The Steel Guitar Forum

Nevermins how well you can play any other instrument, the steel makes us all eat humble-pie. And it takes quite a while to eat just a small slice.

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<img align=left src="http://home.telkomsa.net/peterden/al%20saut/images/nightmarefront85.jpg" border="0"><FONT face="arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#003388">Nic du Toit</font>
<B><I><font face="arial" size=1>1970 Rosewood P/P Emmons D10 Fatback 8x4
1980 Basket Weave P/P Emmons SD10 3x5
Peavey Session 500 unmodfied
My CD "Nightmare on Emmons Steel"</font></I></B>
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If you expect results in three days, the PSG is not for you.

Nothing wrong with that. Just be sure, because thirty years from now you might decide you still love the sound so much that you will finally take it up.

Then you'l be kicking yourself for missing out on thirty years of fun, frustration, and progress.

Realistically, I feel a new player needs to be able to devote two hours a day to just learn the physical aspects.

*<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 13 November 2005 at 01:01 PM.]</p></FONT>

The first pedal steel guitar I ever touched was a single 10 Shobud with one knee lever which lowered one string, the high E and three floor pedals. I asked the owner how you used the knee lever. He said he never used it and he thought it got you a seventh or something. With his permission I sat down and was messing around with the pedals and the knee lever and he said what did you just do. I said I rolled off the first two pedals and pressed the knee lever. He said do it again. So I did.
To make a long story short which is already too late, me, who had never sat down to a pedal steel guitar, taught something to a fellow who had been playing for years. A friend once told me no matter how bad or good a musician is you can most always learn something from them. Keep practicing. You will get it. P. S. I saw on the fiddle also.

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1969 ZB Custom D10, BMI S10, 1981 Peavy Musician Mark III, 15 Inch Black Widow, custom enclosure
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Lyle Clary on 27 June 2005 at 05:47 PM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Lyle Clary on 27 June 2005 at 05:50 PM.]</p></FONT>

If you really feel you should give it up, understanding that even the best players concede it is an extremely difficult instrument to play, maybe you should go ahead and move on. It does take a certain resolve, and you have nothing to prove. Why make life more difficult than you have to?

If you really wanted to play the pedal steel, my guess is you wouldn't be close to quitting after only three days.

I've been playing it something over four years now, after playing regular guitar for over 30. The steel is extremely rewarding, even though I'm still not much of a player. Did my expectations come up against reality at a certain point? You bet.

Jeff

Ganey,

Maybe you should just buy a nice pedal steel guitar for your 1-year old son. He will love you for it.

<SMALL>Three days was enough for me to realize . . .</SMALL>

that I might have made a terrible mistake trying to get back into steel after a ten year absense, despite that I now had the guitar of my dreams (LDG). Talk about painful!

After almost a year now, when I put the bar down, my thoughts range from "I knew I could do this," to "what the hell am I missing," and somehow I think it will always be this way!

I'm assuming you have played guitar for a while now.

Can I ask how virtuosic you were after three days of playing six string?

I know when I played piano, I was miserable after a year, I was a lousy saxophone player after a year, I was a lousy steel player after a year.

Is anyone's experience any different? Some things are easier, some are harder, but to get some basis of some kind will always take a while. Be patient with yourself, or just realize that you are never going to have the time to play another instrument you don't already know how to play. It ain't just about the steel guitar.

Hi Ganey

Your topic is amusing, "I am not the Enemy" sorta reminds me of that young man in the film " Almost Famous" who portrayed a music critic following a band called "Sweetwater" and defiantly stating to his love interest " I am the enemy" anyway slight topic drift here but I thought I'd throw my 2cents in and suggest you learn the basics first and probably most important is to make sure the steel you are trying to learn is fully functional with all the raises and lowers working 100%, then get your tuning in order, then practice your chord grips usually strings 3-4-5 or 4-5-6 etc and get your bar and finger picks and start at the 3rd fret (G)(on the line) then depress pedals A&B and you will get a C, keep pedals down-move up 2 frets and you will have a D then go backwards to your root and you will be at G, this is basically the essence of the 1-4-5 chord position that every beginner must start with. There a simple lesson and direction that will have you playing 3 chords which you will need to repeat over and over to get a smooth sounding transition. Hope this helps also keep in mind a good steel teacher in your area really puts things in perspective. Don't give up dude, if you wanna get that sound you gotta pay your dues first!

Cheers,

Bronco Billy aka Billy Woo
Zumsteel U-12

Perhaps that which makes the pedal steel guitar so attractive is that there are so many ways to get from here to there. Perhaps what makes the steel guitar so frustrating is that there are so many place for here and there to be.