I have just watched Roadhouse (in fact the final credits are on as i type) and Jeff Healey is playing and i realise i know absolutely nothing about slide or lap guitar.
are only certain licks etc possible by playing lapsteel? why do people do it that way?
like i said i dont want to sound ignorant but i have no idea??
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
are only certain licks etc possible by playing lapsteel?
Lap steel has its limitations compared to regular guitar, but mostly in terms of available chords (depending on the tuning and number of strings) - as a melody/lead instrument I feel it opens up many new doors because of the ability to make each note 'sing' in a way that's hard to achieve on regular guitar. The ability to manipulate the pitch is also a great plus, IMO. Then there's stuff that's hard/impossible to do, like Malmsteen style shredding, but who wants to do that anyway? :twisted:
why do people do it that way?
Hard to describe really, but when I took up lap steel I had been playing guitar for over 30 years, and was pretty fed up with listening to my old tired cliches. The lap steel made music fun again, and it pretty soon became my main instrument,- I believe it has to do with the extremely vocal quality of the sound, it kinda became the singing voice I've never had..
Last Saturday I played in a friend's wedding, at the church ceremony, and (as requested) I played Amazing Grace in a roughed up overdriven bluesy style. The response I got afterwards was completely overwhelming, even from people in their 70s, and I can say for sure that I would never had the same response for a similar version on regular electric guitar. There's just something magical about that singing voice of the lap steel, it seems to touch a lot of people, regardless of musical (or non-musical) background, age or gender.. It has this mystical timeless universal quality...
So even if I'm still playing lots of guitar and teach over 20 students a week, lap steel is *it* for me... 8)
I'm a bit confused by you mentioning Jeff Healey - I haven't seen Roadhouse, but does he play lap steel in it? I was under the impression that while he played his guitar laying in his lap, he never used a steel? I may be completely wrong though, it has happened once or twice before....... :lol:
Ah, well you have just highlighted another gap in my knowledge he did play his guitar on his lap. i thought that was whqat lapsteel was? i guess by what you said i am dead wrong on that - so i will now youtube "lap steel" and see what a lap steel guitar is.
thanks for the lengthy reply.
btw Roadhouse is a great film after 8 pints - not great before that :D
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
Jeff Healey doesn't play lap steel, he usually played a Strat. I don't know if he played on his lap because he was blind and had to sit down while playing or if he just chose to play that way. I remember reading that he could play some things in a way that were virtually impossible to play in the normal way because he could fret with his thumb and pinky so he could stretch quite a few frets.
Jeff Healey doesn't play lap steel, he usually played a Strat. I don't know if he played on his lap because he was blind and had to sit down while playing or if he just chose to play that way. I remember reading that he could play some things in a way that were virtually impossible to play in the normal way because he could fret with his thumb and pinky so he could stretch quite a few frets.
He played it that way because he taught himself to play and he never saw anyone else play(obviously, due to his blindness), so he did it how it seemed natural to do it.
But it did give him the added benefit of being able to make some stellar reaches (7or 8 frets).
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
I discovered lap steel almost four years ago. maybe more. I acquired three, built three, and have plans to rework one and build another. very addicting instrument. why? for me, it is holding a heavy steel bar in one hand, leaning over the fret board (I can see for miles) tuning an open chord, having sustain, drone, and tons of blues note runs, harmonic scale runs, and bendy, pedal steel like slides.
I feel so much more connected to the string and subsequent note. the over tones just drip out. I also grew to love the fact that the intonation is right in the bar. since the strings are about 1/2 inch above the fretboard where you place the slide matters very much. I can hear, see, and feel better any stringed instrument I play now. it's weird. but the short (22.5") scale on my lap steels, the open tuning, has me knowledge and understanding my standard tuned guitars in a deeper more fulling way. I 'get it' more often than not.
lap steel also has broadened my music listening. I tend to investigate the history and origins of things. lap steel brought me back to my dad's music of post WWII; early swing country, country and western. I also learned about american black music too.
now I have a resonator. a squareneck played on the lap with a steel slide. (different than a 'dobro' roundneck played standing).
I have heard blues, jazz, Hawaiian, country, played on lap steel. David Lindley is someone to look at on youtube. awesome slide player. our Steinar of this and other good slide forums is a very good example of versitililty on slide and slide lap steel.
these are my first two lap steels. both Epiphones. the yellow one is from 1940 the black is 1939. that amp is my 58 Gibsonette blues amp. killer. I bought those on ebay. I played the inexpensive Artisans and did not like them. they were copies made without good understanding of design and function. I like vintage. the real deal has mojo for me.
I latest lap steel is a real find. it's a 1936 Rickenbacher lap steel. it has the famous horseshoe shaped magnet.
Ricks are very desireable laps. there are fantastic lap steels being made today.
Asher is a fine example.
I like playing lap steel because I can make the instrument sing, as Steinar wrote. played clean it can be bright and sweet and beautifully harmonious. connect to an overdrive pedal and, lordy, the grit and gravel jump out. the overtones are endless and everywhere on the fretboard. .
I started with an Artisan, but it's been gathering dust. The SX one sold by Rondo (when they have them) is much nicer. Not flawless, but a nice, playable, good sounding instrument and a good deal for the price. I've got a nicer (but pretty out there in style) custom made by a guy down in Middle Tennessee, that I bought from the guy in Washington State who ordered it a few months before. Lap sliding's great fun!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
