Beginner's Question

[Brian Mac Currach]

Would most good players out there advise becoming somewhat proficient on an acoustic before trying to learn the PSG?

[Bo Borland]

Proficiency on any other instrument would be a big help.
If you really learn to understand guitar or bass the E9 neck may be easier to understand.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Do you mean acoustic guitar, dobro or something else?

If your immediate goal is to learn pedal steel, I don't know why you would want to take a guitar detour. I would just start with pedal steel to begin with and devote all available time and energy to that.

I've heard people say that you need to start with lap steel etc., and work upwards toward pedals, but I think that's bogus and most of us don't have the time to devote that way due to our starting age and other obligations.

If anything, I would advise any person interested in learning to play an instrument or sing to first be educated in music theory, learn notation etc.

I will say this though, any musical knowledge you garner from any instrument will help direct your brain and ear toward music in general.

[Herb Steiner]

If someone wants to learn pedal steel, they should just jump in and learn pedal steel from the git-go, regardless of previous musical experience.

That said, big hurdles await those who don't have experience with basic chord knowledge; rudimentary acoustic guitar experience can clarify a lot of the early learning humps when dealing with very elementary music theory.

Knowing some music theory doesn't teach you HOW to play the instrument, only WHY you're doing some of the thing you do. Makes a difficult instrument a little easier to grasp.

[Dan Hatfield]

I may be the only person on here who believes this, but I really think that anyone who wants to play any instrument, be it guitar, horn, vibes, you name it, would benefit greatly by starting with a keyboard. And I don't mean you need to learn to play it. Just go buy a cheap Casio keyboard for $50 and use it to learn basic theory. The place to start is just use the key of C. Now when you stare down at that keyboard, the whole theory of music is laid out there at your fingertips in "black and white", no pun intended. Run the C scale and you see that the scale is eight white keys in a row. The black keys show you where the half steps occur and make it crystal clear that the scale steps are whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. If you are smart enough to count to 13, you can just count and find any chord known to man. If I see the chord b7minorb5 on a chart, it might take me ten minutes to find that on a steel guitar, but on the keyboard, all you do is go the the home key (eg C) then count two keys down from there (Bb), play the Bbminor chord, then find the five note and play the next note to the left (b5). So you can give me any chord known to man, and even if I've never heard of it, if I can spell it, I can find it on the keyboard in a few seconds just by counting. Now once you hear the chord on the keys and know how it is configured, it is much easier to transfer to the steel. For those of you who think I am crazy, that is OK. It just works great for me. Also, just a piece of trivia, I once had the high privelege of having a short conversation with Buddy Emmons and he told me that he worked out the more complex tunes on his Christmas album on a six string, then transferred that to the steel. So where I would have done it on the keys, he preferred the six string. To each his own.

[Jeff Campbell]

If you previously had experience playing another guitar..etc.. yes that would help , however if your going into this with steel being your first instrument I don't recommend taking all that on at the same time or even before the steel if it is what your goal is. You will need every waking minute, hour and day you can get to do the steel on it's own.... but a word of caution!! once you get bit real good by the steel bug it has been known to cause girlfriends to go, wives to get very angry and hair loss...yours!! you will pull some out!! but it will also be the best and most fun with a instrument you could ever have!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

[Ian Rae]

What Jerry and Herb say. I play lots of other instruments, but there are really no transferable skills you can bring, not even from another kind of guitar. Just get stuck in!

And Dan, you're not the only one - I cannot play the piano to save my life, but without it as a musical calculating machine, I'd be sunk.

[Tony Prior]

Playing an instrument previously is an advantage but that doesn't mean a person cannot start from scratch. Before any of us picked up our very first instrument...uhhh...well... you get the point...

That being said , instrument purchase choice would be important, seek some advice. imagine if each of us picked up our first acoustic guitar with the strings 1/2 off the fret board, I doubt many of us would have survived long term. It's important to have an instrument that you do not have to fight to make music.

go for it !

[Brian Mac Currach]

Thx for the responses...looked at some acoustics today but very few music stores in my area carry PS's and no experienced instruction w/in two plus hours of me, so I'm gonna learn a little acoustic guitar, and a local community has a basic theory class for strings coming up so I may check that out as well... I'll try to bore everyone with my progress down the road.

[Ian Rae]

Apparently Buddy Emmons did a lot of his thinking on a regular guitar. Seemed to work.

[Charlie McDonald]

Buy a cheap one.
(I started out on a Mexican gui with 5 strings.
When I got them down I added the first string.)
You can learn finger-picking on the thing.

Then get you a riser nut and a spark plug socket and put the guitar in your lap. Voila!

[Joey Ace]

An understanding of the "Nashville Number System" and basic music theory is the best starting point.

Starting with a standard guitar is good, but be sure you learn those things on it.

Starting with a simple piano/keyboard might be better.

