Is the steel guitar really all that hard to learn to play?

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

At our band practise tonight we got involved in the centuries old debate of “which is the most difficult instrument to learn to play?”

Now of course being that I now play a steel guitar and have read on this subject dozens of times in this forum about how hard it is to learn to play a steel guitar; I put my two cents worth in. Without question our fiddle player, drummer and electric guitarists insisted that possibly the steel was only difficult because of the limited chord range; they pretty much agreed however that the violin or possibly the mandolin was the hardest to learn.

We completely p***sed off our bass player by suggesting that the bass was the easiest of all the instruments to learn to play.

So, being that the majority of our members in here play multiple instruments, which instrument on a country band is the most difficult to learn to play properly? Is it the steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin or which other?

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I think that almost all instruments are hard to learn to play PROPERLY. That's why some paople can do it and some can't. Either you have it or you don't.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

PSG.

Picking/BLocking technique, and left hand intonation. Much harder than any of the mentioned instruments. Two years of solid practice is about the minimum for any coherent playing.

Like the violin, you can't play one at all until you can play one fairly well.

Musically, it's probably even simpler than bass. Maybe even drums..

YMMV

Smile

EJL

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

Learning to coordinate two hands, two knees, and two feet is some what more difficult than learning to coordinate two hands. IMHO. Jody.

Michael Douchette · From: Gallatin, TN (deceased)

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

I'll second that. I play seven instruments. Five actively. The pedal steel guitar is by far and away the most difficult to learn. Mainly because of it's technique. I play both fiddle and mandolin. I can play both at either an intermediate of advanced level very easily as compared to pedal steel guitar which I have to work at to play continuosly at an advanced level. I mostly play at an intermediate level because that what the music calls for. Pedal steel guitar is the only instrument that I found that if you don't play it every day you can go backwards real fast. I am getting ready to advance myself actively on three finger style country Telecaster. I've seen advanced Tele players try to take up pedal steel only to give it up in six months because of the difficulty. Pedal steel was far more difficult to learn than bluegrass fiddle, and that was a bear that took years. I beleive that if you can play steel and understand the theory and tuning that goes with, then all the rest of the instruments in the music world are FAR down hill.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

Michael, I also play stand up and electric bass and have done so for better than 40 years now. I also play a chromatic bass harmonica.

Yes, a good bass player is hard to find. I think however that much of that can be attributed to feeling a sense of timing inside your brain and knowing the "complete" chord structure of whatever the band is playing, not learning the bass guitar itself.

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

I think it has a lot to do with the individual,I've known guys that could learn something in an hour,that I may struggle with for a week.I've known some that would start playing Sax,guitar,keys.etc,and in a couple of months you would think they had been playing for years.There are some that have that GOD given talent,then there is some like me that has to work their butts off.I think being a sixstring player has a great advantage learning to play steel.If you are just a decent guitar player and apply that to steel the theory of both instruments is so similar.Years ago I played a little tenor and alto horn,always played guitar,can play some banjo and mandolin,but could NEVER,NEVER,NEVER,get ANYTHING out of a fiddle[violin].I have the utmost respect for a GOOD fiddle player,so to me that is the hardest instrument to play.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC !

Jeremy Threlfall · From: now in Western Australia

They say guitar is the easiest instrument to learn, and the hardest to master.

Ernest Cawby · From: Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

Some of you may Know Lum York, He played some with Hank. He has some funny stories to tell, all his years playing country and pop music.
We praticed at smoky Metcalfs house one night,(the writer of Mind Your Own Buiness) Hank did not write it, Lum said leave your steel here, I did, the next night I went to Smokys' to pick it up and Lum was still sitting at the guitar and playing the socks off of it, Cassie Mae said please take it home he has not moved since you left last nite, you should have heard how good he was playing.
Lum went into a big band practice session and ask the band leader if he needed an instrument player, band leader said I need a sax player, and gave Lum a sax, after playing for an hour the guy next to Lum who was filling in just fine ask Lum "if you turn the music over would it be eaiser to play?" he was doing OK by ear.
He could walk into a radio station and try out on piano and be hired on the spot. He could play any thing he wanted to, played Bass Mostly.
Lum was quit a character and I was proud to know him.

PS I was present when Smoky sold Hank Williams Mind Your own Business for $25.00. Mabe you have heard the verse that says, (I met my future wife today and her name is cassie Mae), her last name was Metcalf not Williams.

ernie

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

Jeremy,IMO only,some may think otherwise,I don't think any instrument can be MASTERED persay,that would mean you were at the point where there was nothing left to learn.The great players we call the MASTERS such as Chet Atkins,Roger Williams,Buddy Emmons,etc,never stop learning,no one will ever get to the point where there is nothing left to learn.Only then could it be considered the instrument mastered.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC !

