The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi Tim

Blocking is definitely the hardest part for me so far after three weeks.

I've been concentrating on just holding my hands correctly, trying to get a decent, clean sound, and getting used to finger picks.

I may end up doing skype lessons too. I've been looking, and there do not seem to be many teachers or players here on Long Island.

Good thread - thanks.
Tommy.

Tim, it's not rocket science, it's just a desire to learn something new. Follow up with your desires, take advantage of the numerous helpful sources available, and practice/play until you begin to recognize the basics of playing.

If you do the above, you won't be very far behind any of us older players who learned without any help from anyone.

Gene... I'm serious, that is the best line of encouragement any player could offer a student or someone wanting to take up the steel guitar. Any instrument for that matter.

"It's not rocket science, it's just the desire to learn something new!"

From that I get, "If you have the desire and are willing to follow through with it, you will learn to play".

The players that plowed the field for us, did not have one tenth, maybe a hundredth of the resources available today, the very good player were most likely miles apart physically and there were fewer of them. They still learned and a very many of the excelled and were very innovative... Many of us older players are still trying to catch up. That's good, it gives us something to shoot for.

Blocking, it's not rocket science... It will come!

Tommy...It was the same around here as far as teachers go. I searched long and hard to find the 2 that I did. It didnt work out for reasons stated earlier and Skype has worked out great for me. Its alot easier to make schedules work out with Skype.

Gene...How anyone learned how to play the PSG before the internet or instructional books and videos is beyond me. My hat is off to anyone that learned the old school way because that took more patience and desire than I could ever dream of having.

I need to clarify one thing. I posted earlier in the thread that the way Im taking to learn is 18 lesson plans total. I was wrong...I asked yesterday and its 15. Dont know where I got the 18 from.

Here is a quick run down of where Ill be/what Ill know when the next lesson rolls around.
Four chord grips...names and postions of open and closed(A/B) chords..hearing and knowing intervals in a ascending scale...palm blocking chords and single notes..how to read and understand notes for timing...Songs (Good Night Ladies...2 ways to play)...Twinkle Steel (1 using chords and the other way that has alot of single notes blocks and is juiced up so its not just the basic melody being played)..Amazing Grace version 1...a generic intro that can start off many country songs...1/4/5 progression with/without/combination of pedals (there are a bunch)...finding my way up the fretboard without having to count out the frets after the 15th one. Probably missing a few odds and ends but this will give me a good enough idea for when I look back after lesson plans 4,5, and 6 to gauge myself on where I was and where Im at. Now am I perfect at everything?? NO. Some things I am good at...others will just need some more time and practice to get them where I need them to be.

Speaking of looking back...I rewatched my very 1st lesson I had with Joe Wright and I had a good laugh at myself. Here I was watching myself counting out the strings and flubbing my fingers around trying to play strings 3,4,5. Very funny stuff.

Ureka moment of the month...Im practicing learning the intervals on the steel. I pick strings 8 and 6 for the 1 to 3 interval. Then by accident I hit string 5. As soon as that happened my ears perked up like the dog when he knows he is going for a ride in the truck. It sounded so familiar. Plunked around for about 15 minutes and I was able to play the song...Michael row your boat ashore. That right there made my whole day.

Thats about it for this month.

Another month down and Im still chugging along.

Something happened this month that really impressed me about Prof Twang (have to call him that now because its at the point in the lessons where the twang is starting to be pulled out of the steel )

I was suppose to have a lesson on the 6th. I ended up getting sick and cancelling. Now Im not talking "Ive got the sniffles and maybe I can convince the wife to make me some sympathy cookies" kind of sick. Im talking do nothing but sleep for 4 days kind of sick.

After a week I was ready to get back in the seat again. At the last lesson I learned where the 1-4-5 chords were. I looked thru my printed material and saw that I was to play it against a backing track he had sent me. Seems easy enough. Well it wasnt. I dont know if I still had medicine head or what but for some reason I wasnt grasping how to do it.

