To Block or Not to Block

Deirdre Higgins · From: Connecticut, USA

Hi Folks,
I'm still trying to improve string muting and have noticed my playing sounding unintentionally staccato. Just the opposite when Jerry Byrd plays every note/chord flows into the next with no abruptness; music is always being played and with no silence.
When blocking is there a set rule on when to block? do I block every note played? I'm just not sure when. Any tips would be welcome. Thanks

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Try not to think too hard about it. Just play as much as you can. Try to play what you hear. And keep on playing. As often as you can. Then play some more. Then repeat the process. Eventually, it will come... everything will eventually fall into place. It's a gradual process and it's not gonna happen overnight. And if you don't sound like Jerry Byrd, don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Nobody else does, either.

Jean-Sebastien Gauthier · From: Quebec, Canada

I think that the best 2 way to block is using the tip of the bar (lift the back of the bar just enough to block the note behind the one played) and palm blocking.

When using palm blocking you should, if you want a fluid sound, try to pick just a fraction of second before picking the next note or chord. Its like you just pick the next note, the muting is very fast and should not be hear, should not give a staccato sound.

Its very tuff, I work a couple of hours every day for about 3 years and Im starting to be good at slow and moderate tempo, I'm still too choppy on fast tempo.

Like Jerry Byrd said, "you can fool human ear like a magician fool human eyes". It just take lot of practice. Try playing different 3 notes chords inversion at one position with a good palm muting (to hear only the exact voicing of each chord) and a fluid sound.

Im sure not a master of it, I just talk from my very modest experience.

Jerome Hawkes · From: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA

i block every note when its time value is over - if its a quarter note, it gets blocked after 1 beat, half note gets 2 beats, etc - 1/8 notes get blocked almost right after i hit them. in other words, you don't want to block too quickly. think of it as breathing, you don't gasp for breath when you sing, or cut the note off - you just push less air to let it die down. think of your lines exactly the way you would sing them and your blocking will smooth out.
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Joe Snow · From: Argyle,Texas, USA

I may catch some flack for this, but I think that thinking too much about blocking when you are trying to learn how to play music on the steel can be counterproductive. Getting songs down is enough of a challenge. Blocking effectively will come as you listen to how things sound on the journey. All I'm trying to say is don't let the worry about technique get in the way of making music.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Blocking is one of the hardest aspects of steel playing when you're first getting started. It's really a critical aspect so my opinion is you should start working on it right away. The most important thing is getting a good sound and playing in tune. You can work on your blocking as you go and eventually, it becomes a more unconscious aspect of your playing.

Like Jerome said, each note should get it's due and you have lots of options ...

No blocking
Bar blocking (lifting the back of the bar off the strings and pulling it back when you play lower strings)
Palm blocking
Pick blocking
Left hand thumb blocking
Nose blocking (just kidding)

You'll find out via practice what works for you and sounds good and this can change based on the speed and layout on the fretboard of a given tune. You can find lots of instruction on YouTube. check out a lot of people's videos and see what works for you. Search the forum for Jerry Byrd's method - he called it P'tah. Good luck!
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Sam White R.I.P. · From: Coventry, RI 02816

If I'm not mistaking Bobbe Seymour once said you will be picking strings and you will pick the same strings more than one time and you do not need to block the strings as you are going to pick them before it rings out to much.I don't think I block my strings as I play them and it sounds good to me.Just My Two Cents Worth.I know I play a lot of songs to fast and when I slow it down it even sounds better.It sounds good to me so I guess that is all that matters.
Sam White
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Ken Campbell · From: Ferndale, Montana

I'm gonna stick my nose into this and say I think that while blocking is essential in whatever form it's used it should be a function of the music and nothing else. That is, blocking is simply a technique we use to quiet the strings we're not currently using to play whatever we're playing. Don't over think blocking. It should and will come naturally if you are focusing on the music. You will unconsciously find you are blocking.....of course this is my opinion and I'm no expert.

Kc

Tom Gray · From: Decatur, GA

The unconscious part happens when the technique moves from the conscious part of your brain to another, deeper place. The only way for this to happen is by long, frustrating practice. An older player in Nashville once told me, "You'll give up and decide you can never get it. Then you'll wake up the next morning and just be doing it." In my experience, that's about right.
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Deirdre Higgins · From: Connecticut, USA

Thank you! I love all the input everyone gave, it makes more sense to me now. Idea

I can't wait for that day that I finally make it over the proverbial hump, and playing becomes more natural.

James Hartman · From: Pennsylvania, USA

As a general aspect of music, one which seems obvious but is perhaps too rarely thought about, consider that every note has both a particular starting point and a particular end point. Of practical necessity we focus attention on the starting point. Too often the end point is left to chance: soon as we've played a note our attention moves on to the next one and we mentally abandon the previous note while it's still sounding.

So, Deirdre, blocking is how we control the duration of a note. It's not just a means of controlling extraneous noise. Perhaps thinking about it in musical as well as mechanical terms will help.

Adam Nero · From: Wisconsin

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

As James stated, all notes have a duration and so you want to kill off one note when you pick the next note.

Start with half-notes, so you don't feel rushed and so you get used to the idea of hearing a note ring out for some length. Gradually work your way down to quarter notes, etc.

Take your time with this. Depending on what you want to do, you can experiment with pick blocking, palm blocking and bar-hand blocking (raising the bar just enough that the damping fingers behind the bar kill the note).

Deirdre Higgins · From: Connecticut, USA

Thanks James, Adam and Stephen Very Happy

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

Jerry called his technique for his flowing from one note to another the "patah" technique. When drawing the bar to next lower string, the middle finger on the left hand mutes the previous string, causing one note to flow into the next with no break in sound. When going up a string, the thumb is the natural mute, and the bar is tipped. Side to side, the note is often slid, but he may have palm blocked for this, I can't remember.
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