learning pedal steel guitar

[jasonc8909]

how hard is it to learn pedal steel guitar? I've been playing guitar for a year and half and I consider my self very good. I can somewhat read music.

[Reno]

I've tried it and found playing pedal steel guitar requires all the skill needed to ride a unicycle across a tightrope while blindfolded.

[Buckocaster51]

Why are you even thinking about that?

Run.

Now.

In the other direction.

Quickly.

There is nothing for you to see here.

These aren't the droids you are interested in.

Okay, now you know how I feel.

Obviously, it can be played.

But they're all crazy!

Are you crazy too?

Okay.

I'll go away now.



Have you ever played a job with a steel player?

They tune all night.

I'm not kidding you ... ALL NIGHT LONG!

[JayFreddy]

I've been trying to play pedal steel for over 10 years, and I still suck.

I started with Dewitt Scott's Deluxe PSG Method, but for me, the book that really got me going was Winnie Winston's PSG Book.

BTW, The Steel Guitar Forum is a great resource: http://www.steelguitarforum.com/

[endzone]

About the only thing that you've learned playing guitar that you can apply to a pedal steel is how to hold a pick, and that's only if you use a thumb pick. Personally I think it would be easier to build a rocket and land a man on the moon than to learn to play a steel well. But, I still try and I've actually found someone that will give me lessons.

There's an awful lot of music theory involved in learning how and when to use those pedals and levers.

Give it a try. Maybe you'll be a natural.

[Tim Armstrong]

My brother, who is a very VERY good guitarist, managed to get to be an adequate pedal steel guitarist, and after a few years, he sold his very nice Sho-Bud doubleneck and quit!

Jerry Garcia got to be pretty good at pedal steel (I think the best thing he ever recorded on ANY instrument was the pedal steel part on CSNY's "Teach Your Children"), yet he gave it up after a few years, too.

If guitar is your instrument, the odds are that pedal steel isn't! If pedal steel IS your instrument, the odds are that guitar isn't! That is: the real steelers I've known pretty much abandoned the guitar...

Cheers, Tim

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by jasonc8909

how hard is it to learn pedal steel guitar? I've been playing guitar for a year and half and I consider my self very good. I can somewhat read music.

I 'play' pedal steel. It is by far the complicated and difficult string instrument ever conceived by man. You'll learn to play I, IV, and V chords then hit one hell of a barrier. At first guitar seems related to pedal steel, then everything gets upside down. You gotta learn second instinct stuff like pick plocking. Plus doing banjo rolls whilst bend the bar with vibrato and operating knee levers and foot and volume pedals with both feet simultaneously is one hell of a challenge. Putting new strings on and tuning the damn thing takes an hour, no joke. And that's with just one neck with 10 strings.

[Sire]

My dad has been playing steel for about 50 years now. You kind of just stand there dumbfounded when he's got almost all fingers on both hands going the same time as both feet and 2 knees. Then he sings.

So when he speaks music, I listen.

[bender-freak]

dobro and lap steel are as close as i ever came; still play them.....had a pedal steel back in the 80's (ShoBud), gave up on it and i've been playing guitar since 58 or 59 so i was not a "newbie" to the concept; wife took lessons after that and was actually learning some stuff and getting fairly decent then she quit...we sold it about 87 or so...

i learned a whole new love and appreciation and admiration for steelers when i was struggling with it...it ain't the same as using multi-benders on a Tele, or wasn't in my experience anyway....

[T_red7882]

Learning to play the pedal steel is one of the best decisions i have ever made. I am never going to light the world on fire with my regular guitar playing. I am, first and foremost, a singer songwriter... but guess what, so is everyone else. Now, combine the fact that i can sing, write, play regular guitar AND pedal steeel. Now i'm a commodity. true story.

[Big John]

Can we just agree ..... you don't play a pedal steel ... you suffer with it !

I am a lucky hound and have got to (still do) play with some awesome steel players and i think the only thing that connects them is the Winnie Winston book, though it's years out of date all the basics are all inside.

Problem to be aware of learning PSG is that the arrangement of pedals and knee levers is a very personal set up and if you learn from the book make sure your set-up (co pedant) is the same, it will make learning it a lot easier and as you get more confident you can add your own changes later.

Good luck !

[beep.click]

People have different brains, and different aptitudes.

My friend has been after me for years to pick up pedal steel. He thinks the combination of my brain and the way I approach regular guitar makes me a good candidate. He might be right; I'm seriously considering it.

Patience and curiosity probably help. I started on classical violin, and it was a steep, slow learning curve. I mostly taught myself guitar, and later I taught myself keyboards, by reading and playing classical music -- I just dug in and did it. That doesn't make me a genius; I'm just someone who enjoys the challenge, and the little "triumphs" along the way.

[OutlawSteph1975]

My rule of thumb with regard to learning new instruments is this..

If you can imagine expressing yourself on the instrument and want to bad enough, you'll learn it. Any instrument takes discipline. Shortcuts methods don't work either IMHO. I see tons of beginners struggle with stringed instruments because they don't know the role of the instrument in the music they are trying to play. Once you know what you want to do and how you want to play, you'll get ahead.

I would like to learn PSG someday. Keep it up Jason!

[Gary Lee]

jason, go for it, you will increase your musical net worth...

[dobrodoc]

Gary Lee got it right---You got the itch, then scratch it. I've been playing steel a while now, and while I'm no Doug Jernigan, I can hold my own on the E9 neck. Just some different skills ya gotta learn.