At the end of each lesson Prof Twang always says that if I have any questions at all to either email or phone him. Ive never done it because I either work thru a problem or I figure it can wait till the next lesson. Not this time though. I emailed him and explained the problem (aka..brain fart) I was having. 2 hours later I get a email back with a audio attachment. He had actually sat down and made an audio recording for me explaining exactly what to do...how to do it...what to pay extra attention to..and he played a couple of examples to get me started. I listened to the audio file and then looked at the lesson plan and everything made sense.I am extremly impressed that he put the effort into doing that for me.

So I had my lesson last night. 1st up is to play the intro I learned. Ive played that thing at least 100 times. So what happens??? I fall flat on my face. No rhyme or reason to it. I get talked thru it and then its on to play a couple songs and play 1-4-5 with the backing track. Those went great without any problems. Then he showed me how to start getting the twang out. Then we went over chord conversions..major scales up and down and left to right...the hows and whys of right hand placement for getting to the next string and the song Joy to the world. Every song that he has had me learn is for a specific reason. It gets me working on what Im learning that month and have fun at the same time.

Next lesson..harmonized scales. If youve read this thread from the beginning you should be able to see a pattern appearing. Every lesson builds upon the previous one.

Ive learned that there are no hard and fast rules to playing. Take the 1-4-5 w/backing track for example. I was shown just enough to get me started. Then it was up to me to start experimenting on what to do and run everything together smoothly. A couple examples..mixing the 1/4,1/2 and fulls notes together...deciding whether to slide into the next chord or maybe just roll on the pedals to get it or just block completely and get the chord. I actually like that because it gets me thinking of let me try this or that and see what works and what dosent.

I have a Nashville 112 amp. All of my settings on it were from copying what others have theres set at because I had no clue on how to set it up. After a long search I ran across a post by a member here by the name of Lane Gray. He did a great job of explaining exactly how he goes about setting his amp. I followed the directions and it worked great. Its now set for what sounds good to me. Here is a copy of the directions he posted.


I don't recall where I got this from, but I STILL use this procedure if I'm fighting my tone and just decide to start all over.
Lows first: while picking the strings, run this up until the bottom end gets "boomy" and back it off a bit. Note: obviously an E9 only player can run more bass than a D-10 or universal player
Mids, the most crucial (put highs and presence at 12 o'clock for this step):
Since steel pickups have a strong peak around 800-900 Hz, we need to tame them here. Set the shift just above 800, then lower the level from 12 o'clock til the "honkiness" goes away. Then slowly move the shift knob one way, then the other. There'll be one point at which it sounds sweeter. Don't be surprised if you end up with around 6 dB cut at 800-850 Hz.
Highs and Presence: Presence is basically an ultra-high. I think of highs as adding "brightness" to the sound and Presence as putting a sharp edge on it. from 12 o'clock, raise the high til you have your brightness.
Picking up around the 15th or 17th fret, run the presence up til you have your edge.
At that point, you should be done and have the sound you like

Last thing for the month is I changed out my strings. The higher strings started sounding fuzzy. I oiled the brass rollers and checked my picking but it was still there so the strings got changed. Never did it before but I found a youtube video on how to do it so no problems. I went from nickle strings to steel. I like the sound better but there was a little bit of a learning curve on getting everything to quiet down. It seems that mistakes are alot more glaring with the steel strings. That took care of the fuzzy noise. I did a guesstimate and figure I had 150 hours on the old ones.

Thats about it..another month in the books.

And the train rolls on...

Started out the month trying to tune my second string to D/C#. Apparently I got a little to twist happy with the nylon piece and by the time the dust settled...the finger was jammed in and wouldnt come back out. Took awhile but I finally got everything freed up again but then I was missing my half stop. I couldnt feel it at all. Called up the Mullen Co to see what I could have messed up. They told me to follow the directions in the booklet that came with the steel and adjust the half stop. Did that and viola...the half stop returned. Dont know what went out of whack but everything works great again.

