The Steel Guitar Forum

IMHO something else that is important is to keep your right elbow tucked in, close to your body.

Jim Morris wrote:Here's a good you tube video that may help.by James Shelton
https://youtu.be/c5mfJyIxzLs

Definitely one of the better free instruction tubes, especially for entry level players.

One point of contention, though...

Mr. Shelton pretty much shoots to hell the notion of moving the picking hand across the strings like we mentioned, Jim. I put this in the same category as "anchoring" the right hand when playing guitar, which I avoid as much as possible, and so far I see no need to do it on steel.

What David said in response to Tim's difficulty should work for you too. Isolate your fingers instead of the thumb, though, and figure out from that exercise where your hand needs to be for picking first, then blocking. Then bring the thumb back in and see what damage you can do.

Yeah, I'm starting those kind of drills. My thumb is still pretty good from yrs of 6-string, but I & M never really played in this position so, they are weak.

That video was quite helpful, however Mr. Shelton looks like he's the perfect size and he's in the perfect sitting position to be able to pick block. If you look at his chair you'll notice that his shoulders, elbows and knees are aligned perfectly and he fits well under his instrument. I'm a taller guy so if I sit on a regular chair my knees require me to raise the steel and my elbows dip well below the height of the steel and below alignment of the top of the strings. If I add a couple of pillows to my chair then I can get my elbows at the same level his are at and I find that i'm able to use this technique better - or at least try it. With a standard chair, the reason my elbows go out away from my body is because I can't get my hand flat with a regular sized chair and then I roll my ring finger under to block with that. Just thought that might help some of you height-endowed people out there...

Adjustable height keyboard bench, $40-$70 at Guitar Center.
I'm 6'3 and there's no way I could get positioned properly in a standard chair. I have my bench adjusted at about 22".

Also have a 2" lift kit on the legs and pedal rods of my steel.

I have had a huge revelation regarding blocking - and it came from Mickey Adams.

He said, in a blocking tutorial, that blocking is something you just end up doing to make the music sound right, and if the music sounds right you must be effectively blocking.

So I have stopped concentrating on blocking and have begun concentrating on ending the note(s).

Yes, I practice my muscle memory every day but it is a lot different than using that memory when jamming to a track.

When jamming to a track, I find that the more I think about blocking the more it suffers.

Another thing that has helped is to think more in terms of permitting the note to sound by lifting your palm rather than deadening it by lowering the palm.

Since these two things have resonated with me I find myself progressing faster.

Landon Johnson wrote:blocking is something you just end up doing to make the music sound right, and if the music sounds right you must be effectively blocking.

I watched that same Mickey Adams video, probably about a year ago. As helpful and instructive as many of his videos are, that one did not really offer me a path. I was not getting it.

Palm blocking had to be broken down to very basic movements for me, as outlined in Dave Magram's instructions. I did the same thing with Joe Wright's pick blocking lessons. Now I am at the point Mickey talks about, just making the music sound right with whatever blocking works.

Fred Treece wrote:

Dave Magram wrote:Some pretty good advice here already.

If anyone wants a free, VERY detailed, step-by-step set of instructions and exercises to learn to improve their palm-blocking, check out this thread from 2011: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=200502

-Dave

Dave, I am pretty sure your instructional comment on that thread was the grail from which I partook about a year ago when I was just starting to play and had no idea about blocking. It is about time I thanked you for that, so...Thanks!

Hi Fred,

You're very welcome.
I'm glad you found those instructions helpful.
(And you can't beat the price.)

-Dave