The Steel Guitar Forum

New 81 page instruction book is just out by Maui's Henry Allen. Comes with a CD. Book has 11 songs in tab. Borders price here in Hawaii is $22.95

Mutual Publishing

email: info@mutualpublishing.com
www.mutualpublishing.com
Ph: (808) 732-1709

Any opinion on it Derrick?

Sorry, I couldn't find it. Last I heard Mr. Allen was using Jerry Byrd's C6/A7 8 string tuning. Is that what's used in the book?

http://www.mutualpublishing.com/bookinf ... bookID=444

I ordered one today. The last copy Amazon had in stock. They will be getting more. I'll let you know more about the contents once it arrives.

Thanks. I am interested.

Hi Bill,

The tabs are all done for a 6 string steel guitar in the C13 tuning. E C A G E Bb

What was disappointing was the use of a digital piano for the audio CD tracks instead of the steel guitar.

The book BRIEFLY goes over:

THE HISTORY OF THE STEEL GUITAR
HOW TO BUY A STEEL GUITAR
TUNING THE STEEL GUITAR
STEEL GUITAR BAR AND PICKS
WHERE TO FIND A STEEL GUITAR
MUSICIAL TERMINOLOGY
BASIC MUSIC THEORY
HOW TO READ TABLATURE
HARMONICS
CHORD STRUCTURES
SCALES
HARMONY
VAMPS

The book IMHO, is basically an introduction for the beginning student. [/i][/b]

Received my copy purchased from Amazon. Because lap steel instruction books (and especially Hawaiian lap steel instruction books) are scarce on the market, I try to support those authors that put the effort into publishing.

Here's the song list in the TAB section:

Steel on Blues
Mauna Kea
Maile Lei
Pupu O 'Ewa (Pearly Shells of 'Ewa)
'Imi Au Ia 'Oe (King's Serenade)
Across the Sea
Wahiika'ahu'ula
Aloha 'Oe
Huahine 'E
Aloha from Hawaii
Kalele

The book is written in very simple straight forward terms. All in all, enjoyed the book. Was surprised by the digital piano TAB performances as Derrick mentioned. However, it makes you want to get to the lap steel and see how they sound on a real instrument.

Being just slightly past the beginner's stage, I think I would prefer to find some Authentic Hawiian music, which could be a tough task in and by itself; and try to learn to play it on my own familiar tunings also!

If you are past the beginning stage I'd say that these chapters which comprise what looks like 65% of the book are of little use.

THE HISTORY OF THE STEEL GUITAR
HOW TO BUY A STEEL GUITAR
TUNING THE STEEL GUITAR
STEEL GUITAR BAR AND PICKS
WHERE TO FIND A STEEL GUITAR
MUSICIAL TERMINOLOGY
BASIC MUSIC THEORY
HOW TO READ TABLATURE

My previous statement was with tongue-in-cheek! Actually, I've been playing steel-guitar since 1948!

Compared to Jerry Byrd's comprehensive book, Allen's is merely Dick and Jane.

But JB's book is VERY outdated in terms of graphics.

And his definition and demonstration of his famed 'Ptah' technique is not so hot. Even when he demos this technique on the poorly produced accompanying video it's hard to figure out just how he achieves this very important technique and sound.

Sorry to criticize someone who can't defend themselves.

No, those are very valid points that I've quibbled with as well. But overall, it's still tops.
Even sitting with Jerry at P'Tah time, it took some effort and trial & error to 'get it' just right.