Clean playing

Mike Ruffin · From: El Paso, Texas, USA

I am using Cindy Cashdollar's DVD's to teach myself the steel guitar. I am having a heck of a time making my playing quiet. She mentions lifting the bar but not removing it from the strings. Can you folks enlighten me on this?
Also, I have been used to playing dobro and when I played it I kept my little finger extended. I find it very hard to keep my hand closed while playing the steel guitar. Cindy plays the two note chords with thumb and index finger. I have been using my thumb and middle finger for this. Pros and cons?
Any advice is greatly appriciated.
I love this forum.
Thanks
Mike

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

Mike, I have pretty much just finished with Cindy’s course and it has worked out great. I am not sure about the not lifting your bar all the way off the strings however. I have tried it but it causes the strings to vibrate against the bar and really sounds terrible when the volume is turned up. I am going to keep trying however to see if I am missing something in what she is trying to convey. I think what she is getting at is lifting the bar only far enough so that it clears the strings.

The index/thumb picking technique is about the only way you will be able to attain any speed later on. When you start three finger picking, you will need to use that index/thumb picking much more than the thumb/middle finger so you don't want to instill a bad habit. When I first started her course, "the only" thing I did for the first week was practise relentlessy the thumb/index, single string picking. It took me five days to be able to do the picking without looking at the picking fingers and concentrate on the position of the bar in relation to the target fret. After six weeks, I can now fly up and down the neck and rarely have to look at the picking position while doing my two or three finger picking.

I don’t know about the rest of the pickers in this forum but I have a tendency to use my little finger to mute the strings. I also use my little finger a lot when playing an open chord that requires one of the strings to be muted.

Just remember, the more you practise, the faster you will master the techniques that Cindy teaches. As a side note, I practise at least four hours per day; and, as I stated previously, I run the strings (two fingers then three fingers) from one end of the neck to the other over and over and over again each time I start a practise session.

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I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!

[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 03 November 2004 at 04:38 PM.]

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Your right hand little finger can stay extended, and you can keep picking with thumb and middle. Perfectly valid, and lots of people do it that way. You can throw in the index finger for rolls, much like I imagine you do on the dobro.

As for the bar lifting thing, I'm not quite sure what you mean by that... Can you describe it in more detail?

-Travis

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Contrary to popular belief, there is not one single, all-encompassing techique that works equally for every player. Some players - like Cindy and John Ely - use their index and thumb for single string runs. Curly Chalker used index and middle, Jerry Byrd uses primarily just his thumb and Buddy Emmons can probably use any finger and a few toes. Some players palm block, some pick block, some use both or ring-finger-under blocking. Whatever sounds good and doesn't stress your hands is probably good. Regarding lifting the bar, I'd suggest that economy of motion is the ticket. Lifting the bar can be a very effective blocking technique. You lift bar only as far as you need to lift it. If you're getting bar "sizzle", lift higher or block with the right hand too. Slowing down your playing and looking at each individual movement can be helpful. Here are some great roll excercises on Joe Wright's site: http://www.pedalsteel.com/joe/tea/be/basicrolls.html

nick allen · From: France

I think the trick to avoiding noise when lifting the bar (assuming we're talking about the same thing) is to lift fairly quickly, while being sure to keep the outside edge of the left hand/little finger ON the strings, behind the bar...
Nick

Dwayne Martineau · From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

>PICKING:

Like Andy said, whatever feels and sounds best is probably the right way to do it.

But it's funny-- I first used my thumb and index finger and had to consciously incorporate my middle finger.

The reason I did it, as suggested by Jerry Byrd, is that if you are picking this:



------|---4---


------|-------


----4-|-------


--4---|-4-----

it is more efficient to use thumb/index finger in the 1st measure and thumb/middle finger in the second, especially when playing quickly.

That's where those fingers are naturally situated anyway, so there is very little hand movement involved.

Right-hand effiency makes for cleaner and better crosspicking, blocking, speed, tone, and carpal tunnel health.

Jerry also suggests that greater spread between your fingerpicks gives better tone.

>THE BAR...

Like Nick said, maybe she's referring to rolling the bar off quickly and keeping the rest of the left hand planted, like a clutch while shifting gears.

Maybe she was talking about isolating strings by tilting the bar, or moving it across the strings...?

[This message was edited by Dwayne Martineau on 04 November 2004 at 01:14 PM.]

Mike Ruffin · From: El Paso, Texas, USA

I thank you all for your input. There is a ton of good advice on this forum. I will experiment and practice, practice, practice!
Thanks again
Mike

Ian · From: San Francisco, CA

Hey Mike,

I've been playing the dobro, lap, and pedal steel off and on for a while. What I've found is that with the right hand resting on the bridge plate (e.g playing the dobro), a thumb-first finger method is easier for single note runs. Whereas with the right hand "bouncing" on the strings (e.g. lap steel, pedal steel), a thumb-middle finger combination works better - I think it may have soemthing to do with the angle of attack.

Keep on whoopin' it up,
Ian

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