The Steel Guitar Forum

The Winnie Winston book or Crawfords Manual of Style , DeWitt Scott's Mel Bay books etc. are all great to learn from. They were all ground breaking tutorials in their day so keep learning from them..Paul's method with use some of that same info but with the help of video you won't have to guess if you're doing things properly, you will see it first hand.

I bought the course this morning. Started at the beginning and watched every course up to Speed picking and felt I pretty much understood and new most everything. I was starting to wonder if it was a wise purchase.
After dinner I continued and once he started on harmonizing the lights went on and I cannot wipe the grin off my face. I feel I have gotten my value from what I have learned today, and there is more to come!
Paul has a way of paring off the unnecessary and emphasizing what is important, much the way Reece Anderson did.
Aside from the brief time I spent with Reece, this is them best value I have received. Anybody thinking about it out there, my advice is don't wait, just buy it. Anybody with questions is welcome to message me.

I enrolled a few days again and have worked through the first few chapters .. which are intended for beginner students at the start explaining and reinforcing some critical habits and methods. Very comprehensive and I learned some things .. I have been doing wrong for a long time. I took a lot of notes.

The videos are well produced and stored on a website that allows you to progress at your own pace when you have time. The course inspires me to get back in the seat and continue learning. Can't wait to get to the later material.

Paul's teaching style is excellent with a mix of story telling, illustration, simplifying complex daunting topics and truly trying to make players comfortable with the instrument. You get the feeling he really wants to help you play better.

Paul, if you get round to reading this, I'm up to the intro to the franklin pedal 4. are you going to include Tab for some of these exercises, cos I can't quite see what you're playing?
Cheers. Great course so far.
Jason

Is anyone running this program from a tablet (android) platform? It will not run on my old XP laptop, so I am having to run it on my dedicated work laptop (win10) and go back and forth between it and my guitar. Thinking I might pick up a cheap tablet to use for the PFM.

I'm using it on an iPad, with no problems.
I realise thats not android, but it might be ok.

Hey Sonny,

I've ran it on my phone and iPad a lot and it works flawlessly.

JM

There is a pretty amazing deal going on right now at Woot.com (a subsidiary of Amazon.com). They are selling re-furb Kindle readers for $20 - $40. We have several Kindles in our family and they all work great using their Silk browser.

If you are looking for a low-profile, low-cost tablet that works with The Paul Franklin Method, it might be worth trying.

Woot Kindle Reader Blowout

The 8" Fire with 16GB is what I use.

You can also store pdfs on your Kindle. Here are a few ways to do that: How To Load PDFs On Kindle

You could even dedicate the Kindle to be your psg library/device for documents, TABs, mp3s, etc.

We are not affiliated in any way with Woot or Amazon, just fans of the Kindle, especially at that price.

John
The Paul Franklin Method Team

Hey John,,, THANKS!!! I was thinking about ordering a Fire 8 anyway,,,just pulled the trigger,,,maybe that will solve the problem,,,

Jason Lynch wrote:Paul, if you get round to reading this, I'm up to the intro to the franklin pedal 4. are you going to include Tab for some of these exercises, cos I can't quite see what you're playing?
Cheers. Great course so far.
Jason

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your great input! Sorry if its label is a bit confusing...This video was not meant to teach anything beyond the pros and cons of change placement for the more modern changes like the pedal 4.

A clear and concise pedal 4 lesson is coming..

Best,
Paul

Ah ok. That makes more sense. Thanks for the reply. This course has really given me the boost I needed. Cheers

Got Paul's course, and it's well worth the money.

Well I must say, that I was a bit apprehensive about signing up, but sign up I did when it first came out. Also I must say that it has opened a couple of (small) windows that I could not quite see thru.

I've sent in a couple of questions and the one I asked this morning regarding staying within the scale key when improvising was answered promptly and very thoroughly by Paul,,,very much appreciated!!!

Hi Paul

I have been playing for 10 years and started out pick blocking but taught myself to palm block as I was told I would be able to play faster that way, which I found I could. It took a long time to make the change over from pick to palm blocking.

My question is, if I sign up for your course, will I have to ditch the palm blocking? as I know that you exclusively use pick blocking.

