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I have a new psg student; I made this outline summarizing what I think is important for beginner or expert steel players. (Including things that I learned the hard way by doing it wrong at first!)
...

This is what having fun looks like! I was asked to sit in yesterday with The Brewsters at a private party. They are a family band consisting of the parents and their three sons, and yes, that means t ...

Everything affects tone. I use fingernails mostly to pick, and (callused) skin to mute. The tone is not quite as bright as what you get with metal fingerpicks, but I like a mellow tone, and one can ...

I used a thumbpick and fingerpicks for years when I first started playing pedal steel back in '72 because I read that that's how you're supposed to do it. I got so comfortable with them I started usi ...

Funny -- it's five years later and I still don't use any of those chords except the D9. Shows the difference between figuring something out and actually LEARNING it! I can do the music theory but th ...

I've been playing pedal steel since 1972. Never played slide guitar or any other slide anything without pedals until recently. Last week, one of my adult students, who builds high-end lap steels as ...

Bob -- you might enjoy this short piece. I was playing a 3 foot gong, and later overdubbed bass, but I have done similar things with pedal steel. I love traditional country but there's a lot of othe ...

Infinite notes if you ignore frets...

My kind of situation! VERY cool!

I agree, Clete -- a diminished triad is just a triad, although a slightly unusual one, so it's not modified or extended until at least one other note is added. Let me say again -- this whole "mo ...

I learned most of this stuff by ear/accident and then used music theory later to figure out what went wrong or right. I studied music theory in high school and college, and it clogged up my head -- s ...

You're right, Joey -- I just meant none of that would be immediately useful to tab readers. When they start thinking about why the tab sounds good, then sure, I agree 100%.

Many years ago, when writing the manual I use when teaching guitar, I coined the term "modified chords." I defined a "modified" chord as one where one or more notes are added to t ...

I agree, Jim. In a sit down solo concert I might explain and demonstrate how the looper works by recording a loop in front of them. But at a normal solo gig, where I'm more or less background music ...

No, sorry Jim. I almost always play better when the tape is NOT running...

I did the solo pedal steel gig yesterday and it was great; people loved it and about twenty people asked and now know what pedal steel guitar is.

I found that once I was good and warmed up (I did a ...

I'm not a smart shopper, since I spend money so rarely. I bought the $250 DigiTech looper; perhaps I would have been happy with the $99 one. But mine is stereo, which could come in useful anytime I ...

A looper is a small foot pedal that makes a digital recording of whatever you plug into it (it accepts instrument cables and/or a mic, so anything can be looped) and then repeats it until you turn it ...

I do a lot of solo guitar instrumental gigs; after fifty-one years, I can play one guitar and make it sound like two, sometimes even like rhythm, lead, and bass. So I have tried a couple of solo peda ...

Amazing how many of us started in the early seventies.

I back up a singer; we were at a local bar, hired to play 7 to 10 pm. At 9:50 two young drunks walked in with pretty (new?) girlfriends, and they started to dance and enthuse loudly. At 10:00, when ...

43 years playing pedal steel, 51 years playing guitar. The first 35 years of psg were rough; I only started feeling as if I had "control" of psg about six or seven years ago. (Many of thos ...

What's missing from this discussion is that there isn't one blues "scale" or "style" -- there are six or seven or eight. Pedal steel is great for those blues sub-styles that are c ...

Jamie, you might like the Sitar Blues that's on my website...

