The Steel Guitar Forum

Willie Sims wrote:IF I MAKE IT TO JULY 2 ,I WILL BE 95 YEAR'OLD.BEEN TRYING TO ,LEARN HOW TO PLAY STEEL GUITAR FOR ABOUT 75 OF THOSE YEARS.
MOST OF WHAT I LEARNED WAS ON THE BAND STAND,OR STAGE.THAT'S THE BEST PLACE TO LEARN.WHILE YOUR UNDER THE GUN,
EVERY BODY LEARN'S FROM PLAYING IN A GOOD BAND.

Willie,, God bless you my friend.. pushing 95 and still playing??? Wonderful!

The best teacher for any steel player is seat time among other good musicians.
Thats how I learned. The better I got, the better musicians I attracted.. Very simple- Water finds its own level.

all of them

Another mindset, is to approach it more like learning to play music on steel, rather than parroting a zillion potential country tunes.

If you can’t get a set list, just know how to play some simple intros, pads, fills , and turnarounds.

Learn the vocabulary of the band, and understand the number system. If you don’t know the tune (and even if you do) develop the ability to play with a brief description from a band member. As in “ it’s a 1 V 1 intro” , etc... instead of knowing a song, you’ll be able to play all the stuff you’ve never heard.

Yes, it’s nice to “know the song” , but even better to be able to play them all because you know how to play music. If you don’t know a tune, once it “goes around” once, you should have it, or at least try to develop that skill set.

Just a thought.
Let us know how it works for you, enjoy the journey.

While its an interesting thought, what songs should I learn ? The reality is it can take years, maybe decades to become familiar with "set lists " especially if we are playing with multiple bands over a couple of decades.

What Steve suggests above is perhaps more appropriate. OF course there are a couple of dozen songs every Country band plays but they have commonality. The other issue is, do all of those bands play those songs in the same key ? Probably not especially if they have a female vocalist.

A FEW STOCK KICKOFFS AND ENDINGS WILL GET us a very long way as we fumble thru a set list .

Jeff Newman used to say, whats the last line of the song ? thats your kickoff or turnaround. You have only a few seconds to hear it in your head and put it on the Steel. But you have to know the instrument.

That comes with seat time.

Additionally Jeff would say, we can float during the first verse, but thats when we learn the song progression. But again we have to know the Instrument and we really have to be paying attention because the 2nd verse and solo are coming up pretty soon .


Learning popular songs intros etc is a plus as many songs indeed have a very identifiable Steel Intro. This comes with time and seat time. If we can hear it in our head we should be able to put it on the Instrument at some point. Or at least something close.

Certain songs for sure , some are indeed very similar and its easy to play the wrong stock intro to the wrong song !

Farewell Party + Don't Close your Eyes for ex. I've kicked those off a few times for the wrong song ! A few band members noticed it, others did not ! A few times the Bass player/Singer would call Farewell Party I kicked off Don't Close Your Eyes and he just sang Don't Close Your Eyes. It happens. Sometimes like it was planned. He would give me the evil eye and I would look back like "Whats wrong "


Study a few famous songs, sure, but study the Instrument . If we concentrate ONLY on the intro or song we may miss what the Instrument is showing us.

Read Steves note above, again .Its excellent advice. The formula for MOST Country Music is very similar with some changes in "ORDER" . Thats what we need to hear and identify, I to II, 1 to IV, I to V ... etc. Once we hear the changes and can identify where they are on the Instrument, we are on our way to home free.

Oh yeah... IF there is a female singer, you better learn Satin Sheets , Crazy ( a music lesson by itself) and I Fall to Pieces ! Just a heads up...

But the good news is after playing around with half dozen bands over 10 or more years, it all becomes a big blur ! Its like ONE LONG SONG that you know like the back of your hand ! We rarely ask what song, we just wanna know "what key".

Add Girl From West Virginia to the list
Even though it was originally Doyl Lawson and Quick Silver Blue Grass Genres, Heard many country Genres versions of the song. About anywhere music is played in WV there will be requests for the song.