The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm curious how others structure their practice times. As you progress on the instrument, how does your focus change?

For example, I am a complete beginner on pedal steel. I play Dobro and lap steel so the mechanics of picks and bars was something I have, so I am focusing on learning chords and using the pedals and levers. So far I have found this approach was more beneficial to me than trying to learn some licks. Now that I am getting some chord positions and coordination going I intend to start learning licks to connect chords.

What do you spend the most time on?

Right hand technique. I use thumb pick + 3 fingers so I always need to work on independence of those darn 3!

Chris

I started out on PSG 4 months ago with the steel set up in front of a big screen TV watching every YouTube video I could find for hours on end. What I call the "fire hose" approach. I couldn't absorb all of it but what I saw that related to my past music experience determined what I practiced most.

First was the AB pedal to get a 4 chord, the BC pedal to get a minor, the A pedal for another minor and the E-Eb for another minor. That alone gets me though much of the music I play.

These days when not learning a new song (on PSG) I spend most of my time playing chords to backing tracks of songs I already know the chord progression for. I play the chords on both necks and switch back and forth with each verse of the song. Probably most of my practice time is spent with backing tracks. My time spent learning the other pedals and knees is much less than it used to be but I'll get around to that when I find that I need more.

After learning the fretboards that much I have been able to start getting some licks in between chord changes and just recently have improvised a couple of lead parts.

This is an ongoing thread regarding my progress on pedal steel, from beginner to now, 4 years in.
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... t=learning

This one is also pertinent to your question:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... e+practice

Do a search of “how to practice” in the Pedal Steel section, and you’ll get more relevant answers than you have time to read.

In the beginning, Lloyd Green LP's and trying to duplicate what I was hearing on intro's, licks, endings and melody/harmony grabs. Sometimes spending hours on 2 to 4 measures. At the time, I didn't realize that Green was one of the hardest to dissect. Eventually, I was able to hear which strings, fret position and pedal/knee combinations that are being played. Ear training as opposed to tab training. Today, I usually noodle around or play along with CD tracks. Sometimes dissect a specific steel track on a CD.
Funny, when I spent hours on one specific steel lick or phrase, I'd get frustrated and stop for about 15 minutes. Then sit down at it again and find it immediately. ??

My practice focus has always been on timing. I have an inexpensive Yamaha cheesy drum machine. It cost $29 several decades ago and is not programable. It has a selection of rhythms such as rock, tango, mamba with a button for tempo up/down. I practice drills at a slower tempo and when making progress, I increase the tempo.
IMO, this is better than a metronome that has a tick/tock feel. I have certainly got my money's worth out of this gizmo.