The Steel Guitar Forum

I am fairly new to the pedal steel, the mechanics of it are great but I am having the hardest time learning to use the picks, I have tried several courses and while the information is useful, but it does not help very much, does anyone have any suggestions?, on another note I did not know about sticky fingers or the gorilla stuff so I am using kids stick glue from Walmart, 50 cents a stick and works great.

I believe both Bobbe Seymour and Mickey Adams have videos on youtube that focus on the right hand.
Jeffran College has some instructional material on right hand technique (up from the top?) as does Joe Wright.
Your best bet would probably be some one-on-one time with a teacher, as that way you get feedback.

If you are interested in palm blocking, I have a video on the subject on YouTube. Just search under my name and palm blocking and it should pop up.

I am using Jeff Newmans "Right Hand Alpha" (Jeffran College) now. I really like it because it takes you step by step and actually tells you to not move on until you have the previous step down and it comes with beat tracks to practice to.

http://www.jeffran.com/courses.php?content=VideoCourses

I had Paul Sutherlands youtube video in my favorites so here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZteC9ga ... e=youtu.be

Getting used to picks is a hassle.
Get some extra sets and experiment with needle nose pliers bending and getting as comfortable as a fit as you can.
I like Nationals better than Dunlops but lately I have started using perfect touch picks.
They fit loose on your fingers but still stay on.
I wash my hands after setting up and lick my fingers before putting on picks.
The thumb pick can be painful until you find one you like.
I like Kelly speed picks for thumb but like many things with steel ... after awhile you just get used to it.. like sore fingers playing 6 string guitar.

Thanks all of you for the advice, It looks like it is going to be a long haul with the right hand. My fingers just don't come together right. One on One instruction would be the best. Maybe some of the on line instructors would consider setting up a SKYPE session. I have even tried flat picking with a pick on my third finger, this is ok for simple 3 chord songs but triads and harmony chords that have an unpicked string in the middle are impossible. I wrote down all the suggestions and will try harder.

I found Jeff Newman's "Right Hand Alpha" course really helpful as well. He has some suggestions on shaping picks. I messed with different picks for a while but don't even think about it anymore now that I have a couple of good sets I have taken the time to shape correctly. The secret for me in shaping was to try and get even pressure across the inside surface of the pick. If you have points where pressure is more intense, it is uncomfortable and can act as a pivot point where the pick will move around.

Look down your finger from the end. Usually the finger is slightly round but almost more rectangular/trapezoidal in cross section. And from the tip of the finger moving towards the joint it increases in diameter to have hint of a conical shape. Keeping that in mind while you apply micro-tweaks to your picks and you will get them fitting right. It takes some patince. Fit, tweak, play, tweak, fit, tweak, play...repeat until they fit right and you don't think about it anymore. If you take the time to do this you won't need to apply sticky product to your fingers.

Probably not for everyone, but they do work for me. The angle allows me to pick the string with the flat of the pick. And I find I don't have to tweak them quite as much. But I still do a little. I use the split bands, but they have the single or un-split bands also.

Guptill Music www.guptillmusic.com

Item No. 11-103-1412 Reso Nickle Split(L)
Come in their own case.

I started playing steel after many years as a guitar player. Probably the most difficult thing in the translation was going from vertical to horizontal picking. The second most difficult thing, for me, was picking with three fingers while wearing picks. I initially tried palm blocking and it was too much for me to handle, along with the other things that my right hand was dealing with. I kept moving on and found myself pick blocking which seemed natural to me. Over time palm blocking became natural as well. It's certainly a good idea to get some instruction. I wouldn't get too hung up on blocking as long as you continue to work at training your right hand to stop notes from ringing when they shouldn't be. Of all things pedal steel, right hand technique, in my opinion, is the most unnatural and most difficult to develop. If you stay with it you will eventually get it.

I would say the best advice is to do drills sometimes...very slowly.

The rest of the time, I would just play, and use your ear. Don't over think it. I thought palm block made no sense at first...now I don't even think about it, except for difficult licks, or when I over block and get too staccato.

Do you have a lap steel? If you do the way I got used to using finger picks was to keep it handy near the couch with picks and a bar. You can practice while you are watching T.V. working on grip spacing and after about a week I went from feeling very uncomfortable to feeling strange without the picks. Also I found the angle of attack to make a huge difference. When I started to keep my wrist at close to a 90 degree angle from the strings as opposed to angling from behind the bridge at closer to a 45 degree angle it became much easier.

The picks felt really alien to me at first, I played 6-string for almost 30 years before taking up steel but I adapted a lot quicker than I thought I would. At first it was like trying to tie your shoes with crutches (as I heard another player put it), but now I don't even think about the picks being there.

When I started steel, I made my picks fit real tight, and than walk around with them for many hours a day. My fingers hurt and turned blue, but I kept on doing it. After a few weeks my fingers got used to it. I never use gorilla snot or something else, just make them as tight on your finger as they can, and they won't fall off.

After that, get the Winnie Winston book or another good one, and you are ready to go.

I'm not sure I agree with Marco's method of walking around with your circulation cut off in your finger tips for several hours a day. My picks have some electrical shrink wrap available at any electronics supply store covering the band that goes around your finger. You set them up snug but not so your fingers turn blue and they stay on the tips real well. I've NEVER had a pick come off my finger while playing....EVER. Just get them shaped well. And if you have a problem with them staying on, try the shrink wrap.

Most ACE hardware stores carry the shrink wrap. Just don't call it wrap... the guys in the store
don't recognize the term. It's called electronic shrink tubing. The 1/4 inch size is what you need. It will stretch with needle nosed pliers to go over the wrap of the pick.

Works very well, and has the added advantage of protecting the cuticles of you fingers and preventing soreness.

I'm fairly new to steel(year and half) but I have been working on this a lot recently. I'm getting quicker so focusing on a couple techniques have been helping me out. I would focus on CROSS-PICKING and PICK-BLOCKING. (do the forum search) I started slow, playing the major scale up and down using the different techniques as a warm-up. I then put it to a metronome, work at comfortable speeds on my 8ths (1-and-2-and..) and 16ths(1-ee-and-uh-2....) And I do this a lot til it's perfect(may take a while, I'm still working on it). I plan on and already have started to experiment with pentatonic and mixolydian scale variations. When I play some of the Paul Franklin stuff I have it really shows when I figure out exactly which fingers to use and how to pick. The hard work shows.