It's so good to have you all here. The members of this group have such a remarkable mix of expertise and knowledge all wrapped up in the willingness to help, it just knocks me out sometimes. A deep bow of gratitude to all of you out there.
So Rob A, Randy H and jimbob, what things Weissenborn have you been up to lately? Things likd: New songs? Better practice routines? New gear? How about a way to learn the fingerboard in your sleep? :-)
21 Comments |
 | Bob Blair says:
9/15/2012 1:39:12 PM
Yes great to see you guys here.
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 | jimbob says:
9/15/2012 2:19:31 PM
Liz wrote. How about a way to learn the fingerboard in your sleep? :-)
It used to be GBDGBD on my Stella with a nut riser.
Then I dream of DADF#AD with the Weissenborn (Goldtone SM) instead of counting sheep. Boy talk about restless nights. I'm lucky I only need the three chords for most of my songs in either key. Fiddle player likes D and he is the boss. He owns the van. HaHa!!
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 | Randy H says:
9/15/2012 3:57:39 PM
Hi, I'm very glad to be a part of this group, I've read about every comment to the posts made and there's a wealth of experience and knowledge here. My experience is nil with weisenborns and resonators but I need to play something that will accomodate a left hand with a partial amputated index finger. I will continue left hand guitar studies but I've fallen for the hollowneck's sound. I have a cheap squareneck that I'll learn open D tuning. I hope to find some lessons w/Troy to keep me busy for some time. Thank you for letting me join this group.
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RobA says:
9/15/2012 4:02:07 PM
Thanks Liz! This looks like a great group of folks who share a passion for the Weissenborn so please count me in! I don't really know everyone but I am looking forward to getting to know you all better. My first exposure to the Weissenborn came through hearing a song called Look So Good on a David Lindley record when I was in college. A few years later I moved to Los Angeles and got to see him play live as a solo act at McCabes and I was blown away. Sometime later I bought my first Weissenborn - a mid-1920's style 1 - from Gruhn's Guitars for $450. It seemed like a lot of money at the time. Well, that was a long time ago. These days I teach dobro and Weissenborn guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and play with a few different bands. I don't really have anything new to share but once again, I am looking forward to getting to know all of you!
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| Bob Blair says:
9/15/2012 4:05:56 PM
Randy one of the things that happened to me when I picked up my first Weissenborn-style guitar and put it in the D tuning was that I started re-discovering my love for singing and playing - not that I ever stopped, but when I picked up pedal steel suddenly I was playing for singers instead of being one. The songs just started falling off of the Weissenborn for me - it was really something. Find some youtubes of David Lindley when he sings and plays and you will get some ideas from that. It is just a great tuning and took me in whole new directions the minute I picked it up.
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RobA says:
9/15/2012 4:17:49 PM
Bob: which came first for you - Weissenborn or PSG? Do you have any sound clips or videos of your stuff you can share?
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| Bob Blair says:
9/15/2012 4:34:09 PM
Pedal Steel by many years. I did the six-nighter club thing for way too long, and came darn close to hanging it up. Working with a great artist named Andrea House got me back out there (in soft seaters and festivals and stuff instead of bars this time!) The just a couple of years ago I got really captivated by Weissenborn, and dobro even more recently.
Here is a clip of me on Weissenborn at the TSGA convention last march:
youtube.com/watch?v=W5jYLky36b8
I was surprised Howard didn't put up my instrumentals instead, but I love to sing with the ting. That's a Benoit Cajunborne with a Baggs Element pickup.
Some of my pedal steel can be heard on Andrea House's "Same Inside" cd, and there is some free streaming of those on CBC:
music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Andrea-House
The top 12 tunes are from that record - the ones below that are from her earlier "Heart's Hotel" so that is Chris Smith on steel rather than me - I love some of the tunes on that record though and especially "National Park".
Finally, here is Jum Hepler's new band the "Droemedaries". Steel was too loud in the mix but you get the idea:
youtube.com/watch?v=jdwr82m5VLg
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 | Liz Williams says:
9/15/2012 4:55:35 PM
Jimbob, I'm glad someone besides me dreams about this stuff. The other night I dreamt about a vintage Weissenborn that was only scraps of wood and a couple strings. Someone started playing it and it sounded gorgeous. I'm sure it was in D....
Randy - I took up the steel guitar because of focal dystonia in my left hand; several people on resohangout have hand problems of one kind or another. Troy's new site, adaptivemusician.com showcases a few players like Tom Doughty (sp?) that may get you inspired. People have adapted steels, used slides instead - all manner of variations seem to work for letting the music out that's inside.
Be sure to check out Rob Anderlik's (RobA in this thread) instructional materials. I love Rob's tasty arrangements and his tone is fabulous.
