A few comments on what I rediscovered at this year's Winchester convention:
Attending the Winchester Aloha International or the Joliet HSGA convention and actively participating in the music making is the most expedient way to learn the non-pedal steel guitar.
You can spend hours alone painfully dissecting old recordings or plodding through pages of tablature but it’s not the same as seeing and hearing the instrument up close and live.
The impromptu informal jam sessions that take place in hotel rooms, lobbies, hallways and hatch-backs of cars are ALWAYS open to all. The musicians are friendly and open. They are enthusiastic and eager to share playing tips, tunings, “talk story” and even give a quick free lesson.
Sitting a foot away from a world-class steel guitarist and watching their hands is the fast track to learning. In fact, at Winchester this year I finally mastered a tune that has been haunting me for the past three years. I just couldn’t get a handle on it. A steeler was casually playing it in a hallway. I watched their hands, asked a few questions and in few minutes I had the song down pat.
Face it folks, if you want to learn the non-pedal guitar there’s really not much instructional material out there. You owe it to yourself to attend these conventions. Your playing will improve, you’ll meet wonderful people and you’ll have a memorable time.
This year’s Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association Joliet convention is October 2-4, 2003.
More info: http://www.hsga.org/
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 15 July 2003 at 10:07 AM.]
