Should I keep playing?

Jonathan Terhaar · From: Texas, USA

I wrote a countryish song recently and put some really basic steel in the background... G, D, C... a few knee bends here and there...

I thought it sounded pretty good - after mixing, the steel didn't overtake the vocals or main melody, just added a little 'twang' in the background to my song... pretty good sound, right? Well...

I consider myself a pretty fast musical learner... I am not a fluent music reader - I learn more with my ears. I taught myself the drums and the 6 string guitar many years ago... taught myself country flat-picking and straight finger-picking. I can keep a rhythm on the piano in most any key. I even taught myself the flute, fiddle and the clarinet a few years back. I couldn't play them now, but got decent enough to put some tracks on my own songs/recordings back then...

Then I went to my lesson today...

We worked on scales first, which seem to come easy, then we tried a few song parts - the intro to "The Christian Life" (The Byrds version), "City Lights", and some other intro riffs.

I've been sitting here at the guitar for 5 hours practicing, and I'm getting frustrated as blue yonder because this instrument has me puzzled... I can't get it right...

Maybe it's a good thing. Maybe it will challenge me enough to become GOOD at playing this guitar, but right now, I want to make firewood out of it. What seemed somewhat simple to me during the lesson now has me cussing out loud, keeping my roommate awake.

What an amazing and frustratingly hard instrument to play - even the basics are hard!

Firewood, or do I just need a break...

Laying down the bar for tonight,
JonnyT

Eldon Cangas · From: Ontario, Canada

Johnathan, please don't quit. I took accordion lessons as a kid (I still gig with it) and since then I've learned, a bit of mandoline, guitar, bass and now I'm working with a 10 string lap steel I made. I think I can understand your situation. Every once and a while we hit a wall but unless we are willing to climb it we don't know what's on the other side. It takes time for the brain and hands to come into sync. Take your time enjoy the climb. You've come to the right forum for help and encouragement. Keep at it, there's exciting discoveries ahead of you. Eldon

Chris Reesor · From: British Columbia, Canada

Jonathan,
Put your bar down, or do something totally different.Tomorrow,or a couple days later, warm up a bit, then try the passage that was giving you trouble. Don't be surprised if that passage just flows right out! I can't say for sure why this works,but it does. Scientists who study the learning process think that your sleeping brain kind of "integrates" all this stuff, and suddenly something that seemed impossible suddenly becomes easy.Don't quit, or at least not over this issue.
CR.
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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Jonathan, there's no one, repeat, no one, who plays steel well today who has not experienced what you're experiencing at one time or another. It happens to us all. It's just part of the learning process. Yes, take a break for a day or so, then come back refreshed and ready to take on the beast once again. It's not an easy instrument to play but it's one of the most rewarding. The good news is that you've already tasted some success with your recording, so you know that you can play simple things decently. That's a great start and a great foundation on which to build. It'll take time, but keep at it and you'll eventually enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Happy New Year!
Jimbeaux
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Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Jonathan, don't ever quit playin'. It's okay to take breaks sometimes. The more you play on steel, the more your confidence will grow, believe me. I've been playin' for nine years and I've got cerebral palsy in my left hand, but it don't stop me from playin' steel. I llove every minute of it.

Zeke Cory · From: Hinsdale, New York USA

Jonathan. Listen to what these great players have told you. Getting to where you can play steel guitar as well as you would like to is a long journey, even frustrating at times. Once you get through this initial hurdle and are able to do a few things well, you will be all fired up and recharged for more. You may even find that the the steel guitar becomes one of the few things that will bring you some "peace" in these hard times. Trust me and be patient. Best of luck to you in your journey. It will be most worthwhile in the end. Thanks. Zeke

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I used to get up and go for a short car ride. It helped my attitude (or frustration) by not only getting away from the guitar, but completly away from it and in a new enviorment. Came back fresh and ready to go. Never try to keep practicing when you get real frustrated. Not productive or healthy.

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Jonathan, welcome to the club!! Smile

JJ

Bo Borland · From: South Jersey -

No, quit now before you need therapy

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Jerry H. Moore · From: Newnan, GA, USA

Practice slowly and correctly for as long as you can stay sane. Then get up and come back the next day. I found that some of it takes a little time to get from our hands to our brain and vice versa. Keep at it!!!!

Glen Derksen · From: Alberta, Canada

Jonathan,
Like the others have said, take a break and then come back to it. It will all come together. The other day I was trying to learn the solo to Ray Price's version of 'Invitation to the blues'. At first I had a tough time with it, then I took a break and went back to it after a few hours, and I noticed improvement. Pretty soon I'll have it all down. Don't give up.

Allen Kentfield · From: Texas, USA

Jonathan,

Unlike the nose, if you keep picking it, it WILL get better.

Al Kentfield
Jonestown, Texas

Bill Dobkins · From: Rolla Missouri, USA

Don't quit, its to much fun. Whoa!

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Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Quote from famous Zydeco musician, Boo Zoo Chavis: If you do something long enough, it gits good!!

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

If you don't quit picking that thing...
It will never heal.. Laughing

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Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Brick Spieth · From: San Jose, California, USA

The other day I was asking myself why I wasn't going stark raving mad trying to learn this instrument. I think I came to the conclusion a while back that I would just embrace the challenge. I just decided to look at it not as a guitar I should know how to play, but as an entirely new instrument, and I wouldn't expect to be any better if I was only playing fiddle for six months.

If I can't get something right I just slow it way down. I'm actually enjoying playing scales over and over. On a scale of one to a hundred, I'm about a five, but not that long ago I was a one. That's real progress!

