The Steel Guitar Forum

I put together a course recently called Applications: E9 Pedal Steel Toolbox that came about in response to the many requests I get for "more licks and phrases". It's my belief that a diet of ONLY someone else's licks and phrases is the wrong way to learn pedal steel, but they do have their place as examples of what COULD be played. Too often I have heard players who have memorized a bunch of licks and have no direction on when or how to apply them, so they try to fit them in anywhere they can, and not always in the appropriate spot.

IDEAS NOT LICKS
In order to help address that, I compiled several lessons from The Paul Franklin Method to help get players started on collecting and creating their own licks. I do this by teaching them as "ideas over chord progressions". Playing music is essentially finding multiple ways to go from one chord to the next, using any combination of chords and single notes. Getting comfortable playing from a 1 to a 4, or 2m to 5 and so on is the key to good musicianship.

CLICHES AND PHRASING
Learning each genre's cliche phrasing and stylistic markers is key. From Bakersfield to Funk to Western Swing to Rock, it's note choices and phrasing that make them sound distinct from each other. Having a handle on what makes these styles unique and being able to create those sounds on pedal steel will make you a better musician and help get you work.

APPLYING THE CONCEPTS
I teach and explain licks, phrases, fills and intros in the course, and put them in a setting where you can adapt them to work in any song you are asked to play. All of the ideas I present are there just to get you started. Your job is to begin changing and adapting, adding and subtracting, mixing and matching until the idea is ingrained in your OWN style.

These are the building block pedal steel sounds that I draw on to play stylistically appropriate parts on sessions and live gigs. Because you'll study them as concepts, you are not just memorizing a lick to be inserted randomly, you will be developing a musician's knowledge that will allow you to make good decisions.

CHOOSE YOUR COURSE
Toolbox is the perfect follow up to anyone who has completed my Foundations course, and like Foundations, you can apply the enrollment fee towards the complete Method at any time. If you are looking for an injection of cool E9 pedal steel ideas to mix into your trick bag, the Applications: E9 Pedal Steel Toolbox is for you.

For those who are a little farther along in their skills, try the new E9 Pedal Steel Vocabulary course.

-Paul

Jamie Kitlarchuk wrote:Is the Applications Toolbox course structured in a way that you can start off with simpler concepts then progress in an incremental way to more difficult ones? Or is it just a bunch of lessons pulled from the full method and set up for the user to choose whatever they want to work on?

I ask because I'm feeling like I'm stuck at a plateau and could use some structured material to work through and get me moving ahead again. For background, I've been playing for two years and worked through the Jeff Newman Up From The Top series, as well as his bandstand backup course.

I also play in a band that's inactive due to covid, so I have more time to focus on techniques and learning material.

John Spaulding wrote:Hi Edward-

The E9 Pedal Steel Vocabulary course is not tabbed, it uses the talk-teach approach. We have included a downloadable blank TAB sheet in the Vocabulary course for students to write down whatever they need to in the Vocabulary.

Thanks!