In search of Tone

Landon Roberson · From: Church Hill, Tennessee, USA

I am a newbie to the steel guitar have been playing a little over a year now and I have read many post about Tone. Some say it is in the equipment the amp or the steel guitar and some say it is in the hands. I think it is both I have finally got a setup that I think produces a great tone but now I think I can improve on that tone with my hands. My question is what do you practice and how do you practice to improve your tone?
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My Rig: GFI Ultra SD-10, Goodrich Volume Pedal, Roland 80XL amp.

Bud Angelotti · From: Larryville, NJ, USA

Sounds like you are on the path Landon.
May I suggest, try playing a simple phrase. Start playing it very softly with your right hand. Keep playing the same phrase over and over. Pick it with more force in your right hand. You will notice the more "pick" you use with your right hand, the more you will need to back off on your volume pedal, and vice versa. You gotta pick it like you mean it too, to get the tone to reveal itself. You will hear a difference in tone as you pick it harder or softer.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Changing your "hand posture"will change tone, Some play on the flats of the picks, some play on the edges.
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Jay Jessup · From: Charlottesville, VA, USA

Also try experimenting with the distance your right hand is from the bar or bridge. Just for grins try playing all your stuff with your picking hand always 12 frets above the bar, Probably won't want to play like that all the time but will give you a feel for the range of tones available once you get away from being anchored to the bridge all the time. Picking harder and softer is also something to try and always remember to focus on hands and fingers being relaxed.
Don't forget the left hand, your eyes can play tricks on you so make sure the bar is not only square to the bridge but has even pressure from the high to low strings to minimize any string rattling.

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Good advice here already, I will only add that the first component of big tone is striking the string like you really mean it. Practicing without an amp will help develop this habit, and experimenting with the angle of the picks as well as where on the neck you are picking all lead to an understanding of how various tones are created and what can be done with them. Once you internalize this information through practice you will find yourself thinking mostly about what tone you want to produce from note to note, rather than sitting there wondering how to get any tone at all.

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Landon, I agree with Bud on this one-start out playin softly, then as you get louder, tone starts to develop. Try playin at the low frets first and then move to the higher frets on the guitar-another way to do this is practice some scales. Scales are a great way to find tone.

Brett

Keith Howard · From: London Ohio, USA

Landen,
Another newbie here. Not knowing what you have tried (or not tried), here are some things I learned that really affected my tone.
1) Experiment with different brands, size and gauge of picks. I was using a monster of a thumb pick and now I am using a very small Dunlop thumb pick. Not only did my speed and accuracy improve, I like the tone better as well.

2)This one was life changing for me. Crank your amp way up and then set your tone controls to the sound you are looking for. I started out with my amp on a fairly low volume and was using full volume pedal to get a desired volume. Now I do most of my playing in the first 1/3 of the volume pedal travel. I rarely go beyond 1/2 way on the volume pedal. When I do it is on a lick where the bar is moving several frets without picking any strings. Point is, the tone in your amp will most likely be entirely different when you open up the gains (preamp and master volume). I realize that most amp manufactures (and allot of pickers) will disagrree, but in my experience, amp tone changes when you crank up the gains. I'm not saying you have to play louder, just saying you could try "opening" the gates on the amp and really using the volume pedal to get the desired level.

3) Along these same lines- I found that I could work out an intro, lead, or whatever and make it sound great in the bedroom, then when I do it with a 6 piece band it sounded horrible. Let's assume that I hit all the notes right for a minute. Point is, I've learned to practice at the volume the band plays at.

I do this by hooking the speaker output of my laptop into a set of floor monitors (with a small mixer)and play youtube videos of songs we do at "stage volume".

There appear to be 4 types of steel players:
a) Bedroom players
b) Studio/recording players
c) Weekend band players (myself)
d) and professional traveling players

IMHO- each is looking for a specific tone. I learned that running my steel through a preamp (with effects) and a set of headphones, I could get an incrediblle sound. Fine if I was recording studio tracks. Run out of the preamp into my Nasville 1000 and could not replicate the sound (live band setting). That is, not until I crankked the gain up to 7 o 8 and started using the volume pedal as an "effect".

Lastly- I started out playing with a Goodrich 120 pedal. It didn't have any gain ubtil the pedal was about 1/3 engaged and then seemed to go from nothing to full volume. Another steel player showed me how to adjust the string inside to make it engage sooner. Point is, I had no idea that this was "wrong" until he played my steel. Once adjusted properly, I could get the swells to sound right and everything else improved quickly.

Sorry I didn't address the "tone in your hands issue" I'm working on this one myself

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

Mime to Buddy Emmons records.

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

Mime to Buddy Emmons records.

Landon Roberson · From: Church Hill, Tennessee, USA

TTT
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My Rig: GFI Ultra SD-10, Goodrich Volume Pedal, Roland 80XL amp.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

You'll also notice a difference in both attack and tone in how tightly or not you curl your hand.
In the absence both of hearing you and of knowing how you'd change your tone, all any of us can say is "Strike the strings cleanly and solidly."
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

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