The Steel Guitar Forum

I feel that all of us newbie's need a place to ask questions and share frustrations in the quest to be the best steel player ever. Sometimes we feel our question may sound "stupid" or that the psg veterans wont take our question seriously enough and therefore fail to post. Having a thread devoted to newbie's will help promote the future of the psg. So, how is your progress? Are you stuck at a certain point in the learning curve? Do you practice daily? It'd be great to have the veterans of the psg chime in and encourage the new folks. Maybe they were stuck at an identical point and can shed some light on how they worked through it.

Great idea. I've had my Carter Starter for about a month. Right now I have the luxury of playing every day and I'm taking full advantage of it. I haven't bought any DVDs or books or anything. There's so many out there it's just way too hard to pick. I'm doing pretty good with the pedals and knee levers. I've got a little juke box going on Band in a Box and I can make it sound like a steel for the most part. I'm having more trouble with my right hand than anything. The whole palm/pick blocking thing is kind of a mystery. When I try to do any kind of single note lines with any speed at all they just all blur together. If anyone could point me to a good web page or maybe even a DVD that has some exercises it would help.

Rick

Rick... I'm right with you buddy. I've been playing for a couple months and have the same problems. I'd recommend the Bruce Bouton "Learn to Play Pedal Steel Guitar" DVD... he runs through the basics of just about everything you need to know starting out. He's got a couple blocking excercises and a few licks that I play daily. The licks actually make it sound like I know what I'm doing.

I have the Joe Wright "Secrets of the Right Hand" which he goes through some basic hand/eye and hand conditioning drills. I also have Joe's basic beginners DVD and also the Jeff Newman beginning course. I also have forum member Don Sulesky's "EZ E9th Course". I really like Don's rendition of Elvis's "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You". Wow! I can play through that, yes sir! I think progress comes incrementally. I have resolved to do daily practice: 20 min in the a.m. and 20 min in the p.m. And on weekends, a lot more. I have an Excel S10.

Here's a link to some "pick blocking" videos on YouTube. Click Here

Andy,

Those YouTube videos are great. Thanks.

Rick

Andy... good call. Sign up as a member on YouTube.... then subscribe to Mickey Adams' (singlpilot) videos. He's posted a TON of free informative stuff on there. A lot of it is geared toward beginners like us.

Thanks to Mickey for his invaluable videos.

There's another couple of web pages I've been getting a lot of mileage out of. Greg Cutshaw has three pages of tab with mp3 files so you can hear the lick and then try and play it. There's lots of intros and general licks. Thanks Greg.

http://www.gregcutshaw.com/

Then I've been trying to force myself to learn non-country stuff like Georgia and Angel Eyes, which I could never do without this page:

http://www.skobrien.com/ChordFinder/ChordFinder.asp

You click the E9 tuning (for most of us), make sure the copedent is correct and then save it. Then click the chord finder. It'll give you pretty much any chord you can imagine anywhere on the neck. And there are a ton chords on this thing.

Fellow steelers, don't overlook some good dvd material from Bobbe Seymour. He has some good learning material for all levels. I would emphasize just playing along with cd's and any chance you can to sit in with live musicians.

Hello Newbs! hehe....

Dont forget this amazing resource for tab and mp3 samples. The Rebel Ricky site.
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html

Mickey Adams stuff is great.
Greg Cutshaws stuff is great.
I'll second the Bouton dvd.

Best instruction of all? the bandstand. its never too early and your never too much of a beginner to go for it IMHO.

Man, I'm gonna be busy. Somebody tell my wife I'll see her in a few months.

more like a few years Rick...
man you could spend a lifetime working on this hillbilly harp...I certainly intend to

I'll second the bandstand idea. Join a band or at least offer to sit in the first chance you get. It'll force you to learn things you wouldn't necessarily think of while just twiddling around at home.

My advice though.... don't sit in between the drummer and the guitarists rig.

A cymbal in your left ear and 4x12's in your right is sure fire way to not be able to hear your own rig or anything in general for a few days.

Bobbe Seymour also has some excellent YouTube videos to learn from. Here's one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3iRMEzOZI Shoot, sometimes I like to just listen to these guys play.

Here is a thing I did for new guys a while back:
http://www.bobhoffnar.net/danny.html

along with gregg cutshaw's tabs , mickey adam's and bobbe seymour's you tube things ,i also watch the tab section of the forum for posts from dick sexton and frank freniere - they post good stuff from simple/beginner on up - and the ricky davis rebel site is a wealth of classic steel

thanks for this thread. I'm gonna get alot of mileage out of it too! This is great stuff.

hey guys & gals i forgot rick kornacker! http://www.steppingstonemusic.com/ he has some great tabs and instruction too - and he is also a very nice man to deal with - check his site! NEWBIE POWER!!

Great post On my 4th year(realy 2-3 years cause of a back problem). All the links you guy`s mention are great. For those who want to buy courses, the JEFF NEWMAN materials can`t be beat. Keep`m coming.

Another pure newbie question. Does everyone reccomend starting on these Carter Starter guitars? I can play dobro and lap decently, but want to get into pedal, but not sure if I should start with a nice used student GFI, or something, or go with a good condition Carter Starter. Not sure about maintainence of used/older pedal steels. Old guitars are easy, but not sure if it's better to start on a newer student model or get a cool older student model.

Thanks for all the help!

Ben

the GFI is a much better student steel
i have had a carter starter in the past and just last weekend i had the chance to play the GFI
no comparision.... the GFI wins

another great student steel is the Zum stage one

Ben-why do you think you have to get a starter guitar? If you're already playing dobro and lap, you have a decent head start. My advice is to look through the For Sale section for a cheap pro model you won't outgrow in a couple months. That's what worked for me, anyway. But there are lots of starter models out there, of good quality, if that's the route you want to go. There was a thread a while ago about which ones people thought were the best; maybe you could do a search.

I've been playing for about 6 months or so and I'm kinda at the place where I say, 'Now what?" I can do the chords and changes, so I guess the next thing is licks and runs, but where do you start with that? I've got Jeff Newman's 30 Intros book, but I have a hard time playing something when I don't know what its supposed to sound like. I also have Newman's Honky Tonk Heroes cd, but once again I can't do anything really but play the chords.

I had a Carter Starter when I first started out 2 months ago. I liked it until it started making a bacon sizzling noise. I sent it back to Musicians Friend right under the 45 warranty mark for a refund.

The next week I ordered a GFI SM-10 3/4 from Scotty's. For the money, it can't be beat. The GFI changer system is built much more solid. Plus it has 2 raises and 2 lowers on the right knee levers as opposed to the Carters 1 per right knee.

The Carter is still a decent steel... it stays in tune and does just about everything you want it to minus the extra raise and lower on the right knees.

Hey,

Thanks guys. Chris, I think you answered my question with your question and that’s why I was asking. I don’t want to grow out of a pedal right away and like the looks (most important part right?) of the other, older models. My right and left hand technique is super solid so it’s all about learning the knees and pedals. My price range is around $1000 so I do have some options. I guess my biggest question was maintenance of an older model versus a newer model. There’s a lot more going on with pedal steels construction-wise.