The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey Yall Where should I be and what should I be able to do after my first week ?I have Been Doing the U tube Lessons ,Tryin to Pick about 4 hours a day Some of it is Startin To Make Sense

Stick to what you're doing. I was in the same boat about 6 months ago. I didn't get discouraged, just concentrated on lessons I learned from hearing guys on the forum talk about various subjects pertinent to what I was attempting to do, as well as sticking to the music I was hearing in my mind. I realized early on that I can't be all things to all people, so just try to be me, and play the music I hear in my mind's ear. At a point fairly early on, doors began to fly open for me, and now I'm playing much more openly. I actually started gigging after about 2 months, not trying to impress anyone, but rather trying to blend in. It helped me having played the 6 string for a long time. I don't view them as being "the same thing", but my experience with the 6 string definitely helped my especially in terms of my chord progressions.

I also realized that playing a known song (either from tabs or memory) was not my gig. Rather, I concentrate on intros, take-offs (rides), and strong finishes. Stay the course, and you'll truly enjoy it!

Get the Winie Winston Book "Pedal Steel Guitar", available here on the forum. It's got everything you need to know: blocking, maintenance, adjustments, copedants, and songs to practice technique with.
Cant go wrong
Rick

After the first week you should at least be able to set the guitar up and tune it! just kidding
I've had some success with Jeff Newman's Right Hand Alfa plus some other stuff of his and also Mickey Adams book along with all the free stuff he has on you tube.
Like others have said, stay the course. It gets easier everyday..................best wishes........clark

I've been at it 7 months and I practice everyday, learning the fret board and chord patterns and where to find one anywhere on the board without covering a lot of territory. Peop[le like Mickey Adams, Joe Barcus and the one that helped me most was a guy named Paul Sutherland{ very thorough}. You can find him on YouTube. Just type in psscjs and follow his instructions, he's a real teacher.

It it's starting to make sense after just one week, You should do well. Just hang in there. I've been playing about 4 years, and it doesn't make sense to me yet. Larry

Find any major chord using no pedals, AB down, and AF pedals.

Once that is clear, all the other things will start falling into place.

On each chord above- pick out one or two different grips...

Seat time....seat time....seat time

The more time you spend, the quicker it will come.

Jay

Just keep on working. After about 30 years it will start making sense ! lol

Just kidding !

Owen,
I see you are from Utopia. Sounds like you have it under control already. If you ever need help, one of the best players in the state lives very close to you. Don Sowersby. He plays for Bush and Rodriguez. You may already know him. If not, you need to.
Send me a PM if you need his contact info.

At the end of the first week most have made themselves comfortable at the steel, got the bar on the right fret picks on the right fingers and placed on the right strings and are wondering why it just doesn't sound right.
The fact that they feel real comfortable is the first clue. They should have used muscles they are not used to using and by now should hurt a little and feel more than little uncomfortable. This feeling will pass as they grow accustom to playing correctly.
Usually a person doesn't address that thing called technique and he or she spends a lot of very comfortable weeks with little accomplishment.
It's like running in that you don't have to think about runniing you just do it and all the blocking, pedals, levers, picks, bar and volume pedal will come automatic with little or no thought as a person's technique progresses.

Keep up the work. Mel Bay Publications has a cord chart for the E-9 neck. This is one of the best pieces of information I have found. Especially if you play some other insturment and understand chords. I still refer to it after several years if the band throws something new in a strange key. Good Luck and Happy Steelin

What Pat DIDNT tell you.....He bought the a beautiful Mullen PRE-RP D-10 from me last week..Hes been a friend of mine for about 8 years. He procrastinated for several years before I FINALLY got him to buy a good guitar...he's making progress already!!!...Ill be down to see you soon Pat and Ill bring a book for you!....Mickey

Pat, I have an extra copy of the Winnie Winston book & cd. It's a must for beginners. Email me if you're interested.

Bruce Hilton wrote:Pat, I have an extra copy of the Winnie Winston book & cd. It's a must for beginners. Email me if you're interested.

I'd jump on that! That is were most of us got our start. It sure helped me.

all the above. after 26 years of playing i am still learning

p.w

i would seriously look to finding a seasoned steel player to get you started correctly - you dont want to have to go undo bad habits, you have a fresh slate.

case in point - me - after playing on my own for 6months i found a steeler in my area to give me a "lesson" - well in the first 15 mins he corrected so many things that i still rely on today. i was sitting centered at the 12 fret which i thought was correct - but this-
1. made my right arm stick out too far
2. had my left leg in a bad angle so i couldnt rock my ankle
3. my knee levers didnt fit me properly
4. i was also sitting to low at the steel

all that fixed in 15 min when i sat properly at the steel. you cant learn that stuff on youtube.

Just for the sake of all us "green horns", What do you mean by bad habits? Some of us have the task of self-teaching and need to know what these are and how to avoid them. Feel free to go into detail and specifics. Maybe we can avoid these before we go to far to make habits out of them.

Being a friend of Mickey Adams is not a bad start.

I put together a reference booklet containing chord charts and scales that I find useful. I should note that it's not a replacement for a good teacher or method book, but a supplement that you might find useful. I'm offering it as a free download here: http://www.jmlmusic.ca/leitepsg/e9_fret ... erence.php ...Let me know what you think.

That said, there's a lot of great material out there. I am borrowing two books from a friend on the forum here (you might know Bent Romnes?). One is "Pedal Steel Guitar" by Winnie Winston and Bill Keith. The other is "A Beginner's Guide to Mastering the Pedal Steel Guitar" by Mickey Adams. They are both great books if you really want to dive in head first ...lots of great info!

Ray... I am not a teacher, but I have a tip for you, and maybe some other folks. This concerns the right hand. This hand should only lay on the strings lightly. Do not get in the habit of mashing down on the bass strings with the base of the palm.

This will cause wear on the wrapping of the 10th string and eventually cause the wrapping to break.

(I learned this the hard way... I broke the wrapping on the 10th string quite often and was blaming the guitar and/or the strings when all along it was my error) This might help you in a small way.

Now that's what I'm talking about, I've been in and around music all my life and I have learned that it is not the "big things" that make you good, you have to develop technique. So come on fellas if you know of bad habits that take away from good technique, feel free to slide in here and tell us. I'm not "good" yet but I'm on my way. I will say this to all beginers: If you don't have confidence in your self, then your effort is in vain.

If pedal steel playing was compared to a sport, it would have to be GOLF!! Everytime you correct one small thing, you start doing something else incorrectly. Golf was so named because all the other 4 letter words were already taken.

Pat,
I'm also at the one week mark. I've been working with the Winnie Winston book. I highly recommend it, and the included CD helps quite a bit.

I spent the first 2-3 days trying to figure out if my ankle was cut out for this thing. After many hours of practice and some adjustments to the A pedal height, I finally got a little bit of smoothness with my left foot. Now I'm switching between right hand technique exercises and trying to learn the fretboard(chord and scale shapes). As far as scales, I'm sticking with just the major right now, applying to different keys with and without pedals.

For me personally, it's helping to do everything very slow to start, and making sure that it sounds smooth and in tune!!

Jesse:
I just printed out your booklet. Looks like it's going to be very helpful. Thank you.

Kyle Stivers wrote:Jesse: I just printed out your booklet. Looks like it's going to be very helpful. Thank you.

Glad you like it! It's really just a compilation of chords and scales that I've learned from my teachers/mentors, some books, and some very helpful forum members here.

At the end of the first week you will have demonstrated a high tolerance for frustration, persistence of biblical proportions, and the patience to "endeavor to persevere".

Walk proud!