On to the lessons...Learned the harmonized scales vertically and lateral. Learned Joy to the World using the Harmonized scales. Tabbed out the lateral version. Then it was on the descending major scales..open...extended and extended A+B. Last but not least I started learning about the scale tones.

Now the Prof has told me for awile to start playing along with songs with what I have learned. I finally got up the nerve to try it and lets just say Im not packing my bags to head to Nashville for fame and fortune any time soon. The cleanest way I can describe it here is horrible. So the Prof spent the 1st 40 minutes of the last lesson breaking everything down even farther for me. He also explained what it means to play with emotion and how it fits into a song. Finally I got it. He showed me just enough to give me another kick start on what to do. It actually opened another "I wonder if this will sound good here " door for me. My inital problem was I was trying to match and play with the rythum player. I have no problems playing along with the 1/4/5 practice tracks and playing different things. Its when I went to a actual song CD I didnt apply a single thing. I just had it stuck in my head to play rythum.


Next lessons...Understanding chords as numbers, scale tones at open and A+B, different ways to play 7th chords, New positions for major chords using A pedal and F lever. A new song..Crazy Arms

As always...still having a blast learning.

Thats it till next month.

Hey Tim -

If what you're saying is that you're having a hard time making the transition from chords and rhythm to true lead instrument, that's where I am, too.

I started working more on scale exercises and trying to riff off the scale notes when playing along - waiting for a breakthrough... I do believe it will come if I keep at it. Still a long way to go...

I know that nearly all of it is going to come from my own practice and study, but it's good to read about another beginner's experiences here and talk about it just a little.

Cheers
Tommy

Tommy,

With me ..because Ive never played an instrument before...I went straight for the rythm and tried to play like a guitar. Once I had the lesson and asked questions it all made more sense and came together. Apparently thats a bad habit of mine...not asking questions. Will have to work on that.

So now Im just working on the basics...full chords..harmonized notes and every now and then trying to add single notes. The main thing for me now is when I find something I like... to not to keep playing it over and over again otherwise I would get stuck in a rut.

Take care

One important fact is missing from all of your posts, Tim.
How much time per day, per week or even between lessons do you spend practicing?
Since we are both taking the E9 101 course with Professor Twang and 'were' doing the same lessons, would you concur that about 4 to 5 hours per day gets spent on practice?
I have not put in more than an hour per day for the last month.
Living got in the way of practice.
I do have a picture for you, soon, my Corrola, an inverter, and my PSG set up in a forest for some practice time.
The inverter died shortly after the picture was taken.
OH, the smell of sizzling inverter wires was NOT a pleasant affair.

Hey Hans...its great to hear from you.
Hope your trip went good. Looking forward to seeing the picture.

I spend 1-2 hours a day 6 days a week sitting behind the steel practicing. Now when Im at work and have nothing to do I will just run different things thru my head. Usually its whatever Im working on for the lesson.

Take care

Tim Vandeville wrote: Its just the style of playing (type of music) he does and where I want to go are completely different.

Tim,

When anyone with the dream of becoming a great musician in any musical direction chooses to learn any type of instrument they must first learn how the instrument is played....To accomplish that feat the student must gain an understanding of how music is accomplished on the instrument. The best way to learn how the chords are found and to hear how they function is to learn songs that utilize chord theory. Single notes the same way....It does not matter if the student will ever play those songs live or not.

