WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?

S.M. Johnson · Post by **S.M. Johnson** » 30 May 2011 10:50 am

As a non-player, over time, I've noticed that players have many different approaches to 'bonding' with their instrument.

Some appear to grasp the instrument immediately with complete authority.......... as if putting on a pair of shiney new shoes, while others appear to do so with great trepedation, as if preparing to dismantle an unexploded roadside bomb.

What's YOUR approach? How soon can a player expect to gain a take charge stance with his/her guitar?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 30 May 2011 11:45 am

i always approach mine from the backside.
i thought i was great after 3 years. after 10 years i thought i sucked.

Joe Rogers · Post by **Joe Rogers** » 30 May 2011 1:41 pm

S.M. Johnson wrote:What's YOUR approach? How soon can a player expect to gain a take charge stance with his/her guitar?

Pedal steel was the very first instrument I ever played that required me to use finger picks. They were so foreign to me when I first put them on that I didn't know if they would ever feel comfortable. So based on my experience I can say with confidence that a newbie player cannot expect to have a "take charge" stance on his/her guitar until getting past the hurdle of having the picks on the fingers.

Once the picks become second nature, the next step is learning a lick.....any lick....until THAT lick becomes second nature. Whether it requires playing THAT lick 5 times or 5000 times, it doesn't matter. The moment you can execute THAT lick without thinking about "what string do I pick.....what floor pedal do I press...." that is the moment that you can take charge....because now there are no barriers to correct execution.

Joe Rogers

Roual Ranes · Post by **Roual Ranes** » 30 May 2011 7:22 pm

What chris said!

Ernest Cawby · Post by **Ernest Cawby** » 31 May 2011 4:06 am

The same way it takes to get to the big hall.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

i KNOW THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU ment but it works
ernie

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 31 May 2011 4:13 am

what Joe says
my approach consists of both, work & fun
in other words, i apply myself to practicing scales, chord grips & certain tunes or parts
i then apply myslef, to just havin' fun w: this contraption
when i get a bit fed up w: either one, i always return to the other

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 31 May 2011 5:52 am

I started out trying to learn "my way." After failing, I decided to take a more traditional approach--I joined a band that played a specific kind of music that forced me to learn a traditional style. Left that band and did the same thing again with another band, another style. After spending a good amount of time learning how to play in a more traditional sense, I'm now well-equipped to play whatever I want to play, my own way. I don't want to continue to focus on traditional styles, but they've informed me on how to play steel guitar.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 31 May 2011 6:18 am

I actually started lovin' the steel guitar when I was nine years old, and for years, because of cerebral palsy in my left hand, I was tryin' my best to figure out what instrument to play-couldn't handle a standard guitar because of cerebral palsy, then I played keyboards for about five years, but it didn't give me the sound I wanted-the country sound, so I thought about how great it would be if I could play the instrument I started lovin' when I was nine years old, the pedal steel guitar. Started playin' steel eleven years ago on Christmas Day, and I love it! It gets even more wonderful every time I sit down at my steel.

Brett

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 31 May 2011 11:52 am

Wing it! My instructor got me a gig after 3 lessons. Trio. Bass, babe playin' rhythm guitar, a boopa-chicka drum machine, and me. I guess that's still a Trio? A "Request Band." A thousand songs on 3X5 cards, and I didn't know any of them. I had just come from playing lead guitar in a Zappa-style band. I realized the first night that I was going to have to learn everything the my steel could do, and get that info synched into my brain, cuz there was no way I was gonna learn all those songs!
I never play anything the same way twice. If I had to, I'd get extremely bored. I'll never forget the terror of the first gig, and first song. The leader turned to me and said, '"Sugar Daddy" in A, JB. Kick it off!' YIKES!

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 31 May 2011 12:15 pm

Steel guitar has been a life long love for me.I been playing for 50 yrs.Since I was 7 years old.Back in the day we couldn't afford a steel guitar so I learned all those steel licks on a 6 string.I now own 3 steel guitars and every time I sit down to play it The same old love comes back.I can put all my emotions in that one instrument.I think steel guitar players do that.I also think the people that listen to us can see that also.Steel guitar is not DEAD!

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 31 May 2011 12:17 pm

S.M. Johnson wrote:What's YOUR approach?

Lackadaisical

Since steel is a secondary instrument to me, I don't approach it with much rigor. I've got fairly modest goals and I'm in no big hurry to get where I'm going, so it took a long time to get to where I am now -- which is on the cusp of being a decent swing player.

Justin Jacobson · Post by **Justin Jacobson** » 31 May 2011 12:19 pm

My approach has always been effects first, everything else second. I come from a more ambient and slow indie type back ground so I am alway looking at how the instrument will interact with the effects I am using to get sound I want. If I want a super reverbed sound that is heavily modulated I'm going to turn on 4 reverbs at maximum verb and a couple flangers, maybe a phaser and a chorus as well, then see how the guitar reacts to that and adjust my playing from there.

