People are constantly asking me how I got this incredible gig. Really, everything we do as freelance musicians in Los Angeles always comes by referral. The guy who is the contractor for American Idol is a guy that I've known for many years, since back in the 70's in LA. Over the years I've done all kinds of different work for him-casuals and sessions. Last year he had become the contractor American Idol because the bandleader had changed and now it's a guy named Ricky Minor who is the musical director. When Ricky took the job as musical director, this contractor came onboard with him. Last year they decided to have country week for American Idol what happened was that the powers that be the producers the directors said, "For this particular show it would be really neat to add a pedal steel player for some of the country stuff." And so they said that to Ricky and Ricky passed it on to the contractor. And the contractor said that, "You know, I do know somebody who reads and plays pedal steel," and that's how I got the call last year.

Originally it was going to be the call for the one day for the contestants but they asked me to stay over and do the one show with Kenny Rodgers because he was the featured guy. So that went well and it was really fun and I've known some of the other guys in the band for a long time. Paul Jackson Jr. is the guitar player. He's an old friend of mine.

Later in the summertime they did a duet show that Simon Cowell produced called Celebrity Duets, and on that particular job the opening show of the 6-8 show run a two-hour special with a few different country artists like Randy Travis and 2-3 other well-known country singers- and so they thought it would be nice to bring the pedal steel back into that too. And so I did that one.

Then this year, they've used pedal steel three different times for Kelly Pickler, Carrie Underwood, and then this most recent country show, of course, for Marina McBride. I played pedal steel on that but then on this last show because of one of the contestants choosing a Rascal Flatts tune I also played 5-string banjo. I did play acoustic guitar on what would be tonight's duet (April 25) with Celine Dion and Elvis Presley in kind of the same way they did with Natalie Cole and her dad.. They've got an Elvis look-alike and they're shooting him in long shots. David Foster produced this particular song for the duet and I played acoustic guitar in the pre-recorded version of that.

Now the pedal steel parts are written in treble clef just like the guitar a lot of time it will be a master rhythm kind of chart but on occasion there are actual lines written. American Idol has a staff of excellent arrangers, five or six different guys. They'll put the songs in ideal keys for each contestant. As a matter of fact, that Rascal Flatts tune was in F# (six sharps) and so it made for an interesting challenge for banjo I detuned. Last week's show had its own set of challenges.

I lowered the G tuning (gDGBD) a half tone but there are basically three sections to the tune. One was B, F#, G# which down a half step becomes C, F, and G so that was not good for open strings for banjo. Having it tuned down a half step meant that I could play one certain section in an open-G tuning but it was down a half step so I was playing open F#. That meant that the only section that I had to play in a closed position was the middle section, which happened to be the section where I had to play on camera when the fiddle player and I were featured with the contestant. So I was transposing, but that's just part of the nature of the beast.

There are always a lot of transpositions; for example this guy Sanjaya Malakar that everybody knows, one of the contestants who got eliminated; he did the Bonnie Raitt tune "Let's Give 'me Something to Talk About." I really don't play bottleneck guitar. I just never have done it, I guess partly because of the fact that I play Dobro and I can simulate those kinds of things on a lap steel or a pedal steel. Mostly I'm deferred to lap steel for that stuff.

I had a lap steel tuned to an A chord and I usually play and read in Dobro tuning which is an open G chord and so I was transposing everything up a step and that was in the key of E on the fly. I'm tellin' you- I had to really scuffle to put that together. I wanted to play licks and fills and so fourth that were really appropriate to the tune and I felt like I got a sound that worked pretty well. To look at the piece of paper and play in a different tuning and then have to transpose that tuning up as well- literally a 2-way transposition- it was just a little bit beyond me.

You just really have to rely on your ears because you don't have a lot of time to work that out, I just resort to tab numbers. On the lap steel I just write in the fret number. I've got a little code that I've worked out over the years so I know what to do basically. I try to memorize it and make all the fills congruent. So it worked out but there's no napping during those times!

