The Steel Guitar Forum

This may be a really dumb question...but why is there no mention of the C pedal in this course?

What course?

It is a Jeff Newman Course called "Up From The Top".

PART 1
Learn the Scale Melody Patterns, Licks and Phrases of the A & B Pedals. Four-hour course includes tablature book, videocassettes and audiocassette. Songs like Storms Never Last, Swinging Doors, Blues Stay Away From Me and more. The video shows the hands and pedals.

How do you like the lessons though? I have been eyeballing this material. Once I feel ok with the basic techniques, I'm using the Joe Wright technique method atm, I need something to teach me all the goodies to back up a singer. Intros/endings fills ect.

My wife is going through this course right now. Some good material in it.

I wondered about the C pedal too, but this particular course does not include it.

There are probably other courses that do address the C pedal.

i would imagine this was jeff's way to show how much stuff you can do with just the two pedals. there should be valuable information in it.

I don't have the course, but I was looking at the website and the course is addressed in 3 seperate parts

1) A&B pedals 4 hours
2) D Lever 2 hours
3) F Lever 4 hours

I was just curious to find out why it's not mentioned. Maybe some of you who have the course can elaborate more.

I think it's as Chris said, Jeff's methodology was getting people going with solid playing with as little theory discussion as possible, and an awareness of the vast amount of things you can play with a simple setup.

I'm pretty sure he thought that by the time you absorbed his courses you should be able to hear and find more advanced and different positions and licks on other pedals.

For a beginner, you can't go wrong with the hands-on playing provided by Jeff's courses.

I'm a "seasoned" player and as far as the floor pedals (ABC) probably 95% of what I do is just the A and B pedals (and knee levers).

I'm teaching my wife, and as mentioned she is currently going through the Up from the top series. If she can grasp what is presented in this series she is well on the way to learning the guitar. I've even learned some things from this series, going through it with her.

For the "C" pedal being one of the standard changes and on nearly everyone's guitar, it sure doesn't get much attention with either instructional material or discussion. Most players seem to say it gets limited use. I keep saying I'm going to devote some time to get a better handle on it myself. Never seem to find enough time to dig very deep though. But I'm taking an early retirement from my day job soon. That might help.

The Up From The Top course was for the A&B pedals and the D&F levers, nothing else. If you're learning to play steel, that will keep you busy for awhile. Look for some the other Newman courses, The Minor Chord Connection I think it is, that covers the C pedal as well as minor chord substitutions.

The C pedal and the second string have been under addressed with alot of the teaching materials. I don't know why this is. Listen to Hughey, Rugg, and Mooney. They are extremely important to understand and you will be a limited player by not using them. More teaching materials need to address these.

Jeff touches on the B & C pedals in his Minor Chord Connection Course. Steve R.

Ahhh...that stands to reason as the "minor chord connection" is the first course in the suggested sequence after the beginner stuff. Thanks for the insight.

John, I would suggest either The Chord Connection and/or Just Play The Melody as your next courses from Jefran. They both are great and will keep you busy, then move on to Minor Chord course.

OK Ward, I gotta ask; Why the hot peppers?

Because Harry, I love chiles! I grew those jalapenos, picked them, took that picture, then ate 'em.

We've had a few rare freezes down here in S TX, so all my chiles are gone. No worry, I'll soon plant more, plus we'll have chile montes, or wild chiles, sprouting up soon, just have to find them and mark them.

Years ago my wife and I were bay fishing in The Laguna Madre out of Port Isabel, TX. It was foggy, and in the distance we saw a bay shrimp boat (shrimp for bait, not eating) and read the name of the boat as Muy Chile. I was thinking what a cool name, translated it literally means 'very hot', and can be used in different contexts. Anyway, my eyes are not all that great, the name was really Misty Christy, she still is and she still shrimps.

I loved the name so much I named my boat Muy Chile, my email is an anglicized version mooechili.

Sorry for the long answer but think I've answered your question.

Nice story Ward. I raise a few hot peppers myself. This past year was a great year for all peppers here in Michigan. I grew Jalapenos, and Hungarian Hot Wax along with regular bell peppers. Some of the Jalapeno plants grew chest high. We canned 110 quarts of them. I use no commercial fertilizer, just manure. Huge difference in flavor. I guess we got a little off topic, but its all good.

Back on topic, I learned to play from Newman's courses. IMO there is not a perfect teacher, what may be great for one may be not for another. But for me, Jeff Newman was a bullseye when I started steel, a perfect teacher for me. I envy those who had the chance to learn from him in person.

If you are taking Up From The Top, I suggest Chord Connection as your next course. Something was said about intros, he has a course on that too. For me, his courses are top notch. Also Herb Steiner has some good material, he doesn't teach per se, but through his tabs you can learn many different ideas.

As for the C pedal, I've found that it will fall into place given the time. As Kevin mentioned the 2nd string, there's always something to work on.

And Harry, you are the man! If you have a picture of your garden send one to me, I'd love to see those chile bushes. Right now have lettuce mixes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale and cilantro growing, lost everything else due to the freezes. Starting a new garden soon, need to order some new chile seeds.

Since the "Just Play The Melody" course was mentioned, I'll share my impression of it. Like all of Jeff Newman's courses, it's very well taught and produced. However, I didn't think it was one of the more useful courses. It teaches you the harmonized scale on strings 5 and 8, with a few small variations -- and that's about it. For me, video lessons are useful for two things. First, they're useful for teaching the physical aspects of playing the instrument, where watching the teacher's hands is crucial to understanding. (Example: Right Hand Alpha.) Second, they can be a shortcut to licks and trademark steel sounds that I've probably heard before but haven't figured out how to play yet. For scales, I'd just as soon learn from a book.

John

John, I don't think Just Play the Melody teaches much new information, but it does do a good job of showing how to connect what you learned from Up From the Top. I found it helpful.

Sorry Ward I didn't take any pictures of my peppers. Right now this year's garden is just in the planning stage as we still have 1 to 2 feet of snow here. I'm ready though, just waiting for warm weather.