The Steel Guitar Forum

can someone suggest some learning vids or courses for pick blocking and palm blocking and the advantages of either? I don't want to develope bad habits that will be hard to break later. thanks; Allen

For palm muting Jeff Newmans' Right Hand Alpha has got to be one of the best. For pick bocking I'say Mickey Adams stuff is very good. I am inbetween
myself with this one. I can see the advantage of pick blocking the single notes and palm blocking chords and doulble stops but as a newbe some of the pros can give better advice. I have heard both sides.

When I wanted to learn pick-blocking years ago, I tried two other courses before buying Joe Wright's Pick-Blocking video.
Joe's video nailed it (the other two courses weren't even close). Joe explained how to pick-block very precisely with a number of exercises--let's just say there is a lot more to "pick blocking" than just blocking with the picks!

Now Joe apparently has combined two videos into one DVD: "Palm/Pick Blocking Concepts" for $45, the price I paid for just the pick-blocking video years ago!
http://pedalsteel.com/ashop/index.php?exp=1|5|&cat=4
Highly recommended.

If you haven't heard Joe play, check this out:
Rocky Top - Joe Wright
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNZv3V1xgLY

- Dave

I hate it when they make it look that easy

While I haven't heard Joe's blocking course I have heard some of his others and he does have a good way of explaining things that tended to make me say "of course, I should have known that" so I expect his blocking course would be just as well thought out and practical. I would suggest learning all approaches to blocking as they all have their place.
As a brief aside to anyone starting to learn pick blocking, I found the noise of the picks hitting the strings very distracting. Done right you block one string at the exact instant you pick the next so it covers up that noise but until you get the timing grooved I found it helpful to play without picks to at least get the feel of what I was trying to accomplish without the noise.

i'll check those out thanks

It should never be a question of "one or the other". Certain phrases will require one, the other, or combinations of blocking techniques. I sometimes use the back of my right thumb for instance..JMHO!!

Heck! Sometimes I have to use my boot heel.LOL

Mick is right.

Asking the question "pick, or palm blocking", is sorta like asking a carpenter if he uses a hammer, or a saw.

It depends. The situation selects the 'tool'.

I learned palm blocking, with a good deal of tutoring,(..and butt-whippin's) from Jeff Newman.
I never did specifically set out to learn how to pick block,...but, I do pick block. One day, a long time ago, I realized that I was pick blocking a particular banjo type roll, after I analyzed things a bit in slow-mo.

A lot of techniques are assimilated and employed sub-consciously, and mostly by simply having a very clear idea in your own head of how you want that particular phrase, or lick to sound.

Volume pedal,...same thing. Forget it, and your body will 'teach' itself how to execute the drill.

Dale Hansen wrote:...A lot of techniques are assimilated and employed sub-consciously, and mostly by simply having a very clear idea in your own head of how you want that particular phrase, or lick to sound...

I agree. I use palm muting for quick thumb rakes and chord grips often, but for most fast banjo roll and double stop riffs I find the easier, if not the only way, is to use pick blocking.

Allen Winkelman wrote:can someone suggest some learning vids or courses for pick blocking and palm blocking and the advantages of either? I don't want to develope bad habits that will be hard to break later. thanks; Allen

I learned a lot from Bruce Boutons DVD.
Mickey Adams vids on YouTube are a great benefit, on many aspects of playing and especially pick blocking, for the beginning and intermediate players alike.

If there is an easy way to mute, thats the way I do it.
Sometimes I use my bar thumb to mute lower strings if its convenient. Is that a bad habit forming already?

Clete

I need to fess up to asking this very question to Bruce Bouton, who was, at the time, playing and recording with Skaggs.

The phone conversation was probably around 84', and I asked Bruce the age old newbie question of "Do you pick block,..or palm block."
After what seemed to me an extraordinarily long pause, I could hear Bruce draw in a deep, labored breath, and followed with the reply: "I dunno.....I guess a little bit of both".
Bruce then went on to describe the types of phrases where he would use palm blocking exclusively, and gave examples of his parts on Ricky's records that I was very familiar with. Then he explained the banjo roll on "Country Boy" as an example of using pick-blocking.

I still remember that conversation well, and distinctly recall that long pause that betrayed the fact that he honestly didn't spend much time thinking about it, and also left me with the impression that I was making way too big of a deal out of it.

I used to bug him to death with calls, and questions.
Bruce was always patient, and generous with his time towards me. To this day, whenever I do see him around town, I remind him about how I was such a pill, and thank him for being so kind and helpful.

Just in case he's peeking in here...Thanks again, Bruce.


Your pal, Dale