The Steel Guitar Forum

If I rest my right hand on the bridge, and partially on the strings my picks strike the strings about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch up from the pick up. My right hand can rest on the bridge, which is a fixed support. However, I don't really like the tone I get when doing so. I actually like to strike the strings a little further up. The tone is so much nicer when striking the strings further inward, and I cannot get my amp to replicate it. The problem is that I rest my palm on the strings, and I sometimes end up pushing the lower strings into the pick up making noise. I would like some sort of wrist pad, or something to support the right hand. I play a Sierra Crown U12.

'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'

I think it's better to float above the strings, you'll have much more control of all playing techniques - by resting your hand, or using some sort of 'anchor' finger you limit your physical movement options.


Chris Kennison

Not that my right hand technique is perfect - not by a long shot. But with that said - if I'm palm-blocking, my intended equilibrium position is "just" on the strings with pinky out - not "resting" on them - and I pull my palm up to let a note through and then choke it off with the palm when I think that is appropriate. Doing it this way, I don't think it matters where you block the strings - either back towards the bridge or further up the neck.

Sometimes I let a passage ring through more, and bring my hand a bit further up. I would also leave my hand further up when taking a pick blocking approach.

So to a large extent, I think this depends on how you block. But I think the important thing to control your hand, not let it control you. I'm workin' on it.

I don't rest my hand at all. I'm always moving when I'm playing. My hand moves less now that I pick block almost exclusively, but my #1 priority is to get in the proper position for the next notes.

......nowhere....recipe for bad technique IMO. Having said that, and since I do not have my axe in front of me, I believe somewhere around the 26th fret as I recall, is the optimum postition on the fretboard for the best tone overall. Obviously, as you move way up to the itty bitty skinny higher frets, physics dictate that you must move your picking hand further west

Fred, I have the exact same problem on my uni. Most single-neck pedal steels have enough ledge at the back for a wrist rest. I made my own with a strip of wood. It is 3/4" thick I think. It is about the height of the neck. Right now it is covered with duct tape (I know it's trashy, but it works). Someday I will get a regular pad made. Making it neck height allows you to rest the heel of your palm on it when using the low strings. Yet it doesn't get in the way when you are not resting on it. When playing on the high strings, I either rest on nothing, or maybe very lightly on the low strings. You have to find the right pickup height to allow that, but not lose low string volume. The low end of the pickup is a little lower than the high end. I probably compensate for that with amp settings.

Someone gave me some good advice that has freed me up tremendously and pulled me out of a bad slump. when the bar is down near the rollers I pick closer to the 12th fret, when the bar is near the 12th fret I pick closer to the changers (bridge). Somewhere between fret 25 and fret 15 depending on the tone I want. This way the tone is more uniform and less bitting. You are also closer to the position you would need for chimes. I also realized that on the c6 neck I do ring finger and knuckle blocking in addition to pick blocking. On the E9 I had developed a bad habit of muting strings 1 & 2 by anchoring my pinky to it. I now apply the ring finger knuckle thing to my e9 playing and after a few frustrating months my picking has gotten faster and WAY cleaner. So I hold my right hand as if I was holding a golf ball when I play,and move it back and forth as my bar moves back and forth along the neck.


Works well for me

I don't rest it except between songs. My right palm touches down to block the notes.

YMMV

R2

I, too, play a U-12. I tend to pick between the 20th and 24th frets. My palm just barely touches, but doesn't rest on, the 12th string.

Palm in-line with the pickups or slightly forward......

I rest my right hand not too far from the pickup.

Brett

I rest my right hand a few millimeters above the strings in front of the pickup--very restful.

On the guitar near the pick-up and bridge, I think that muscle memory for a hand suspended in space is asking for a little too much and probably reduces accuracy and speed.

I block with my palm for the most part. That is one reason I tend to rest my hand. Of course I lift to let the note(s) sustain. I think that the SD Lloyd Green style padded guitar is what I have in mind when I refer to "resting" the hand/wrist.

