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 FCC General Radiotelephone 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 are part of the Clans of Gunn.
Note: I am a 13 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