Please critique my new tutorial page

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

www.hwnsge.5u.com

Click on - Pg. 4 - Tutorials

Just trying to at least cover a gap that I havn't yet found anybody completely filling.

If you find anything that I may have instructed in error, have a differing approach, or anything to add, or ?, feel free to comment!

I still might add a bit more about things such as 'the p'tah', and some links to other good tutorial sites, but this is the majority of it.

Thanx!

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Hi Ron...Nice work. I read the entire page (4) and feel you did a superb job of covering all the ins-and-outs of playing the steel. Even an olde phart like me can pick up on some of your (Jerry's) tips ! Mahalo brah. Very Happy

Jude Reinhardt · From: Weaverville, NC

Thanks much. This will help me where I need it the most, reverse slants. The tutorial will be printed and read and reread many times.
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".

"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear

Andy Sandoval · From: Bakersfield, California, USA

Lots of excellent info there Ron, good job.

Gary Boyett · From: Colorado/ Lives in Arizona

What I have seen of it looks nice. I had to get off though because of all of the pop-ups. Even with my pop up blocker on it must have got 10 in less than 5 minutes.

Sorry I can't offer any other advise at this time. Those things just drive me crazy.

I am not against selling space on sites to help pay. On top or on the side is fine a dandy. My company has a few sites that we pay for this. We do get results.

Chris Brooks · From: Providence, Rhode Island

Just a little English thing:

". . . its players", not "it's players."

The possessive case of "it" is "its."

"It's" is a contraction of "it is."

(Sorry--I have been marking too many English exams today!)

Chris

Eric Ebner · From: Texas Republic

I think the power of the work you did here... putting it all down on paper is this:

When someone posts or asks about one of the many specifics you cover it will be easy to cut and paste the text answering the question! Why re-write something over and over again? This is a great tool for getting new steel players started and a good refresher/check-up on those that have been playing a while. I would suggest giving credit to and pointing to your page in the paste.

Nice work.
_________________
Tribo-Tone™ Bars

Chris Drew · From: Bristol, UK

Well done with the tutorial, nice one Ron!
Some good insights in there.
I especially liked the "forethought" point you made.

I reckon some pics would complete it.

Btw, I don't use a pop-up blocker & I didn't get a single pop-up...(regular IE)

Anyway your tutorial has made me a lot more keen to properly try a bullet bar, I've kinda put off "making the switch" from a "Steven's"-type ( I use a Shubb GS primarily & sometimes a Lap-Dawg, & only really play acoustic, "non-Hawaiian" music.)

The thing is, I do a lot of bar-lifts, blocking & open/1&2-string stuff & I've really got used to the easy grip & don't use slants much/yet...
Is it really worth me re-learning a whole new left-hand technique? ( Considering that I don't feel limited by the Stevens bar, & it seems to really suit my style...)
Hmm... sometimes it feels like my only reason to want to learn how to use a Bullet is so I can get a Tribo-Tone, or maybe Eric has a Stevens bar in the pipeline...

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Hey, thanx guy's! You've already made it worth the serious case of 'purple haze' after all the typing and proofings. The comments and suggestions are all much appreciated!

Gary, I'm bummed that it was SO pop-up crazy for you, and hope it's not that way for everybody. I had no idea it would be so obtrusive. This is the only decent free site that I could deal with without screaming at the computer and giving up, and those things show up once and stay away when I view it. I intend on getting a real site asap.
Maybe you can print it up and avoid more of that crap and thus have it directly at hand, if it's worth it to you.

Chris B., mahalo for that. I'll be collecting my grimmer errors soon. All the best on that school work!

Chris D., I was considering pix but I'm not up to speed on all that yet and figured I'd be better of providing links to other sites that cover that stuff and more even better than I might.
If your Stevens is covering all your needs, then your there! But if the day comes that you want to go beyond what you're currently into, then the bullet style bar may be a big help in finding more ideas. It's amazing how much music is there when using the entire scope of any tuning.

Ya'll made my day, and it was already quite cool!

Jamie O'Connell · From: Medford, Massachusetts, USA

Nice job, Ron. I think you've pretty much covered the basics there, and with good advice.

One thing I would add to the final section regarding Harmonics (which I am still struggling with): to achieve the palm harmonic the meaty part of the palm should be 12 frets above the bar. Equivalently, the palm cuts the string in half between the bar and the bridge -- which is why the octave on an open string is 12 frets above the nut (1/2 the distance between nut and bridge).

