The Steel Guitar Forum

I thought I wothrow that out there and see what kind of action I would get. It is good to see that people are willing to take change and adapt to the surroundings. Like I said before I am so ew at this that I think maybe I can play Helpless by Neil Young kind of the way I feel right now. I've been a professional for years on guitar, But I am not finding the inner drive to want and go practice on this instrument the way I had taken on the guitars. I sure hope that passes and that I will pick myself up perhaps find the right training video and get with the program. I really didn't spend all that money on my Williams and the Nashville 112 just to look at them, maybe todays lesson with my teacher will get me motivated. Sometimes I leave from my lesson wondering what did I get myself into.

It ain't easy! I can honestly say that the more you practice and play, the better you will get. I'm a typical hacker. I've been preparing for a steel jam with the ASGA on Oct. 14. Keep in mind, I have a 20 minute slot. Yep, playing in front of some real good pickers. Nope, don't want to make a complete fool of myself. So, the solution was to select appropriate songs, learn the basics to the song and then add my own style. Result, I'm almost prepared and feeling a little CONFIDENCE at this point. I still have 12 days to prepare (~ 1 hr/day). The tunes are sounding better with some cool changes I found while practicing. Once I could hear what I wanted to play in my head, I had to map it out. Yes, I have had to get up and leave the steel a few times from frustration. But, I went back and made progress.

Don't expect too much too fast. Unless you're a genious with a strong theory background and have muscle memory second to none, take it one step at a time.

It ain't easy.

The pedal steel guitar can make a fool out of a blaze Telecaster player as far as difficulty goes. I've seen that first hand. I know some Tele players that tried to learn pedal steel and gave it up because of the practice time involved. I once had a teacher who tild me that less than 20% of the people he ever taught stayed with it after a year. That looks abour right to me. I play seven instruments. The steel is by far the hardest.