Besides, I'm only terrorizing myself with this thing, not bothering others.

Tommy Shown · From: Denham Springs, La.

Jonathan,
I took trumpet when i was 11 and washed out on it big time. And I came from a line of musicians on my mother's side, infact she was a big band drummer back in 40's when female drummers were unheard of.
I too taught myself guitar,and bass. Steel on the other hand,I had a friend of mine show me the basics, the rest I learned on my by listening to others (i.e.recordings). Now after 30 years,when I sit down behind my guitar I can visualize the song in my head, and I can pick it out. So don't quit.
There's been a time when I first started out, that I almost quit. But another good friend talked me out of
it. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tommy Shown

Duncan Hodge · From: DeLand, FL USA

Yes!!!
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Bo Legg · Posted 5 Jan 2009 9:48 pm

You can practice hours everyday for a year and not know crap about this instrument.
Self taught to me, and I know from experience, means I practiced and taught myself for hours everyday for a year and then I practiced another year trying to get rid of all the bad habits I taught myself the first year.
Everybody I’ve known who started out on the PSG and thought it was going to be quick and easy failed and quit.
Cheer up there is really only three things you have to learn. Good Technique, Good Technique and Good Technique.

Ned McIntosh · From: New South Wales, Australia

Jonathan,

Look down at your feet. See those footprints you are standing in? Well, those were made by Lloyd Green...and Buddy Emmons...and John Hughey...and Tom Brumley...and Hal Rugg...and Weldon Myrick...and every other great steel-guitar player who ever lived. Right now, you are where they were when they started.

Your journey has just begun, which is why you're standing in those famous footprints. Those guys kept moving forward, making footprints that lead to greatness, a long way ahead of where you are currently standing. You can't see them because they're many horizons ahead of you. Nothing was given to them that you don't have...they just started before you did. And they didn't stop. They kept going.

There is an old Russian saying: "When troika stops, move forward!" Your way forward is to follow the footprints. That way greatness lies. But greatness isn't instant. You must keep moving forward, one step at a time. Greatness is earned as the steel-guitar is learned.

The steel-guitar is a demanding, intimidating, frustrating and occasionally brutal instrument. But it is also the instrument which can tear at the heart-strings of your fellow human beings in a way no other instrument can, not even a multi-million dollar Stradivarius. Nothing comes even close to the pure, raw emotion that the steel-guitar can express if the phrasing, placement and playing is perfect.

We who have fallen under its spell are simultaneously blessed and cursed. We are blessed by the simple act of conjuring music from this most anomalous, curious instrument, and we are cursed with the realisation that however long we live, we will probably never fully and totally master this machine. We reach an accommodation with it.

Frustration is merely a form of energy that you can harness to propel you forward on your journey. When you are frustrated, stop...but never despair. This instrument will tease you, and just as suddenly it will reveal a secret sound you have searched for in vain for weeks. It is an instrument replete with surprises, and secrets. The surprises will delight and inspire you, and the secrets will make you a finer person for having taken the time to discover them.

Every one of us has experienced what you are experiencing. Remember those famous footprints? Well, we're standing in them too, strung out along the journey, knowing what we seek is always just a few more footprints away.

And that is what drives us onwards.
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The steel guitar is a hard mistress. She will obsess you, bemuse and bewitch you. She will dash your hopes on what seems to be whim, only to tease you into renewing the relationship once more so she can do it to you all over again...and yet, if you somehow manage to touch her in that certain magic way, she will yield up a sound which has so much soul, raw emotion and heartfelt depth to it that she will pierce you to the very core of your being.

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Jonathan, When I started my steel playin' journey nine years ago, I learned alot by listenin' to other players and one thing I need to tell you is this, the more you practice with your guitar, the higher your confidence will be. When I started playin', I always told myself, "Don't quit cause it's gonna get better the more you play", and sure enough I played a lot and still love it today and will always love it. Steel player Jeff Peterson, who played steel for Clint Black, told me even before I started playin', he said, "Practice makes perfect" and he's right. I ain't gonna let cerebral palsy stop me from playin' steel, and don't let anything stop you from playin' steel cause playin' steel is fun to learn and wonderful at the same time.

Brett

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

My take on quitting has always been that I will only quit due to a health problem of some sort or if I don't enjoy playing (or trying) anymore. Like everybody else, I have been tempted to quit because I didn't think I would ever learn the beast, but I was enjoying trying, so I never quit. I am still not a great player but I play in two bands and they are happy with the job I am doing. I played lead guitar and banjo many years ago and learned them fairly easy. I consider most instruments to be one dimensional wheras the pedal steel is multi-dimensional. I posed the question "Is it just me, or is the steel really hard to lean to play." to Jeff Newman when I was attending one of his classes in Nashville. He said it was one of the hardest instruments in the world to learn and play well. So, my advice is, if you really want to learn it and you are enjoying the pursuit, then don't quit. Don't get too concerned about the destination that you are trying to reach, just enjoy the scenery along the journey. It has been said that the steel is a 10 year instrument, so it can take some time. You don't want to quit and look back in 10 years and wish you had not given up. The learnng process will test your patience like nothing else I know of. From what you said, it sounds like you are really doing great, considering that you are a new player. If you have a strong desire to learn it and are enjoying trying and have the patience that is required, you will succeed. Good luck. Every steel player knows exactly what you are going through. We have all been there.

Bud Harger · From: Belton, Texas by way of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Just love it, Jonny...
...and the steel will eventually love you back.

Where are you located in Texas?

bUd

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