The Bar Hand Exercise

[Ben Jones]

I've been waiting and watching for this. Thank you Paul!

[Tom Stolaski]

I have been using this as a warm up exercise ever since I got Paul's E9th Advanced cassette tape 30 years ago. I start out the exercise staccato. A variation that I have come up with is to slide the bar between the fret positions. I really think this has helped me move the bar faster with more accuracy. Thanks Paul......

[Austin Tripp]

Mr. Franklin, this excersise has helped me so much. Thank you for taking the time to explain you bar techniques with us.

Austin Tripp

[Dave Manion]

Great idea! THat makes so much sense after you lay it out. A great insight into bar mechanics and interval practice.

[Brint Hannay]

Just the kind of thing I need to inject more focus into my practice sessions. Thanks so much for sharing this great concept!

[Chuck Huffman]

Thanks Paul,
I'll be getting this exercise in today. Look forward to your next post.
Chuck

[Franklin]

George,

For the drone notes use a G note instead of the A note on the C6th..A and G notes are the whole tone intervals I use on the C6th. You can also play those notes over a G7th chord for some outside tension in a Jazz setting.

Jim,

You did what I hope others will learn to do with this exercise....Thanks for sharing how you expanded the concept to help with other areas of personal difficulty.

To all,

Thanks for the appreciative words....Teaching is fun....I am glad you enjoy this exercise.....Learning some theory, technique, intonation, and timing doesn't have to be boring work......PF

Let me give you another expansion for the ears.......Try playing those notes over an E7th chord....That sound will help your ears adjust to a little disonance......All of the scale notes are what I call voice leading notes or tension/release tones. This simply means their sound needs to be resolved into the sound of another chord.

Paul

[George Kovolenko]

Thank you Paul.... Very much appreciated!!!

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Jim,

You did what I hope others will learn to do with this exercise....Thanks for sharing how you expanded the concept to help with other areas of personal difficulty.

Thanks most kindly, Paul. I have been having a blast with this exercise. I worked on it some more and started around 6 PM, then the next thing I knew, my eyes were drooping and I looked at the clock and found it was nearly 4 AM. It's been a very long time since I got so caught up in playing with an exercise that I lost all track of time.

To all,

Thanks for the appreciative words....Teaching is fun....I am glad you enjoy this exercise.....Learning some theory, technique, intonation, and timing doesn't have to be boring work......PF

Let me give you another expansion for the ears.......Try playing those notes over an E7th chord....That sound will help your ears adjust to a little dissonance......All of the scale notes are what I call voice leading notes or tension/release tones. This simply means their sound needs to be resolved into the sound of another chord.

Paul

Thank you so much for these lessons. I hope I did the expansion for the ears exercise correctly. I tried these over an E7th as suggested (I used my sampler for a continued 7th while playing the entire passage of notes against it) and what an interesting sensation it was to my ears. I don't know if my ears were perceiving correctly or not; through the entire passage I found myself instinctively wanting to resolve to a 4, but I played all the notes against the 7th despite the urge to alter the picking pattern. Was this the correct way to try that particular exercise?

[Randy Gilliam]

Thanks For the Free Lesson Paul , Randy Gilliam.

[Franklin]

Jim,

You performed the exercise correctly......Yes, the four chord, "A major" is a chord that resolves the sound of these notes.....Remember the notes are positioned together as an exercise for the purpose of training the eyes, ears, and hands......If you start hearing, as you have, the need to resolve notes, use that as another step of practice, but leave this exercise as it is to help maintain your technique.....I suggest practicing this exercise for five continuous minutes a day.....After that, try experimenting with resolving any part of its composition.

For instance here is an example of how I would take a snippet of the exercise to create a musical line........

This line is played over E7th resolving into A major. It uses the notes of the diminsh scale which is the part of the exercise that moves every three frets.

Play this line as eighth notes with the metronome. Because I am using the sound of the diminish scale, I am no longer limited to following the fret positions of the exercise. For the ease of playing the scale at any tempo, I chose to transpose those same notes into a different position for an easier resolve into the A major position at fret 5.

The strings at the fourth fret are the same as the notes found farther up the neck on strings 7 and 8 in the exercise. Fret 5 has the resolved notes of an "A" major chord. I chose to play the fifth and the root of an "A" major triad to cement the sound of the A chord.

At Fret (0) hit string 8, than string 7 / At fret (3) hit string 7, than string 8

At fret (4) hit string 7, than string 6, and again pick string 6 with the B pedal down, than pick string 5

At fret (5) pick string 5, than string 8 twice


For yet another twist play the line backwards....To start it out at the 5th fret This time you will ONLY strike the 8th string once.....Picking it once makes a better sounding descending line......By doing this move you are now resolving the same notes of the exercise from A major back to E major.....or from a 5 chord back to the 1 chord......I like the way those notes sound over both chords........Paul

[Franklin]

Double post edited........Paul

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Paul, thank you so much for all the knowledge you impart and share with us. I have my steel beside my computer desk and I'm working on the new exercise even now. I have a feeling this is going to be another one of those stay up until 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning sessions.

