FED UP!

[telboy]

I'm fed up trying to copy my heroes...i wanna be me...how do i do it?

[bob adams]

Lay down some of your fav licks and turnrounds you' feel comfortable playing Terry then (join the dots) build a melody line to string them together then remove the bits where less is more and you will begin to hear the makings of a 'Tel Boy Toon'!

[Dave Nutt]

Terry, We have all been there,I used to listen to Jimmy Day for hours and hours, wondered why I didnt sound like him, then it hit me
'I wasnt Jimmy Day'

Get your steel set up, get the picks on, hold the bar- humm or sing a song, just try backing it up, no licks, just get to grips with the chords, remember to use different inversions, then move on-try play a few fill/licks in between and at the end of bars, put any licks you already have under your belt out of your mind. Next time you sit down, try playing the melody, but do it all Terry style.

There are a lot of steelies out there that can play and sound like Lloyd, Buddy, Weldon,Paul etc etc, nothing wrong with that, but all thay will ever be is a good copy of the original.
Best of luck Terry.
Dave.

[telboy]

thanks for the replies lads...maybe i need to get me some backing tracks instead of just playing along to cds?

[bob adams]

Do that Terry there are plenty about!

I used to listen to Jimmy Day for hours and hours, wondered why I didnt sound like him, then it hit me
'I wasnt Jimmy Day'

How true that is Dave but it is what we all did as there was no other way to learn the instrument, no direction, no teaching, it was ….You bought it son … Just shut up and play it!

Would that I could ever be called a Lloyd, Buddy, Weldon or Paul clone I would be thrilled but these guys have played it day in and day out all their working lives so like you, is there any possibility I could sound like Jimmy Day.. two chances I imagine!

None the less I still listen and learn! At least tab is available now and affords us some direction .... but hey whatever works for you I say do it!

[Donny Johnston]

Tel Boy, count yourself lucky there are so many teaching aids out there now, all I had when I started was Andy Stewart & the White Heather Club, or Sydney Devine, the sound was like a cross between bagpipes & banjo, trying to convince the neighbors you really were good took a lot of bottle ( mainly Buckfast ). Just keep playing, it'll come.

[Tony Russell Davis]

Terry - here's a good tip for exactly the situation you're in (BTW apologies for seeing this thread late). Find some records where you like the guitar backing, fiddle break, mandolin tune or whatever - but NOT steel guitar. See how close you can get to it. Then mess around with the "feel" - i.e. the timing, slide a few notes where the original instrument couldn't, change some notes, you can do that by weeding some out and just keeping the "theme" notes in. Then join them up again with some of your own. When you've done some of that you need to play along with a singer or other instrumentalist and make up your own breaks/backing. Then it will be YOU . Best wishes, Tony.
PS. if it's hard to find note to fit, then go back to basics and spend a quarter of an hour or more each day doing this. Pick any string/fret position and play a major scale from that note. Then try a minor too if you can. Look for the easiest positions, where the bar moves less distance. Final word; see if you can fit any open strings in so you get used to relating those to string/fret places.
Let's know how you get on?

[Ruby Darnell]

Terry, I was thinking along similar lines a while ago when I was practicing my sax. I could practice all day and all night for years but I still won't sound exactly like John Coltrane. I could get exactly the same sax as him, same mouthpiece, same reeds, do the same exercises etc, but one bit missing - I'm not him so I don't have the same shape mouth chamber as him, same lungs etc, the sound that comes out of an instrument isnt going to be exactly the same for every person, even on the same instrument, because when you're playing it, you're a part of it too. That sounds a bit 'cosmic' but you know what I mean. and you can't hear my Geordie accent which makes it sound less hippy like believe me. Donny - a cross between bagpipes and banjo, I'd pay to hear that.

[Ruby Darnell]

Forgot to say...I reckon just enjoy playing and be yourself.

[sabatica]

I agree just be you. Besides be honest with yourself and play the music you enjoy and it will never be the same as your heroes. It will be you.