Most Esential For Learning Lap
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
- Carl McLaughlin
- Posts: 566
- Joined: 9 Sep 2010 10:25 am
- Location: St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
Most Esential For Learning Lap
What would all the experts say was the MOST important thing to learn when learning lap steel.
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it.
- Allan Revich
- Posts: 1120
- Joined: 2 Nov 2018 7:04 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
- Contact:
Re: Most Esential For Learning Lap
IMHO (as a “not yet an expertâ€) the single most important thing is to decide what kind of music you’d like to play. From that decision, nearly everything else will flow.Carl McLaughlin wrote:What would all the experts say was the MOST important thing to learn when learning lap steel.
What you want to play will determine what tuning to start wth
If you just want to play blues and rock, you may as well start with an open chord tuning. Either D/E (151351) or G/A (135135).
If you want to play country, jazz, pop, Hawaiian etc, you’ll probably want to start with C6 (CEGACE) because it’s the most common modern tuning with loads of learning material available.
The next most important thing is to learn from my mistake!
Instead of spending years searching for that “perfect tuningâ€, choose one of the main tunings and practice the heck out of it!
Current Tunings:
6 String | D – D A D F# A D
7 String | D/f – f D A D F# A D
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database
6 String | D – D A D F# A D
7 String | D/f – f D A D F# A D
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database
- Bill Sinclair
- Posts: 1545
- Joined: 23 Apr 2014 7:39 am
- Location: Waynesboro, PA, USA
Learning to listen. You need to be able to hear your pitch and your rhythm in relation to other instruments. You have to be able to hear all these things and adjust. Practicing in time is a big help, using a metronome or a rhythm track. Recording yourself and listening back carefully should help identify problems. Then, hopefully, you will begin to hear in real time.
- Christopher Blood
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 17 Sep 2019 9:24 am
- Location: Missouri, USA
- Nic Neufeld
- Posts: 1319
- Joined: 25 Sep 2017 8:10 am
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri
I also agree with Allen's advice to figure out what you want to play. Not that you are beholden to a particular style or genre in the long term, but if there's something particular you want to play / sound like, that can help put you on a course of learning, and help make some of the decisions a bit clearer for you (such as tuning, who to learn from, various technique approaches, etc).
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me
- Doug Beaumier
- Posts: 15642
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Northampton, MA
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 22
- Joined: 23 Nov 2020 9:35 am
- Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
- Contact:
Great advice from everyone. And it's all important: listening, paying attention your pitch, etc. and I'd add the most under explained aspect in playing steel for beginners is that what you don't play (via good blocking) is as important as what listeners hear.
Here's a passage from one of my books:
Here's a passage from one of my books:
The steel guitar’s ability to sustain notes and seamlessly glide from note-to-note or chord-to-chord is one of its most attractive attributes. In order to make the most of these capabilities, a fundamental technique used by steel guitarists, which isn’t used by most other string players, is called blocking or muting.
Blocking allows you to control which strings you want to ring out and which tones are muted or silenced. Blocking is critical to playing steel guitar because, without this technique, the strings would ring out and mix together with unpredict-able, muddy or atonal results. However, having strings ring and sustain is often desirable. The key is to be able to control whether or not strings will ring by conscious choice.
Proper blocking is one of the most unnatural-feeling steel guitar techniques for beginners and one that often takes a significant amount of practice time to accomplish. Eventually, blocking and muting become a practically subconscious part of your playing.
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com
- Don Kona Woods
- Posts: 2726
- Joined: 11 Dec 2004 1:01 am
- Location: Hawaiian Kama'aina
- Carl McLaughlin
- Posts: 566
- Joined: 9 Sep 2010 10:25 am
- Location: St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
Lap Learning
Thanks to all for your suggestions.My biggest downfall i think is what tuning to stick with.I have been playing in open G [gbdgbd] most of the time then i tried C6 [cegace], didn't do too bad with that,but found G more comfortable.Then i see Troy Brenningmeyer showing G9 ,open D ETC ,I start thinking i should try that.Like you folks have stated,i have to Pick one tuning and practice the heck out of it.
Just purchased a Supro Jet Airline w/legs,feels different but love the sound.
Carl
Just purchased a Supro Jet Airline w/legs,feels different but love the sound.
Carl
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it.
