The Steel Guitar Forum

first let me just say that it caught me a little off guard for someone to ask me to humm a tune on the phone .also i am very timid . sonny was kinda rambling so a lot of time that we talk i was totally lost
thanks for hearing my side of it

before you start to practice you should do about 15 to 20 mins on scales . Im sorry but you need to know them all and how to use them with chords ,there are no short cuts. once you start to think this way it all starts to open up As paul F . says with knowledge technique will follow

who has the best book or video on scales

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Gary Phillips
D-10 8/5 Desert Rose Steel Guitar

Surely some one has an opinion.
KK

Calvin, the steel guitar is both a melody and a chord instrument. The most important thing to be able to do is to play a melody with harmony. Scales are simply a specific type of melody; and melodies, leads and fills frequently contain scale fragments. Also, melodies are made up of scale notes, so knowing the scale notes helps you guess where to go to find the melody notes, and also provides some ready made melody fragments.

There are two ways to play scales on a pedal steel. You can go across the neck, leaving the bar at one fret and getting the different scale notes on the different strings, levers and pedals. The neat thing about this is that once you have learned the scale at one fret, say the C scale at the C (8th) fret, you also know the scale at any other of the 12 frets of the chromatic scale. You just move your bar to the new fret, and play the same strings, levers and pedals as you did at the C fret.

The other way to play scales is to move the bar up the neck. But you want to be able to have lower or higher strings harmonize with the scale. Therefore, the simple way to do that is to go from one chord position to another as you go up or down the neck. On E9 there are three basic major chord types: with no pedals or levers, with the A and B pedals down, and with the A pedal and F lever. You should be able to play the I, IV, and V chords (C, F, and G, in the key of C) of any key with each of those string/pedal types. Now if you move up the neck playing a scale, each note of the scale will be at one of those types of chord. So knowing where those chords are will help you know where the scale frets are, and also will help you play harmony with the scale. In this sense, knowing scales and chord positions is all the same. Once you know how to do that with these major chords, you will find that the music will be a little richer if you use the relative minor (VIm) or IIm at some of the scale notes. The interval relationships for the scale notes doesn't change from key to key; however the relationship of the scale notes to the fret markers does. So you have to learn 12 different scales (or chord sets) by the fret markers to know this. However, you will do well if you just concentrate on learning the scale/chord frets for a few common keys. Starting with the key of C, then G, then maybe D, A, E and F. After you have learned a few keys well like this, it becomes somewhat intuitive to transpose those to another set of frets for a new key.

You can learn these scales and chords by ear without reading any tab or music, and many steelers have learned that way. If you don't have a well developed ear from previous music experience with another instrument, then you will need tab and/or written music to learn the scales and chords. Doug Jernigan's courses are particularly good, because they show both the tab and the written music together (perhaps other instructors materials do the same, but not all do). A hands on teacher will greatly facilitate and speed up this learning for you.

Good luck, it's a long roe to hoe, but a world of fun at the end of the roe.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by David Doggett on 02 September 2004 at 09:30 AM.]</p></FONT>

There is a lot of good advice on this post on the Forum.

I believe in Herb's "visualizing in your head thing".

I have done that very thing for years, I always played songs in my head,the chord positions, frets, etc.

Then when I sat down to the steel , the songs were much easier to play. It is sorta like a blueprint in your mind, then you sit down and follow the blueprint.

But It really helps to have a good well developed ear for music, especially on Steel Guitar.

I have known Keyboard players who could read and mechanically play good, who couldn't hum a tune or play one song without the music.

I'll bet they could never play a steel guitar.....LOL......al


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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 02 September 2004 at 10:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

A lot of VERY good ideas are already posted above. If you already know the C scale, then you might want to focus on just the key of C for awhile longer, then move on to another key/scale.

The notes of the C scale are CDEFGAB, with no sharps or flats. Try playing the notes of the scale on just one string. This is not really something you would use to improvise on, but it will help your ear, your technique, and your knowledge of the guitar--getting you to "see" the notes on the fretboard. If you're on an E9, it might make sense to start on one of the E strings. So, on string #8, at the 8th fret is C. D is at the 10 fret on that string, E at 12 fret, F at 13, G at 15, A at 17, B at 19 & C at 20. It sounds goofy, but it really, really helps to play this slowly and say the notes of the scale outloud while you're playing them. It helps it "sink in" more quickly. You can do the same thing going backwards, from fret 20 to 8, saying the notes outloud & playing the scale slowly. You can also do this scale on the 4th string at the same frets, because it's also an E string.

You could use the same 2 E strings & play the scale going "down" from the 8th fret, until you run out of room. C at the 8th fret, B at the 7th fret, A at the 5th, G at the 3rd, F at the 1st fret & E is the open string. It's not a full scale, but you're learning the fret board & always practicing technique & ear training.

Another thing that is more "musical" is learning arpeggios. For a C major chord, it's the 1st, 3rd & 5th notes of the scale, or CEG. It's really helpful to find this arpeggio in as many places as you can & play it. You'll begin to find patterns that you use to improvise. At the 8th fret, you can play string 8, 6, 5 for CEG, or 8, 6, 10 for another CEG, or 4, 3, 5 for another CEG, etc. All at the 8th fret position. A lot of licks & some songs are built around these arpeggios. It helps to be able to play the CEG arpeggio in any order (CEG, CGE, EGC, ECG, GCE, GEC), on any string, or any combination of strings. This is hard, but once you have it down, it's down pat. You just have to be able to find the C, E & G notes on all the strings.

You could either start playing arpeggios in one position (like at the 8th fret, above) or start with just one string & find arpeggios moving the bar up & down the neck:

string 1:
G is at 1st fret, C is at 6th, E is at 10.

string 2:
E is at 1st fret, G is at 4th, C is at 9th.

string 3:
C is at the 4th, E is at 8th, G is at 11th.

string 4:
G is at 3rd fret, C is at 8th, E is at 12.

string 5:
C is at 1st fret, E is at 5th, G is at 8.

string 6:
C is at the 4th, E is at 8th, G is at 11th.

string 7:
G is at 1st fret, C is at 6th, E is at 10.

string 8:
G is at 3rd fret, C is at 8th, E is at 12.

string 9:
E is at 2nd fret, G is at 5th, C is at 10.

string 10:
C is at 1st fret, E is at 5th, G is at 8.

Hopefully, I don't have any typos!

Just like before, I'd start by learning these arpeggios on the pairs strings that are tuned to the same note & learn those first. In other words, find CEG on strings 4 & 8 (E), 1 & 7(F#), 3 & 6(G#), 5 & 10(B). Besides learning the fretboard, improving technique & ear training, you'll notice patterns...like the 3rd (E) is always 4 frets above the 1st note (C); the 5th note (G) is always 3 frets above the 3rd (E), etc. It helps to play this on one string to find these patterns.

In general, I think scales & arpeggios help you learn the fretboard & help with your ear. You'll be able to "see" licks on the fretboard as you hear them on a CD/radio after awhile; or, you'll look down at your fretboard & see more possibilities for improvising.

And then you can add pedals & knee levers! You can never run out of things to try, that's what makes this instrument so much fun.

SK<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve Knight on 02 September 2004 at 12:09 PM.]</p></FONT>