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Topic: Speed issue for new steel players |
Jason Bergeron
From:
Lake Charles, LA, USA
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 5:06 pm |
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I have been playing for about two months, and I know that it's normal to be slow at first. However, I'm starting to get discouraged.
I find myself not looking at my right hand to watch my strings as much, but it seems that I can't keep up even with the slowest of songs when I practice. I feel pressured. It's like I get a smothering feeling when I can't keep up with the pace of the song.
Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?
Any advice?
_________________
Sho~Bud Super Pro, Peavey Nashville 400
©Jason Bergeron |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 5:51 pm
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| just keep at it. it will get easier. maybe play slightly simpler licks at first. |
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Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 5:54 pm
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What you are going through is completely normal. You have a lot to think about when you first start playing any new instrument. All that thinking takes time, which slows you down.
You must practice slowly, or you'll end up dropping the instrument due to stress and frustration.
Two months is a very short period of time to be at this instrument.
If you go slowly, eventually the speed will start to come. I believe in metronomes. Set it slow and then practice whatever it is you're trying to play at about half the speed you think it should be played. Playing correctly at slow speeds eventually leads to playing correctly at full speed.
There is no substitute for patience and diligent, methodical repetition; thousands of times.
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It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 6:41 pm
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Speed is in the head, not the hands.
Until you no longer need to think about HOW to play a link or passage, that will be the bottleneck.
_________________
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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John Booth
From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 7:02 pm
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I still remember thinking "I must be retarded or something" when I first started working on Highway 40 Blues.
Everyone else could fly through it and I was having trouble crawling thru it, then, just like Lane said, I kinda
stopped thinking about it and it started speeding up by simple repetition and muscle memory. Now I don't feel quite as
retarded and I play it pretty fast. Just hang in there brother, we all go thru it.
_________________
Jb in Ohio
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GFI S10 Ultra, Telecaster, a Hound Dog, and an Annoyed Wife
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Larry Carlson
From:
My Computer
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 7:44 pm
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I am a couple of months ahead of you and I can feel your pain.
I also get frustrated a lot but this is not an easy instrument to play and I haven't shot anyone yet so all is good.
I am learning some of Troy's beginner's tunes and when I kind of "hit the wall" I rotate to another tune and work on it for a while.
Doing this helps with the frustration and I am making progress. I find that when I am having trouble and playing
a song wrong over and over all I am doing is learning to play a song wrong.
However, I have never had so much fun in my life trying to learn something new and everyone once in a while actual music comes out.
All of the above applies only to me. Right or wrong it is the way I have worked it out to help with frustration and stumbling blocks.
_________________
I have stuff.
I try to make music with it.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
But I keep on trying. |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 8:38 pm
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In many aspects of life, we are told "Don't look back". However, I'd suggest you DO look back frequently at how far you HAVE come already. Remember that first day, when you could barely manage to pick 2 or 3 strings at once? When you had to stop and count strings to find the 3rd and 5th strings?
There have been many things that I struggled with, thought I was going to butcher them forever, and after a while they fall into place and no longer present a problem. That helps balance out the times when I look ahead and see how far I have yet to go.
Try recording yourself now, then play it back in 2 more months. You'll be encouraged to hear your progress. Stay with it - you'll be glad you did. |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 6 Mar 2015 9:09 pm
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Everybody has heard the quip 'it takes two years to suck' with respect the learning this instrument.
I look at it as a lifetime project that will carry me well into retirement. This is one of those things where its the process that needs to be viewed as rewarding.
Many of the top players have practised and played over 40 years...Some started when they were less than 10 years old when the brain actually knew how to learn. After the age of 40 its force feeding. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 3:53 am
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Jason, although the PSG is particularly complicated, all of this applies to any instrument. My main one is the trombone, surely the simplest of all - the only common instrument where you don't need fingers! - but even when I taught it to the ten-year-olds that Tom mentions, some of them took a long time to think fluently (and it's the thinking that takes the time, as others have said).
