Help needed please.

Sheena Tyrrell-Sheppard · From: United Kingdom

Hi everyone,
I am learning to play lap steel, however i am really struggling as I dont understand music theory. The courses I have purchased, books etc all seem to need the basic knowledge.
I am in the UK, play left handed and dont have much time to practise. I do learn very slowly, but I stick at it and want to learn. I play acoustic guitar, its taken an age to get not far but I have persevered and throughly enjoy playing.
I see from several threads that there are some teachers out there.
Anyone willing to take on a new pupil ?
Oh, I cant recognise different notes - but I can now tell when they are out of tune! 😊
Sheena x

Robert Murphy · From: West Virginia

Welcome to the wonderful world of steel guitar.

Karlis Abolins · From: (near) Seattle, WA, USA

As someone who came to the world of steel guitar without any musical knowledge, I can offer this advice: Learn the diatonic scale. You probably already know the Do Re Mi scale. That is the diatonic scale. There are seven notes in the diatonic scale. Here is one way to play the diatonic scale on your lap steel. Start off by playing any open string on your guitar. That is the root note (Do) of this particular scale. Move your bar to the second fret of the same string. That is the Re note. Move two more for the Mi note. Move one more for the Fa note. Move two more for So. Move two more for La. Move two more for Ti. Move one more and you are back to Do. You can name this scale by the note name of the open string. If you play the scale on a different string, you will be playing a different diatonic scale. The scale stays the same. It is always named for the first note of the scale. I find it easier to think of the scale in numbers, one through seven. One is Do, two is Re, three is Mi, and so on. I learned the relative positioning of the diatonic scale through the mantra - full step, full step, half step, full step, full step, full step, half step - where half step is one fret, and full step is two frets.

Chords are made up of the notes in the diatonic scale. I will use numbers here (Roman numerals for chords. Upper case for major chords. Lower case for minor chords). The root chord, I, for the song has three notes - 1, 3, 5. The ii chord has three notes - 2, 4, 6. The iii chord has three notes - 3, 5, 7. The The IV chord has three notes - 4, 6, 1. The V chord has three notes - 5, 7, 2. The vi chord (also known as the relative minor) has three notes - 6, 1, 3. The vii diminished chord has three notes - 7, 2, 4.

The intervals between two notes also have special names. Notes that are one fret apart have a minor second interval. Notes that are two frets apart have a major second interval. Notes that are three frets apart have a minor third interval. Notes that are four frets apart have a major third interval. Notes that are five frets apart have a perfect fourth interval. Notes that are six frets apart have a tritone interval. Notes that are seven frets apart have a perfect fifth interval. Notes that are eight frets apart have a minor sixth interval. Notes that are nine frets apart have a major sixth interval. Notes that are ten frets apart have a minor seventh interval. Notes that are eleven frets apart have a major seventh interval. Notes that are twelve frets apart have a octave interval.

A major chord is composed of three notes with a major third interval followed by a minor third interval. The I, IV, and V chords above are major chords. A minor chord is composed of three notes with a minor third interval followed by a major third interval. The ii, iii, and vi chords above are minor chords. The vii diminished chord above is composed of three notes with a minor third followed by another minor third.

You can play scales on the steel guitar up the string as in the example above or across the strings. You just have to know where the scale notes are. I have avoided using note names in this basic lesson. As long as you can find the root note of a given scale, you can use the knowledge above to find the rest of the notes on the guitar. Once you have learned the relative positions of the scale , you have the pattern for the diatonic scale. You can use that pattern for every song.

I hope this will help you. As you play the diatonic scale, you will start to recognize the notes that you hear in your songs. It takes practice to internalize the diatonic scale.

Karlis Abolins

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Unless you've progressed past the point of beyond return, I would recommend learning to play right-handed on a right-handed instrument. It will prevent lotsa future headaches.

Sheena Tyrrell-Sheppard · From: United Kingdom

@Robert thank you for the welcome.

@Karlis Thank you so much for your reply, I will print it all off and start studying, I have never seen it explained this way. It has made a daunting task more possible to achieve. 😊

@ Jack - I tried several months to play acoustic guitar right handed and failed. I have since picked up a injury on my right hand - I can hold a bar fine with no problems, I would not have the flexibility to pick well with my right hand.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

Hi Sheena. Do you have access to a keyboard of any kind? Even the smallest/cheapest will do. There was a piano in our house when I was a kid and although I never learned to play, I taught myself music theory by picking out the various scales and chords on it. A keyboard is much more visual than a guitar and you can instantly hit any note without wondering where it is or how to get to it!
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John Harmon · From: Virginia, USA

Karlis, I also thank you. You explained it simply.

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Hello Sheena:

I learned and taught the most-likely easy method, A Major tuning. It's not as sophisticated. I've attached a sheet entitled Farewell Hawaii.

The pros will laugh I know, but go to Youtube and select George Rout and "Harbour Lights" and see how it sounds. It's in the A Major tuning
thin to thick strings, E C# A E A E.

I selected Farewell Hawaii as it's easier than Harbour Lights. Good luck. Whatever you choose, enjoy it.
Geo
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"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me"

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Hi Sheena, and welcome!

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Hi Shenna again: Here is the TAB sheet for Harbour Lights. You can see more complex that Fairwell Hawaii.

Good luck with your learning.
George Rout
St. Catharines, ON
Canada
_________________
http://georgerout.com

"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me"

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

[quote="Sheena Tyrrell-Sheppard" I dont understand music theory. The courses I have purchased, books etc all seem to need the basic knowledge.
[/quote]

One of the best things that I did, and it helped me immensely, was to take a basic music theory class (adult ed. in the evening).....and after that, I took the intermediate class, again, at night......it gave me the understanding of how music works and the road map to construct and be familiar with chords & scales.....it's a world of difference to have a live person teach you than to try to learn by yourself from a book......

Lee Holliday · From: United Kingdom

I am also in the UK, the lap steel is also a relative of the dobro and other acoustic lap instruments, there is a fair bit on youtube, where in the uk are you based as there are players up and down the country who may be able to get the ball rolling

Regards

Lee

Sheena Tyrrell-Sheppard · From: United Kingdom

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

You might try posting on the Michael Messer Forum to get a proper response from more UK-based players. I'd agree with taking a local class in music theory. Here's one resource for finding such a teacher locally. Good luck!
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Lee Holliday · From: United Kingdom

I am in Surrey so a bit to far to offer immediate aid but the Michael Messer forum is a good shout and Michael has been known to give lessons online and has his own instructional material. A few years ago a good friend of mine was in Lowestoft and he was a very accomplished player who knew who was who in your part of the world, unfortunately he is no longer with us but incidentally I have to pop up there in a week or so to finalise some music related stuff with his widow, last year I helped with the moving on of UKes, guitars and some slide related stuff(weissenborn), so we are out of sync I am afraid, I will keep you in mind and if you are around for when I pop up I am happy to drop by and see where you are with the lap steel.
Regards Lee

Sheena Tyrrell-Sheppard · From: United Kingdom

Mark Evans · From: Colorado, USA

Don’t know how this would transpose for left hand, but I stumbled across this alternative by Steve Dawson… and I love it! It’s probably the antithesis of C6 et al.
But for me - not a real learned player in music theory - it allows tons of sonic experimentation and fun.

[url] https://youtu.be/g4A2hdD58Mo[/url]

It’s built on basic scales, boxes of notes and shimmer.
I play Weiss but rekon it’d work on any lap steel.

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A curious question for you and all…. I wonder if slide ambidextrousness would be a thing? Since we aren’t dealing with complex fingering of the fret hands (left or right) and just moving a bar. Just curious
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