Uploaded June 2011 | Updated September 2026, 9 minutes ago
I have been working at trying to play the beautiful harmonics in this song, just like Jerry Byrd did on his "Pagan Paradise" album, but it had eluded me for so long. I tried, but my harmonics didn't last anywhere near as long as his, and it was very frustrating. I sincerely thought Jerry had some special type of million dollar Nashville recording studio effects or something that helped him accomplish such great sustain and harmonics.
Well, as you'll hear in this video, I've come close, and yet so far away in my smoothness to execute it as beautiful as did Jerry Byrd (1920-2005). First, this Melani guitar is awesome. I had never tried one of the Jerry Wallace pickups before until I got this steel guitar, and all I can say is WOW! The guitar is made of beautiful canary wood from South America and it has great sustain.
I studied Jerry's harmonics in this song carefully and he is playing it in fragments; yet it sounds seamless because of his expertise at mastering the steel guitar. My version is choppy and you can hear the breaks. The more I play this, the better it sounds and it's important not to have to think too much what comes next. That enables me to focus on chiming the notes just right at the specific places where they need to be picked. It's a beautiful song, one of my favorites.
I hope maybe that some other steel guitarists will try to learn and play this piece of musical genius by Jerry Byrd as well. It's awesome and this technique can be used in many other songs as well. Harmonics are great! I have a long way to go, but Lord willing I plan to keep working at it.
There's no gimmick, no special equipment, no effects... just a great guitar with a great pickup, some reverb, knowing the music piece well that you want to play, and then you must place your palm EXACTLY over the fret to be chimed or it won't work. You have to be right on when it comes to harmonics. And this is achieved much more easily if you are thinking ahead a little bit, anticipating when and where to chime. You can't do this well if you're trying to remember how the song goes. I hope you enjoy listening to it, it is a special song and Jerry Byrd gave it that special touch as he so often did to make good songs sound even better. You just don't hear anyone playing stuff like this anymore. I'd sure like to keep trying. God is good!
I have been working at trying to play the beautiful harmonics in this song, just like Jerry Byrd did on his "Pagan Paradise" album, but it had eluded me for so long. I tried, but my harmonics didn't last anywhere near as long as his, and it was very frustrating. I sincerely thought Jerry had some special type of million dollar Nashville recording studio effects or something that helped him accomplish such great sustain and harmonics.
Well, as you'll hear in this video, I've come close, and yet so far away in my smoothness to execute it as beautiful as did Jerry Byrd (1920-2005). First, this Melani guitar is awesome. I had never tried one of the Jerry Wallace pickups before until I got this steel guitar, and all I can say is WOW! The guitar is made of beautiful canary wood from South America and it has great sustain.
I studied Jerry's harmonics in this song carefully and he is playing it in fragments; yet it sounds seamless because of his expertise at mastering the steel guitar. My version is choppy and you can hear the breaks. The more I play this, the better it sounds and it's important not to have to think too much what comes next. That enables me to focus on chiming the notes just right at the specific places where they need to be picked. It's a beautiful song, one of my favorites.
I hope maybe that some other steel guitarists will try to learn and play this piece of musical genius by Jerry Byrd as well. It's awesome and this technique can be used in many other songs as well. Harmonics are great! I have a long way to go, but Lord willing I plan to keep working at it.
There's no gimmick, no special equipment, no effects... just a great guitar with a great pickup, some reverb, knowing the music piece well that you want to play, and then you must place your palm EXACTLY over the fret to be chimed or it won't work. You have to be right on when it comes to harmonics. And this is achieved much more easily if you are thinking ahead a little bit, anticipating when and where to chime. You can't do this well if you're trying to remember how the song goes. I hope you enjoy listening to it, it is a special song and Jerry Byrd gave it that special touch as he so often did to make good songs sound even better. You just don't hear anyone playing stuff like this anymore. I'd sure like to keep trying. God is good!
