what seperates the great players from the good players?

Richard Plummer · Post by **Richard Plummer** » 2 Mar 2002 6:24 pm

I dont know if this has ever been asked before but here goes.What seperates the great monster players eg:Emmons,Franklin,Seymour,Anderson, Jernigan Green, Hughey etc from the good players.Everyday it seems you hear about a player,in whom people say oh he is a good steel player.
How young in life did they start in life learning the instrument?
How much percentage was desire and how much God given talent was involved?
I am sure that each one had a person that they idolized in playing.How long after playing did they stop copying this person,if they did and started being themselves, and started being their own person with their own style.
How many hours a day practice time did each one have?

I would love to get input on this matter from the members.

Dave Birkett · Post by **Dave Birkett** » 2 Mar 2002 6:33 pm

IMHO, if two players are equal in execution, ie., they both play their ideas equally well, then what seperates them is their ideas; one imagines great music, the other good music.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 2 Mar 2002 6:59 pm

In order to be great, at music or anything else, it has to be an obsession! No one ever learns to be great (at anything) in 6 months. It takes time, dedication, and sacrifices to be great.

But then again, "great" is such a subjective term to many people, and it is often bestowed to someone for a single deed or accomplishment.

Isn't that great?

erik · Post by **erik** » 2 Mar 2002 7:44 pm

Great players play well consistantly, play with authority, and always sound musical.

Kenny Dail · Post by **Kenny Dail** » 2 Mar 2002 7:49 pm

What Donny said.
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kd...and the beat goes on...

[This message was edited by Kenny Dail on 02 March 2002 at 07:51 PM.]

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 2 Mar 2002 9:54 pm

Also, another thing separates the greats from the good, the greats are able to play at the same high level when under pressure. The good ones fold under the heat. I can relate to that one.

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 3 Mar 2002 12:40 am

A Great Player makes it easy for the other members in the group to play with, a good one doesn't necessarily do this. Maybe I'm over simplifying it, but as a picker for many years, this has been my experience.

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John
[This message was edited by John Floyd on 03 March 2002 at 02:08 AM.]

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 3 Mar 2002 2:15 am

To expand on what Dave said... If you get an artist gig with, say, Loretta Lynn, you're going to be playing Hal Rugg licks. If you can play that stuff you're a pretty good player, but Hal's great because he came up with them in the first place, probably on the spur of the moment in some studio when time was money and Grady Martin, Owen Bradley and others of that ilk were sitting around watching and listening to what he had to contribute to the session.

Another mark of a great player is to be able to play any style - commercial country, swing, jazz, pop, whatever - and sound like it's your forte. This narrows the field down considerably, and The Big E is probably the leading paradigm of this kind of player.

Thirdly, it helps a lot to start out very early in life, as E and Franklin did, at the behest of their fathers, and play all the time and eschew day jobs and other distractions. Mentors are very important.

Mickey Mantle's Dad gave him baseballs to play with when he was a baby in the crib.

Serendipity has a lot to do with it. You can have all the requisite talent to come to the forefront in any field, but if you don't have guidance and opportunity (ie someone to recognize your nacent talent and tell you what to do and show you how to do it) your gift may fall into desuetude and wither away like a gold digger's smile when she finds out you're just a sideman and not the star.

C#

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 3 Mar 2002 3:47 am

wait a minute!! I THOUGHT I WAS THE STAR!?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 3 Mar 2002 5:55 am

desuetude??

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 3 Mar 2002 6:56 am

It's a word

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 3 Mar 2002 9:17 am

An extra $5.00 a night?

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

Jeff Lampert · Post by **Jeff Lampert** » 3 Mar 2002 10:18 am

Richard, isn't that the truth!

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 3 Mar 2002 11:07 am

........the "great" players get the first call and if not available, the "good" players get the next call.........(but there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference in the pay)........

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 3 Mar 2002 11:16 am

Hey Richard....ah....ha....PERFECT!!
Yeah for an extra 5 bucks.....I can get real dang good real dang quick....

But seriously....the difference is between a good player and a great player is ....."DETERMINATION"
Ricky

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 3 Mar 2002 11:25 am

Hey Ricky, I'm a buddies of Peter Bonta's and was almost down at Wally Cleavers when you were. Alas, maybe I'll get to meet you in the future.

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 3 Mar 2002 11:35 am

oy vey!! my grammar is aweful!! and to think that I got a degree in English Lit! I hang my head in shame

Buddy Emmons · Post by **Buddy Emmons** » 3 Mar 2002 11:44 am

My grammpar was too but I ignored him. Anyway, one degree in English Lit is better than none at all.

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 3 Mar 2002 11:57 am

thank you kind sir!

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 3 Mar 2002 3:17 pm

Well, in my case it would be more accurate to ask "What separates the mediocre hacker from the greats?" Since I'm in central Texas, I'd have to say..oh, about 1500 miles

(and all that other stuff what youse guys said!)

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 3 Mar 2002 3:56 pm

I thought you just had to get the right PSG, amp, effects, picks, strings, steeler's seat, tuner, pedal, and pickup. Oh, yes, and the right cables. Dadgumit, I'll never figger this thing out.

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 3 Mar 2002 5:55 pm

Desuetude..Progressing aimlessly from one thing to another.
Determination, practice, a good teacher wouldn't hurt, dedication,

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 4 Mar 2002 4:17 am

I've got two steels, does that mean I will get there twice as fast ?

The equation that I see for this discussion is:

Being great or accepted as great occurs when natural ability , preparation and opportunity meet.

you need all three..2 out of 3 won't cut it..

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 04 March 2002 at 04:23 AM.]