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Well I would state that if you understand basic theory and the concept of I,V,IV , the Pedal Steel musically as Eric puts it is very easy to learn and perhaps even quickly.

Now, that being the case, the logistics of all the physical and mechanical requirements is another story.

Perhpas the question pertaining to the Steel is one of EXECUTION...

Considering that if you know how to play a D chord PEDS in or PEDS out, to get to an Eb is a rather simplistic motion, you move the bar up a 1/2 fret. Try that on a Piano.

Considering the Bass, this is a mute argument. Most bad Bass players have no idea they are bad. In fact, most think they are pretty good. But thats all relative anyway. So, regarding Bass and Bass players I would say that the Bass "IS" the easiest instrument to learn to play badly . The bigger the amp, the better the Bass player. Smile

Robert Harper · From: Alabama, USA

I don't know guys. I went out with a group the Bass player was playing standup bass. I don't know if he was any good, but he had a good time. The club had a good time. I had a good time watching him. I gotta tell you. I think wheather it is a mechanic or a garbage man or a musician. I love people who try their best to be what they are. I have come to despise talented people who are boastful and arrogant. Seems mostly in pro sports. I guess they are trying to sell themselves. Just keep trying. There must be a country song that says this. I want my epitah to say" He wasn't good at anything, but he sure tried. The last words I want to here are "Look hes moving"

Dennis Coelho · From: Wyoming, USA

Guess I'll chime in here. Like a lot of members here, I play a lot of different string instruments. Some are not too difficult to learn because they have analogs in other similar instruments. For example, most instruments tuned in "fifths" have similar techniques, though they may sound quite different: octave mandolin, mandolin, tenor banjo, fiddle. To play one is to play them all, with the exception of the fiddle, which for me has been the hardest to play and the hardest with which to maintain an adequate technique. Also, I feel like I go two days backwards for each day of non-practice, and it takes me a solid week of prep before I play it out in public. Mandolin I can let sit in the case for weeks or months and pick it right up with little loss of ability and I think that is because of the similarities in right hand technique.

When I came to psg, I already understood the music theory aspects of the instrument, and I already understood the use of the bar and picks from playing dobro and some non-pedal. Still, it took about three months for me to get the technique up to a performance level. Nothing spectacular, but nothing embarrassing either.

I still think fiddle is the hardest. As someone mentioned above, you have to able to play it pretty well to play it at all. On a trip to Europe one time, I was asked to try a hurdy-gurdy, which is analogous in many ways to the autoharp, and astonished the band by immediately playing a part of one of their tunes. But all it really took was an understanding of the diatonic scale and the ability to turn a crank!

I think psg and other "fretted" instruments are so challenging because there are so many different ways to achieve a similar musical result. Piano players have it sooooo easy: any given note is in just one place and it never moves. Wind instruments? Well, flutes make a kind of sense but brass and woodwinds are a complete mystery to me.

Dennis

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I've been a multi-instrumentalist (nickname "utility man") for decades.

For me, steel is *initially* tied with fiddle for tougest nut to crack. After 6 months for most players, though, I think steel is something you can be playing at least basic stuff on without embarrassing yourself, while on fiddle you still sound like a 10-year old in school band.

Mando to me was the easiest. Our mando player quit our old bluegrass band, we borrowed a guitar player, I borrowed a mando, and played a gig in week. It's very logical, and if you play guitar it's often easy to make the transition. Fiddle, although tuned the same, has bowing, no frets, a different playing position (without good visual position) and neck muscle strength to develop - it's a stone cold beeee-yatch to learn.

For me keyboards are a bit tough as well - I think you HAVE to take piano lessons to learn it well.

Also regarding bass players - bass players are easy to find. Good bass players are really hard to find. Most bassists are former guitar players and play like it - too busy, "guitar-like" lines, too much treble. I like to think (and was told) I was a very good bass player - I'd lock in with the drummer, stay down low, and "drive" the song. You wouldn't notice me unless I stopped playing. To me, if everyone but the bass player and drummer can drop out and the song still makes sense, THAT'S a bass player. Also, I'd like to make all electric bass players play upright for a year. After the bleeding stops, they'd learn what "playing inside the song" means.

