The Steel Guitar Forum

OK, I keep reading that good tone comes from proper right and left hand technique, but no one ever talks about what that technique is.

Is good technique just feel, touch, and being one with your guitar that only comes with years of practice, or is there specific ways to hold your hands that will improve the over all tone of your instrument?

I am guessing that the answer to all of this is YES.

If there are specific things one can do to improve the tone what are they? What are the things that you do technique wise that helps your tone.

Thanks

Steve

The WHAT is pretty obvious. Just listen to a player whose sound you admire and use that as a yardstick. The HOW is very individual. One way is to listen carefully to the player whose tone you like and play a passage over and over, trying to capture the sound as well as you can. You MAY make progress that way, if your ears are discriminating and your hands cooperate. If you don't, a good teacher could help you find ways to make your tone better.

The elements you mention would include
I. Right hand
* how your picks contact the strings
* where (relative to bridge/pickup) do you pick
* how hard do you pluck the strings
* whether you block with your picks, with your palm, or a combination(. . . etc.)
II. Left hand
* vibrato
* how much downward bar pressure
* muting strings with the fingers and/or thumb of the bar hand
* does your bar only cover the necessary strings -- do you 'track' your picking hand with the bar?
* intonation
(. . . etc.)

This is a very technically demanding instrument. Working on how you sound is very important -- even before learning what notes to play, you'll need to concentrate on HOW to play the notes so that they sound like you want them to.

Hope this helps.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Perfect answer. A teacher is real helpful on a lot of these but you can definitely find the answers by yourself as well. Notice that Larry catalogs all these things that are essential to good sound but doesn't provide the answers as to how the picks should contact the strings, where to pick, how hard to pick, etc.
There's no correct answer to any of these. Different pros, different teachers do it differently. With different results. You need to control all these elements but your solution to each of these problems will be your own.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>Is good technique just feel, touch, and being one with your guitar that only comes with years of practice, or is there specific ways to hold your hands that will improve the over all tone of your instrument?

I am guessing that the answer to all of this is YES.</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes. Time, playing, technique, and heart....



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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas
Emmmons/Mullen/Remington
Evans

Larry,
I think I know what you mean,but please comment....


(do you 'track' your picking hand with the bar?)

Bill Ford

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Thanks, I guess in the back of my mind I know all that stuff, But it's good to see it all spelled out.

Thanks again.

Steve

yep !

Bill,
What I mean by 'tracking' is that the nose of your bar is over the highest strings you are playing. The bar 'tracks' the picking hand and when you back down to a lower string the fingers of the left hand mute the strings you just played. It is almost a feedback exercise to get the nose of the bar and the right hand in sync.

Let me know if you need more explanation.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Neat thread! I had the same question.
Justin

The angle of pick attack is a big element of the tone. Also, the position of the volume pedal (if you use a pot pedal). The closer to full on, the brighter the tone.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

An important practice tip---in general and also specifically when working on tone. As often as possible, practice at real world (high) volume levels. You can accomplish absolute killer touch, killer tone at bedroom level that just don't translate when you crank it up. You also tend to pick harder when the amp is turned down low. Turn the amp up and you can be intimidated by the level of sound that jumps out at you even with a light touch--something you possibly haven't worked with much if you spend most of your time picking hard with the level low in your bedroom.
My feeling is that the richest steel sounds come from amps set high, picking touch light, volume pedal as per b0b above. Lighter touch allows the strings to ring with more fundamental tone, with less damping as you pull off. The reverse is that for more strident, more rock oriented thinking, the harder touch can get you into more guitar-like colors. And,by theway, when I think interms of rich or fat vs. thin or 'stringy', I'm not at all thinking 'fat:good, thin:bad'. These are all working colors in a wide, wide palette.

These are, of course, nothing but my observations, my opinions.

Pay attention to Jon folks. He knows what he is talking about. He did not mention though that picking light will help your speed, also. A few years ago, Doug Jernigan told me that he "picks too hard". Doesn't seem to hurt his speed any though.

Unplug your guitar from your amp, get in a very quiet room and practice everything you like to play. You will find your own personal method to eliminate a lot of string and pick noise and after a lot of practice, the amp will then produce the "tone" you send to it.

Bill Stafford

<I>While searching for the sounds that please your ear,
turn off the effects so's you can hear!</I>

Maybe keep a tiny amount of reverb. No delay....nada.
Things I have learned with the effects off:

Now you are hearing what the hands are doing. I hear scratchy picks sometimes, ghostly noises from strings I did not mute or block. The sound is different when the bar is on the 12th fret.

My guitar sounds best when my picks are near the 24th fret.

Intonation is tough past the 15th fret.
Intonation is tough going down the fret board.

The list goes on. The search goes on.

Ron

Don't discount equipment when talking about tone. I know tone is heavily influenced by technique, but I just bought a new George L. bar from Bill Ferguson (thanks Bill). The up grade from Ernie Ball to a George L. made a marked difference in my tone. I am not saying that the new bar has made me sound good, I am just saying it made an improvement in my tome. Now let me get back to practicing my technique.

Thanks

Steve

<SMALL>A few years ago, Doug Jernigan told me that he "picks too hard</SMALL>

IMO, DJ's "hard" picking is what gives his improvisation the dynamics and drive that it has. I consider his technical style the current standard for the way jazz playing on steel oughta sound. It has a hard edge to it and it doesn't sound too twangy. Hard-drivin' jazz improvisers on horns, 6-string, vibes, etc. play with just that sort of hard edge. FWIW, I personally feel that DJ's technique will become the standard if the steel ever gets a little popular in jazz circles. Mostly because that will be the way the other jazz players want to hear it. Hard-edged, blunt, and not too sweet. You're not playing shuffles. All IMHO.