New lap steel player, lots of questions.

Matthew Dyer · Posted 19 Jan 2004 11:36 am

Greetings all. I just purchased my first lap steel (one of the cheapy Artisan musician's friend models) and I'm full of questions. First a little background about me and what I'm looking to play.

I'm a 23 year old college student (I'll be graduating this summer) and I've been an underarm guitar player since I was 17. I didn't get serious about it till 19, and I'm really only a fair rhythm player. At 21 I picked up bass. Now, at the grand old age of 23 (

) I've decided its finally time to learn the lap steel.

Ben Harper was really my first exposure to the lap steel. I was really into alt.rock in high school and I heard about this guy through the grapevine. I had never really considered that a lap steel could be a vehicle for playng such huge rock riffs.

A couple of years ago I started listening to what a lot of people call alt.country (Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, the Jayhawks). These bands played country music with the same punk rock attitude I loved about alternative rock but with a healthy dose of twang. It was a completely new way to approach country music to me. I had never really liked the Nashville country sound. To tell you the truth, I still don't. The older country artists I look up to are people like Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons. I like the idea of working outside of the traditional country box.

With all this in mind, the music I want to make with my lap steel probably isn't the ordinary stuff most lap steelers play. I want to have access to power chords and the like for rhythm work and to pentatonics some bluesier lead work. But I still want to be able to be able to pull out more traditional country sounding licks as well.

I've been looking over a few tunings trying to find something that will give me all these things in a six string tuning. I have a strong suspicion it doesn't neccessarily exist. I've tried Open G with a high bass, and it the 3rds were to dominant. I didn't want to limit myself to major chords that much. I tried a few others and I think Open E with the low bass may work. I like that it was a nice power chord shape on the lower strings. Anyone else care to give some reccomendations?

I have a few more questions about technique, but I'm still waiting for the bullet bar I ordered. Evidently it was backordered. I've been playing with a regular hollow steel finger slide.

I look forward to picking at some great musical brains here. Everywhere I've asked about lap steel around the internet, I get pointed back here. This place has quite an impressive reputation.

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Sounds to me like you're on the right track with that open-E tuning. Coming from a regular guitar background and with your musical interests, the 'E' tuning will probably be a good place to start. Only one 3rd to 'worry' about so there's lots of meat for power chords.

My personal experience is that it's best to start with a simple and easily recognizable tuning, so you can concentrate more on mastering your bar and picking techniques in an 'easy' tuning. Others may (and probably will

) disagree.......

And then, when you start getting borde with the limitations of a major chord tuning, you can buy an 8-string and start confusing yourself with all the 6th and 13th tunings...

Welcome to the wonderful, inspiring and addictive world of lap steel guitar!!

Steinar

------------------
www.gregertsen.com

Jesse Pearson · From: San Diego , CA

Howdy Matthew, look for the search button in the upper right hand corner on the main page to scroll thru the archieves. You can answer alot of questions in your searches there too. My answer to you question is Open E. It's just like your guitar kinda. The 6th tuning can play anything, but would require more study.

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

You might consider open C tuning, low to high: CGCGCE. It's the tuning Ben Harper uses on "Ground on Down," and it makes an excellent rock tuning.

Open D (or E) is also good. "Pleasure and Pain" is open D, and a good song to learn if you're a lap steel beginner. You can also drop the third string F# down to D and turn your tuning into Ben Harper's power chord tuning, DADDAD. I believe he uses this for "Forgiven" and "Faded" among others.

As for technique, I'm pretty sure there are people in or around your area of Lansing who can show you the basics (for some reason I keep thinking there's somebody in Ann Arbor...). Maybe somebody at Elderly would know someone close by who can teach you--just make sure they know what they're doing...

Failing that, try whatever the biggest library in your area is, to see if they've got any videos. Dobro videos, lap steel, whatever, as long as you'll see somebody using a bar and picks close up. Alternatively, look for photographs or video on the internet that show technique. Ricky Davis has a good video of him demonstrating pedal steel licks available for free on his website, and those techniques apply to lap steel as well.

You've come to the right place, anyways.

If you're trying (but failing...) to figure out how to play any particular Ben Harper song, let me know, and I'll do my best to help you out.

-Travis

[This message was edited by Travis Bernhardt on 19 January 2004 at 02:58 PM.]

Matthew Dyer · Posted 19 Jan 2004 7:20 pm

Thanks for all the advice. After playing around a little bit, I decided that the open E would probably be best to start off with. I won't have to rememorize the neck right away, so that leaves me to concentrate more on technique. It also lets me slip down into that EBEEBE tuning for some nasty power chord goodness.

I found a cool site (http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html) that will give me a scale pattern based on whatever tuning you tell it. Its great. I think it will be a great tool to learn more tunings quickly.

Thanks for the Ben Harper reccomendations. I jammed on Faded for a bit already. That power chord tunings sounds huge and nasty through my Big Muff. I have no idea why more bands don't use lap steel in their sound.

Any tips on learning some more classic countryish riffs that would work well underneath acoustic guitar type songs?

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

I don't know a lot about country music, but I do know that for the roots of the country lap steel sound you won't go far wrong by listening to any Hank Williams recording with steel on it. The players will either be Don Helms or Jerry Byrd, and trying to copy their licks is time well spent no matter what genre of music you want to play--albeit tricky on a straight E tuning (you should be able to get quite a bit of it though).

