blog @ pedalsteel.com

Pedal Steel Guitar

Joe — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:43:17 +0000

The more I study the Pedal Steel Guitar the more I realize the most important part…the player. As I look at the beauty of the Pedal Steel Guitar with the nice finish I can get lost in the craftsmanship that it took to create the machine. But as it sets there all alone it is merely furniture. It takes the human hands to create music on this machine. To help train your hands I use drills with specific movements. Here is an example of an alternating move using animations. The key is learning them slowly as individual moves and then speeding them up gradually. The body can understand more complex things and then when you learn to speed up the correct movement you will see improvement in your playing. With all of the moving parts of the pedal steel guitar it is best to separate and conquer. Learn small things slowly and then proceed from there.

Alternating Movements

Joe — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:51:36 +0000

Part of my 32 movements are those of the alternating category. Once you learn to use your thumb, index and middle as separate digits, then you can start to use them against each other. The most basic move is a single one so we now apply to singles to create an alternating move. Our first to study is the thumb against the index finger. The thumb picks the string and then the index finger picks a string. For instance, if you have thumb, index and middle on strings 4, 5 & 6 then with your thumb pick the sixth string. Now when you do that the other fingers should remain on the strings ready to go. At the same time you get ready to pick with your index finger the thumb should return to the string.

This process should alternate between each one over and over. When you are repeating the move you really are blocking when you pick it the next time. If you’re having trouble with this then you should slow way down and do the following:

Pick with your Thumb
Set it back down
Pick with your index
Set it back down
Repeat

The reason for slowing things down is to gain control over the exact movement you want to execute. Then when that is in place you can start to speed up the correct moves. The same exact movements are taking place but at a faster tempo. This makes your tone and execution improve by doing perfect practice.

I’ve got lots of technique exercises in the free teaching pages area of the website. A good drill is located at: Alternating Exercise

Ten Wires

Joe — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:54:40 +0000

After all the lessons I’ve taught over the years I’ve come to some conclusions. The best way to teach this instrument is to show the student ten wires and hands that have to manipulate the wire. Most people try to learn through the sound and develop their hands with all of the errors that accompany a bad set of hands. My way is to stop the fumbling and start working on the moves that combine to play any licks. I break them down into small parts and start assembling.

That is why I’ve decided to redo my first DVD that covers the right and left hands. It was recorded in 1995 and since then I’ve created a new studio that is capable of multiple camera shoots. I want players to realize that your hands do all the work. The guitars only work when someone touches them and I’ve never seen no one play one with their ears!! The new right and left hand videos will be available soon as downloads or on DVD.

Remember, wires have to be manipulated by hands. Picks and bar are the tools that are attached to the machine (hands).

Steel Guitar Hands

Joe — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:12:41 +0000

As you weave you way through the strings, pedals, knee levers, bar, and everything else that combines to play a pedal steel you need to see that everything is a factor. BUT, the biggest factor is you… Your hands make the strings vibrate and create the sound. As you learn scales and licks you’ll find that each one is depending upon the ability of your hands to make the proper movements. The moves you need to know come with repetition.

I created 32 moves for your right hand years ago and tell students to work on making the moves without thinking about them. Proficiency and economy of movement is the KEY to playing a steel. The pedal steel adds the legs into the mix with the manipulation of the pedals and knee levers, but the hands are the key even for this learning process. There’s no need to push a pedal or knee lever if the hands are not in control of the strings.

To learn more about the movements that I’m talking about you need to look at DVD#1. It contains the right and left hand videos that help you develop the playing technique that you will need. These are not licks but drills that train dexterity. A lick is a combination of many techniques and I try to learn them separately rather than all at once. If you are trying to learn by using licks then you have to learn 3 to 10 techniques at the same time. That is when the body overload occurs and you make a mistake. Most beginners don’t know what went wrong. Was it the wrong pedal, string, knee, fret, etc.

The bottom line is that the human body is the key to playing any instrument. The pedal steel guitar is just furniture without the human body to manipulate the strings. Start to study movements that combine to create licks and some of the mystery of mastering this instrument will start to shine through. Of course it still takes you and lots of time to program the “machine” which is you.

Study to the Knuckle

Joe — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:37:32 +0000

Ever thought about playing the steel guitar right down to the knuckle? What involvement does the knuckle have? They can say a lot about your tone and your touch when you learn to play. Some players use the wrist to drive the fingers. In other words when they want to play one string with their thumb it takes their entire hand moving to accomplish this task. This also causes the other fingers to be away from the guitar. I always advocate keeping things close to your work.

You’ll have to analyze how you play your guitar. First how do you position your right hand? Is it in the Traditional position with the flat side of the hand along the pick-up? Is the top of the hand flat? All of these are factors in how you play your steel. The first thing you are told is that the traditional method is the “only” way to play but if you watch players’ hands around the world you’ll see a bunch of different ways to play. My latest video goes into this subject with great depth. It is called WebCast #13 PIck/Palm Blocking Concepts II. Get a copy and download it and you’ll see all the ways to hold your hand. All the ways to block.

