| Author |
Topic: NYE gigs last night...watching your bar technique? |
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 11:50 am |
|
Last on my NYE gig, I was watching my left hand like no tomorrow, after reading PF's comment concerning keeping the bar perfectly straight. It is amazing how often I drag the bar around and do not keep it consistently straight. Being conscious of it really helped me improve my playing. Did anyone else have an extra eye on the bar hand last night as a result of PF's recent advice? I'd like to once again thank Paul for reminding me of this oft-overlooked detail of steel playing.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
|
|
 |
Bo Borland
From:
South Jersey -
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 12:01 pm
|
|
Funny you would mention that!
I was alternating watching a couple of hot single babes at a nearby table and my left hand. 
I did not actively try to change anything, but I noticed that I do keep the bar as straight as possible while moving between positions.. it just comes natural. |
|
|
|
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 12:17 pm
|
|
| Bo Borland wrote: |
I was alternating watching a couple of hot single babes at a nearby table and my left hand.
|
Well, that goes without saying.....
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
|
|
|
Finbarr O'Sullivan
From:
Glengarriff, Ireland
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 1:05 pm
|
|
| HI Chris & Bo if I was watching hot babes it would be my right hand i would be worried about Happy new year guys |
|
|
|
Ben Jones
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 1:39 pm
|
|
| me too Chris. It seems obvious right? keep the bar straight, and yet when i watched myself moving the bar around I could see I needed to work on that and be more consistent. I look forward to the excercises Mr. Franklin mentioned he would post later. In the meantime tho, yeah, I'm really watching that and noticing the need for improvement. |
|
|
|
Roger Francis
From:
kokomo,Indiana, USA
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 1:45 pm
|
|
I did the same thing Chris, i payed a lot of attention my left hand last night and noticed that above the 10th fret i caught myself turning the bar slightly, so i started focusing more on the fret and bar alignment as i moved around from fret to fret. I've allways tried to focus on where i'm going next in advance and have the tendecy to not pay that much attention to alignment, at least on up tempo songs.
We are off for the next 3 weeks so this will give me time to try to get this to be a second nature to my playing. I guess i never realy thought that much about it untill pauls post. Maybe we have to practice everything when we practice music. No matter how long you've been playing you can probably find something you can improve on if you pay more attention |
|
|
|
Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 2:06 pm
|
|
| Me too Chris. Same as you and the other guys. |
|
|
|
Paul E. Brennan
From:
Dublin, Ireland
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 3:58 pm
|
|
| I was so cold during the gig last night that my bar hand was shivering all by itself! |
|
|
|
Bill Miller
From:
Gaspe, Quebec, Canada
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 5:21 pm
|
|
| I tried to keep it in mind last night for sure. It seems even more important onstage since you often can't hear yourself well enough to pick up on small intonation problems. I've been much more conscious of bar alignment since that thread. |
|
|
|
Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 7:34 pm
|
|
I missed Paul Franklin's advice -- I was traveling and away from The Forum for ten days. But funny -- I have been concentrating a lot lately on keeping the bar parallel to the frets at all times anyway, just by coincidence.
Had a great NY gig with a wonderfully appreciative crowd. People sure do love pedal steel!!!
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
|
|
|
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 7:53 pm
|
|
| Ben Jones wrote: |
| Me too Chris. It seems obvious right? |
Yes, the key word here is seems. I too was pretty sure of myself with the bar hand, until I took conscious note of what I was actually doing - which was dragging the bar around and only lining it up when I landed on the desired fret. This causes the problem of not arriving on the fret parallel, which in turn causes the initial notes to be uneven. This is where Paul's advice holds its true value. We are made aware of deficiencies that we never knew we had, and can then improve in the very places we didn't think we needed it.
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
|
|
|
Marc Jenkins
From:
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
|
Posted 1 Jan 2010 10:26 pm
|
|
| I had a 6 string only gig last night (couldn't justify bringing the steel for the one song that needs steel in a Talking Heads tribute!) but I sat down at the steel after a 2 week break today. I tried Paul's recommendations, and sure felt and heard a difference. It does seem so obvious, not sure why I've missed it in the past... |
|
|
|
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 2 Jan 2010 5:15 am
|
|
I'm with you all. I was suprised at the amount of non-parallel movement going on. I figured out the fishtailing was actually a part of some changes I use often and was programmed in, almost like a curve with the left elbow being the center of the radius sometimes. Yikes.
Now I've gotta de-program and re-program! |
|
|
|
