The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi All,

Could do with a bit of advice regarding practice, ie what i should be concentrating on.

I've been noodling around for about a year or so, i get kind of frustrated though because i never feel like im going anywhere, just learning the odd intro and verse or a couple of two note scales. Should i be concentrating on scales, chords, songs? maybe trying to put them to music? i cant seem to find much about how to use the scales over a progression once i've learnt them. I'd love to start working on improvising and working out some steel breaks but i cant find anything that seems to help me with this.

thanks in advance

Darren,

Since you have access to a computer, you should go on Youtube and type in pedal steel lessons. You'll find a wealth of information there.

Many forum members, such as, (for one) Mickey Adams, among many others, give the advice free of charge, for the taking.

Do searches here on the forum, and you'll be so overloaded with tons, and tons of info for new players, you won't be able to handle it all.

But if you've been playing or messing around for over a year, you definitely need to find a live and in person, teacher if by now you haven't gotten anymore than what you say you have.

Wishing you the best........

I posted a lengthy article on practicing by jazz trumpeter Sean Jones that sort of got lost in one of the Bill Hankey threads. You might want to look at that. It has great advice on what to practice and how to practice that can be applied to any instrument or genre.

I agree with Don. There's tons of instructional videos on YouTube by several Forum members to get anyone started on pedal steel.

its not so much learning the stuff but what to learn im stuck with, i've learnt a few intros and solos from the mickey adams videos, but i find i learn them then just forget them a week or so later as im not really using them for anything if that makes sense.

When first starting out, I found that chords were the main 'meat' of what I was playing. I was lucky to find a band that thought I sounded OK enough to play out with them, and that's where the real education started. For me, it wasn't about learning licks; it was more about trying to figure out a way to get around in any song that was thrown at me. You might contact John McClung for some Skype steel lessons - he's got a well-developed program called "E9 101" that takes you from the basics on up.

Darren Jones wrote:its not so much learning the stuff but what to learn im stuck with, i've learnt a few intros and solos from the mickey adams videos, but i find i learn them then just forget them a week or so later as im not really using them for anything if that makes sense.

I think it helps to use what you learn in a song.
Its fun and it will help you remember and use the lick or intro or whatever and you'll see how you can maybe use it in other songs and other keys too or how it leads from one lick to another you might know. The best quickest learning is to join a band and start playing, but you can play along to records, record your own backing tracks if your so inclined, or get something like band in a box.

Darren, I was where you are a couple of years ago, first off, don't worry too much. Any time you spend practicing intros, melodies, scales etc isn't wasted because it's getting you over the initial physical challenges, it takes a couple of years to start getting comfortable with everything.

As far as improvising goes, learn more two note (harmonised) scales and then start using bits of them them as simple fills to link up between chord positions. This is essentially what Jeff Newman's Up From The Top courses teach you - they give you the backing tracks and the structured lessons to get it done if you're not very self disciplined.

Do the same with single note scales. Practice forwards backwards, in random order and in little fragments.

Next get into the theory of how 7th chords work (eg going from I to I7 to IV or from V to V7 to I). This will really spice up your improvising. I say improvising - it's kind of join the dots at this stage but it will mean you can bluff your way through a country song pretty well, even take a solo if you keep it simple and direct.

I'd also recommend Reece Anderson's method which uses a few basic formulas to help you find any chord on the fly.

Fellow forumite and all around nice fella Doug Aman passed along a practice regime that has served me well. If I have an hour to practice I'll split the time into 15 min chunks. For the first 15 I'll work on picking exercises followed by 15 min of scales - both with the metronome. Following that I'll learn a song from tab and may or may not use the metronome depending on how frustrated I am with it. For the last 15 I'll play along to some canned music. After the hour is up I'll usually noodle around or return to some picking patterns. This structure has worked well for me - prior to being introduced to it I found it hard to focus on one thing for want of trying to focus on all things. I suppose like anything it's a matter of finding what works best for you.
Good luck.