Soooo...
I (16 y.o) got a pedal steel for Christmas and have been training since.
I need help on how to progress from here!
My progress: know basic chord shapes, strings 3-4-5, 6-8-10 and 5-6-8. I know 2 walk ups/downs (I-IV-V)
I can play the walks over songs.
I feel like i have hit a roadblock, help me get past it!
How to progress from where i am.
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
-
Emil Wester
- Posts: 6
- Joined: 1 Jan 2023 11:58 am
- Location: Sweden
-
Dave Grafe
- Posts: 4457
- Joined: 29 Oct 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Hudson River Valley NY
- Contact:
One useful exercise is to play the same major and minor chords at different positions/inversions up and back down the neck, focusing on bar accuracy and pedal sequence. That's one that will serve a lifetime.
Another good exercise is using strings 1+2 to create a two note harmony between 4+5 and 3÷4 - pedals up pick 4+5, then 1+2, then 3+4, back to 1+2, returning to 4+5. If your guitar has a lever to lower string 2 find the half-step feel stop at which string 2 is a D and practice the same move with pedals A+B down. Besides learning to use the first two strings this move provides an opportunity to practice blocking, i.e. muting unwanted notes along the way, especially if you do this move without the bar, i.e. open strings. This exercise also helps train the ear to hear and use the major vs minor 7th appropriately.
That's only a couple of things to do, but well worth the time. I have been playing for 50 years and still do these exercises regularly. AND 50 years later I still hit a wall now and then, it's a sign of progress when everything new becomes old and we find ourselves looking for something else.
Good luck, you're in the exclusive club now of folks who know the true meaning of the word "humiliation" and just keep going. Kudos to whomever gave you that guitar as a gift, somebody loves you bigtime.
Another good exercise is using strings 1+2 to create a two note harmony between 4+5 and 3÷4 - pedals up pick 4+5, then 1+2, then 3+4, back to 1+2, returning to 4+5. If your guitar has a lever to lower string 2 find the half-step feel stop at which string 2 is a D and practice the same move with pedals A+B down. Besides learning to use the first two strings this move provides an opportunity to practice blocking, i.e. muting unwanted notes along the way, especially if you do this move without the bar, i.e. open strings. This exercise also helps train the ear to hear and use the major vs minor 7th appropriately.
That's only a couple of things to do, but well worth the time. I have been playing for 50 years and still do these exercises regularly. AND 50 years later I still hit a wall now and then, it's a sign of progress when everything new becomes old and we find ourselves looking for something else.
Good luck, you're in the exclusive club now of folks who know the true meaning of the word "humiliation" and just keep going. Kudos to whomever gave you that guitar as a gift, somebody loves you bigtime.
-
J Fletcher
- Posts: 1192
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: London,Ont,Canada
-
Larry Jamieson
- Posts: 2414
- Joined: 30 Jan 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Walton, NY USA
- Contact:
There are many free steel guitar lessons on Youtube. Check them out. If you can hear chord changes, put on some recordings, figure out what key they are in and play along with the record. Slow, 3 chord songs are best to start with. Also, pay attention to what the steel player on the recording is doing and see if you can duplicate any of the "licks or fills." The BEST way is to find a teacher and take some lessons.
-
Bobby D. Jones
- Posts: 2235
- Joined: 17 May 2010 9:27 am
- Location: West Virginia, USA
By the grips you stated the guitar is tuned to E9th. How many pedals? Does the guitar have Knee Levers?
For a person starting on E9th neck is a Mel-Bays E9th Chord chart. It is available here from the Forum Store, Top left corner of page under Instructions, Other locations on internet. It is a road map of steel guitar neck, Major, 7th, Minor, Augmented and Diminish chords. Shows bar position, pedals and knee levers to use.
Good Luck on your journey with Steel Guitar. Happy Steelin.
For a person starting on E9th neck is a Mel-Bays E9th Chord chart. It is available here from the Forum Store, Top left corner of page under Instructions, Other locations on internet. It is a road map of steel guitar neck, Major, 7th, Minor, Augmented and Diminish chords. Shows bar position, pedals and knee levers to use.
Good Luck on your journey with Steel Guitar. Happy Steelin.
Last edited by Bobby D. Jones on 8 Mar 2023 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Tucker Jackson
- Posts: 1605
- Joined: 8 Apr 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
From this point forward, all of the greatest steel players on recordings are your teachers.
Pick a song that has a steel part that you really like and learn to play it perfectly, note for note.
You'll need a way to easily stop and start a recording while seated at your steel. Play a note or two and stop the recording and find those notes on the neck. Then move on to the next few notes. It can be a very slow process.
But be careful because you can get almost any note at any fret. If you learn a part in the wrong fret, the notes might be correct, but it will be more difficult to play.
If you want to be sure to be sitting in the same bar position as was the guy who recorded it, think the way they did when they were recording: if the band is playing a "C" chord, the steeler is probably going to be playing in one of the common positions for that chord. If the next chord is Am, he's likely to move the bar or the pedals/knees to a position where that could be played -- and then play his lick out of that fret position.
Listen carefully for whole-tone bends. That can give you a clue as to where the bar is since that's often the A-pedal bending the 5th string.
Pick a song that has a steel part that you really like and learn to play it perfectly, note for note.
You'll need a way to easily stop and start a recording while seated at your steel. Play a note or two and stop the recording and find those notes on the neck. Then move on to the next few notes. It can be a very slow process.
But be careful because you can get almost any note at any fret. If you learn a part in the wrong fret, the notes might be correct, but it will be more difficult to play.
If you want to be sure to be sitting in the same bar position as was the guy who recorded it, think the way they did when they were recording: if the band is playing a "C" chord, the steeler is probably going to be playing in one of the common positions for that chord. If the next chord is Am, he's likely to move the bar or the pedals/knees to a position where that could be played -- and then play his lick out of that fret position.
Listen carefully for whole-tone bends. That can give you a clue as to where the bar is since that's often the A-pedal bending the 5th string.
-
Chris Brooks
- Posts: 1292
- Joined: 28 Feb 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Providence, Rhode Island
-
Fred Treece
- Posts: 3920
- Joined: 29 Dec 2015 3:15 pm
- Location: California, USA
Sign up for the Paul Franklin Method “Foundation” course online.
https://www.mmmlearn.com/courses/the-pa ... thod-e9-c6
https://www.mmmlearn.com/courses/the-pa ... thod-e9-c6
-
Tom Spaulding
- Posts: 148
- Joined: 13 Aug 2014 8:19 am
- Location: Tennessee, USA
- Contact:
Direct Link to To Foundations: E9 Pedal Steel Basics
Hi Emil
Have a look at this web site
https://dhdube.wixsite.com/psgbeginner
It has hundreds of free E9th pedal steel lessons and some tabs, links, etc. Browse through the playlists to see where you might want to go next. It will give you an idea.
I hope this helps.
Dave Dube
Have a look at this web site
https://dhdube.wixsite.com/psgbeginner
It has hundreds of free E9th pedal steel lessons and some tabs, links, etc. Browse through the playlists to see where you might want to go next. It will give you an idea.
I hope this helps.
Dave Dube