Archive for the ‘Steel Guitar’ Category
Have you ever been driving in your car or truck when a song came on the radio that you never heard before? As soon as you get home you start looking for the song, when you find it you find it had an outstanding bass guitar line that was invisible on the radio, you start to ask yourself why.
How about those songs you hear over and over on the radio that you just don’t like. As with the first example you find the songs done live by what ever band it is, and you hear electric guitar licks you never heard on the radio, and are now a big fan of that particular band.
That has happened quite a bit to me, one such band for me is The Doobie Brothers. There music has been on the radio for decades and to me it was alright, but nothing great. If you have never heard The Doobies try it. Electric guitars are used for most of their songs, featuring great guitar solos, along with some snappy rhythm guitar work, and if you are an acoustic guitar lover listen to “Snake Man” a song which the play entirely with acoustic guitars along with a steel guitar.
Have you heard the Doobie Brothers lately? I’m not just referring to the recorded songs you hear on the radio, I’m talking about some of their live music.
If you are not familiar with the Doobie Brothers they have been around since 1970 have to date sold over 300 million albums. While most of the band have been replaced through the years Tom Johnson and Pat Simmons have been with the band from the beginning (give or take a few years). Tom Johnson handles most of the lead vocals along with guitar, Pat Simmons is a good compliment to Tom on vocals as well as on guitar, John McFee has been on and off with the band since 1979 and is another good compliment to the guitar package of Tom and Pat also helps with the vocals. Skylark was added to the band in 1995 and is a great addition, his bass guitar style is effective yet simple. The bass guitar sound he provides rounds out their guitar package.
One particular song of theirs shows off their versatility, the name of the song is “Steamer Lane Breakdown”. While alot of their other songs are make use of electric guitars and vocals this one is a bluegrass instrumental, it features Tom playing rhythm on an acoustic guitar, Pat finger-picking on a acoustic guitar and John with some great work on a steel guitar.