Hi Paul

I have been playing for 10 years and started out pick blocking but taught myself to palm block as I was told I would be able to play faster that way, which I found I could. It took a long time to make the change over from pick to palm blocking.

My question is, if I sign up for your course, will I have to ditch the palm blocking? as I know that you exclusively use pick blocking.

This is NOT meant to be answer for the question above,,,just My observations of the program as it relates to "pick vs palm",,,,I have NOT seen anything that appears to "mandate" pick blocking,,,although there are some exercises for practicing pick blocking. There is sooooo much more to be gleaned from the course than "blocking". I think Paul had indicated somewhere before that when he first started he had a difficult time palm blocking as fast as he wanted to, so he gravitated rather by nature to pick blocking,,,,however, I have noticed that he does not pick block with the typical "flat handed" position that Joe Wright and Jaydee Maness use,,,but rather a more "peaked knuckle" shape that is more reminiscent of Newman and Emmons,,,a position that keeps the anterior of the hand in very close proximity to the strings. Although the fingers/picks are certainly in position to block, sometimes it is very difficult to tell what is actually "killing" the string.

This is just MY observation,,,not intended to be an answer for Paul

What Paul is trying to do with this course is give the student a road map to play whatever he is faced with. Understanding the importance of determining the melody and then how to harmonize that melody. Then too discover the options you have harmonizing that melody. To me I find it very helpful.
I have always been a little overwhelmed when I see over 40 G Major Chords on the fretboard of my S-12. As I have said before this is just what I needed, Just playing TAB does not get it for me. I want to understand the reasoning behind it. Am I wrong?

Hi Nick,

Thanks for considering the course.....Thanks to Sonny and Niels who answered you perfectly!..To affirm their words I don't advocate one technique over another. I only advocate that whichever technique is chosen the players should master the "art of blocking notes" from legato to staccato.

Paul

I consider myself a remedial intermediate player who has more to learn than I already know. So I signed up for the PF course and I started at the beginning.
A lot of the early material was very basic but still helped me to validate or adjust techniques I was using.
I am about a third of the way through now and it is getting richer and richer in content.
There is just no way I could have ever sat across from Paul Franklin and have him talk to me (it seems) about playing the PSG as he does in these videos. It is a great learning experience.
My advice: start from the beginning; take notes; download and print the available material as you go; repeat as necessary. When I finish, I will start and the beginning and go through it again.
Thank you Paul Franklin and Music Masters!

There is a button for a Free 7 lesson test drive...Anyone know how this actually works..i.e. no credit card needed.
Thanks

Mick--The test drive works as advertised. No credit needed. Just create an account and sign up for the test drive. (Although I recommend having your credit card on hand, because after the test drive you'll probably be buying the course. )

All I can say is, "me too."

I was a little skeptical, because I'm both old and ignorant (and poor), and there's still plenty of stuff I can learn on my own. I've been playing various things for well over half a century, and I've done my share of teaching. I'm even starting to get to where about 30% of what I'm playing sounds kind of like music.

On the other hand, I've gone through the free trial course, asked Paul about one thing, gotten a good, quick answer, and generally find that his ideas about teaching are very similar to my own.

In the end, I think it came down to what an old friend said, someone who's been associated with music in Austin since the days of the Armadillo. I asked him if he knew someone local who might be as good. He answered, "There may not be anyone anywhere as good."

So wish me luck! I'll see if this old dog can learn a new trick.

--Al Evans

I registered and am trying out the FREE Test drive...very cool..being able to slow it down and set up the resolution for your internet connection is great..Paul is a natural teacher with a great demeanor... give it a go..

Hey Mick, you must have better internet over on that island than I have here. Viya has been working some in my neighborhood. Right now I can't even get sound files to play with ATT (the only internet I can access right now) - no way video will work. But, when Viya wires me back in, COUNT ME IN! I'm pretty broke, but I have my priorities in order (rum, pedal steel, then everything else!).

,,well,,,is anyone else ANXIOUSLY awaiting the additional harmonized scale tab,,,and especially the "Backing a Singer" lessons that are,,,,"on the way",,,???