[Papa Joe]

Here's a link thatwill tell you what you need to know about going from 6 string to psg..Good info for those that have been thinking about it, and those that THINK it's too difficult!!!!..You can also get a lot of good info on the "steel guitar forum.com"..You'll never know how sweet a chord can sound till you hear it from a steel guitar..PJ..

http://www.steelguitar.com/resource/...ds6string.html

[Tim Bowen]

Originally Posted by OutlawSteph

My rule of thumb with regard to learning new instruments is this..

If you can imagine expressing yourself on the instrument and want to bad enough, you'll learn it. Any instrument takes discipline. Shortcuts methods don't work either IMHO. I see tons of beginners struggle with stringed instruments because they don't know the role of the instrument in the music they are trying to play. Once you know what you want to do and how you want to play, you'll get ahead.

Any aspiring multi-instrumentalist should print this out and hang it on their wall. Truly exceptional advice.

I'm a relative newbie to mandolin, five string banjo, and lap steel, but it hasn't stopped me from gigging those instruments (two jobs over the past weekend) and accepting sessions for them (as to banjo, lap steel, and harmonica, I didn't tell the first producer I worked with in this regard that I'd never previously recorded those instruments until after he was happy with the tracks, and I'd been paid).

I'll admit that I'm scared to death of violin and pedal steel, but those are next on the list. I'd never discourage a musically savvy person from dinking around with something different. What's the worst that can happen? You realize that you're no Buddy Emmons, so you put it on the back burner for a while. What's the best that can happen? You realize that you're no Buddy Emmons, but you come up with some cool textures that serve the tunes that you're playing.


As Steph so eloquently says, if you hear the sound of an instrument in your head, and if you're curious enough, and if you work at it, you'll find a way to make music with it.

[jhundt]

I have been self-teaching myself for several years, using that Winston book and a real basic student-model MSA w/ 3 pedals and one knee-lever. I don't give it enough time, so I'm not learning very fast... in other words, I'm no good. But it sure is fun!

I never had a lesson on standard guitar, but I think if I was serious about the PSG a few lessons would be extremely helpful.

[Dean Gray]

I've said it here before - don't underestimate the non pedal steel. You can get great early country, western swing, and alt-country/"roots" kind of sounds out of the C6 and A6 tunings. You can use slants, behind the bar pulls and volume swells to mimic classic pedal steel licks too.
Bypassing the pedals and knee levers makes the learning curve a little easier initially, the challenge of the fingerpicks and bar intonation remain the same.
Don't have any links, but check youtube for Junior Brown (hot-rod steel), Jerry Byrd (steel pioneer/guru), Billy Robinson (incredible use of slants to mimic pedal steel), Herb Remington, Cindy Cashdollar....there are heaps more.

No it can't do everything a modern pedal steel does (at least not when I play it), but it is a lot of fun, easy to tune and maintain, and to most audiences ears, there is no difference!

That said - play what you are drawn to, what you hear in your mind and your heart.

[Lerb21]

http://www.youtube.com/user/Singlpilot?ob=1

If you are interested, Mickey Adams has all the steel lessons you could ask for. Very nice guy who will help anyone with guitar or pedal steel.

[Mojohand40]

Originally Posted by Dean Gray

I've said it here before - don't underestimate the non pedal steel. You can get great early country, western swing, and alt-country/"roots" kind of sounds out of the C6 and A6 tunings. You can use slants, behind the bar pulls and volume swells to mimic classic pedal steel licks too.
Bypassing the pedals and knee levers makes the learning curve a little easier initially, the challenge of the fingerpicks and bar intonation remain the same.
Don't have any links, but check youtube for Junior Brown (hot-rod steel), Jerry Byrd (steel pioneer/guru), Billy Robinson (incredible use of slants to mimic pedal steel), Herb Remington, Cindy Cashdollar....there are heaps more.

No it can't do everything a modern pedal steel does (at least not when I play it), but it is a lot of fun, easy to tune and maintain, and to most audiences ears, there is no difference!

That said - play what you are drawn to, what you hear in your mind and your heart.

+1

I really wanted a Pedal steel, (and yes, one day I might get one), I even went and tried a few, spent a lot of time researching them etc.

In the end the MAIN thing I learned was:

90% of the music I wanted to play,... the music I associated with Pedal Steel...the old classic country western tones...were not even done with pedal steel..It was all pre-pedal.
All that classic steel backing up Merle travis, early Chet Atkins, Eddie Arnold, Earnest Tubbs, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, etc. etc. etc. The music I love.
All....Non pedal steel.
When I realised that, I started really getting into non pedal, steel guitar.

Here's what I learned in the last 9 months of delving pretty hard into Lap steel:
1) Steel guitar is like crack.
2) I play everyday, and yet barely find time to even pick up my tele's or other regular guitars anymore..and when I do I find a lap steel plugged into my amp and quickly get distracted.
3) Steel guitar gas is pretty strong..I now have three lap steels, (one of the three is a double neck!), a resonator set up with a nut extension for lap playing, and am currently converting an old acoustic for lap style. Oh..and I'm eyeing a fourth lap steel..
main things learned
4) Vintage style steel guitar is hard. good tone, classy vibrato, clean finger picking, tasteful volume pedal work, proper intonation, string damping, bar slants, are all things that require lots of attention and dedication. (for me, anyway!)
5) The main skills I transfered from 24+ years of guitar playing are music theory (of course!) and a good solid background in finger picking. And that's about it.

so..you might want to consider a Lap steel...but be warned, your guitar playing will suffer...