The Steel Guitar Forum

I just purchased an MSA Classic D10. I am in need of beginner instructional videos. What do you recommend. I am a guitarist but this is a whole new world for me and I need to start at square one. Any help is appreciated.

Although not a video, highly recommended nonetheless:

Figure out all you can without'em!

If you can play guitar already,you ain't gonna believe
how logically the steel is laid out...

The"Mount Rushmore"cats didn't have anything to learn from except records and the radio...

You'll have more fun this way!

Good luck!

SH

I'm all for figuring everything you can figure out on your own. I agree that time spent listening, playing, listening, and playing over and over to be critical. And as far as the layout of the tuning and basic functions of the pedals, I agree that it's not rocket science. That is, if you have a pedal steel that is already tuned correctly, with properly set up pedals and levers. I didn't - I was in basically a pedal steel desert and needed something.

So when I started not all that many years ago (I was in my mid-late 40s with 30+ years of guitar and initial training before that in classical piano for 7-8 years), I still found a basic video that explained a lot of the tactile, non-cerebral stuff, like tuning, bar control, picking and picking grips, harmonized scales, what the basic stuff is supposed to sound like, and especially BLOCKING, to be very useful and I think got me a bit of a jump start.

I used the beginning videos by Tim McCasland on Texas Music & Video in Levelland, TX. I was running a vintage guitar store at the time, and I was a dealer for their guitar videos, so I ordered some of their steel videos, and found Tim's very good - very basic but to-the-point on the stuff that was really important.

I see those videos are now on DVD (and VHS if you want) here - http://www.texasmusicsupply.com/pedal-steel.html - as well as other useful videos by Wally Moyers, Lloyd Maines, and Herb Remington, the latter being for non-pedal steel.

There are lots more options these days, including free stuff on youtube, whole courses by Paul Franklin, and many many other sources. Even a cursory search of the forum will reveal lots of these. I'm mentioning these Texas Music videos because I rarely hear about them anymore, but I found them useful, personally, when I started out without the slightest hope of finding a teacher anywhere near me.

You can get your first year of online streaming video instruction taught by Paul Franklin for $99.00. You'll learn the basics of the instrument, proper technique and solid musicianship from a modern perspective.

Paul Franklin's Foundations: E9 Pedal Steel Basics.

For a good look at the history of steel guitar tuition, check out this blog post: A New Era

Check these Joe Wright videos out. They're free and should get you on the right path.

http://www.sierrasteels.com/lessons/e9th-lessons.html

Paul Franklins Foundations E9 course for sure.

Jeffran Music videos for beginners.Jefferan College.

There is a lot of basic instruction on YouTube. Start slow and simple, get left and right hand technique going before you even step on one pedal. Learn how to hold the bar straight, I mean REALLY straight, and how to hit the fret points accurately. Remember:just because you are holding a slide in your hand you don’t need to “slide” into every note or chord.

Here's another recommendation for the Paul Franklin Method. I was in exactly the same position as you are a little over two years ago -- I bought a D10 MSA Classic off Craigslist, playing guitar (and other instruments) for many years and wanting to learn pedal steel.

About a month in, I signed up for the Paul Franklin method. I just re-enlisted for my third year, and I'm playing happily away, with some hope of attaining semi-competence if I live long enough.

They didn't have the E9 Basics course when I started, but I agree that it's a good way to get your feet wet up to above the waist or so.

--Al Evans

If your already a guitarist, then this is not a whole new world. The Paul Franklin E9 course has a section at the beginning of it for guitar players wanting to transition to steel. His lessons move on to teach all the very basic that many of the courses out there never really teach. It's well worth the money and you can get a discount on the longer course should you decide you like his method.

This video will likely help you understand the steel a little better.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yKM2DwOwoHk

+1 on the Foundations course. $100 well spent

Bruce Bouton Easy to learn
amazon