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| Liz Williams says:
9/15/2012 4:56:42 PM
Bob - I haven't sung and played guitar in years. But your video and your enthusiasm have me giving it a try. It's a blast!
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| Bob Blair says:
9/15/2012 5:27:20 PM
Yes, it's a blast and there are so many good songs in the World that need to be sung! I hang out with these great writers, which I am not. But singing is good for a person, and a few people seem to want to listen when I do it so I do!
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| jimbob says:
9/15/2012 5:50:42 PM
Bob wrote. ""But singing is good for a person, and a few people seem to want to listen when I do it so I do!""
I have a little mental stimulation game when I am out at the retirement homes once a month. (I play guitar on these occasions) I will strum the first few bars of a song and then I say I've forgotten the name and does anyone know that tune. It is surprising how the music will stimulate the 80 to 90 year olds. Hands shoot up just like when they were kids in school. No yelling the answer out loud. All very well behaved like in former years. And the most Important thing.....we all have a good time. Sometimes whenever I sing something familiar a few of them will even wake up. HaHa!!
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| Liz Williams says:
9/15/2012 5:57:44 PM
jimbob - when I was a music therapist, I remember so well how songs from soneone's youth took them right back there. There is even current research about this, but I can't remember the name of the study. The researcher took a group of men in their 90s and put them in an environment where EVERYTHING was exactly as it had been 3 decades earlier. Every one of them showed huge improvements in memory, cognition, physical strength and mobility. They literally got younger. Maybe singing does something like that for us.
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RobA says:
9/15/2012 7:01:10 PM
Hey Bob: thanks for the links. Nice work! I'll look forward to going back to listen to the rest of your work with Andrea House.
Liz - I'd be interested to hear more about your musical chronology. Music therapist, Weissenborn, etc?
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| Bob Blair says:
9/15/2012 9:19:52 PM
One person who has inspired me a great deal is my friend Kevin Brown from the UK. Here is a video of him playing his "Weiss-n-go" a travel Weissenborn-style axe that a Luthier is Wales made for him. The piece is called "For Steinar" and was written for his friend the late Steiner Gregertson.
youtube.com/watch?v=5Zt3udCsBEc
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| Liz Williams says:
9/15/2012 10:50:40 PM
The Weissengo luthier is Richard Cross at shapelywood.com Lovely tribute to Steinar who I never met but, like so many, was inspired by. Bob, what else can you pull out of that hat of yours? Between you and what Tom Noe knows about Weissenborn's, I'm like a pig in sh... a stye. Yeah, that's it: a stye.
RobA, thank you for asking about my musical chrono. I'll put a blog post on my home page.
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| Bob Blair says:
9/16/2012 7:03:46 AM
Well here is Kevin in the Rick Alexander non-pedal sessions at theTSGA in March. I was playing rhythm and there was a great fiddle player whose name escapes me:
youtube.com/watch?v=3rSUruVrjY0
Kevin's cd's are great - some traditional slide guitar and lap steel as well as Weissenborn. He is a monster player and as sweet a guy as you will ever meet. thekevinbrown.com
I'm still working on a couple of technique things he taught me back in March.
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| Bob Blair says:
9/16/2012 7:27:51 AM
More Kevin: youtube.com/watch?v=u5NIitLYTk0
This was the first year I met him - was introduced to him by Carroll Benoit. It is also when I decided to order my Cajunborne.
Kevin's latest cd, Slidesville, is something every Weiss player should have.
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| Liz Williams says:
9/16/2012 11:20:42 AM
AAHHHH! What riches! So many wonderful players, so little time. :-) Thanks for being such a resource, Bob.
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| Bob Blair says:
9/16/2012 11:55:54 AM
DEdicated "non-pedal" venues have become part of at least three major steel guitar conventions - the TSGA in Dallas in March, the International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis on Labour Day weekend, and this January the SWSGA Convention in Phoenix This may be the first year for a non-pedal room in that show...not sure). Chuck Lettes (a legendary player with and without pedals), who is organizing the room at the Phoenix Show, has been kind enough to offer me a spot, so my Cajunborne and I are planning to fly down. If you are near any of these events, or feel like a road trip, you will have a blast.
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RobA says:
9/16/2012 5:48:34 PM
thanks for posting those clips Bob! I've heard Kevin play before, just not those particular clips. He's really a great player, someone that I have a lot of respect for!
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| Bob Blair says:
9/16/2012 7:19:45 PM
My pleasure Rob - always happy to put a plug in for someone like Kevin who deserves it. Here he is on a cool little Bristolian short-scale. Both this and the Steel Guitar Rag show how discipline his right thumb is - that "regular thumb" is something he got me working on.
youtube.com/watch?v=uFEnJ_LQ9o...e=related
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