- Allan Revich
- Posts: 1120
- Joined: 2 Nov 2018 7:04 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
- Contact:
Re: Lap Learning
Congratulations on the new lap steel.Carl McLaughlin wrote:Thanks to all for your suggestions.My biggest downfall i think is what tuning to stick with.I have been playing in open G [gbdgbd] most of the time then i tried C6 [cegace], didn't do too bad with that,but found G more comfortable.Then i see Troy Brenningmeyer showing G9 ,open D ETC ,I start thinking i should try that.Like you folks have stated,i have to Pick one tuning and practice the heck out of it.
Just purchased a Supro Jet Airline w/legs,feels different but love the sound.
Carl
And BTW, I have zero regrets about my “mistake†of not sticking to one tuning. I’ve gotten tremendous pleasure out of my experiments and experiences, and my playing has still improved—if not as quickly as it might have otherwise. Also, at least for informal jamming, I could now pick up any lap steel in any tuning, and still find something to play.
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
The number one thing to learn playing lap steel is to learn how to block (and mute). Palm blocking, pick blocking, the ability to isolate tones without unwanted sounds, bar noise, pick noise, unwanted notes
I spent a lot of time just mindlessly pickblocking. Doesn't even have to be plugged in. Sit in front of the tv and just pick block over and over and over.
All the other suggestions are important, but without blocking, it is all for naught.
I spent a lot of time just mindlessly pickblocking. Doesn't even have to be plugged in. Sit in front of the tv and just pick block over and over and over.
All the other suggestions are important, but without blocking, it is all for naught.
Check out my latest video: My Biggest Fears Learning Steel at 68: https://youtu.be/F601J515oGc
- Fred Treece
- Posts: 3920
- Joined: 29 Dec 2015 3:15 pm
- Location: California, USA
Is there even a single most important thing?
Patience. Holding the bar. How to sit or stand at the instrument. Listening. Choose a tuning. How to tune. Playing in tune. Timing. Blocking - Without any of those, you’re screwed. And no one has even mentioned the dreaded music theory aspect yet. Do teachers approach these things one at a time, and is there a hierarchy of technique? Or is there a more holistic approach right from the start?
Patience. Holding the bar. How to sit or stand at the instrument. Listening. Choose a tuning. How to tune. Playing in tune. Timing. Blocking - Without any of those, you’re screwed. And no one has even mentioned the dreaded music theory aspect yet. Do teachers approach these things one at a time, and is there a hierarchy of technique? Or is there a more holistic approach right from the start?
- Doug Beaumier
- Posts: 15642
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Northampton, MA
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 6877
- Joined: 5 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Nanuet, NY
- Contact:
Good point Doug but I would argue that playing in tune and timing are prerequisites for any instrument.
If you can't stay in tune, play a fretted instrument. If you have no timing, take up chess.
But blocking is specific to the lap steel itself. Therefore I put that higher because I'm not sure you can teach pitch and timing. You can definitely teach blocking though
If you can't stay in tune, play a fretted instrument. If you have no timing, take up chess.
But blocking is specific to the lap steel itself. Therefore I put that higher because I'm not sure you can teach pitch and timing. You can definitely teach blocking though
Check out my latest video: My Biggest Fears Learning Steel at 68: https://youtu.be/F601J515oGc
- Steven Pearce
- Posts: 257
- Joined: 17 Mar 2011 1:09 pm
- Location: Port Orchard Washington, USA
- Contact:
Great subject.
I’m for sure nobody’s expert, but after 35+ years of trying to learn the instrument that we love to play, I would add this:
1. Commitment to the long haul...I think all the above points are ‘What It Takes’ to figure out this most beautiful instrument. And IMHO, the one thing they all have in common is this: It all takes a lot of time.
2. Love what your doing, and if you do, all the time and work it takes will be worth it.
Just my opinion, but that’s my take.
Thanks for listening fellas,
Steve
I’m for sure nobody’s expert, but after 35+ years of trying to learn the instrument that we love to play, I would add this:
1. Commitment to the long haul...I think all the above points are ‘What It Takes’ to figure out this most beautiful instrument. And IMHO, the one thing they all have in common is this: It all takes a lot of time.
2. Love what your doing, and if you do, all the time and work it takes will be worth it.
Just my opinion, but that’s my take.
Thanks for listening fellas,
Steve