| Did you come to the steel from Guitar or Piano? |
| I came from Piano |
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12% |
[ 7 ] |
| I came from Guitar |
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69% |
[ 39 ] |
| Accordian |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| The Steel is my first instrument |
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8% |
[ 5 ] |
| I came to the steel from another instrument |
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8% |
[ 5 ] |
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| Total Votes : 56 |
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| Author |
Topic: Coming to the Steel Guitar from the Piano |
Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 28 Feb 2016 4:14 pm |
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I suspect that most of us steel players came to the instrument by way of standard guitar.
I am probably an exception having taken lessons as a kid on the Hawaiian Guitar, I had never even strummed a chord on an armpit guitar.
The steel was not however my first instrument. My aunt taught me to play “by ear†on the piano.
I progressed on the Steel guitar, then I picked up a telecaster and soon my Stringmaster collected dust.
In college I took one semester of beginning Piano
And I finally learned the correct way to play using all my fingers, and soon I excelled at the keyboard.
About that same time I bought my first Pedal Steel, but I still dabbled on guitar and Piano.
Seasons come and go, and Now I hardly ever play my pedal steel, but I gig on lap steel 3-4 times a week. And I started playing piano again. Then I noticed how the chords that lay out on the Steel guitar relate to the piano keys.
I am able to visualize the inversions I get by picking different strings. Skipping strings for wider intervals, altering harmonies with slants and fret positions. It’s really opening up my eyes.
With my 12 and 13 string lap steels I can accompany my singing while plucking lush full chords, and it sounds much more piano-like than guitarish...
Dom
_________________
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3 |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 28 Feb 2016 10:30 pm
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Piano => Guitar => Banjo => Steel Guitar with some bass and drums thrown in there at various points.
I personally think that any musician should at least know their way around on a piano. Musical structure just seems so much more obvious to me on a piano. I guess I like linearity - not just in music, but math too. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 29 Feb 2016 5:48 am
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I came from guitar and bass, but got there on piano.
I agree with Dave. Piano is like theory made visible. |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 5 Mar 2016 8:46 am
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20 years of piano before I ever saw a steel guitar up close.
For gigs nowadays I'm usually back where I started, on piano. |
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Charley Bond
From:
Inola, OK, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2018 8:40 am relating to keys on a piano.
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Once, a few years back (20 plus) I made a chart, which showed the keys on a piano, relating their location to their location on a Pedal Steel, Pedals Up & Pedals Down.
I can't seem to find that chart.
Anybody got any ideas. I know that E is open on the 4th & 8th string, but is it the E note on the 4th string just above Middle C on a piano (key # E4) or what..?
Maybe someone can locate Middle C on the Pedal Steel (Pedals Up)_
source... http://www.harmoniumnet.nl/klavier-keyboard-ENG.html
_________________
Steel Guitar players are members of a Special Family |
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Andy Henriksen
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2018 9:16 am Re: relating to keys on a piano.
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| Charley Bond wrote: |
Once, a few years back (20 plus) I made a chart, which showed the keys on a piano, relating their location to their location on a Pedal Steel, Pedals Up & Pedals Down.
I can't seem to find that chart.
Anybody got any ideas. I know that E is open on the 4th & 8th string, but is it the E note on the 4th string just above Middle C on a piano (key # E4) or what..?
Maybe someone can locate Middle C on the Pedal Steel (Pedals Up)_
source... http://www.harmoniumnet.nl/klavier-keyboard-ENG.html |
I don't have it in front of me, but I'm pretty sure there's a similar chart in the Winnie Winston book for the open strings. I don't think there's one for pedals down, though. |
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Brian Hollands
From:
Geneva, FL USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2018 12:29 pm
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On a standard E9 neck middle C would be 5th string 1st fret.
1 - F#4
2 - D#4
3 - G#4
4 - E4
5 - B3
6 - G#3
7 - F#3
8 - E3
9 - D3
10- B2
_________________
'81 Sho-bud LDG, 2 EMCI's |
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 3:31 am
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ukulele
guitar
bass
mandolin
lap steel
It's was my 5th instrument technically...and all this happened in a couple years when I was a young teenager.
I still have my first lap steel, a National Waikiki model. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 5:36 am
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| Charlie McDonald wrote: |
| Piano is like theory made visible. |
I never learned to play but when I was a child I used it as a kind of musical calculator; and although I don't own a keyboard now I still visualise things on it.
My first instrument is trombone, so sliding up and down to aural guidance is second nature. Of all the things I have trouble with on pedal steel, playing in tune has mercifully not been one of them 
_________________
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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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 6:11 am
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| Trumpet ->Guitar ->Dobro ->lap steel |
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Andy Henriksen
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 6:33 am
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[quote="Ian Rae"]
| Charlie McDonald wrote: |
| I used it as a kind of musical calculator... |
I like this way of looking at it. I happen to have my steel guitar set up in my living room within arms reach of the piano (that nobody plays). But I will regularly reference the keys to help visualize how chords are formed, how chords are related to each other, to count intervals between notes, etc. I think anyone new to music (or not so new) would benefit from having a cheap keyboard nearby, regardless of what their primary instrument is. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 7:33 am
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I did have a cheap keyboard nearby until my granddaughter asked whether I ever actually play it. It seems to have disappeared.
[memo to self - drive car more often]
_________________
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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G Strout
From:
Carabelle, Florida
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 10:38 am
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Clarinet - Eb Alto Sax - Bass (upright) - Lap Steel - Guitar.
I was glad that I started on clarinet and sax. It gave me a really good grounding in reading music, scales, theory etc. it was easy to transfer that knowledge over to steel and guitar so I never became a "pattern" player. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 2:20 pm Accordion failure
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I bought an accordion, and on the way home stopped off at Denny's for some dinner,
When I came out my windshield was crashed in --- found two more accordions in the front seat.
Old Pun but seems appropriate here.
Started on Steel Guitar in 1978 and never looked back.
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 21 Mar 2018 3:01 pm
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I went guitar->upright bass->electric bass->sitar->surbahar->steel guitar. Regular electric guitar and bass are still my main instruments (everybody needs a bass player), but sitar and steel guitar are the instruments I play for "me", as they say. Some gradual and simultaneous exposure to piano/organ/electric piano, but aside from a few times in my early 20s when I was in a low pressure gig and thought, why not, I'd never subject paying customers to my kb playing.
I think there are little bits from all sorts of instruments that can help someone's steel playing...piano I agree, the ability to visualize intervals and chords is great, much more instantly perceptible than on guitar. For me sitar helped both my guitar playing and I think more recently my steel playing by imprinting on me the required precision for meend (slurring or bending of notes) and the overall lyrical aspects of the primarily melodic form of playing that sitar is...in my teacher's gharana it is known as gayaki ang, singing style.
My wife has certainly earned the right to roll her eyes at my seemingly never-ending parade of instruments, but on the bright side I am convinced that because of my experiences learning them, I improved on the other instruments in ways that I probably would not have, otherwise.
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Paul Honeycutt
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2018 10:00 am
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Drums > Guitar > Slide Guitar > Lap Steel
There was a flirtation with violin but it never developed into a serious relationship. I also play mandolin and some unlistenable keybords. |
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