The Steel Guitar Forum

Everybody says to pick the strings of a pedal steel really hard. Why?

"Hard" is kind of a relative term. I think the general idea is to pick or attack the strings with confidence. Don't be wimpy.

I don't know why people say that. Generally, I don't. Lloyd doesn't. Hughey didn't. It's one type of color for sound that has it's place. Sometimes soft is better, sometimes hard is. Depends on the tune. Don't leave out any tool of expression available to you.

Brother Barry -- I've been called a lot of things, but never wimpy. Which is maybe surprising considering I'm a nonviolent vegetarian pacifist coward? Raise your fists and your voice and I'll run like the wind. (For about fifty feet until my asthma catches up with me! ) But give me a musical instrument and a backup band and an audience, and I'm fearless...

But (back to the topic) people here say that Paul Franklin and many others say we should pick the strings REALLY hard. That implies more than just confidence. Why? Any other replies? Paul?

Mike -- I agree with you 100%. I just want to hear some of the "pick hard" advocates explain why they recommend it. Merely curious -- I am unlikely to be converted.

I think it's just natural to pick hard when you are playing a passage that is very fast. I don't think I could play a fast lick with a light touch. Maybe it's because I played banjo before I discovered the steel guitar. In a slow song, picking hard will get you twice as much sustain. I like the Paul Franklin lesson where he talks about picking real hard when you practice, so when it's time to play the gig, you can relax a little bit. Like swinging three bats before you walk up to the plate.

Barry: You probably want to hear from the other Paul, but such is life.

I don't think the admonish to pick hard applies to folks that play without picks. Your finger tips wouldn't tolerate it for long.

I think the main reason to tell folks to pick hard is because so many beginners ONLY pick timidly. If you can get them to make a concerted effort to pick hard, then they can always back down when the song calls for softer picking. In essence you are broadening their range of options, or their "tool(s) of expression" as Michael so adeptly describes it.

Also, I think beginners need to try to play with confidence, even if they are quaking in their boots. And they need to make a real commitment to every note that they play. When you pick hard your mistakes come out before you can kill them with the volume pedal. I find I play more thoughtfully when I am fully committed and focused, which seems to go hand in hand with picking hard.

Barry,

......When I listen to Buddy Emmon's who in my opinion is a master of tone and touch, I hear how he varies the type of attack depending on the emotion he conveys....Jimmy Day picked aggressively and dug deep into the strings for tone....


To answer your question........Practicing slowly and picking hard will increase accuracy and speed within the right hand technique.....After a few weeks of this type of practice, once a more relaxed hand is applied in an actual gig setting the students will notice an improvement in the control of their right hand.....Practicing using only a soft touch will never take anyone to their maximum right hand potential.....This approach to mastering technique on any instrument has been taught since Bach's time...When playing music, I advocate using picking dynamics, soft and hard attacks for emotional expression.......First a student has to develop a clean and flawless technique to take control of the instrument.......So when practicing scales, arpeggio's, chord runs, or whatever I advocate picking hard....Might as well increase our strength as we gain knowledge of the instrument.........

Not trying to pick on anyone but everyone needs to ask themselves this question.......Even though I believe I know the instrument, can I play fast and clean?......If anyone struggles in that area, most likely they have not developed their right hand to its potential.......Its like running a 25 mile marathon......You'll never be able to run it if you don't work up to it......As teachers we must realize that some of our students may want to run a marathon someday.......We will only help them achieve their goal by teaching them the importance of mastering technique while increasing knowledge of the fretboard.......That includes the soft and hard touch......So when a student learns a scale or an arpeggio....have him practice and perform it slowly using a hard touch...Its like running with weights on......On the gigs whenever they're ready, their ears will dictate when to use a softer touch, just as you have learned. That is their call....Ours is to teach them how the marathon is won, and how every dynamic of technique is studied in depth because everything is used once they achieve their goal......

....I've read some great teaching throughout this thread......Paul

It also is the first point at which your notes go into the signal path to amp. A weaker pick will lead to a faster decaying weak sound at the amp. I've noticed this a lot recently myself as the rains guitar will sustain for longer than the shobud, therefore I find myself digging in a bit more on the shobud to enable my volume pedal foot work to continue to keep sustain. I personally would say that even on a slow song with longer sustain tails at the end of runs require similar positive, and not weak picking. Generally, those who pick with power have the better sound, in my opinion.