Fortunately I don't feel any extra nerves when I'm on camera, not at all. I could care less about being on camera. It's all about doing your job, and as a soloist I've had lots of experience just being out there all alone. The number one thing- whether it's a contestant or a big star or whatever, a studio musician's job or any musician's job is to make the artist look their best. The way to do that is by making sure that you take care of your business.

What I've done this year for American Idol does not guarantee me a place in the band next year. Everybody's name is on their dressing room door in masking tape. There is no guarantee of anything; you just try to do your best job and anytime the call I'm ready to go. I love the people and we've done enough work together now that it really does feel like a team and a family.

Of all the people I've ever worked with who were leaders/businessmen/producers/ musicians, Ricky Minor maintains the highest musical standard of them all. He is one of the best bass players I've ever worked with and to see the way he runs the band is amazing. A lot of times, rather than asking you to play exactly what's written, if you have something that is a more musical idea or really happening, he'll defer to the musical side which is great! It turns out to be more the exception than the rule because people are so cautious. I have to tell you- the band sounds good on TV but in person it's just absolutely one of the greatest bands that anyone could ever play with.

A typical week on the American Idol set begins on Sunday when we pre-record in Capitol Records Studio A at 10 a.m. for a double session from 10-1 and 2-5. We pre-record the actual versions of all the tunes for download on the website. Then Monday, with a hard 9:30 a.m. call (i.e. ready to play at 9:30), each contestant gets to run their song in their key and arrangement of it which is different than what we did at Capitol, a shorter, different kind of arrangement.

So everybody runs through their arrangement and if there's a problem area they want to address then you do that and it's a pretty tight ship. It takes 2 ½ or 3 hours for everyone to run through their tune and we break for lunch. Then you come back and they do it again while they block it for camera and such, so every contestant gets two shots at it with the band. Then you come back on Tuesday afternoon and they have a dress rehearsal in front of an actual audience, and then they shoot it at night before another live audience.

Here's a side note that I never thought about at all- because it's live there's a period of time after the dress rehearsal when the band and entire audience has left the soundstage and the Secret Service comes in with bomb-sniffing dogs to check every inch of that place. That's one of the contributions of the terrorists to American life. Every audience member has to go through a metal detector and security is super tight. For most TV shows in the Los Angeles area, it's easy to get tickets, but American Idol tickets are not easy to get. There's a whole form that you have to fill out and a waiting process.

It was so amazing being on camera this last week! I got emails and phone calls from all over the country. I just couldn't believe it! The multi-instrumental capability has done it for me. The main guitar player on the show is Paul Jackson Jr. I can't say enough about his playing, his attitude and everything about him, including his speed- he is one of the fastest guys, and I don't mean just because he moves his fingers a million miles an hour on the fretboard. He is just so sharp and all over it. He is able to dial in sounds as fast as anyone I know.

So Paul is playing first guitar and then they have a backup guitarist who is also the second keyboard player. This guy is a certified, card-carrying genius! His name is Dave Delhomme. He is a rocker kind of guy who also plays a Paul Reed Smith with a piezo pickup in that that allows him to simulate the sound of some of the acoustic guitar parts. So if there are two guitars and one of them needs to be an acoustic, sometimes he'll play the acoustic guitar part on the Paul Reed Smith. Primarily, he's an unbelievable keyboard player. The two keyboard players on American Idol are as great as anyone you'll ever want to hear.

The producers and the band for American Idol have nailed the formula for a successful musical show. Every single component from the percussionists to the girl singers (Sharlotte Gibson, Sy Smith and Kenya C. Hathaway) who sound like heaven opened- the timbre of the blend of their voices is just magnificent. For me to be a part of this is just such an honor.

There are six pieces in the band's rhythm section. When I'm there, I'm the seventh piece in the rhythm section. Then last Tuesday they had 8 or 10 string players. Then there are the three backup singers, and if the music is of a different nature, then they have horn players. In Celebrity Duets, for example I was playing pedal steel but they had 6 horn players too.

The cats who do the arrangements are really quick; they've been doing it for years and years. One of the arrangers I know in town was writing out the score for an entire orchestra during the sixth game of the World Series with his feet up and a drafting board on his lap. There are some talented people out here and I think this is the easiest place on earth to stay humble.