Have a great holiday!

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Man, you must be a mind reader! I've been hoping someone would refresh my memory on that point. I'll be re-thinking and adding that asap. Much thanx Jamie!

Jude Reinhardt · From: Weaverville, NC

basilh · From: United Kingdom

Mahalo for the useful information Ron, but I must also agree with Garry about the popups, downright obtrusive AND the first one takes over the whole screen.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Barney Isaacs may have experimented with a lot of tunings or even changed one or two strings to play certain songs like "Maunakea" but when he went on stage this was his tunings (same as Jules)

1st neck: C-13 (High to Low)
E C A G E C Bb C

2nd neck: E-13 (High to Low)
E C# G# F# D B G# E

3rd neck: B-11 (High to Low)
E C# A F# D# B F# B

The tunings listed in this article for Barney are ones that Jerry Byrd has used.

Anthony Locke · From: Texas, USA

I wish I would've seen something like this when I started learning to play the steel guitar. The only thing you might think about adding is in the part where you talk about palm harmonics. The right hand should be 12 frets from the left hand to get the best ring.

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Ron,
Very useful instruction.
You have captured the essence of Jerry's teaching and the way that he said it.

Aloha, Smile

Don

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Thanx, Anthony, for more on the harmonics, and if you would in fact have found this at all helpful years ago, then I guess I did alright with it all. Your 'Manu' is tops on my hit parade this week, and I am looking forward to getting the CD.

Jude, I'm surprised you find no difference in tone with a lighter bar. When I got a 3" x 7/8" Dunlop it was a drastic improvement over the JB Dunlop, tone wise, and the extra heft and length soon became a multi-positive. And the fact that it was Barney Isaac's old Dunlop more than helps keep me inspired and reaching for it. It actually made a huge diffence in my learning experience.

I was thinking of including a bit on "the p'tah", Jerry's style of traversing the strings via single strings, quietly and effectively. But putting it into words was a bit elusive. It's another critical part of the basics. But Jerry covers it in his course way better than I could explain it.

Thanx, Don. I've long felt that no matter who or how talented the player was, they would have benefitted at least to some degree by sitting for just one lesson with Jerry. He knew how to size up a 'player' and tailor the lesson/s to the person, and the better they were the more he would bust their chops. He dug that.

Roy Thomson · From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada

That's super Ron!

I wish I could reverse the black background
so it would be easier to print off.
Is that possible. Question

It is a wonderful teaching tool.

Thanks for posting and may you and
yours have a Happy Holiday Season.

Roy
_________________
Custom Tabs Various Tunings
Courses Lap Steel, Pedal Steel

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

I probably messed that posibility up, Roy. I wanted to do the same and will have to temporarily switch it, or I can send you the text I have in my E mail box that I based the site's text after. I'll get back to you on it.

Thanx for the support!

All the best during these holidays!

basilh · From: United Kingdom

I've left out the INCORRECT Tunings info I gave, but feel free to use any of THIS information regarding the execution of harmonics..

There's also some video that contains examples of Harmonics, pick blocking and other points of technique..

Pat Mike and myself, not taking it too seriously and me acting the fool as per usual (as is my BAD intonation .. The head wasn't so good that day)
On YouTube Here :-

My Tahni
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_9NvfOjM9Xg

Lovely hula Girl
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dMbBWldZot0

Witchcraft
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M7PsGI0dIIM

To Make you love me Kuuipo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj7dePpco3Y

Midnight in amarillo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wWuwl8Egum8

White Ginger blossoms
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qu9hGzW2GI

Ten Tiny Toes
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3MJFk-YZpb8

Little Brown Gal (AGAIN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtQs5jtRwMk

And for better quality click here :-
My Tahni

White Ginger Blossoms

Lovely hula Girl

Midnight in amarillo

To Make you love me Kuuipo

Ten Tiny Toes

Little Brown Gal

BTW I didn't know Barney played a three necked guitar on stage, have you any pictures of him with one ?

basilh · From: United Kingdom

This is what confronts anyone going to page 4 as you suggest, not one but two, one full screen and then behind it another that keeps re-opening when you close it..

