The Steel Guitar Forum

Beginners are thrown in the mud right away, and many get stuck there, and probably quit. But those of us who soldier on past the completely clumsy and tuneless stages of this thing are eventually rewarded by hearing something that resembles a pedal steel guitar coming out of our speaker. Over the two and half years I've been learning pedal steel, the last 6 months I've gotten away from tablature and transcriptions of songs, and concentrated mostly on technique, like bar work, blocking, volume and mechanical pedal work, and really listening to what I'm hearing and doing,getting somewhere, mostly through blocking exercises. and more Blocking Exercises.


It's a lot of fun working an intro or turnaround we have tabbed out and recreating it note for note. It makes us feel like we are getting somewhere and the more of those we get down, the more we will work our muscle-memory, and the better we will sound..right? Right?

Maybe.

But I forget way more than I remember doing it that way, because I am still concentrating on 4 different things at once mechanically. How can I really expect to remember where everything is supposed to sit musically while trying to maneuver this contraption? I was discuss this with my mentor, William Litaker, and we agreed that in the learning stages, it really is all about getting technique down. That's the door that allows all the other stuff to come through. I've noticed more "new" players out there asking for help in getting past the primordial mud stage, to get to that point where they are sounding like they are playing the beautiful instrument this is. So with a little nudging, William put together a concentrated package of 32 Technique Exercises we can use to focus our development.


The technique exercises he works up for me and the rest of his Steel-In group he put together are the first things we do...not for 10 minutes, not 20, but usually about 45 minutes. That is a lot different than what I've seen elsewhere, but he told me that it's nothing new. Jeff Newman used to really focus his students on getting their technique down. According to the stories, he drilled his students pretty hard, too! But it works. Some days I do not have the time to do anything except technique exercises because I know I will sound like total junk and waste my time if I jsut go right into trying to learn a lick or Lloyd Green phrase right off the bat, as fun as that is.

We know how much time it takes to get somewhere on this instrument, and this is not going to make it easier- not by a long shot. This stuff is not more Licks 101. What it will do is get you to sound like a pedal steel player and get you to the point where you want to play longer, because you can and you are getting somewhere. And that is a pretty sweet thing.

Check it out! 32 Technique Exercises http://www.williamlitaker.com/index.html

Amen Brother

Dan no truer words have been spoken on this subject.
Well said!

Here is more food for thought.......great article on how to practice. It is from a bass forum but is applicable to any instrument. Mark Morton is a phenomenal orchestral double bassist and teacher. I was fortunate to have him as a mentor and teacher at bass camp.



http://archive.basssessions.com/oct04/practice.html

Well said Daniel!
We started with William about the same time. I know that William's lessons have really helped me and it's good to hear others that are sticking with it. I've found that William has this ability to teach in subtle terms that he (probably) learned from Jeff Newman (the greatest pedal steel teacher). When I first started I couldn't play along with the song renders. I've kept pushing myself every week to do the Intros with the render that William provides. For a while now I've been really enjoying getting the Intros almost perfect by the time William does the second count down. Now I'm going back and using many of the song renders. It does take practice and that's one of the things that William says over and over...spend some time with your slide and your guitar. An hour a week won't do it. You have to put in a couple hours a day at least on this machine.

George

Thanks guys....Technique seams to be what is needed today. Although as I keep saying , if your are having trouble playing it is most likely in your right hand..

I tried to keep these exercises where everyone can benefit and still be effective.....TRY-EM!

http://www.williamlitaker.com/index.html

I ordered 32 Technique Exercises yesterday. These are excellent and will help build chops during practice. Plus, the phrases will be useful in playing fills, solos etc. Thanks for the great work and help William.

The thing about these technique exercises is if you put the time into them not only do you learn songs faster, you'll play them better and cleaner. I am really enjoying going thru them several times a day.

Seat time! If you will put the time in and practice these techniques, you will become a better player!
This is a proven fact!

Those of you that have the techniques, there is one that is really beautiful to play. It's #12. I think it sounds so good, I've been playing it over and over. Thanks Will!


George

Like John mentioned, putting a little time on the Technique exercises creates a much better result in the rest of your practice or playtime. I know I pick up phrases much faster and cleaner.

William thanks for the effort you put forth on these tech exercises. They are working for me!

Wholeheartedly agree

I've been learning for about 3-4 years. Last year I spent a night a week working my way through The Wright Hand from Joe Wright.

I took the exercises a step further in that on each page I worked each exercise on every fret up to fret 24 and back down again and did each page 3 times before moving onto the next. I play a Uni, so this was over 12 strings, hard graft!

Very boring but not only does it get your right hand working good, it also improved the bar hand technique as I would work the bar up and down over which strings were being played and try to get each move as pitch perfect and straight over the fret as I could.

I did this for the best part of last year and it has paid off for me.

I think getting a balance between the boring stuff and the enjoyment of playing is important, constant exercises can be a bit mind numbing, but in the end the boring exercises increases the eventual enjoyment

William how do you come up with so many helpful exercises each week on your broadcast. They are killer!!!

Palm blocking or pick blocking?

I spend an hour or so on exercises from Joe Wright's Technique Bundle about once a month. They sound like crap, but they work wonders for both hands. It's all about muscle memory. Joe's a pick-blocking master. Being able to pick block while changing string grips becomes automatic. They are not musical exercises; they are strictly mechanical. If you have to think about technique, you're not thinking about the music. Technique has to be a reflex.