Playing steel guitar - impressions after 1 year

[Curt Trisko]

3 years, 6 years, 45 years! And fellow musicians still feel like "they are not there yet." This reinforces my resolve to keep at it. I have no intention of giving up. And yes, that right hand is important. I am garnering that it all boils down to technique - I would think that a proficient steel player would sit down at my Pedalmaster 8 string and make it sing. He/she would coax "the sound" out of the instrument, and make it sound like a pedal steel guitar. That is the crux of my "problem," it sounds like I am playing slide guitar, not a pedal steel. Back to the DVD's!

If you're saying what I think you're saying, then I've had the same thought. Sometimes I think I'm making progress by sheer repetition of the different movements involved in playing. However, I end up just sounding like someone who just got done practicing a bunch of exercises on the pedal steel. Making it "sing" is something I only experience flashes of.

I'm learning the solo for "Lost in the Feeling" now and am finding that there's a huge difference between simply playing the notes and playing the solo. It's incredible and very enlightening.

[Niels Andrews]

Listen to the playing here!
http://youtu.be/jHDErZ94GyI
If you look here there are 57 videos on the Byrd channel, and go to Ray Montee's Jerry Byrd Fan Club Page here through the forum. A real edumacation!

[Butch Mullen]

Dale, what is your tuning on the 8 string? Thanks. Butch in NC

[Dale Kath]

Butch,

I have E9 tuning with the top two strings off.

[Lynn Gray]

I started with nothing about a year ago......and I still got most of it left

[Ray Minich]

Been in an ongoing argument with this instrument since 1963.

What I wanna know is why, after I have spent 4 hours of an evening, learning a lick or pattern down cold, can I not remember the foggiest notion of it the next day?

[Daniel Policarpo]

What I wanna know is why, after I have spent 4 hours of an evening, learning a lick or pattern down cold, can I not remember the foggiest notion of it the next day?

Ouch! I was hoping that would go away eventually.

[Larry Behm]

I had a call the other day with a young student who felt he was not getting it. He had lots of hot lick tabs etc, he was ready, BUT none of it made much sense to him because he did not know how they applied to a song.

So until you can play ALONG with a song using the pedals and knee levers and chord positions and various grips (1 string or 2 strings is OK) you have, they are just licks. You can not add them to the song in the right places because you do not know where that is, so you are left scratching your head, and not playing.

The person making the tab uses certain string combinations and fingering that works for him, PF comes to mind. That does not mean you can, especially as a newbie. So you are left sitting in frustration.

Learn to play musically up and down the neck and across the neck, be you and forget the hot licks created by someone else. No one in the audience even knows who TW or PF or SP or BE is so they are not comparing you to them, only how you move them with your INTONATION, TONE, MUSICALITY, AND TIMING. Without that you are not touching anyone, including yourself.

I see this all the time, we just need to sit back and make a course correction and get back to basics, the hot licks will come later.


Call anytime, let's talk, or Skype me.
Larry Behm
971-219-8533

[Sven Kontio]

Edited: I took most of my reply away. Didn´t mean to kill the thread, Dale. Sorry. Kept what I wanted to share.

Being a newbie myself I´m not in the position to give advice to others, but if I would, I would recommend the following:

Take some lessons from a very good picker to start with in order to learn to sit right, hold the bar right, put the picks the right way on your fingers, hold your right arm close to your body (elbow in), keep the bar straight, pick with attitude, not to use vibrato at this stage in learning, and not to forget: how to tune that darn beast.

Then: Join a band as soon as you can!

In addition, at home, in your car, at any and every occasion possible: Listen to other pickers. I would say Listen to Country Music with steel from the 60´s and 70´s. Listen to how they play, get to know the old songs – they are invaluable when it comes to learning to play the right stuff. You don´t necessarily have to copy all the kick-offs, solos, licks and stuff, but Listen to it. You learn a lot from that also.

Play the steel, backup, to slow songs. Use your ears and try to follow the chords to begin with, and the rest will come when the time is right.

If you dare: Make recordings of your playing. It can be quite intimidating to hear yourself but it´s absolutely a way to learn what is good and what is not.

I think the most important is to stay in love with your steel. Of course the two of you won´t be getting along that fine all the time like in all relationships, but when things don´t work that well; Give her the silent treatment and go to bed. Next day things will be better- I promise!

And Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER give up!
I ain´t giving up for sure!

/Sven

[Dale Kath]

Lots of good stuff in those last two posts ( and everyone above as well). Got my radio tuned to Willies Roadhouse, and get to hear all the classics. Plus, from this forum, a teacher contacted me and I am making arrangements for lessons. This will be my first time sitting across from a real player.

[Stuart Legg]

Most everything comes with a manual that includes your steel guitar your amp and so on and people refer to it.
So why not use the music manual?

[Dale Kath]

Thanks for the question, Stuart. I have learned the basics, how to set up, how to restring, how to tune, how to use a, b,and c pedals, how to use knee levers (which I don't use at this stage)how to hold the bar, how to sit... but I am trying to get a nice flowing, classic pedal steel sound from my instrument. And I think I will have a breakthrough eventually. I can hear the sounds in my head... just need to learn to better transfer that sound into my fingers.

[Dale Kath]

Thanks to the forum, i was contacted by an experienced pedal steel instructor right here in the metro Detroit area. His name is Larry Labeck and i had my first face to face with a real player. A professional. This face to face teaching allowed me to see the things I am doing right, and the many things I am doing wrong. Plus, he did a setup of my guitar. The most important aspect of learning, according to Larry, is you have to put in the hours. practice and more practice. consistently. Which is what I plan to do. Feeling a lot more confident I can get to a comfortable place with my playing. i will be re-reading every post in this thread, as well, as it all helps!

[Kevin Hatton]

Three to four years of constant practice and a GOOD teacher is about the norm before things start sounding right and becoming easier.