David

"Pick with Power"... I like that David... the new Steel Mixer slogan!

I reckon there's some really good advice on this thread, just to add my two-pennth.

It's my observation that confidence plays an important part in achieving good tone. And confidence is built up by practicing and ensuring each note counts, even if it's played fast. Watching Paul and David pick, they both pick with great confidence. Nothing ever appears rushed and each note is picked cleanly, with a nice fat tone. Having picked the note, the volume pedal is controlled so as not to produce excessive attack, or cut off the volume. As the tail of the note decays, the right amount of vibrato is applied to make the note sit nicely in tune with the other instruments.

That's what 40 years of hard practice achieves.

Mark

I have always practiced with attack and or hard playin! It improves clean licks live and speed.

How could you not take Paul Franklin's advice on that!

EXAMPLE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyfniqsxm3g

Sometimes i play to hard and try to play too fast but seems to be my best workout!

This is exactly what I expected. Wise and thoughtful advice from truly great players gets watered down and oversimplified as it trickles down through the ranks. I have read several posts on the Forum where people say PICK HARD as if that was appropriate in every circumstance and was the only thing needed to master the instrument. I am delighted to hear firsthand from Paul Franklin a version of the advice he has been giving, which is infinitely more nuanced and sensible.

Paul Sutherland -- I'm pleased to hear from you anytime. This was one of my theories -- that the advice to "pick hard" was given to beginners who are intimidated by the machine, and good advice it certainly as at that point. I tell my students who are getting ready to perform, "If you don't feel confident, pretend you feel confident. Try to look and sound confident even if you are quaking in your boots on the inside." And I have had some students who always pick softly and I have to tell them to put some emotion into it. But most of my guitar students, especially the teenage boys, pick way too hard at first (guitar is a much less intimidating machine than psg!) and I have to dampen them down firmly. As for what I do, I pick really hard when the music calls for it (my fingernails are uncommonly thick and strong after 35 years of health food) and very softly when that sounds appropriate.

Paul Franklin -- an honor to get a response from you, as always, and I agree with everything you said. When my students are doing exercises, I tell them to play slow and steady and loud and clear, and then start to speed it up. Slow and correct is always better than fast and sloppy. I have an advantage with the right hand because I have played many thousands of hours fingerstyle on guitar, as well as on psg, so my right hand was pretty well developed before I ever touched a steel, and I'm not bothered by any control or dynamics or muting problems. As for speed, my right hand can go faster than my brain can think, so for me the obstacle to playing faster is in my head, not my hand.

David -- this is another answer that I was anticipating. More voltage to the amp. It is undeniable that the signal path needs to be fed enough juice so that it can do its job. People who always play weakly and timidly are almost as annoying as people who always pick too hard and get that hideous detuned attack.

Here's a thought that developed from decades of seeing the teenage boys pound on their extra light strings: When you are yelling at the top of your lungs, you only have one tone of voice. The same thing is true of a plucked string -- if you hit it as loud as it can be hit, there is only one possible tone. The softer you play, the more different tones you can get. I am not saying that anyone should pick too softly, or that anyone should pick softly all the time. But the nuances of shaping the waveform are more varied when you pick more gently. (And yes, David, if I was going to do this during an entire song, I would increase the pregain on the amp so that it wasn't underpowered.) I think what a musician really wants, if I may paraphrase Paul Franklin, is dynamic control with the picking hand as well as with the volume pedal. Our picking hands should have a whole range of possible intensities as well as a wide range of different tones. That is why I questioned "ALWAYS PICK HARD" as the most important advice one could ever share, and I assumed, correctly, that what Paul Franklin had really been telling his students was more complex.

Thanks, gentlemen!

Seems I just read a post by Randy Beavers saying he practices with out an amp quite a bit. I suspect that would force a player to pick harder and with more authority... Also read once, that a pro used a neck built on a board, to carry and practice on the tour bus, when his guitar was not available. Also acoustic, enforcing hard picking. Hummmm!

Actually I do that quite a bit, but I'm just to lazy to turn my amp on.

Dick Sexton wrote:Seems I just read a post by Randy Beavers saying he practices with out an amp quite a bit. I suspect that would force a player to pick harder and with more authority... Also read once, that a pro used a neck built on a board, to carry and practice on the tour bus, when his guitar was not available. Also acoustic, enforcing hard picking. Hummmm!