Jude Reinhardt · From: Weaverville, NC

I'm using a mac and simply dragged the cursor through the page, clicked on File at the top of the page, then clicked Print and it printed seven pages, black letters with a white background. No problem.
I didn't have to remove any pop-ups but did have a pop-under. When I clicked the red button, upper left to remove the page I found the screen saver pop-up setting in middle of my desk top.

Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".

"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear

basilh · From: United Kingdom

Jude I'm using a Quad G5 Pro and the popups seem to be region specific.
Likewise I didn't have any problem with the text, when I got to it !
It OK to say Disable Pop-Ups, but if you bank on-line and carry on commerce of any kind, the pop-ups are required. Having to turn them off for a problematical site isn't the answer.

Jude Reinhardt · From: Weaverville, NC

Let me start by fully stating that I am the farthest thing from a musician or accomplished steel player, however, I have made huge strides in that direction by learning these most important basics in a manner that will allow me (and you) to have the best shot at ever accomplishing our goals. Which is one reason why I have chosen to publicize my angle on learning the fundamentals which were taught to me by the greatest steeler and most caring teacher that ever lived, Jerry Byrd. This is simply an attempt to pay back in some small degree what was taught to me by this incredibly unselfish person, to whom I will forever be thankful. I was without doubt his worst student that ever paid full attention and kept at it. If I can have the miniscule success that I have managed, due to learning the 'right way', so can you.

A second reason for me doing this, is because few if anybody else has delved into the minutiae towards answering newcomer's questions of exactly "how do you do it". This is in no way a substitute to getting it straight from Jerry (or any highly qualified teacher), but you can do almost exactly that by investing in his steel guitar course book/CD and video, asap. They are available at www.scottysmusic.com/byrd.htm Meanwhile, I hope this will help someone with the finer points that may be missed by other instructions and get someone rolling asap until the JB material of a good teacher can be had.

At the bottom of this page are some links to more tutorial material. ________________________________________________________________________

JB'isms - "Play to express, not to impress" - "Don't need no pedals" "If you can't play, it doesn't matter what kind of guitar you have, and if you can play, it doesn't matter what kind of guitar you have" ________________________________________________________________________

A main starting point is TONE. Get your desired tone and all else will follow much easier. This is aided by getting the best instrument and amp you can afford / find.

Get a round bar with a round (bullet nose) end, between 2 1/2" to 3" long and at least 3/4" thick. There must be an indentation at the flat end to accomodate your thumb when manuevering into slanting position. Dunlop is the brand Jerry used.

Picks of most any type for steel are fine. It's up to you to decide on how many fingers to use, but Jerry used his thumb, index and middle fingers. The blades can be kept straight or curved to your desire, but this will define how you hold your fingers. The more curved your blades are, the more curved your fingers will need to be.

Position your steel so that your right hand will be at a comfortable / natural position in front of the guitar's pick-up, with your left hand easily able to cover the entire fretboard range. Of course, If you happen to play in reverse as a lefty, transfer this terminology appropriately.

Picking nearer the bridge will produce a tighter/thinner tone, and further away will give a thicker/fuller sound. As you play higher up the fretboard (say, past the 15th fret) you will need to move your picking hand back a bit to keep the sweetest ring from the strings.

Always keep your wrists straight and slightly up, not drooped, and elbows in. Deviation from this rule will be of no benefit, but will simply promote uneccessary movement. Economy of movement is the goal here.

Holding the bar; with the bar laying on the strings (round end out) it is held with the left mid / ring / pinky fingers to the left of the bar and resting lightly on the strings, slightly splayed, the middle finger snug against the bar for control, and the bar's tip about 1/4" below that finger's tip so that it will automatically mute the string/s as you come down off of them when descending to play the lower strings. The left index finger is positioned directly over the bar and bent / curved with the finger tip resting about 1/4" to 1/2" from the bar's tip. Don't lay this finger flat or you'll not be able to slant effectively, as JB taught, and slanting is where lot's of the fun and 'magic' is. The left thumb sits at the lower half of the bar to help with control, with mostly just the fleshy part of the 1st knuckle (under the thumbnail) in contact. The fingers / thumb maintain a light but firm control so you can have a nice vibrato and not be stiff in movement and manipulations. It's a very natural positioning and feel, not at all rigid or contortionist. The oddness of having the curved index as a pivot point and smooth movement of the bar may take a bit to get used to, but it's very easy after a short while.

A beginners rule is to always keep the bar on the strings. Lifting the bar uneccessarily is pointless. There are times, such as open string playing, and techniques like left hand muting, that taking the bar off the strings is purposeful, but for now, don't.

