Steel guitar scales

Michael Febbie · Post by **Michael Febbie** » 18 Dec 2015 6:30 am

Hi,I been playing for about 6 mts now. I have learned a few songs but progress is slow. I am having trouble un derstanding where I am going up and down the neck or playing horizontally. I find help on the vertical scales but not on the horizontal. Is there any on the forum. Thanks a head of time.

Mike

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 18 Dec 2015 6:49 am

Page 28 in Winston/Keith.

Jason Putnam · Post by **Jason Putnam** » 18 Dec 2015 7:33 am

Check out this site. Several scale exercises in tab.
http://www.benzianlist.com/tab.html

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 18 Dec 2015 9:31 am

A very simple arrangement of "Jessica" you may wanna try:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ht=jessica

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 18 Dec 2015 10:48 am

Hi, Michael, for a big help with horizontal scalesâ€¦

Make sure you know all the positions for your I, IV, and V chords in any given key.
For example, no pedals, pedals down and A pedal / E-F lever positions for G, C, and D in the key of G.

Using strings 3 & 5, play each of the "pedal" and "pedals down" chords as they occur in order up the neck, you'll get: fret 3 NP fret 3 PD fret 5 PD fret 8 NP fret 10 NP fret 10 PD. Add in fret 13 NP to connect to fret 15 NP and start again. That's the harmonized G scale in sixthsâ€¦ same exact thing on strings 5 & 6 will give you the harmonized G scale in thirds. The fine thing about this method is you don't need to memorize a bunch of separate scales, just play through the I, IV, V chord positions which you should know cold anyway!

From there, add in the "intermediate" positions of the A pedal and E-F raise versions of the three chordsâ€¦ G at fret 6, C and D at fret 11 and 13 and you will have melody pockets for days.

Moving on to the 5th and 8th strings, do the same thing using no pedal, pedals down, and E-Eb lower lever (G at the 8th fret) and you'll find many of the scale pockets there. Add in the A & E-F lever positions and once again, melody gold.

From there maybe on to the B & C pedal combo! Best of luck...

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 18 Dec 2015 12:01 pm

I'm not the best guy at talking through licks and lines, but I did two that walk through harmonized scales as part of transition phrases. Here is one:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R8WlDTfLWmk
And the other:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VjMyZ-yahAU

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 18 Dec 2015 6:35 pm

Double post amended to yet another recommendation for The Winston/ Keith book. So much good, useful information there.

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 19 Dec 2015 8:56 am

Mike
Check your mail.
I sent you three scales you can use yesterday.

Carl Mesrobian · Post by **Carl Mesrobian** » 19 Dec 2015 1:23 pm

Look on Bobbe Seymour's Youtube Page. Here's one by Bobby Hempker - one of the best lessons, just my opinion - it gets you thinking with open position as well as AB down position:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW5ShfVvRbk

You can click on the bobbeseymour link here for tons more info:

https://www.youtube.com/user/bobbeseymour/videos