The Steel Guitar Forum

I am getting frustrated tring to learn on my own without any books, DVD's, or CD's.
There are so many packages out what do you players recomend I start with. I am a pretty good 6 string player so I have the ear and all but some help would be nice. This is a hard instrument to master.

Your help will be appreciated...Thanks

You will get a wide variety of responses on this one because everyone is different and has had different experiences. That said the ones I found very helpful (and affordable) were:
Bruce Boutons DVD-excellent for beginners
Winnie Winstons book w/CD-covers the most essential basics, some theory and does it all in a very intelligent way.
Mickey Adams youtube stuff-the man just has a nack not only for playing but for showing YOU how to play.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query ... arch_type=
The Rebel Ricky site-tons of mp3's and tabs, a priceless resource
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
Go to the tabs section of this forum and look for Greg Cutshaws stuff-tasty and very useful indeed.
I think our noble leader bOb does a good job of explaning basic E9th theory in a way you can understand and digest here:
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/e9theory.htm

hope that helps some.

You may also want to try:

http://www.jeffran.com/index.php

or

http://www.pedalsteel.com/


I believe both are good and cover from beginner to advanced. Hope this helps

Frankie:

The Winnie Winston book & CD is a good start. Also, go to the instruction tab of this forum and check out the Herby Wallace material. Herby is an excellent instructor and his material is top notch. His "An Approach to the E9th Tuning" is an excellent place to start.

I think Billy Coopers are the best right now the are very modern and very current, you get a cd with the song and tracks it really gives you an idea.

In as much as you're no stranger to music, I'd also look into Reece Anderson's "Missing Link" course. There' a ton of information to get you moving smoothly through the major and minor chords. You'll also come to understand and appreciate the number system and how it relates to the steel guitar.

reece@msapedalsteels.com

I went to Jeff Newman's week long school back in the early 80's. Scotty walked in with a just released copy of, "Mel Bay's Anthology of Pedal Steel Guitar". Jeff thumbed through the book and was floored by the contents. He couldn't get over how much was packed into that one course. Based on those comments I bought a copy. I can honestly say that if any beginner student can get a copy of this and learn it from front to back, it would go a long way to taking you from a beginner level to intermediate/advanced level.

At the recent Dallas show, I told Mary Scott how much that one book taught me and that I was sorry to find out it had been taken out of print. She told me it will be back on the market before long. I forget the exact timetable of its re-release, but it is definitely one of the best educational investments I ever made......along with attending Jeff Newman's college. Jeff didn't just teach licks, he taught you how to teach yourself licks. There's a big difference.

Joe Rogers

Yeah, DeWitt Scott´s books are great. I´m just wondering are there any tab books for C6 which have standard notation above tabs. It would be easy to follow.

...don't forget the new one of mel bay:
'anyone can play pedal steel' with rob haines! i think it is as excellent as the one of bruce bouton!

Bobbe Seymour's material is well worth a check, and like Mickey Adams, Bobbe has posted some useful stuff for the novice on YouTube.

Thanks for all the responses and the great info.

Frankie:

Forgot to mention Dick Meis courses. He has one that is called "Uptown Country Pedal Steel" which I believe is targeted towards the 6 string guitar player getting into pedal steel.

Dick's web page is www.pedalsteelguitar.net

Dick is also a great 6 string guitar player as well as Pedal Steel Player/Instructor. Great person to work with and his wife is one great singer.

Frankie,
There is so much stuff out there. I will assume you want to start out learning the basics of backup pedal steel guitar. This is IMHO the best one to get you started learning meat you can eat and use. Here is Scotty's site:
http://www.scottysmusic.com/scotymb01.htm

And here is a description of the course:
Mel Bay's Back Up Pedal Steel Guitar * E9th

This course has notes as well as tablature. The tune, "Someday I'd Like To Play The Steel Guitar" is four times through-four different ways! Plus Wabash Cannon Ball, Scotty's Blues, Great Speckled Bird and Amazing Grace. Stereo CD with the Steel on one track and the band on the other track. Scotty has a unique way of presenting each run and there are 103 of them! Tab and Rhythm Track CD

Item #I00300 $20.00

This is the first course I learned on and it made a big difference.

Dan