ilovefuzz.com

Well hello dare Yeah, lap steel is great. I started around Feb. of '06 after having played guitar for a loooooong time. I now consider myself a steel player first, guitarist 2nd. Re: lap steels and pedals: some great advice given on this already and I don't have much to add, but you'll probably want to steer clear of anything that's not true bp, as most lap steels only have 1 SC pickup. And they're (usually, esp. on beater steels) noisy as hell. Trial and error is more or less what I recommend. I use a roundnose bar, which our friend lapsteel calls a dildo bar, and often, I hold it upside down. I do this in the event that I'm doing lots of detailed single-note stuff where I have to bounce around from fret to fret/string-to-string a lot. That may be worth adding to your repertoire, too. Some of my go-to fuzzes for lap steel (and I play a 100.00 SX) are the Fuzzhugger Phantom Octave and the Devi Ever US fuzz. It's possible that you won't hear a lot of the octave down come through on your steel, depending on the pickup/s it comes with, but it's just got this hissing, serpentine kind of voice that sounds rad with slides n' slurs. The US, with the intensity dimed will get you nice, singing sustain that gates out before the noise comes in. A fun thing I always try and do is play all the things I've come up with on regular guitar on lap steel. You may find that you like the lap steel version better. Welcome to ILF!

NOTE: bong rips and steel sessions go hand in hand

Lap steel is definitely great to get weird with effects. One of my favorite effects on the lap steel is the blue box, true 8-bit glitch fest with two octaves down and just dirty madness with the blend halfway. I guess all the other crazy octave down fuzzes will have similar effects (buzz box, bit commander, glitch computer,...)

Not the "lap" version, but anyways : a different take on it than Gilmour..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1M4ss4yIVA[/youtube]

Dang, there are more steelers 'round here than I thought. Nice

blooghost wrote:Dang, there are more steelers 'round here than I thought. Nice

Yeah everyone here has got great advice. I really appreciate it!

So much cool Lapsteel on Rated R vintage QOTSA.

lapsteel wrote: I find myself playing lots of dark ambient stuff, I think lapsteels are a good approach to this kind of sound.

this is making me consider the possibility again

D.o.S. wrote:So much cool Lapsteel on Rated R vintage QOTSA.

...and SFTD

and the latest Swans



my greatest concern has always been that i'm not that good with alternate tuning and it feels like keeping it in standard E is dumb also - how absolutely necessary it is to have a volume pedal when playing lap steel?

I know it's not technically lap steel, but listen to Red Sparowes for some amazing pedal steel integrated into some kick-ass post-rock:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4s6Oo5T86c[/youtube]

DarkAxel wrote:




my greatest concern has always been that i'm not that good with alternate tuning and it feels like keeping it in standard E is dumb also - how absolutely necessary it is to have a volume pedal when playing lap steel?

I don't use one... I typically do ok with just the lap steel's volume knob. It really depends on how accurate and how long a swell you intend on doing. But the volume knob can be surprisingly effective when wanting to cop a pedal steel kind of tonal quality.

blooghost wrote:

DarkAxel wrote:




my greatest concern has always been that i'm not that good with alternate tuning and it feels like keeping it in standard E is dumb also - how absolutely necessary it is to have a volume pedal when playing lap steel?

I don't use one... I typically do ok with just the lap steel's volume knob. It really depends on how accurate and how long a swell you intend on doing. But the volume knob can be surprisingly effective when wanting to cop a pedal steel kind of tonal quality.

Yeah, I don't usually use a volume pedal. You can do a lot with the volume knob.

You don't need alternate tunings either. Unless you consider an open tuning "alternate".

Open tunings are easy though, fingerpicking or strumming, just lay the bar across and you have a chord. EZ/PZ.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1920-1930-Recor ... 4aecce4dc9

blooghost wrote:

DarkAxel wrote:




my greatest concern has always been that i'm not that good with alternate tuning and it feels like keeping it in standard E is dumb also - how absolutely necessary it is to have a volume pedal when playing lap steel?

I don't use one... I typically do ok with just the lap steel's volume knob. It really depends on how accurate and how long a swell you intend on doing. But the volume knob can be surprisingly effective when wanting to cop a pedal steel kind of tonal quality.

Yeah I like using the knob on the guitar, I've never liked volume pedals

Things aboot bars: starting out I would recommend getting a bar that is grooved vs round because they are easier to control and lift when you want to jump around vs a pedal steel bar, but a BIG heavy pedal steel bar will sound better, just as any steel guitar/dobro bar will sound better then a normal guitar slide, the weight is really important to getting the right sound.

Tunings, I like E, D, and C and I also tend to just wing it and tune the thing to a pattern that sounds cool at the time.. one I use a lot is based on the opening chords to Carmen

Yeah girl.

I saw this in the related auctions...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1970s-L ... 5692&rt=nc

What's the shipping like on a Rockabilly girl these days?

Quick! There's only 32m left on that auction!