Pinky out on the upper strings, when I play low the pink moves down strings. I play with my palm forward of the pickup, I move it further forward (towards the roller nuts) when I want a softer sound. Without my pinky to give myself that muscle memory previously stated I found that I watch my right hand to much. Which is ok for chord work, but not so much on lead work. I don't want to have to watch my left and right hands

Personally, I think it's a matter of preference, I have seen a lot of pro-players play with "the claw", "the golf ball", "the karate chop", or any other weird name you can give it. If you don't like your "tone", try another style for a few months, personally, I like the "karate chop" + "golf ball" better than the "claw". But, I also subscribe to Jeff Newmans take on only using two fingers for most runs, I think I have better sound and control using Thumb and middle finger, but I have seen great players use their pointer finger with great skill.

I don't recall seeing many players play at the changer though... Would seem to give a very harsh (read picking sound) to your notes.

I agree Curtis. I seemed to have naturally settled into using my thumb and middle finger for practically all single note runs. The index is used for wider intervals among other things. David, that sounds like something I might look into. I'm not too far off from what you have described. I don't know if I've got the room for a pad, but I'm going to think about idea.

Here are a couple of shots of mine.

Fred, I think your question is really about where to pick. For most styles of music it would be somewhere around halfway between the 24th fret and the pickups. For a fatter (C6th) sound you would want to pick right around the 24th fret. Then there are the "specialty" picking techniques that are all over the neck (harmonics, racking, etc..). Is that what you were really wanting to know? Hope that helps. God Bles, Whip

The richest sound is obtained picking about an octave above the bar. Fortunately you don't have to be exactly an octave above, and the frets are very close together up in the second octave. So somewhere around the 18th fret seems to take care of the whole first octave. If you move the bar up into the second octave, you need to move your picking to the other side of the 24th fret. So the area between frets 18 and 26 are the general area. If you want some more bite, especially for the low strings, move closer to the changer.

David,did you have to make holes in the guitar for youre pad? I have a MSA classic that looks just like your`s and would like a pad.I don`t want to ruin the guitar.Great idea .

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Note that Edddy Alkire had a hand rest on his E-Harp steel guitars. That is me in the middle,our teacher standing in the back. 1955 I was 15 years old.Joe

Where I rest my hand depends on what sort of instrument I'm playing. On a lap steel with palm levers I rest my hand on the palm levers. Without palm levers I rest my hand behind the bridge. On pedal steel if I'm playing on the E9 neck I rest my arm on the C6 neck and my palm tends to float. On the C6 neck it tends to float.

What Basil said about

Where I rest my hand depends on what sort of instrument I'm playing. On a lap steel with palm levers I rest my hand on the palm levers. Without palm levers I rest my hand behind the bridge. On pedal steel if I'm playing on the E9 neck I rest my arm on the C6 neck and my palm tends to float. On the C6 neck it tends to float.

basilh wrote:On the guitar near the pick-up and bridge, I think that muscle memory for a hand suspended in space is asking for a little too much and probably reduces accuracy and speed.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I've noticed that when I'm forced to rest on palm levers I'm a lot more accurate. Maybe all steel guitars should have an optional palm rest.

David LeBlanc wrote:David,did you have to make holes in the guitar for youre pad? I have a MSA classic that looks just like your`s and would like a pad.I don`t want to ruin the guitar.Great idea .

I would never put holes in the guitar. The best solution is velcro patches stuck to the guitar and underside of the pad. You may need to remove the pad to fit in some cases. Also, on the new MSAs, you need to be able to remove the pad to swing out the little door for changing pickups. Double-sided tape can also work, but will have to be replaced periodically. Me, I just took a piece of duct tape and looped it back in reverse to make a closed circle with the sticky turned out. When you press that between the pad and the guitar it holds well. I use one at each end and one in the middle. But this is not as easy to remove as velcro. Also, duct tape might pull up some lacquer on a lacquer guitar.

I was told by the bigs to stay away from the bridge for better tone but then im blind in one eye and cant see both the bar and my right hand unless theyre kinder close together so it works out well..