For what its worth.....I'll bet the first 50 or so songs I learned to play I never played in public...It was not my cup of tea..As I kid I was listening to mostly country and I loved some pop songs. I had a pretty narrow vision of what I wanted to learn.......And the songs or the music I loved was not what I started learning, thanks to a "great" teacher". Wanda told me I could teach myself how to play all of the songs I love once I learn how the instrument is played and where all the music is located...Wanda taught me songs like "I left my heart in San Francisco"... "Perdido".."Autumn in New York". ..."Hawaiian Sunset" ...etc..Instead of the songs I requested to learn...She was teaching me what was important to know....I believe there is no better tool to advance yourself at a fast rate than learning compositions like the standards that are rich in harmonic music theory. That gained knowledge became the priceless information I use daily on my musical journey.

That's my two cents.

Franklin,

I understand what you are saying and completely agree and believe it or not its exactly how Im being taught now. No song is learned without a specific reason behind it. I cant say I enjoy everything I have to play but I understand the who,whats and whys of having to learn it and know its a means to an end.

Here was my thinking on the quote you highlighted. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be all basics first. No problem there. I also knew what kind of music I ultimately wanted to play. It did not make sense to me to take lessons from someone who dosent really play country when thats where I want to eventually end up. I had short and long term goals when I started out. He probably could have helped me achieve the short term one (basics) but not the long term one (type of music). But me being me..I wanted someone that could do both....which is how I ultmately ended up with John McClung.

Take care

Tim,
If you have the music in you, you will sit down and listen to a song, and try your best to work out how to play it.

You seem to be travelling a 'painting by numbers' route, where one week you can do this, and by the next week you will be able to do that, and the week after that you should be able to combine this and that.

It don't work like that, buddy

You've got to feel it in your bones, the need to play pedal steel, much the same as the need to eat, sometimes to the exclusion of other things in your life.

Richard,
Just on the off chance that your serious about what you posted...I wouldnt follow your advice...or if I did my steel would have already been posted in the for sale section.

Before I go on let me know if Im correct. What I got out of your post is you dont think lessons are necessary, that if someone wants to play it..just sit down and work it out for yourself and the steel has to consume my life for me to get good.

Even though I dont agree with you..it is an interesting way of looking at things.

You are going to do just fine.

First off don’t write replies that are more than three or four sentences.

Folks have a very short attention span here and if it is longer they are afraid you might have slipped in something about music theory.

This would ruin their steel playing and most assuredly doom them to hell when they die..

Another quick question, Tim.
In part, because one of your original aims was to create something that future beginners could benefit from.
Therefore, you say you practice 1-2 hours six days a week.
Do you sit and do it all in one stretch or .....?
I personally play for varying lengths of time, all determined by mood, or aches, or frustration.
In the end its at least about an hour each day.

Hans,
For me also it all depends on my mood and how practicing going.
Ive had a couple of rare occasions where everything goes wrong and Ill pack it in after 15 minutes. Then Ill just come back to it later in the day and try again.
On a normal day Ill practice for an hour then get up and have a smoke or get something to drink and give my brain a rest. Then Ill start again and practice until I feel Ive done it enough. Usually Ill try to end on a high note....where Im finally able to do something better than last time.

You guys keep doing what you are doing. It will come. I’m very lucky, and I’ve had all the help I could ever ask for, from some of the best players around. What I’ve learned over the past few years is that it takes desire and determination. There is a quote on Mike Auldridge’s website that says it all for me, and something I repeatedly went back to every time I became discouraged, frustrated, and thought I could never , and would never get it. You’ll have to look it up if you are interested.

I can’t tell you the hours of frustration I spent trying to listen to a song, and pick out by ear, what they were doing, long before I was ready to do that. Even more frustrating, as a blind person, was sitting in at a jam, and having someone play something, then expect, because, apparently all blind people have perfect pitch, and a super sixth musical sense, that says once we hear it, we can play it, that I could just rip off whatever hot lick they had just shown me, or song they played, instantly, even if I’d never heard it before. Ha, if only it worked like that. It doesn’t, at least, it didn’t for me, especially in the beginning. Talk about frustrating, and making a person want to quit. For a while there I thought I was just stupid, and would never learn to play. Then a good friend gave me, what I think is some of the best advice I have ever gotten, and sent me on a whole new path. He said, basically, You can’t go to Texarkana if you don’t know where it is at, or how to get there. If I give you a road map, showing you how to get there, you can find your way. God bless him, and thank you Jan. That gave me a whole new attitude. Now, after learning where the chords are, and the scales, I can listen to a song, and, picking it out by ear is, oh, sooo, much easier. It still takes time, and practice, hours, and hours of practice.

Another really helpful bit of advice, he gave me, was to stop practicing until I was brain dead. I couldn’t let something go until I could do it perfectly, which rarely happens, bringing on more major frustration. Now I can tell when I’ve had enough. Sometimes it’s 30-45 minutes, and sometimes it is over an hour. If you don’t have hours to practice, even just 5 or 10 minutes of scales will go a long way and be worth it later. Soon, you’ll hear a song, and you will hear that scale, and know what it is, what they just did. Very cool.
I, once, asked, another friend and really excellent player, “ in frustration, after a couple of years of trying to play, “I thought, by now, I’d be better than this. Why can’t I play like you do?” He told me, “you can, when you’ve been playing as long as I have.” He’s been playing for about 50 years, or more. Uhm, hello. Lol Hang in there you guys. I’m no great player, just do it for fun, and because I love it, but if I can do it, so can you. great thread.

Yeah, it can be very easy to lose perspective. I mean, a lot of the steel sounds I like to hear from recordings, the player had 20 years of bar-time behind them. Why can't I do that (points out very tasty Mooney lick) after 9 months of practice in my living room?

Daniel Policarpo wrote:Yeah, it can be very easy to lose perspective. I mean, a lot of the steel sounds I like to hear from recordings, the player had 20 years of bar-time behind them. Why can't I do that (points out very tasty Mooney lick) after 9 months of practice in my living room?

Well, it's very likely you could...if you had someone to show you. but that's only one very tiny part of playing. We've all heard a tricky lick or move at one point, and become fizated on just playing just that one little lick or move.

Time for an update so grab a beer cause Im feeling kinda gabby. (insert beer clinking emoticons here).

This month it was how to play harmonized scales against 1-4-5..modified harmonized scales including 7th chords..and tabbing out When the Saints go Marching In melody in 2 note harmonized scales. Everything went pretty good. I swear my brain is full. Member Jana posted in the thread about practicing something over and over until your brain dead. Man can I ever relate to that. The last time it happened for me was when I was trying to learn 5 different ways to play 7th chords. I was doing so much and it didnt seem to be sinking in. One moment I would have it and the next I didnt. Got frustrated with it and moved on to something else in the lesson plan. A week later I figured I would give it another try and there they were...I was actually remembering them without all the stress. Sometimes a slight break is just what the doctor ordered. Now I can stress over other things.


As you know Ive been taking lesson via Skype. I get an audio recording sent to me after each lesson. Ive been noticing that when I was playing something back during a lesson the higher the notes the more the audio would cut out. It sounded horrible. I could hear Prof Twangs steel perfectly no matter what he was playing. I spent alot of time messing with the settings to no avail. So it was on to plan B. Thats right..Youtube. For a couple of lessons now Ive had the wife record me playing what I was suppose to learn in a lesson and then I upload it to Youtube. Now because I dont want the world to see it I put the setting on unlisted for the video. The only way anyone can see it is if they have the link. I send the link and copies of any tabs I was suppose to do to the Prof and he looks at it at his own leisure and we discuss it during the next lesson. Its actually been working out great because there are no cut outs on the audio with a video camera and he can let me know what angle to record it so he can see what he is looking for.

At the beginning I wanted to video record the Skype sessions because its easier for me to review instead of just audio. I tried a bunch of them but the audio and video wouldnt synch up. Yesterday I finally found one that worked great when I tested it. I used it during last nights lesson and it was perfect.

Here is the site from where I downloaded it. There are others but this is the one I used. Its free and I have no affiliation with it.
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dv ... -Skype.htm
A couple of notes if you do decide to download it.
After you hit download you go to another page that has the words Download real big. DO NOT click on them...they are not part of the download. I dont know what they do but I wasnt going to click on it to find out. My computer asked me at the bottom of the screen if I wanted to run or save program..I hit run.
Skype has to be turned off completely before downloading. That means logging out and then clicking on the small Skype icon on the bottom tool bar and clicking "quit". If Skype is not completely off the recorder will not recognise the video call. Ask me how I found out.
The next thing is the download will add crap to your computer if your not careful during the download. After the wizard is running a page will show up asking to add an add-on. Click decline. Then you will get to a page where it asks how you want it download and there are 2 options.. "Recommended" and the other says Advanced or something like that. Do not continue with the "Recommended" box checked. Click on the other one. The next page has 3 boxes in a row that you have to uncheck or you will get those add ons.
I did it this way and didnt have anything extra added to my computer.

My homework before the next lesson is to use the harmonized scales Ive learned with songs. Slowly at first..one section of the fret board each time and then start to try and tie things together. This is where the video recording will come in handy because Prof. Twang went thru some examples to get me started. Then its on to lesson plan 8. I asked him not to send it to me to early because I know me...I would open it up and start to work on things and slack on what Im suppose to be doing.

Thats it for this month.

It’s so cool when you’ve been trying and trying to play something, you just can’t get it, it’s driving you crazy with frustration, so you give it up, and a week or so later, you sit down, and like out of the blue, there it is. Talk about a high. Who needs alcohol or drugs when you have psg, dobro, or lap steel. Maybe that’s just me, but it’s a good feeling when you “get it”. For me, I usually do one of those knock it out of the park, dang that was good, kind of things when no one else is around to hear it, but me. Lol what the heck, still feels really good.

I hate recording myself. For me, it’s hard not to be too overly critical of my playing, singing, whatever. . I’ve been recorded, without my knowledge, the recording played back, and not recognized it was me, until they told me. Go figure?
I like the idea of being able to send what you’ve done to your instructor, then going over it. The best thing about some of the guys I play dobro with is that they aren’t afraid to tell me when something I played really stunk, I was off pitch, or it would have sounded better if I played a chord/note in another place. The same goes for psg, and the funny thing, after they show you, it’s usually a “duh” common sense, easier way to do it. Like someone said earlier, “It aint rocket science.”
If no one ever tells you you stink, constructively, of course, how are you supposed to ever improve? I'd rather be told the truth, go home and work on it, rather than have folks try to spare my feelings, allowing me to think I'm better than I am. Know what I mean?

Tim, I've been playing steel for thirteen years and there are some areas where I still feel like a new guy. You've chosen an amazing instrument...the steel guitar is an instrument that when you sit behind it and play it for the first time, you become amazed by how beautiful it is. We steel players don't do the contest thing where we'd say things like, "I can play faster than this guy"-we play because it's a wonderful instrument and we want to have fun with it. Don't worry about mistakes because all steel players, including the pros make mistakes too. Don't ever stop playing because the more you play, the more amazing your experience will be.

Really enjoy your thread. I've been playing about 3 years now.. at home and a few friends and even though my friends seem impressed I feel I still play way under par for a bar gig (my dad was the pro). He would always tell me it was an easy instrument to learn but a real B@#ch to master. Now I seem to understand what he was getting at. Sounds to me like your progressing really fine.. looking forward to more updates they help keep me inspired

Paul

Jana Lockaby wrote:It’s so cool when you’ve been trying and trying to play something, you just can’t get it, it’s driving you crazy with frustration, so you give it up, and a week or so later, you sit down, and like out of the blue, there it is.

This is how about 80% of my objectives are realized. Its uncanny how this happens with this instrument.