[Austin Tripp]

Mr. Franklin,

I'm trying to learn this excersise on C6th but can't really tell if I'm doing it right because of the different tuning. Although the notes, key, or strings isn't the same, would the fret positions still be the same? Just wondering. Thanks again for all of your help!!

Austin Tripp

[Franklin]

Austin,


Use the 5th string (G) note and the 4th string (A) note on the C6th neck.

The 5th string on C6th replaces the E9th's 8th string and the 4th replaces
the 7th string on the E9th.

All the fret positions remain the same. G is the drone note to play over. The theory behind this is also the same except its a G based augmented scale and a G based diminish scale........Hope that helps......You sure are playing soulful....I enjoy watching your musicianship grow with each passing year. Your devotion and hard work is paying off, big time.....Paul

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Paul, if I may, I'd just like to add one last note of sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude for these exercises. Sure enough, I was up until around almost 6 AM working on them and enjoying every minute of it ... these exercises are helping me in so very many ways ... not the least of which is the regaining of some dexterity in my hands. Somehow, these particular exercises are doing for my hands what simply running through some licks or songs has not been accomplishing.

The last humble effort I made with a song was a simple little YouTube thing of Blue Jade that I posted in the Steel On The Web section in December. I was actually having some dexterity problems when I played it and, since then with the colder weather, I lost a good bit of dexterity in my hands and have been shying away from playing actual songs because I simply had no control at all.

Working on your exercises has turned everything around for me. I got brave and ran through a few songs today and played them accurately and smoothly with a bare minimum of difficulty in my hands. I was amazed. This puts a completely new fire in me and I'll be continuing to work on these exercises regularly. My ability to play those songs today is something I attribute to your exercises and I owe you a depth of gratitude that I know I can never repay.

From the deepest well of my being, Thank You, Paul, for your post and these exercises.

[Don Drummer]

Thanks, Paul. Just what I needed. Don D.

[Ben Jones]

I am finding this excercise very difficult. so it must be a good one . that 4 8 12 kills me for some reason.

Im gonna record a 5 minute (1 bar of looped midi)drone track in my daw and export to itunes for easy access. maybe i will be an optimist and export it at a couple faster tempos too. Having it be exactly 5 minutes will force me to do the full 5 minutes, i hope.

I was using BIAB for the drone, but couldnt figure out how to ditch all the solos and extra instruments. DAW will just give me click and synth or whatever

maybe theres something even easier and more convenient i havent thought of tho? what are you guys doing for your drone backing tracks for this excercise?

[Steve Norman]

if you have a peterson tuner it may have drome notes on it for tuning, mine does, metronome as well.

[Ben Jones]

straight up to a boss tu2.

[Bob Hoffnar]

I made a practice cd of drones for students that works for me. There is ordering info on my website. I can ship on Feb 10 when I get home after this tour. I may be able to get them out sooner depending on my laptop skills. I'll donate whatever money I bring in past expenses to the forum.

[Dean Parks]

Although Paul says here to work on this at a slow tempo, when he demo'd this exercise for me at a session, he did it as 8th notes at about 160 bpm (meaning, with every click you're at a new fret).

What this exercise has done for me is this: at every fret change I go right to it and play... no "setting" the bar before picking, or sliding up to the note (unless I want to of course). "Real" steel players can do that ... play it almost as a keyboard instrument when they want. That's one thing that separates steel players from slide players, to me.

Thanks for the tips, Paul. You would have been a master at any instrument, and it's fun that you "picked" steel guitar!

-dean-

PS.. when I began, I bought one of Bob Hoffner's drone CD's ... very helpful!

[Franklin]

Dean,

Thanks for the kind words.....I hope to become as great a musician as you are someday,,,,That's not leg humping...Its a fact.....I can play it fast now because I have used that exercise for decades.....I have to challenge myself for accuracy....

Ben,

Yes, its hard.....Keep at it and over time your overall control of the lefthand will improve.....

Bob's drone notes are great to play over....Paul

[Mike Poholsky]

I've had Bobs Drone CD for awhile now. It drones chords as well as single notes. It is great for improving intonation in general. I can play a whole song to the I Chord drone. Since most all the other chords, in the song, are related to the I Chord, I can hear exactly where I should place the bar. Its been very helpful.

[Dave Ristrim]

Paul,
I learned this exercise from one of your talking tapes some 20 something years ago. It has helped me improve drastically. Of course, I forgot about it, and now will start doing the exercise again. I messed around with pedal steel for about 5 years before deciding to really take it seriously. At that point I bought 2 new pedal steels, a Mullen D12 and my Franklin D12. To get a jump start on improving my playing I bought several of your talk tapes. The pick blocking tape, which I believe this exercise is on, changed my life.
Thank you for sharing your insight on this wacky instrument. I can't wait to get home and start practicing again.
Dave