tommy Morrell as you know - a brilliant player, and Jerry Byrd is always worth watching and listening to.

Buck Reid once told me that C6 is a far easier tuning to master than E9. I thought he might be taking the hug and kiss but he wasn't. Once you know your scales on C6 it all starts to make some sense. Good luck with your journey Mick.

[nevada150]

I was at Thornton Watlass on the Saturday and was amazed at the chords you played on your C6 neck Mick. Nightlife and Feelings stood out for me and along with many others I'd like Tabs for both tunes. You could do what Erv does and charge a small fee to recompense your purchase of TabEdit.
Can't wait to hear what you play next.
Keith.