The Steel Guitar Forum

My learning process is coming along well , I have found when playing from a tab if I know the song in my head and I sing or hum it as I go along I can manage the phrasing much better than trying to wing it, I guess the hole thing in learning is practice and more practice , much like regular guitar its a never ending road which isn't a bad thing really as with the reg guitar its evolving as I learn. the long winding road which never ends , but the journey is frustrating at times but interesting and fulfilling at the same time. Russ

Russell, sometimes it doesn't help all that much.
I don't know if you caught the videos I made last week, but two of the tunes in the Winston/Keith book that weren't on the original soundsheet had arrangements that were phrased just SLIGHTLY different than what one would expect. Enough that I had trouble playing them off the page.
The journey only gets easier when you tread the path you already know. But I love it

That's the limitation of tab over conventional music notation - it doesn't contain enough information and you need to know the song already.

There are better players than me that advise learning to read music if you don't already. I don't know how hard this might be, as I learnt very young and I can't remember what it's like not to.

I find that the kind of tab with the melody written over the top is really quite useful, but with the other kind, I take a pencil and add the rhythm and phrasing and anything else that's not clear, maybe having listened to more than one version of the original.

I have never used tab as yet. I play by ear. I listen to a tune and noodle around until I find it. I play to a backing track until it sounds like I have the sound of the player I'm trying to emulate. Nothing against tab. I just seem to move along better by instinct, or something....anyone else, do this?

I'm not fluent enough yet to noodle-and-copy so I write down what I can hear then figure out how to realise it. It saves time, but then if it took longer, maybe I'd learn more!

Larry Jackson wrote:I have never used tab as yet. I play by ear. I listen to a tune and noodle around until I find it. I play to a backing track until it sounds like I have the sound of the player I'm trying to emulate. Nothing against tab. I just seem to move along better by instinct, or something....anyone else, do this?

I cannot begin to fathom how hard it would be to learn without any guidance. Yes, tab is limited by its lack of time info but at least it tells you where to find the voicings.
I'd STRONGLY recommend getting the Winston/Keith book, which B0b sells. Why discover the theory behind the wheel before reinventing it?

As a matter of interest, how does anyone rate the Mel Bay book by De Witt Scott? I find it reassuringly old-fashioned - it reminds me of the elementary clarinet and trumpet books I had at school. It advocates learning to read, and everything is in tab and notation - although you can just use the tab. It progresses at a very even pace and somehow makes you want to master each step before you turn the page.

It's up to Mel Bay standards. Good book that doesn't deserve the forgetting that it gets.

Here's what I've found about learning guitar vs learning pedal steel -

When I was learning guitar I was alway practicing - I always had my guitar with - I sat on my bed and played chords - sat on the couch and ran scales while watching the TV (or worked out TV show theme songs) along with real practice - a record player and Mel Bay chord book. I wasn't restricted to playing in one place.

You can't do that with pedal steel - practicing is more formal - I have to sit in one place for extended periods of time and concentrate. I can't just mindlessly do stuff - it's pretty hard to sit on the couch and watch the TV with my LDG in my lap. And I think that makes the difference.

I love the DeWitt Scott books. Whenever I have to start over - that's where I go.

I can read music and know the notes on a reg guitar very well , having been playing guitar for many years I know the neck very well but in the case for pedal steel that's another story , reg guitar for instance I know the road maps so to speak and that's what im trying to learn on pedal steel and once that is learned I think I will have accomplished a lot not all but a lot , there is still phrasing and all the nuances that have to be learnt . My big problem right now is getting used to the knee levers especially the f lever and combo with the a pedal gets me frustrated sometimes but it is coming along , that's why I mentioned practicing a lot before .

Well, If you think of open on the steel as a C chord on the guitar, the AB position as F and the D# lever and either lowering 6 or switching to the 2nd and 7th strings as the G position, the adjacent pedals (or letting off of them) can work (if your mind works that way) as the adjacent scale tones.
I find analogies to open E fall flat because there's so little left to lower, right?
They're there, but you have to look at things a little different to see them.
You'll need one of those Helen Keller "water" moments, and then this whole damn thing makes sense. But you can't make them happen.

Tab with an audio file delivers timing and all the little nuances of sustain and pedal activation that is so hard to document.

Use every resource available for learning. I learn mostly by ear but would not hesitate to learn a tricky riff from tab or have someone show it to me in person. I did not learn scales or chords in the beginning but after a few years all the note pockets and chords started to connect and I am able to understand the music.

Ian Rae wrote:As a matter of interest, how does anyone rate the Mel Bay book by De Witt Scott? I find it reassuringly old-fashioned - it reminds me of the elementary clarinet and trumpet books I had at school. It advocates learning to read, and everything is in tab and notation - although you can just use the tab. It progresses at a very even pace and somehow makes you want to master each step before you turn the page.

I have a copy and it has been very helpful. If I could have only one book for pedal steel it would be among my top 3 or 4 choices of the ones I've seen.

I agree with Lane on his early post...I can't imagine trying to learn this beast by just sitting down and figuring it out.

Russell, I come to steel from a lifetime of bass, where the road map is even simpler than guitar. I found the steel daunting (still do!) but after about six months I'm beginning to find that the most well-worn places are growing labels. On a twin-neck if you include all the changes, that's forty different string pitches, so only ten times harder than the bass! A few years should do it

Hi Guys,

All info so far here is true and relevant.

I would however recommend practicing scales right from the beginning. That was how I started learning, saxophone, mandolin, guitar AND pedal steel.

I would say that all musical tutors should start with scales and elementary songs and then move on to more difficult passages.
Scales (all scales) are the beginning of musical prowess and the start of a complete musician.
It is also the starting point of jazz.

I have the Winnie book and both Scotty's books, which helped me a lot, but in hindsight I would have liked the promotion of scales (major, minor and sevenths) more.

Go guys!

As a player and teacher of many instruments, I agree word for word with Jan.