I have played trombone and bass guitar professionally (the bass was all sight-reading gigs), and clarinet in a klezmer band, which is higher-profile even than steel is in country, and I have plenty of confidence in my musical abilities. I can play by ear and I can write down what I hear.
Two years into the steel there are times when I feel in control of the instrument and can make a few sounds I would want others to hear, but it doesn't last long. Two years to suck is about right.
I'm trying to encourage you - hope it feels that way! 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 4:05 am Re: Speed issue for new steel players
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| Jason Bergeron wrote: |
| Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong? |
Yes, many of us still aspire to be normal or question it.
If what Tom says is true, and I think it is, that it takes two years just to suck, you're doing fine.
Remember: time is not our friend. It's the white wabbit and its watch, urging us to keep up.
I'm not sure about the race to speed; you may miss something. Dare not to keep up with the Whites.
| Paul Sutherland wrote: |
| If you go slowly, eventually the speed will start to come. |
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Scott Duckworth
From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 5:25 am
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for the beginning player, you have to realize the pedal steel is a muscle reflex instrument.... you have to train feet, legs, hands, head, eyes, to be in sync with each other to the point you no longer have to think about it. like lane says.
the only thing that gets you to that point is your butt in the seat behind the steel for hours.
you will eventually find your knee already engaging a lever, or your foot toggling on and off pedals with a mind of their own with no mental input from you - you just think or hear it and a reflex happens. this was the most amazing part of when i finally busted thru the hump...but brother, it was not after 2-3 months...you need to adjust that in years
actually, if you have been playing only 2 months and can hold on to the bar, you are further ahead of most...
its all about breaking the BIG moves down into the smallest chunks and learning them.
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 6:31 am
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| Tom Gorr wrote: |
Everybody has heard the quip 'it takes two years to suck' with respect the learning this instrument.
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In my case, it took 3 years, but I'm finally there! 
Scott, that exercise page is interesting, I'll give some of those a try. Thanks for posting - I'll try ANYTHING that might help me improve! |
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Willie Sims
From:
PADUCAH, KY, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 12:56 pm
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| Jason/ you say you have been playing for two months, and you're worried about playing Highway 40 blues fast. Do you think that Bruce bouton could play Highway 40 blues at all when he had only been playing two months? I doubt it. My suggestion would be to learn the basics first, and learn to play the slower songs you really know, you don't need to learn the hard stuff first. Your speed will improve over time. Most people will never care how fast you can play. Willie SIMS. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 1:19 pm
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Well said, Willie. Buddy Emmons is probably the greatest all-round steel player of all time, but I don't recall anyone talking about how fast he could play. Taste, style, sound, versatility - yes. But speed? Who cares?
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 2:09 pm
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At two months, you can't expect very much. That's like trying to guess what happens in a mystery novel when you've only read two pages. 
Practice playing cleanly, and in-tune. You don't have to practice for speed. The speed part comes naturally, on it's own, after you've learned enough about what you're doing to play without thinking about every facet of it. |
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Jason Bergeron
From:
Lake Charles, LA, USA
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Richard Alderson
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2015 2:28 pm Keep At It
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Two months is nothing. See us in two years ! Also learning anything new creates new neural pathways in the brain, and these get larger and stronger as time goes on. Its "building up reflexes" - same difference. Try writing with your left hand instead of your right. Feels frustrating, because of the lack of neural connections compared to writing with the right hand. Each new step is accompanied by a degree of discomfort, but eventually becomes routine. All of it due to the construction of new neural pathways in the brain. When you get tired just take a rest or play something more familiar until the next day. Good luck.
_________________
Derby SD-10 5x6; GFI S-10 5x5; GFI S-10 5x5; Zum D-10 8x7; Zum D-10 9x9; Fender 400; Fender Rumble 200; Nashville 400; Telonics TCA-500. |
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