Notice above that I put hand position and blocking in separate sentences. They are separate techniques that have to work together. Of course we also have to talk about picking the strings with our Thumb, Index and Middle fingers. We have the choice of our fingers, wrist, and forearm to help attack the strings. You’ll have to take a look at yourself and see where you position your hands, how you block and everything else that goes along with trying to learn to play pedal steel guitar. Of course you can get a one-on-one Skype lesson .here

WebCast to WebVideo

Joe — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:42:02 +0000

Well after trying the latest streaming video technology live, we here at www.pedalsteel.com are just going to utilize all the power I have to edit video and stop live broadcasting. I can make a much better lesson with all kinds of cameras and angles when I don’t have to worry about being live.

When you were live you had no control over the engineering of the WebCast. If it froze or timed out I didn’t know it. Now it’ll be better because we can concentrate on making each video a better quality product. From video to audio I can edit everything in Final Cut Pro and then output it for the webcast.

To take a test run on an edited WebVideo, go to Online Video Instructional Download. You can utilize the code: Free Pages to discount your copy of the download to $17.50. A great price for a one hour video. It includes a scale instruction video and more. These are growing each time as Joe gets better at editing, playing and teaching pedal steel guitar. A 515 meg video is high quality. 560 X 400 is the size. Try one.

Hand Position

Joe — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:55:15 +0000

There are two ways to look at your hand position. We can look at how picks go towards the strings. I call this the angle of attack. We also can look at where are palm or side of hand is located across the strings. One way is to have the hand laying next to the strings. This is what I call a traditional method. We can see how this would allow for utilizing the side of the hand as a block or damper to control the strings. This places your hand at in a position that has your first knuckle higher than the rest. To describe it as a 45 degree angle is appropriate.

Another method that is used I call the modern. This is with the top of your hand in a flat position. This places your picks on the strings with all of the pick in play. The traditional rotates the hand and puts the edge of the pick on the strings.

The thumb angle is different with both because of the rotation. With the hand in the traditional position then you have the thumb pick attacking the strings at a slight angle. In the modern method the thumb pick is placed flat across the string. A good way to see is how well your thumb pick looks. A chewed thumb pick usually comes from the angled attack created by the rotation of the right hand.

All of this also relates to the position of the rest of the arm. We will break it all down in later posts. But for the most part this video will get you started on your way. I talk about the different ways that you can hold your hand. The WebVideo is dated December, 19 2009. It also has a section on scales using Excel and recording the screen on my computer.

The Right Hand

joeblog — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:37:54 +0000

When it comes to playing a pedal steel guitar, the Right Hand is where it is at. No matter what you want to learn on your guitar, the right hand will ultimately be involved. Want to learn a scale? Right Hand. Want to play a harmonic? Right Hand. The list can go on and on but each of the different parts that combine to play the steel, such as, bar hand, pedals, knee levers and volume pedal are all dependent. The key to a pedal steel guitar is getting the string to vibrate, then you can change the pitch by using the bar as a slide.

The fact that the tuning demands exact string groups when you are playing makes it even more important to learn. I believe the best way to learn to advance your right hand is to take a training approach. Dedicated drills that are derived from the moves you’ll need to know is the easiest and most efficient method.

The right hand can be exercised with small movements that will eventually be combined to play more advanced licks. You learn to look at the Thumb as an individual digit, then the first finger and the same is applied to the second finger. After you learn to play them individually then you start to study groups of 2 and 3. When you do repetitions of the various drills you will start to not only know the move but you will be exact and be conditioned. Hands that in playing condition definitely get better tone. Hours of work at practice and on the job are the only way to get to the next level in your musical journey.

Work on your hands and everything else will be better. Picking the string(s) that you want, when you want is the key. After all why slide the bar if you can’t pick the strings? It will always come back to what can your right hand do for you now.

Changing Strings

Joe — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:49:20 +0000

I was giving a Pedal Steel Lesson the other day and the student asked about changing the strings on his Pedal Steel Guitar. I instructed him to consider how much he actually used them. If you are playing your steel a few hours a week then your strings should last at lot longer than if you are playing 8 hours every day. I like to keep the strings “fresh” sounding. The key to look for is when they start to buzz or whine. When they do this they are getting ready to break.

One tip for changing strings is to hold the string at the wind end and with a rag go the entire length of the string like you were cleaning it. This will get the winds out of the new string so when you put it on to the guitar it is not twisted. This will also help to give your strings more life than if you just put them on without getting the winds out. You can get your lesson with me on Skype. Check it out!!

Live WebCasts

Joe — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:37:34 +0000

We are now streaming a lesson every once in awhile that are geared towards the E9th Pedal Steel Guitar. This instruction is viewed online with Quicktime Player and then the student gets to login and download the video to their hard drive. You can then watch it as often as you wish.

There are currently 10 lessons already recorded and available for purchase. You can check out the WebCast Lessons at the shopping cart. They start out giving my basics, we get into the right hand to start off, then the left. then we put them together. This Pedal Steel Guitar learning method is based upon many years of studying what works best and what are the possibilities.

Watch the video clip to see what happens when we talk about scales. See how charts are seen on the screen to help the student learn the scale patterns that are necessary to becoming a better Pedal Steel player.