Stefan, watch my videos on YouTube. there are many that, although live, are just shots of the steel left and right hands. Done for this very purpose.
Good examples of lifting the bar, pick blocking and also 'pen position' playing. in this one:-->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9NvfOjM9Xg
And all my 150+ videos are here --->
https://www.youtube.com/user/basilhenriques
Some have good examples volume swell effect (Violining) as well as "Split Slants"
Bar Control Tips
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
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David Mason
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: 6 Oct 2001 12:01 am
- Location: Cambridge, MD, USA
I have all SORTS of stuff, including some 1.125" and 1.25" UN-filled homemade delrin, all sort of very hollow steel bars, I like double-ended bars because all those x-shaped intersecting forward-and-back slants get me backwards. I'm trying to find somebody to make a bar that's a cross between a bullet & a Shubb-Pearse SP2. I have somewhere north of 100 steel guitar and guitar slides, probably half homemade; I'm beginning to think it's gone a bit beyond "need" at this point. 
And 5-6 oz. is the bomb, I do like to move the bar (non-pedal). Mebbe one-third here?:
(notice fierce jungle fingerpick hunter on the prowl?)
Honestly, I can do 87.5% of my playing with a dumb ol'bullethead. I don't think "PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!!" with a bullet is gonna help if WHAT you're practicing is dropping the bar, playing out of tune and getting mad. You already KNOW that, you don't need to practice that anymore. Fixing this is more just a single MENTAL DECISION, and that is:
THE STRINGS ARE HOLDING THE BAR JUST FINE IN ONE DIMENSION. Try putting the bar on the strings and then let it roll around inside of a CAGE made by your thumb, index and middle fingers. Don't GRAB it or even hold it. What you are seeing is that the STRINGS HOLD IT UP just fine. That vector is COVERED, all you're in charge of is side-to-side, and back-to-front. Take the tip of your index finger and apply a LITTLE bit of pressure until notes sound clean. THAT'S ALL THE PRESSURE NEEDED. You can even take your thumb OUTTA THERE until it learns some manners; i.e. next exercise: rest your middle finger on the bar, guide it on the sides with your index and ring fingers. You don't even NEED your thumb! Except, when you pick it up. Don't pick it up for a day or two until your fingers learn what's NOT needed - i.e., white-knuckle death grip.
And 5-6 oz. is the bomb, I do like to move the bar (non-pedal). Mebbe one-third here?:
(notice fierce jungle fingerpick hunter on the prowl?)
Honestly, I can do 87.5% of my playing with a dumb ol'bullethead. I don't think "PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!!" with a bullet is gonna help if WHAT you're practicing is dropping the bar, playing out of tune and getting mad. You already KNOW that, you don't need to practice that anymore. Fixing this is more just a single MENTAL DECISION, and that is:
THE STRINGS ARE HOLDING THE BAR JUST FINE IN ONE DIMENSION. Try putting the bar on the strings and then let it roll around inside of a CAGE made by your thumb, index and middle fingers. Don't GRAB it or even hold it. What you are seeing is that the STRINGS HOLD IT UP just fine. That vector is COVERED, all you're in charge of is side-to-side, and back-to-front. Take the tip of your index finger and apply a LITTLE bit of pressure until notes sound clean. THAT'S ALL THE PRESSURE NEEDED. You can even take your thumb OUTTA THERE until it learns some manners; i.e. next exercise: rest your middle finger on the bar, guide it on the sides with your index and ring fingers. You don't even NEED your thumb! Except, when you pick it up. Don't pick it up for a day or two until your fingers learn what's NOT needed - i.e., white-knuckle death grip.
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Nathan Laudenbach
- Posts: 180
- Joined: 29 Oct 2015 9:39 pm
- Location: Montana
Before I try to give any advice to anyone who is probably a better steel player than myself, let me say that I am an amateur all the way. However I have always had a knack for controlling the bar, and a lot of unwanted string noise can be eradicated with proper palm blocking technique with the right hand.
Steel guitar playing is a free fall down the rabbit hole for sure.
Steel guitar playing is a free fall down the rabbit hole for sure.
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Stefan Robertson
- Posts: 1846
- Joined: 24 Nov 2013 9:34 am
- Location: Hertfordshire, UK
- Contact:
Too true. I'm actually starting to get the hang of the bar. So I have been practicing not wiping my palms to get comfortable with sweaty palms.THE STRINGS ARE HOLDING THE BAR JUST FINE IN ONE DIMENSION. Try putting the bar on the strings and then let it roll around inside of a CAGE made by your thumb, index and middle fingers. Don't GRAB it or even hold it. What you are seeing is that the STRINGS HOLD IT UP just fine. That vector is COVERED, all you're in charge of is side-to-side, and back-to-front. Take the tip of your index finger and apply a LITTLE bit of pressure until notes sound clean. THAT'S ALL THE PRESSURE NEEDED. You can even take your thumb OUTTA THERE until it learns some manners; i.e. next exercise: rest your middle finger on the bar, guide it on the sides with your index and ring fingers. You don't even NEED your thumb! Except, when you pick it up. Don't pick it up for a day or two until your fingers learn what's NOT needed - i.e., white-knuckle death grip
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist"
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist"
I grew up in western Oklahoma, and played many hot, sweaty dance halls in the summer. I used a chunk of Alum from the drug store to help keep my hands DRY. The sweat get on the strings and causes bar drag, and the strings get sticky, plus go dead quicker.
Keep your hands dry, and strings clean is my recommendation.
(when we could get them, I would buy a Blitz cloth from a local Army surplus store. Wipe the strings top and bottom, followed by dry cloth to remove the excess oil.)
Thanx,
Jim
Keep your hands dry, and strings clean is my recommendation.
(when we could get them, I would buy a Blitz cloth from a local Army surplus store. Wipe the strings top and bottom, followed by dry cloth to remove the excess oil.)
Thanx,
Jim
I grew up in western Oklahoma, and played many hot, sweaty dance halls in the summer. I used a chunk of Alum from the drug store to help keep my hands DRY. The sweat get on the strings and causes bar drag, and the strings get sticky, plus go dead quicker.
Keep your hands dry, and strings clean is my recommendation.
(when we could get them, I would buy a Blitz cloth from a local Army surplus store. Wipe the strings top and bottom, followed by dry cloth to remove the excess oil.)
Thanx,
Jim
Keep your hands dry, and strings clean is my recommendation.
(when we could get them, I would buy a Blitz cloth from a local Army surplus store. Wipe the strings top and bottom, followed by dry cloth to remove the excess oil.)
Thanx,
Jim