Actually I do that quite a bit, but I'm just to lazy to turn my amp on.

I had the great priveledge to take a seminar with Jaydee Maness a few years ago and he mentioned Emmons would occasionally practice without an amp but he said "not me, I like to hear what I'm playing".

I was glad to see this tip recently about picking hard in practice as I am one who falls prey to timid picking when under the stage lights sometimes. This seems like a good way to work against that problem and I was super happy to hear that advice and am gonna try it for sure. I think?? the advice was meant for practice , not every situation, but I really admire players with good right hand attack. Jaydee, Chuck Campbell, Day and others.

so much to work on still
I guess it never ends and the work is fun so...

Dick Sexton wrote:Also read once, that a pro used a neck built on a board, to carry and practice on the tour bus, when his guitar was not available. Also acoustic, enforcing hard picking.

That would be Paul F. There's a picture of him with it on Mel Tillis's bus in issue number 6 of Steel Guitarist Magazine.

Dick,

More often I pick harder, than soft.......That practice board, as I called it, worked great for building strength in the right hand........

Paul

Paul Franklin had a Sho Bud neck to practice on while riding the Mel Tillis bus, if I remember correctly.

Paul, you said that Jimmy Day picked aggressively. He sure did at times, but on some of the Steel & Strings song and also some early Willie he played with super light touch, almost like he just looked at the strings to make them sing.

Thank you Paul for chiming im here. All of us have much to learn from you and we all truly appreciate your sage advise.

It has been said of guitarists that their fretting hand reveals what's in their heads, and their picking hand reveals what's in their hearts. Certainly the same is true for steel players.

I was pretty sure it had been an article about you using the "Board", but I wasn't absolutely sure. Sounded like a good way to practice certain aspects of picking while not at the steel. Say running patterns and practicing grips moving quickly one to the other. Wouldn't even have to be a full neck to build strength and muscle memory. Thank you for responding...

Dick Sexton wrote:I was pretty sure it had been an article about you using the "Board", but I wasn't absolutely sure. Sounded like a good way to practice certain aspects of picking while not at the steel. Say running patterns and practicing grips moving quickly one to the other. Wouldn't even have to be a full neck to build strength and muscle memory. Thank you for responding...

another player suggested I sit with an unamplfied lap steel while I watch tv and just use the right hand to practice palm blocking and such. Drove the wife insane in about ten minutes tho

I agree with what you all say but how do some great pickers like Steve Polusek and Rick Price get so much out of their guitars with a light touch? Both wear their picks on the tip of fingers almost to the point of falling off. I've tried using picks this way and the only way to keep them on is play with a very light touch. Some of your thoughts on this please.

Wearing picks on the tips of fingers yeilds more surface to the attack. An increase of mass can produce a fatter sound IMHO. Keeping them on requires some help. I use emusified fiddle rosin. No more pushing them back on using the top of my thigh. Also no more constant concern that they are slipping. It's like running a race and not thinking your shoe lace is coming untied. Feels great. Don D

I agree totally with Big F. I almost always do.

It's right in line with what Big C taught me, and what he taught me was the technique of Big E.

As opposed to Happy Friendly LITTLE E.

I've found that if you can play hard and emote the most buzz free sustain from the strings, you can always lighten up for different expression period.

Harmonic sweeps are a good example. You are playing them with a light touch of necessity, but you are playing them as hard as you can to get the most out of them.

That's my reasoning.



EJL

Don, I have used fiddle rosin to keep picks on and it works great. Made the mistake of using gorillo snot one time and got it on the side of my fingers and they were sticking together, LOL.
I've just always heard that a lighter touch can yield you more speed and accuracy. I've always tried to play with a light touch but can't do the picks on the end of the fingers deal. Just won't work for me.

I find it extremely difficult, when subjective matters like this come up, to be absolute in any way. There is a time for every "arrow in your quiver." Whether it's a picking technique, or a bar technique, or a volume pedal technique, and on and on, it is strictly a matter of personal taste what you as an individual decide to use in a given situation. If we all used exactly the same device available to us at all times, it would be a very boring world. The only thing I will add to this discussion is to always experiment, and learn. Listen, and keep your heart open to the things that move you, and the things that don't. Then, you will find an open path before you that can take you anywhere, and everywhere.