It's important at all times to keep your bar (when laying on the strings) perfectly straight / parallel with the fret markers without even the slightest angle, until it's time for a slant.

For playing single strings and notes, lift the tail end of the bar and use the nose.

The right hand; don't rest your hand on anything, always keeping it free and facing forward with your thumb sticking straight out to the left (like hitchhiking) and back far enough to easily catch the lower strings without much overall hand movement. Maintain your favored position, as readjusting is pointless movement. As with the left hand, it's all from the wrist up. You must also find the best way for you to position the unused fingers, usually being the pinky and ring fingers. They can be tucked under near the palm, or kept out, but don't use them as an anchor point. You may decide to use them as muting and/or chiming tools, so you might change your mind in time. The meaty right side of the palm is to be held just over the strings so that you can quickly drop down on the strings to mute them, which is a near constant thing. Keep the thumb strum motion as simple and effective as possible.

Single notes are picked primarily with the thumb. Fast singles and dbl. string picking are with the thumb and middle, and multiple string picking should utilize all three picks.

Always keep most of your mind and eye on where you're going next in the song and on the fretboard to keep it flowing smoothly and setting up the following note/s in good relation to what is being played at the moment. The note/s you are playing now is important to whatever you will do next. You will (usually) also want to keep the tones and string timbre consistant, and this requires that moment of forethought.

Thumb strum; the thumb does all the work without any major movement from the rest of the hand. Just an even stroke across the strings intended at the desired speed. At some point you'll want to skip one or more strings when you strum, and that takes a lot of practice, so get into it as soon as you feel ready. The earlier you get some of these things ingrained into your mind the easier and more natural it comes to your hands. You can also use your finger pick/s to catch the upper strings in perfect time with the end of your strum of the lower strings, using the right amount of attack to make it imperceptable from a regular strum so that it doesn't sound interupted, unless that's what your after.

Muting, or damping; palm muting is done with the meat of the right hand quickly dropping onto the string/s to prevent them from ringing as soon as it's not wanted, and then lifting off the string/s just as you are to pick again. It's generally a fast on/off move deftly done immediately prior to the next picking choice, without much hand movement. You'll usually let the note/s sing as long as possible without cutting them off prematurely, unless that is the desired effect. The songs intended feel will dictate this. It eventually becomes a natural and subconcious part of your playing.

Bridge muting; this is a more advanced technique used famously by David 'Feet' Rogers of The Son's Of Hawaii fame, and currently by Bobby Ingano. Place the meat of your right palm onto the strings where they pass over the bridge, just enough to take the majority of ring out of them, but without them sounding too thuddy, or to the desired effect, while still being able to pick the strings sufficiently.

When playing the higher frets, muting can become less important and you can often get away without much or any muting.

Vibrato; is the slight side to side wavering of the bar and is ultra important. You'll use some vibrato almost all of the time. Start developing a smooth even vibrato from the start, as it is what helps give your playing it's own personallity and unique voice, and helps maintain string sustain. Vibrato should be timed within the song's tempo no matter how fast or slow you choose to do it so that it fits in nicely and is both a subtle and dramatic effect. Otherwise it will sound silly and out of place. There may be times you wish to have it stand out more, but don't overuse it. Generally, the closer the bar is to the nut the wider your vibrato's travel space should be, and as you gofarther up the neck the travel should shorten until you get real high on the fretboard where there is very little vibrato needed. Keep it fluid. As always, your ear developement will tell you when to lay off, when to use it, and to what degree. Jerry was the King of vibrato, and Bobby Ingano is his heir apparent.

Slide in's and out's; these are the short gliss' into or out of the basic note/s. You'll want to keep these no more than 1 fret in length, and more often only 1/2 that much. Again, don't overuse this effect, but it will be used a lot. Out's can sometimes be more dramatic, and long in's are not heard very often. Paradise Isle is a famous use of a long gliss in. The use of volume swells can greatly increase the dramatic effect. Typically, Jerry and Bobby are great at doing volume swells. Listen to them to get the idea.