Learning the technique of slants and finding where the harmonized scales lie in your tuning is a good start. Just knowing that will get you pretty far on slower country songs. And once you learn that sound you'll be better able to transcribe parts off recordings.

Also, remember that the root of all steel guitar playing is the Hawaiian style. Searching out recordings by any of the Hawaiian greats is well worth it. Many country licks (like tremolo picking, for example) were originally Hawaiian licks. And most of the early Hawaiian stuff is played in a straight G (or A) tuning--no sixths to worry about.

I don't know if it'll be your cup of tea, but you might also check out the playing of Junior Brown. He plays some pretty rockin' country lap steel.

-Travis

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I have a tuning you might really like. A few years ago I was hired to play on country-rockers cd. I was supposed to give the cd a "country" feel by adding steel, slide, etc.. He asked me to play an extended intro against a very heavy drumbeat on one tune in the key of E. The structure of the tune had a lot of D to E hammer-ons. I really couldn't do that in E tuning. Nor was G tuning any good. I couldn't get that low, gritty move from D to E in either tuning. It dawned on me that I could "split' my tuning. I tuned the low three strings to D tuning, and the high three strings to G tuning. DADGBD, low to high. The three low strings are, of course, the basic power chord. I would hammer-on the low strings from open D, to the second fret, E. Then play licks on all the strings. With the low three barred at the second fret, you're lookin' at EBEGBD, which is a pretty good place to play pentatonic rock/blues licks. I was surprised how well this "semi-pentatonic" tuning worked. It really only works in the key of E. But it RIPS in the key of E! Give it a try.
JB

Kevin Macneil Brown · From: Montpelier, VT, USA

Welcome to the Forum; you've already figured out what an amazing resource it is.
I just got one of the little Artisan lap steels, too, as a second steel for experimental tunings and such. To my surprise, the thing really rips, with some nice twang and sustain. I know what you mean in wondering why more people don't use lap steel. I play with an altcountry, honky tonk band- (I keep trying to slip in more western swing)- and after every show someone comments on how much they love the sound of the steel. It's certainly not because I'm any kind of virtuoso; it's just such a great mood and color instrument.
To echo sligtly what Travis said, playing along with Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, even Bob Wills and Buck Owens records is a great way to build your vocabulary-- and listen to some great music at the same time!

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

Open E, as mentioned, is a good tuning to go with, or drop it down a step for open D and you have some deeper notes.

I'm a big fan of low bass open G (lo to hi DGDGBD). Power chords on bottom for minor/major ambiguity, major triad on top. Strings 234 are set just like standard guitar to help you get your bearings on soloing. It's hard to screw up on open G, so I call it the "no mistake" tuning.

Recommended listening: Jackson Browne's Running on Empty. David Lindley kicks on lap steel, especially on the title track. That song is the reason I play lap steel. Not sure which, but he's either playing open A or open E.

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Oh yeah, that reminds me--it's not really what you were asking about but for an original take on how to play (acoustic) lap steel guitar, check out David Lindley's solo albums--particularly the early blue and orange ones, and the original Twango Bango album.

Although Ben Harper claims to have been more influenced in his playing by Chris Darrow, Lindley was the one who introduced him to the Weissenborn, and Harper covered a few Lindley tunes on his first album (the one before Welcome to the Cruel World). Lindley is a pioneer, without whom Ben Harper would not exist (you know what I mean

).

-Travis

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

It's open E, chris.

nick allen · From: France

... or open E shape/intervals tuned up to A... on a shortened scale (capo/nut fitted onto the fretboard).
Nick

Dylan Schorer · From: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Hi Matthew,

It looks like you're in Lansing, MI. You should get over to Elderly Instruments on 1100 North Washington (www.elderly.com). They have instructional material, slide bars, and a lot of cool new and vintage lap steels to check out--a lot more steel-related products than your typical music store.

You should try out a Stevens-style bar like the dobro players use rather than a bullet bar. A bullet bar would certainly work, but for the kind of music you're describing, you'd probably be happier with a bar that lends itself to hammer-ons and pull-offs. You can check out a lot of different bars in the "Stevens" family at Elderly Instruments, like the Stevens, Shubb, Scheerhorn, and Dunlop Lap Dawg. Elderly will probably have them all to try. Ben Harper uses a Scheerhorn bar. The Scheerhorn is also the most expensive, though the Lap Dawg is very similar and about half the price.

The Arlen Roth Lap Steel video is worth checking out, and it's very rock/blues oriented. He walks you though the pentatonic and blues scales and licks in open-E tuning and does a little in G tuning. I bought my copy from Elderly.

Most of the people I see playing lap steel in the roots/rock/alt. country vein are using E (EBEG#BE) or D (DADF#AD) tuning (sometimes G), and generally using a Stevens-type bar rather than a bullet bar.

Matthew Dyer · Posted 21 Jan 2004 11:33 am

Dylan--Thanks for the tips. I live only 5 minutes away from Elderly and stop by there all the time. Its my favorite music store by far. They don't really have that much steel stuff on the floor, but they do stock more merchandise than they display.

I went there Monday and picked up a Stevens bar and some heavier strings for open E. I've got to say, I do like the Stevens bar quite a bit. I played a variation on a E, G and A chords for at least half an hour, just doing pulloffs and hammerons.

I'll check out that video you suggested. Sounds right up my alley.

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

Thanks, Andy!

Forum Index > Steel Without Pedals		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: