The Steel Guitar Forum

hi everyone

I just purchased my first lap steel to learn how to play.
not bad at 58 years old kinda slow
anyways i was wondering what the best tuning is it is a 6 string rogue.

Also where is the best place for instructional material.
just recieved georgeboards dvd not impressed
can anyone help an old vermonter

What style/s of music would you be wanting to play? Any particular steel players or bands you like?

i like country.
i cannot remember his name but he used to have what he called a talking steel guitar.

Most any country witha steel playing is good to me

If I may suggest, use a C6 tuning, it's the same intervals for the top 6 strings as the higher-pitched 8 string E6 tuning Don Helms used with Hank Williams Sr.. Also seems to be the most popular tuning with the great Hawaiian-style players here on the SGF.

DeWitt "Scotty" Scott's excellent book (with CD) "Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method" (Mel Bay) would be a fine place to start for a good grounding. Also helpful might be Cindy Cashdollar's "Learn to play Western Swing Steel Guitar" DVD (Homespun) and of course the Don Helms "Your Cheatin' Heart" song book/CD.

thanks alot for the info.

I knew there were people on here that could help me.

I really don't know many steel players in vt but i am sure there are a bunch of them.

any help is appreciated

i will check the info you said

I second Mark's suggested courses. You can't go wrong with any of those courses. The Cindy Cashdollar videos are played on an 8 string Fender Stringmaster but can easily be played on 6 string as well as the tuning is the same (C6).

Hi Leo, welcome to the forum!

To learn the basic techniques of non-pedal Steel Guitar - STEEL GUITAR BASICS DVD

To learn to play 12 songs with 130 how-to videos on 4 DVDs, a backup tracks CD and chord charts included - PIECES OF STEEL

You can see and hear samples from these 2 courses on my YouTube channel - http://youtube.com/rickalexander47


Then there's
TUFF FUN TAB - 12 songs tabbed out by the Legendary Herb Remington - includes CD with 2 versions of each song, 1 with Herb playing Steel and one with the rhythm track.

Hello Leo,

Here is the address & phone number of the PSGA in New York state. They can be helpful to you.
I am sure some of their members also play lap steel guitar.

Contact by mail:

The Pedal Steel Guitar Association Inc.
P. O. Box 20248
Floral Park, NY 11002-0248

Telephone:
516-616-9214

C6 is my favorite tuning but you may want to try A and E too. Those three tunings will probably cover 95% of anything you'll ever want to play.

Welcome Leo,from Alabama,happy picking,DYKBC.

Welcome, Leo. C6 does seem to be the most popular place to start. I can highly recommend Rick Alexanders' learning materials - particularly the Steel Guitar basics DVD, lots of close ups of all the basic techniques you will need regardless of the tuning you end up using.

Also check out Ron Whitfields' site for detailed description of the fundamentals, as taught to him by the great Jerry Byrd.

All the best Leo, just be patient with yourself and you will be steelin' in no time!

Well Leo, I just started myself at the age of 60! I've play guitar and piano for years. However, my mother at age 79 just sent me a month ago a national 6 stringer that she bought in 1954, she never learned how to play it and being she sent and gave it to me, guess I got to! I ordered Rick Alexander's matterial and GeorgeBoards material and being I got Georgeboards material first tunned to C6. However going through his material now for 3 or so weeks, I'm ready to change tuning to A6 and go through Ricks material. Both are very good! In the first week I had the major and minor chords down in C6. Very easy! cannot tell ya bout the A6 tuning yet but that will be next.


I'll also tell you that if you don't know tabs, start now and get to be able to read tabs a I am finding that most steel guitar players go by tabs. If you know nothing about tabs go to: http://www.zentao.com/guitar/tab/

or just do a search learning guitar tabs! that will get you several pages to look up and to learn. Very simple to learn the basics a little longer to be able to read and play

Dean from NY

Welcome to this great forum Leo
it's better than the county jail & the chain gang here

in case yer into the blues, you could try an open E tuning

from High to Low
--string 1 : E
* string 2 : B that you can tune up to C# (6th tone)*
--string 3 : G# that you can tune down to G (minor)
* string 4 : E that you can tune down to D ( dom7)*
--string 5 : B
--string 6 : E

* i like to use both of these, tuned to them changes

Hi Leo. As a fellow older beginner, I can identify with your remark about "kinda slow". I started on the dobro at age 50 about a year and a half ago -- with no previous musical experience and the learning seems painfully slow. It sure is gratifying when you actually get a new lick or phrase in a song though!

I really enjoy listening to Cindy Cashdollar play, but her teaching material moves too fast for an absolute beginner like me.

I found some great stuff from jaybuckey.com for the dobro but it's all in open G. He has alot of play along tracks in a lot of different tempo's.


I haven't seen the same kind of offerings for the steel anywhere -- the play along tracks all seem pretty fast.

Bill

Hi Leo,

I just put some short video clips on
Youtube that deal with beginner
right and left hand positioning,
blocking etc. you may find helpful.

I do custom lessons for C6 lap steel via email
as my time permits. I also have some
C6 Tab book with 20 songs and matching
CD. Check my Web Page Re: ClicTab below.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=steelinroy

All the best.

Here is a link to 62 different tunings used in Hawaiian music. Experiment.

http://dancingcat.com/skbook-tableofcontents.php

And here's another way to learn. I just signed up for Reece Anderson's no pedal lessons on this site. http://www.musictexasstyle.com/ They are beginner lessons so far, with more advanced installments coming in the future. I like Reece's approach to teaching. I'm 58 years old myself and decided to start learning my instrument from scratch all over again. I've been "noodling" for a few years and not really progressing. I see now that there are some essential basics that I didn't spend enough time on in the beginning. Mastering the basics before trying to learn a bunch of songs is the way to go. Good luck and have fun learning!

I joined steel guitarforum probaly a couple of weeks ago and i have this to say.

If the amout of talent that is on here was measured in money there would be enough money to pay off the
national debt with money left over.

GREAT SITE LOVE THE RESPONSES AND ADVICE FROM EVERYONE

Leo

You can't go wrong with learning materials from Rick
Alexander or Roy Thomson. Both have some great lessons. Rick's are mostly for A6, but if you use C6 with a 5 on top everything will transfer. You will just be in a different key. Billy

I'm in the same spot, Leo. I just bought my first lap steel a few weeks ago. I'm using the C6 tuning for 6-strings. I'm just a few years younger than you. I've written an arrangement of Wayfaring Stranger for C6. Check it out on my website at http://www.elite.net/mtc/steel.htm. I'm working on a gospel tune now. I'm joining a country band (we're still looking for a drummer).

Good Luck,

David Simenson

used C6 tuning on my 8 string. A,C,E,G,A,C,E,G.
works for me. picked up a lot of CDs from this form.
helped a lot with backup.