The Steel Guitar Forum

Okay its time to dive into the forum waters....scary but exciting. I know you guys know a lot and I don't. Would you mind giving me the best advice you can? And lots of it? Don't be bashful, make long lists of things I should know if you want. I had my first lesson this week and it was wonderful. I've got a Carter-starter and its pretty sweet. I sure hope this is something I can do because its been a lifelong dream. Am I weird or do any other ladies play the Steel guitar? Thanks for any help you can give.

Leila

The steel is mostly a guy instrument, but there are some notable women steelers. Sarah Jory from the U.K. is one. Do an Internet search to find out more about her. Barbara Mandrell was a hot steel player. Joan Cox is also a fabulous player (who resides in Texas with her husband Johhny Cox, an iconic player). Cindy Cashdollar is another well-known steeler who plays driving Western swing. There are some others too.

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Jeff's Jazz
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 15 October 2004 at 09:55 PM.]</p></FONT>

Leile,

Welcome to the club! You are not more weird than we all are! Doesn't matter if you are male or female, just go ahead and play!

This wonderful forum will be an invaluable help for you whenever you have questions!

Kind Regards, Walter

www.lloydgreentribute.com
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Hi Leila, beinvenue
It does seem the steeler world ispopulated by iconoclastic nutters... but SMART ones for the most part.

Don't worry no question is too stupid, that's how you learn...
I have made huge progress recently because I ask stupid questions here,
and get lots of answers.

I just saw Sarah Jory in Ireland, and she is a total entertainer,
and supurb player with a lot of heart, and a fun person too.

CIndy Cashdoillar has a new CD called Slide Show,
just get it, it will be inspirational. Some great sidemen and women on this cd too.

Joan Cox plays some wonderful gospel music and has total control of her instrument,.

And her Mr., Johnny Cox, is a super western swing, jazz and country player too.
He is on both Time Jumpers CD's.

Babera Mandrell is a solid player in the classic country mold, but I haven't seen anything from her lately.

What kind of music are you looking to play on your Carter?

Hey Leila!!
Welcome...you have found the best place for help in your adventure on the Steel Guitar.....and you have found the best place for guides!...Just ask and someone will find the answer for you or point you in the right direction!
Tony

Hi there Leila,
Welcome to a whole new experience,the forumites are the best bunch you could wish to meet and will help you any way they can.
Good luck.

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Ron (Chippy) Wood
Emmons D10
Carter SD10

Hi Leila, Yes you are weird, so you should fit in just perfect!! HA! Welcome to the forum. At the top of the forum page you will see "search". Clic on it and then type in your question. You would be amazed at the material you have at your finger tips! Of course, you have probably known this all the long! HA! Stick with your lessons, we need more gals picking the steel!

Let us not forget Janice Zilm, Deloris Hancock, Margie Mays, Susan Alcorn and our own Janice Brooks.

Janet Lynn - WELL, OF COURSE!!!!!!

. . . Did anyone say Donna Hammett? Although I'm pretty sure she's married now.

WELCOME, Leila!!!
I'm female, but not a player.
Just a supportive steel guitar wife, steel guitar enthusiast, secretary of the Georgia Steel Guitar Association, moderator of Humor and Extended Family sections of The Steel Guitar Forum, and a little bit of a "Dear Abby" persona to the SGF guys. My husband is Tommy Dodd - and YES, he is MY favorite steel player!
The Steel Guitar Forum is FAMILY!! _
Welcome to the family!

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Donna Dodd on 16 October 2004 at 01:00 PM.]</p></FONT>

Hi Leila, welcome to the Forum!

What brings you to the pedal steel?


And Donna,

<SMALL>Just a supportive steel guitar wife, steel guitar enthusiast...</SMALL>

Somehow, I think the phrase "Just a" wins the "understatement of the week" prize. Where would we be without you? Someplace I'd rather not be, that's for sure!

Welcome to this Great Forum Leila
as you can see from the replies there are Women Steelers
just not enough of'em
do check out Sarah Jory & Cindy Cashdollar they are Tops
Glad to see you're takin'up the challenge and contributing to enlarging the Ladies Steel Corps
don't be bashfull, ask whatever questions you might have - you'll always get a reply & few jokes from all the Great Folks here
All the Best to ya'

Good Morning!

What a warm welcome! Thanks! Australia? France? Scotland? Austria? How nice! (Where's Georgia?) haha

This is just so great to be able to ask questions and get answers from all you expert boys and girls alike! So here goes.

I'm going to start with 2 questions. Since I'm a beginner I'm trying to learn to make playing string groups more comfortable. So when you play the 6-8-10 strings do you take your right hand completely off the strings and if so, how do you keep your hand oriented to the strings when its not resting on the strings?

2nd question...I'm having trouble muting the strings. What's probably the best habit to learn in this regard?

Thanks!

Leila

Mornin Miss/Ms. Leila,
#1,There are no dumb/stupid questions(exept the ones you don't ask)

#2,Where's Georgia, one in Russia, one just south of where I live.LOL (jus kiddin Donna)

#3, you are in the best place there is for help/info about PSG/lap steel. At the top of the page look at the different headers for a world of info and instruction CDs,tapes,etc about steel guitar.

Donna Hammett, is also one fine lady steeler.

BTW, Welcome aboard.

Bill

(edited for spilling,it's my keybroad)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Ford on 16 October 2004 at 08:48 AM.]</p></FONT>

<SMALL>Since I'm a beginner I'm trying to learn to make playing string groups more comfortable. So when you play the 6-8-10 strings do you take your right hand completely off the strings and if so, how do you keep your hand oriented to the strings when its not resting on the strings?</SMALL>

Most of the players I've seen keep their picking hand perpendicular to the strings, or very slightly turned in towards the nut. The thumb sticks out from the side of the hand to a comfortable degree.