I let the sound I'm looking for guide my playing.The texture of the sound is more important to me than the technique I am using to achieve it. While I am doing what I can to learn some tried and true techniques from the songs the great country and jazz guys played, my heart wants to use this great instrument to create soundscapes and textures that bring a new depth to the songs I am working on.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 31 May 2011 12:43 pm

I learned to play several different instrument before I finally bought my first steel guitar. I played in professional bands on stand up bass & electric bass, chromatic harmonicas, acoustic and electric guitars. I sort of learned to play a piano and a fiddle ( I never enjoyed that squawking, raspy sound I got out of that thing so I gave up after one year) . Strangely, when I first bought a so called cheapy Japanese steel guitar however, I became fixated with it by how many different genres of music I could get that thing to fit into.

I suppose it was because I played so many different instruments long before I tried the steel guitar, I already had a musical thing in my brain that allowed me to put all that knowledge into learning the steel guitar. As Ernest Cawby posted above, practice, practice then more practice,

In truth, I never did find it as complicated as many posters on this forum claim it to be. Maybe I just don’t push to get that outside of the envelope sound.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 31 May 2011 2:39 pm

My approach to playing steel guitar is to entertain myself, first. You know... Sit down, put the picks on, grab the bar and start creating sounds (music) that's pleasing to me. That's what got me interested in this damn thing to begin with, making sounds that please me. If I heard a phrase played by somebody else, that, I like, I figure it out and learn it so I can use it when I play. Aside from the original innovators of this instrument, we've all copied THEIR licks (phrases) because the sound attracts us like a magnet. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but, my approach has landed me many, many jobs for well over 20 years. There's tons of info on the mechanics and correct way to play the steel, just master the basics and enjoy yourself, the rest should come naturaly with time and knowledge.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 31 May 2011 7:55 pm

I put a nice pad under and around the vocals, never overplay, never play too loud,rip when its my time, and always keep in mind I wouldn't be there if it weren't for the money... Bad attitude mixed with good,but thats what has worked for me for 34 or so years... Moderate talent= moderate expectation....bob

Ray McCarthy · Post by **Ray McCarthy** » 1 Jun 2011 2:31 am

I had always loved "that sound" since I was a kid, but never knew what the heck it was that made "that sound". I was pushin' 50 the first time I actually saw a psg up close--a lady cop I knew had one she was thinking of selling. She got it out of the closet so I could see it. It was an MSA student model with fake wood grain, and just looking at it sent a chill down my spine. Here, right in front of me, was the mysterious thing that made "that sound"

She gave a couple of finger picks and I started to put them on up side down, ETC, ETC.
Long story short--now, many years later, I still get a little of that chill when I'm about to sit down at my beautiful deep blue Derby

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 1 Jun 2011 3:52 am

1. Play as little as possible, as tastefully as you can.

2. Listen to the music; it has an emotional connection to the audience. Help the song make that connection.

3. When the singer gets up on stage, he or she owns the stage and they own the song. Help them to sound good.

4. If you can't think of anything to play, lay out for as many bars as it takes until you can do something that has meaning. Don't be too busy.

5. Your amplifier Gain-Knob controls volume, your volume-pedal controls "expression".

6. Be a good and true servant of the music.

7. Always keep a small thimble either on your steel or in your pack-a-seat or gear-bag. It'll be handy for carrying your ego home after a gig!

8. Accept that when you play, you sound like you; not Lloyd Green, not Hughey, not Rugg, not Franklin...you'll only ever sound like you, so learn to like the way you sound when you play well.

9. You will never be famous. The best you can hope for is to be useful.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 1 Jun 2011 7:33 am

What Ned said... verbatim.

Excellent post, Ned.

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 1 Jun 2011 10:21 am

What Herb said about what Ned said...Possibly the best and insightful post I have ever seen on this here forum....

Tore Blestrud · Post by **Tore Blestrud** » 1 Jun 2011 12:41 pm

Ned said it all, great reply.

Peter Nylund · Post by **Peter Nylund** » 1 Jun 2011 11:23 pm

Ned's post sure is spot on. About my approach, after 35 years of playing I haven't got a clue what it is all about, but I having fun doing it.

Peter

Don Sowersby · Post by **Don Sowersby** » 2 Jun 2011 5:47 am

Ned Said It.........

Bob Russell · Post by **Bob Russell** » 2 Jun 2011 9:57 am

I've been a musician for 46 years, but I'm a brand-new arrival to the world of steel (non-pedal). My approach so far is to try as hard as I can to pay attention to the basics: touch, intonation, sound, bar control. I'm not letting myself use a volume pedal when I practice so I can't get into the habit of hiding errors in bar placement, grips, etc. It's a brutal process, but I've always loved the sound of steel and I'm determined to prevail.

I'm also a new arrival to the SGF. Happy to be here. Thanks for all the great info you folks have already shared - it helps a lot!

Mike Ester · Post by **Mike Ester** » 2 Jun 2011 12:54 pm

Ned McIntosh wrote:9. You will never be famous. The best you can hope for is to be useful.

There is much truth in this statement.

The Steel Guitar Forum

WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?

WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?

Re: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?

hi

Re: WHAT is YOUR approach to playing steel guitar?