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Author	Message
Topic: How To Play Pedal Steel Guitar
Barry Hyman Replies: 41 Views: 13351	Forum Section: Pedal Steel Posted: 31 Aug 2015 4:38 pm Subject: How To Play Pedal Steel Guitar
Barry Hyman Replies: 41 Views: 13351	I have a new psg student; I made this outline summarizing what I think is important for beginner or expert steel players. (Including things that I learned the hard way by doing it wrong at first!) ...
Topic: fun!
Barry Hyman Replies: 5 Views: 2532	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 24 Aug 2015 4:04 pm Subject: fun!
Barry Hyman Replies: 5 Views: 2532	This is what having fun looks like! I was asked to sit in yesterday with The Brewsters at a private party. They are a family band consisting of the parents and their three sons, and yes, that means t ...
Topic: Why I Don't Use Picks, Reason #7
Barry Hyman Replies: 26 Views: 13554	Forum Section: Pedal Steel Posted: 11 Apr 2015 5:20 pm Subject: Why I Don't Use Picks, Reason #7
Barry Hyman Replies: 26 Views: 13554	Everything affects tone. I use fingernails mostly to pick, and (callused) skin to mute. The tone is not quite as bright as what you get with metal fingerpicks, but I like a mellow tone, and one can ...
Topic: Why I Don't Use Picks, Reason #7
Barry Hyman Replies: 26 Views: 13554	Forum Section: Pedal Steel Posted: 10 Apr 2015 5:17 pm Subject: Why I Don't Use Picks, Reason #7
Barry Hyman Replies: 26 Views: 13554	I used a thumbpick and fingerpicks for years when I first started playing pedal steel back in '72 because I read that that's how you're supposed to do it. I got so comfortable with them I started usi ...
Topic: E9 Chords That Start on the Ninth String
Barry Hyman Replies: 18 Views: 11400	Forum Section: Pedal Steel Posted: 8 Apr 2015 9:45 pm Subject: E9 Chords That Start on the Ninth String
Barry Hyman Replies: 18 Views: 11400	Funny -- it's five years later and I still don't use any of those chords except the D9. Shows the difference between figuring something out and actually LEARNING it! I can do the music theory but th ...
Topic: first lap steel after 43 years pedal steel
Barry Hyman Replies: 2 Views: 1754	Forum Section: Steel Without Pedals Posted: 11 Feb 2015 6:50 pm Subject: first lap steel after 43 years pedal steel
Barry Hyman Replies: 2 Views: 1754	I've been playing pedal steel since 1972. Never played slide guitar or any other slide anything without pedals until recently. Last week, one of my adult students, who builds high-end lap steels as ...
Topic: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 29 Jan 2015 6:05 am Subject: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	Bob -- you might enjoy this short piece. I was playing a 3 foot gong, and later overdubbed bass, but I have done similar things with pedal steel. I love traditional country but there's a lot of othe ...
Topic: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 29 Jan 2015 6:00 am Subject: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	Infinite notes if you ignore frets...
Topic: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 28 Jan 2015 4:02 pm Subject: Different gig
Barry Hyman Replies: 16 Views: 4627	My kind of situation! VERY cool!
Topic: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 25 Jan 2015 5:24 pm Subject: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	I agree, Clete -- a diminished triad is just a triad, although a slightly unusual one, so it's not modified or extended until at least one other note is added. Let me say again -- this whole "mo ...
Topic: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 22 Jan 2015 9:44 am Subject: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	I learned most of this stuff by ear/accident and then used music theory later to figure out what went wrong or right. I studied music theory in high school and college, and it clogged up my head -- s ...
Topic: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 22 Jan 2015 8:53 am Subject: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	You're right, Joey -- I just meant none of that would be immediately useful to tab readers. When they start thinking about why the tab sounds good, then sure, I agree 100%.
Topic: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 22 Jan 2015 7:58 am Subject: A Theory of Pedal Steel Improvisation/Composition
Barry Hyman Replies: 14 Views: 11529	Many years ago, when writing the manual I use when teaching guitar, I coined the term "modified chords." I defined a "modified" chord as one where one or more notes are added to t ...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 19 Jan 2015 7:19 am Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	I agree, Jim. In a sit down solo concert I might explain and demonstrate how the looper works by recording a loop in front of them. But at a normal solo gig, where I'm more or less background music ...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 19 Jan 2015 6:41 am Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	No, sorry Jim. I almost always play better when the tape is NOT running...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 18 Jan 2015 8:50 am Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	I did the solo pedal steel gig yesterday and it was great; people loved it and about twenty people asked and now know what pedal steel guitar is. I found that once I was good and warmed up (I did a ...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 16 Jan 2015 4:29 pm Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	I'm not a smart shopper, since I spend money so rarely. I bought the $250 DigiTech looper; perhaps I would have been happy with the $99 one. But mine is stereo, which could come in useful anytime I ...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 16 Jan 2015 2:46 pm Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	A looper is a small foot pedal that makes a digital recording of whatever you plug into it (it accepts instrument cables and/or a mic, so anything can be looped) and then repeats it until you turn it ...
Topic: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 16 Jan 2015 6:54 am Subject: Pedal Steel Solo Gig?
Barry Hyman Replies: 19 Views: 8897	I do a lot of solo guitar instrumental gigs; after fifty-one years, I can play one guitar and make it sound like two, sometimes even like rhythm, lead, and bass. So I have tried a couple of solo peda ...
Topic: How many years have you been playing?
Barry Hyman Replies: 145 Views: 58308	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 6 Jan 2015 6:07 pm Subject: How many years have you been playing?
Barry Hyman Replies: 145 Views: 58308	Amazing how many of us started in the early seventies.
Topic: I got a $140 tip on my gig last night, for one song.
Barry Hyman Replies: 24 Views: 8608	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 6 Jan 2015 3:26 pm Subject: I got a $140 tip on my gig last night, for one song.
Barry Hyman Replies: 24 Views: 8608	I back up a singer; we were at a local bar, hired to play 7 to 10 pm. At 9:50 two young drunks walked in with pretty (new?) girlfriends, and they started to dance and enthuse loudly. At 10:00, when ...
Topic: How many years have you been playing?
Barry Hyman Replies: 145 Views: 58308	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 5 Jan 2015 3:11 pm Subject: How many years have you been playing?
Barry Hyman Replies: 145 Views: 58308	43 years playing pedal steel, 51 years playing guitar. The first 35 years of psg were rough; I only started feeling as if I had "control" of psg about six or seven years ago. (Many of thos ...
Topic: The Steel Guitar is the Ideal Instrument for the Blues
Barry Hyman Replies: 11 Views: 3748	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 29 Nov 2014 3:42 pm Subject: The Steel Guitar is the Ideal Instrument for the Blues
Barry Hyman Replies: 11 Views: 3748	What's missing from this discussion is that there isn't one blues "scale" or "style" -- there are six or seven or eight. Pedal steel is great for those blues sub-styles that are c ...
Topic: The Steel Guitar is the Ideal Instrument for the Blues
Barry Hyman Replies: 11 Views: 3748	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 29 Nov 2014 4:59 am Subject: The Steel Guitar is the Ideal Instrument for the Blues
Barry Hyman Replies: 11 Views: 3748	Jamie, you might like the Sitar Blues that's on my website...
Topic: Concert Video: Frisell + Leisz: Guitar In The Space Age!
Barry Hyman Replies: 2 Views: 1592	Forum Section: Steel Players Posted: 28 Nov 2014 3:19 pm Subject: Concert Video: Frisell + Leisz: Guitar In The Space Age!
Barry Hyman Replies: 2 Views: 1592	Like!