[Rich Upright]

Dunno where you are in Florida, but Johnny Bondz music in Wildwood is very steel friendly...usually has a couple steels for sale, carries strings,picks,bars,etc, and Johnny is a great guy & good steel player to deal with.

[Don Sulesky]

I spoke with Brian in February, he was told by someone who learned guitar as a kid to learn guitar 1st.
At Brian's age why waste the time because the overall layout of the E9th is the same as guitar just with pedals.
90% of all the over 30 students I've taught never picked up a guitar and are doing just fine and enjoying their pedal steels instead of trying to learn two instruments.
I have also found that some, not all who are guitar players are confused at 1st and take about the same learning curve as those who have never played.
It's like breaking old habits.

[Scott Parker]

I'll chime in here, but please take my opinion with a grain of salt as I have been playing guitar for many years, and am so new to pedal steel that I am waiting for mine to be shipped to me!

I kind of think you could almost interchange any instrument with the original comment, as in, "You should learn how to play (insert whatever instrument of your choice here" before learning pedal steel. With that said I think having a background with ANY instrument would help in different ways, but if you want to learn pedal steel, why start by learning a totally different instrument?! I'd almost think playing banjo before taking up the pedal steel has more similarities than 6-string guitar.

[George Seymour]

Bill Keith , Winnie Winston....

[Gary Guzzardo]

Dive right in with PSG,,, Don't waste your time learning another instrument . Get after the steel guitar ..

[Donnie Southers]

Learning any instrument is not easy but it should hold your interest enough that it is enjoyable. Now I'm sure my next statement will draw a lot of different opinions, with that being said here is what I've come to believe.... My son is a successful motor cycle racer with 2 national championships. He started a 3 yrs. old and had not yet at this point learned how ride a bicycle. By 4 yrs. had won multiple races and still could not pedal and steer a bicycle. So... just jump right in !!! Equipment??? I spent a lot of money on his motorcycles thinking at the time he should progress from a lesser quality one to a better to a better one... I should have just bought the upper crust motorcycle 1st and I would have saved THOUSANDS$$$ I am also a beginner on the PSG. and since I had a little bit of funds available I did not buy a poor quality one, I did a lot of research to see what accessories are common to go along with it so I didn't get discouraged by not finding the similar sounds I am used to hearing, Also .... If I were going to be a Race car driver, my first car should not be a Pinto....LOL Save yourself money and time and get what you will eventually have in the end. Again this is just one opinion.... If you are my type of position... ( Desire VS Time ), Get what you need now and don't waste any time doing it the long way around.....

[Joe Ribaudo]

Sounds like you've already made a decision, but as I've been telling anyone who'll listen... Arguably, the only things that pedal steel and 6 string guitars have in common are strings, a fret board, and the word "guitar." Most of the muting techniques and finger picking patterns for 6 string seem to get in the way most of the time. Also, developing muscle memory for slide or (any fretless instrument) is a whole other ball game. Learn both at once perhaps, but I don't see learning 6 string as a good investment of time IF the end goal is pedal steel.

[chris ivey]

i've always wanted to build a house.
should i build a doghouse first?

[George Kimery]

If you know nothing about music keys and how notes have to be arranged to make different chords, then you have a much steeper learning curve. You will be having to learn music and the PSG at the same time. If you are starting from scratch I think you should do it on the instrument of your choice, the PSG. I would not waste time with another instrument when you can be learning music theory and the PSG at the same time.

I agree that a keyboard is laid out in such a way to make it easy to find notes to hear what different keys and chords sound like. Especially if you label the keys with tape. Then learn the Nashville number system and transpose the numbers to the keys on the keyboard. Knowing for example that a 1, 3, and 5 notes make a major chord and by flatting the 3rd note, you get a minor, etc, etc. You can do it on the PSG, BUT the strings and pedals are just not laid out simply and non-changing like a keyboard

If there is ANYWAY, try to find an instructor to get you going correctly. When I teach, I would much rather have somebody that knows absolutely nothing about the PSG than somebody that has been playing a year on their own and have learned a lot of bad habits. Having to teach music theory and timing at the same time as the PSG is a steep and slow climb.

You are going to need a lot of patience and practice. Try to remember it is a journey, not a destination. I don't think any of us ever reach our destination but we all have one thing in common, we enjoy the journey.

Good luck and you are so lucky living in an age where help is available right here on the forum and with courses available. I am an old player and all I had to learn from was listening to records.

[Barry Blackwood]

i've always wanted to build a house.
should i build a doghouse first?

Build a birdhouse - I know some drummers that could show you how...

[Donny Hinson]

Would most good players out there advise becoming somewhat proficient on an acoustic before trying to learn the PSG?

It's going to take you years to be "proficient" on regular guitar, and probably a decade to do the same on pedal steel. So, I guess I'd answer your question with a couple rhetorical questions of my own:

How bad do you really want to do this?

How much time have you got?

[George Kimery]

Hummm.... a drummer building a birdhouse. I wonder if the speed he is driving his hammer would speed up and slow down?