<SMALL>2nd question...I'm having trouble muting the strings. What's probably the best habit to learn in this regard?</SMALL>

There are two main practices to muting, or blocking: palm blocking and pick blocking, named after the respective parts of the picking hand used to mute ringing and unplayed strings. Only self-experimentation can tell you which one will work better for you. There are fantastic players on both sides of the fence, and even ones who stradle the fence and use both, so I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't worry too much about the "right" way to do it, just the right way for you to do it. If you do a search on the forum (particularly the Pedal Steel section) for "pick blocking" or "palm blocking" you'll find many informative and heated discussions of both. Regardless of which method you choose to pursue, I think the only way to actually get proficient in blocking and muting is to practice slowly. Build those neuromuscular connections first, then speed them up.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Chris Lasher on 16 October 2004 at 10:07 AM.]</p></FONT>

Leila, as mentioned above Sarah Jory from England is one of the top rated pedal steel players in the world. She is amazing to watch. The pedal steel can be very frustrating when you first start. Keep at it and you will succeed. I highly recomend Jeff Newman's "Right Hand Alpha" video for getting your right hand technique. Welcome to the forum.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 16 October 2004 at 10:27 AM.]</p></FONT>

Hi Leila:

Welcome to the forum. Watch out this pedal steel thing is very, very addictive. Have fun!


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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Johnny Baldwin on 16 October 2004 at 10:42 AM.]</p></FONT>

whatever you do...don't let your fingers leave your hand

Hi Leila. I too am from Colorado. Good to have you onboard.

I play around Denver quite a bit. Presently, I am with two bands, the Rick Garcia Band and Aaron Kantor and Point Blank. Lets touch base sometime.

I'll email you some neat and interesting dot COMs.

Leroy

<SMALL>So when you play the 6-8-10 strings do you take your right hand completely off the strings and if so, how do you keep your hand oriented to the strings when its not resting on the strings?</SMALL>

Leila, it sounds like I'm not too far ahead of your on the learning curve, so let me offer what's working for me. First, I would second Kevin Hatton's recommendation of Jeff Newman's Right Hand Alpha video. I've pretty much used that to develop a right hand position that is working pretty well for me. Among other things, he covers where to orient the hand in relation to the strings you are playing. As far as maintaining that orientation when lifting your hand, I find that it's a matter of raising your hand off the strings just enough to allow them to sound (and for the duration needed). Move the hand straight up and down... not forward or backward. By minimizing the motion you should eventually be able to come right back down onto the strings in the same position, or with more practice, locate--without looking--where you need to be next.

As far as muting, I'm again following the Jeff Newman method and using my palm. Something you might want to practice is just resting your palm on the strings and picking without ever lifting the palm. Ideally the notes will be muted little spit noises. If not, it's clearly obvious which part of your palm is not covering the strings and you can focus on keeping that part down on the strings. That was a huge help to me. It takes some serious training of the hand, so keep at it and don't get discouraged. Again, Right Hand Alpha covers all of this in detail, or you may just want to ask your teacher to focus more on this with you. As others have mentioned, there's also pick blocking, which I personally haven't ventured into to this point.

Good luck,
Doug

Welcome, Leila. The is the greatest site I've found for info on the Steel.

Lets not forget that classy lady from Compton Calif. Marion Hall.

Blocking is by far the hardest part of this instrument.
You can have chords, grips and lever pedal combinations, and positions down cold..
and STILL be practicng blocking like you're an idiot.

Why because it is just plain HARD.

Palm blocking I find more use full for certain things
and pick blocking for others

But I can't say it's just palm for chords
nor pick for single notes.
Sometimes it's pick for 2 notes or grouped notes and then a fast palm as I change a grip and back to pick blocks..

Sometimes several palms and the a few pick blocks.

But also think about left hand blocking with bar movement from high to low strings.

the trailing finger above the bar for highstrings
the thumb in front of the bar for low strings.

I sometimes have used all of the above for single note lines.
pick, palm, bar fingers.. AND bar lifts!
What ever you need to make it sound clean.

But definitely practice slow, minimum movement ,repetitions of ALL styles.

Welcome.
I am a newbie plus about 3 years now.
Advice?
Getting with an instructor is the best thing I ever did. I continue to and I would advise anyone to do the same.
Spend time and money on lessons instead of gadgets. Gadgets have a way of eating your practice time and money.
Use a metronome or drum machine.
Wear three finger picks plus a thumb pick. You don't have to use the ring-finger pick right away. I curl my pinky and ring-finger (with pick) into my palm and just leave them there. You will know when the ring-finger pick is ready. May take a month or so. Best to do this in the beginning.
Good luck and keep having fun.

Ron

Welcome!
Women steelers?
On my recent trip to Slovenia I found the only steel player there. Milena Krzsnick. She plays a beautiful old Sho-Bud. We had a great time visiting.

Blocking? Get my book! (excuse the self-promotion!) <g>

Winnie

Okay...I'm overwhelmed by the response. I can't thank everyone individually but please know I've read each one carefully and will read them again and again because I value the good advice.

Now all I need is two more hours in the day to just selfishly sit at my little steel and practice! I do take lessons, well, the first was last week, but definitely see the advantage. I think I'm really blessed to have gotten the teacher I got. He's a lot of fun and is interested in teaching. That's a good sign

Please keep giving me good advice whenever you want and thanks for what you've given me already.

Minnie...what book? You didn't promote it enough. LOL

Leila

I meant Winnie.........sorry......