My name is Joe McHam and I am a Pedal Steel
Guitar Teacher-Player and I live in Houston, TX. I began trying to learn to play pedal steel in
the late 60's. I played 6 string guitar since age 11. Where I lived in the NE corner of Texas there were no guitar teachers.
I learned to play the 6 string guitar basically self taught. Family members can attest to that I drove them all crazy trying
to learn.
After hearing Hal Rugg and the Wilburn Bros on TV in the late 60's , I knew that I wanted
to learn pedal steel. Hal Rugg along with Buddy Spiker were just knocked out back in those days. I was able to save up and
buy a S-10 ZB pedal steel from Zane Beck with 5 pedals and no knee levers. A friend of mine and myself drove all night from
Denison, TX to Scranton, AR to pick up this guitar. I made contact with MSA back in those days and Reece Anderson told me
that Julian Tharpe was coming to Dallas to work with them and that he was a good teacher. I started taking lessons from Julian
and drove to Dallas once a month for about a year or so.
I played the ZB S-10 for a couple of years and traded it in on a MSA S-20 that Julian
and Bud Carter built. The S-20 had the E9th on the first 8 strings and Julian's tuning on the inside 12 strings. It wasn't
as hard as it might seem to play that guitar. I replaced the S-20 with a Wright Custom D-12 with 14 pedals and 6 knee levers.
The Wright was a beautiful birds eye maple, sounded great, but it was very heavy. I kept the D-12 until about 1988 and
purchased a BMI S-12 with the E9/B6 universal setup on it. I played the BMI until last year and have traded for several guitars
and sold them since. I own a S-12 Sierra with 5 pedals and 5 knee levers. I have a modified E9/B6 on it. This is a great sounding,
good playing guitar. A picture of it is on the home page. There is no claim to fame for playing pedal steel, just a labor
of love for this very versatile instrument.
My almost brand new Excel S-12 Superb steel is here and what a guitar it is. The
tone, pedal and knee lever action are super. Now I have lots of practicing to do to come up to speed on this guitar.
My thanks to Lenny Amaral for the trade. My thanks to Bill Stafford "Mr. Smooth"
for introducing me to the Excel.
In addition to steel guitar being one of my long time interest, I am also a licensed
Ham Radio Operator since 1959. My first call as a Novice was WN5ARU. I upgraded in 1962 to General
Class and the call was WA5ARU. I lived in Arizona for a while and was issued the call WA7BJE I
returned to Texas a year or so later and was issued the call WA5OKT. I am active these days on 2m in the Houston, TX area.
Also I hold a General Radiotelephone FCC commecrial license. Previously this license was
called First Class Radiotelephone . The exam for this license was one of the toughest that I've ever taken.
Our herritage
has been traced back to the 14th century in Scotland. We believe the name got shortened from Machammish to McHam somewhere
along the way. We were part of the Clans of Gunn.
Note: I am a 12 year prostate cancer survivor, and encourage
all men age 40 and above to get a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Especially if there is a history
of prostate cancer in your family. If you are Hispanic or Afro-American prostate cancer tends to run higher.
Most hospitals offer a free PSA test. MD Anderson in Houston does. Email me with any questions. http://www.facebook.com/MDAnderson?v=wall
We have begun a prostate vaccine clinical trial. The protocol is to draw your blood and extract dendritic cells
to make a customized prostate cancer vaccine taylored to each patient. The study is seeking patients that qualify.
Contact information below:
Victoria
Hawkins, RN
Senior Research Nurse
Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center
Center for Clinical Translational Sciences / Clinical Research Unit
6411 Fannin St.
Robertson Pavilion
Room 3.14
Houston, TX 77030
Victoria.Hawkins@uth.tmc.edu
713-704-4137
UT office
832-657-5866 UT cell
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My Dream Gig!
My dream gig with Diamond Head backdrop. Thanks to Bill Nauman
for the backdrop.
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