Slanting the bar; this move is where the bar covers at least 2 strings being played together and is tilted forward at one end and back at the other. This technique is where much of the fun and magic is when playing steel. But it's a critical matter, as you must be on the mark when starting, during, and finishing these moves. The bar's travel during a slant will easily go 'catty' (the sound of 2 cats howling) when in between frets and at an angle, so your ear is very important to keep it sweet. These movements are all done with the fingers, no wrist twisting allowed. This is where the arched index finger comes into importance, and is used as a pivot/control while the thumb and middle finger do the rest of the control. When looking down on the fretboard, the string and fret meet and create an intersection or crosshairs, and you'll want to keep either the top or bottom of the bar exactly at one of these points during the maneuver, depending on if it's a forward or reverse slant. Jerry likened it to turning a corner in a car, where (for the most part) the front will travel and the rear stays in place. A simple 2 string 2 fret forward slant will often start in line with the/a fret. The nose of the bar will start towards the next fret as the tail end stays completely anchored to the bottom crosshair until the nose end has reached the next fret's crosshair, at which time the bar can slowly implore vibrato or continue in this precise position to the desired destination, where it will land again in perfect position per the strings and frets. Of course, the frets vary in size along the fretboard and you must deftly adjust continually and accordingly to compensate for this, via your musical ear. After you get the hang of this, you can begin using the space between the frets to do some of the moves that make this technique special. As Jerry always said, "it's between the frets that the music is made".

Forward slant; subtly drop the thumb a bit more towards the rear of the bar than it normally is, while maintaining the butt end's position (as mentioned above), as the middle finger starts pushing until the bar's top end reaches the next fret. At this point you can maintain that position and start some vibrato or move the bar to the next desired position, fore or aft. The bar's tail will be under at least the bottom of the middle finger and even the ring finger if you have a longer bar, maybe leaving only the pinky to cover the strings, which is needed to keep unwanted sounds from appearing.

In time, you will instinctively know all this and how far to go on the different sized fret spaces along the fretboard and your ear will make sure you've hit all the marks, or not.

To come out of a forward slant, the middle finger which is now curved over the middle of the bar with it's tip at the bullet end starts to drop down to it's normal position along side the bar and onto the fretboard which naturally begins to force the bar's butt to move to the right, and your thumb helps guide it back to the vertical position on the proper fret along with support from the middle fingers upper half, at which point you are already planning you next move.

Reverse slant; start by dropping the thumb to the very end of the bar and hook at least a bit of skin on the bottom edge (if not completely into the recessed area) as you move the middle finger's tip towards the bullet end, all the while maintaining complete stability and keeping the tail anchored at the crosshair, as with the forward slant. There may only be the pinky and some of the ring finger to cover the strings, especially on severe slants.

Once in position, you can again add vibrato or continue into another manuever.

To come out of a reverse slant, the thumb will do most of the work as it draws the tail to the left and the bullet end stays anchored and the middle finger slowly drops back towards the fretboard into it's 'normal' straight position along side the bar and aligns it on top of the fret, as you plan the next move.

Split string slants; this is an advanced slanting technique that includes 3 strings and is done almost exactly as the other slants except that you will end up placing the bullet end's nose equally between the 2 top strings at an angle, thus splitting them, while the tail is typically positioned to anchor the bottom string. This bottom string can be directly below the top 2 or farther down, usually skipping only 1 string. These slants are mostly forward slants, with few reverses. Some tunings allow for more reverse opportunities.

Harmonics, or chimes; are done very delicately to be most effective. Punching at them will be defeative. They can be produced at all frets, but are more pronounced at just a few. Palm harmonics are probably the most used, and are done using the meaty part of the picking hand by placing it on the wanted string very lightly at the desired fret and using the thumb (or finger) pick to pluck the string/s. The varying distance from the bar or nut will depend on where you are on the fretboard and which fret you wish to chime. Multiple string chimes are done much the same, utilizing 2 or more picks. Stay consistant with your style and technique to allow your hand's to move automatically into proper position, and your mind's eye to know the exact distance from the bar or nut.

It's where the flesh meets the string that matters most, not so much where you pick.

If you tuck your ring and/or pinky under your palm, you can use the 1st knuckle as with the palm and pluck with either the thumb or finger pick, whichever is preferable physically and/or sound wise, as the different picks can make a difference in tone.

There is almost no way to chime too much. Some great recorded tunes are mostly / all harmonics. It sounds beautiful and is a cool way to get different feelings within a tune, and an excellent way to express yourself.

______
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".

"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear

basilh · From: United Kingdom

Thanks Ron, they're gone..

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