Winking

_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
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Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Bill Miller · From: Gaspe, Quebec, Canada

A friend who is an excellent guitarist recently bought a mandolin to try. He had never touched one before. He picked up a Sam Bush course along with the instrument and spent three or four days practicing quite a bit. The same week we did a gig at a local bar and being the risk taker that he is he showed up with no guitar, just the mandolin and he played it the whole evening. He was able to incorporate it in everything we did and he even pulled off a Sam Bush tune with remarkable ability for so little time with the instrument.
Having said that, this same friend has sat down at my pedal steel a couple of times and talented though he may be, you can tell that he won't be gigging with one after three or four days practice. It seems like there are an awful lot of physical obstacles to surmount before you can get any music from a steel guitar. As far as stringed instruments go it surely must be one of the most difficult.

Cal Sharp · From: the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN

quote: Then why is it so hard to find a decent bass player???
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Mikey D...

Mikey,

That's bugged me for years here in Nashville. The problem is that someone who wants to be a singer learns enough bass to get a gig, just so he can sing. Conversely, a good bass player who can't sing has a hard time getting a gig. So, you end up with a lot of mediocre to bad singing bass players with gigs.

C#

www.calsharp.com

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Evidently, yes. There are no "child prodigies" like there are on most other instruments. The lack of standardization of the instrument is the biggest detriment. A 6-string guitar or a piano is pretty much the same the world over. A pedal steel is a pretty much personalized instrument, with between 4 and 18 pedals, with anywhere from 6 to 14 strings, and with individualized tunings, pedals, and lever setups that are seldom exactly duplicated. While some players can play, pretty much, anything that's out there, all that I've seen do this are middle-aged...or older.

Not so with other instruments.

Les Anderson · From: The Great White North

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I don't think there's any pat answer to this question. There are so many aspects to learning any instrument that I don't think it's possible to quantify the notion of "hardness" generically, since every person finds different things "hard" or "easy".

Another issue is that there are both physical and mental aspects to playing any instrument. One must be in command of both. Again, different people react differently to each of these aspects.

I think the proof is in the pudding - what percentage of people who attempt an instrument really get good on it? I'll bet that percentage is small for most any instrument. I think it has much more to do with commitment and follow-through than any intrinsic difficulty.

I agree, there are lots of "people who play bass" but not a lot of "bass players". Jeez, I play bass - even studied classical bass for a year in the 70s - but I don't consider myself a bass player. I think one has to develop a mindset to seriously play any instrument - again, the issue is commitment and follow-through. IMO, of course.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

I agree with those who think the fiddle is the hardest. Jim S. mentioned the various reasons. Bowing technique is an enormous challenge in itself; then you add the twisted position of the fingering arm, wrist and hand, the tiny short fingerboard with no frets or markers to help with the very small distances between notes and the corresponding microscopic distance off it takes to be out of tune, all with no visual perspective. Also the asymmetrical position of the whole body that can play hob with your back, and having to hold the thing on one side with your neck...I don't play myself, but my significant other is a violinist who had to quit because of back issues.

As to bass, I've been a guitar player for 43 years, so I certainly have no trouble finding my way around a bass fretboard, but I know better than to claim I can "play bass" when people ask me to cover. I won't even try--the way of thinking for bass is so completely different that the physical similarity is unimportant. It would take me a long time of working just on bass to lose the habits of playing the accents, off-beats and embellishments and live in the foundation of the music. I believe I'd love to do it--if I had it all to do over I might choose to be a bass player--but I'm a guitar and steel player, for better or for worse. IMO, the bass player is the most important member of a band. If you have a great bass player who really knows the function of bass, the whole rest of the band can be mediocre and the band will still sound very good.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

Brint,I agree about the Bass player being important,To me the two MOST important members of ANY band is the bass player AND drummer,It's such a pleasure to work with a GOOD drummer and bass that know how to work TOGETHER.Being a guitar player does not mean you may be a bass player,no more than a hot lead guitar player may be a good rhythm guitar player,which is an art form in itself.A good rhythm section make is so easy for the rest of the band to play their best.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC !

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I play all of the listed instruments.
To some extent or another. All basses;
electric, and acoustic w/w.o. bow, a bit of cello etc.
Several sizes of mandolins, guitar,
fiddle.. a little, dobro and PSG.

Steel is certainly very hard.
Being a REALLY GOOD fiddle player is also very hard.
The intonation targets are VERY small.

You can be a fair steel player effectively,
and be less annoying by far
than a fair fiddle player...

Then again blocking and playing above fret 12
evens that equation out quite a bit.
So to play like John Hughey is much like
playing fiddle supurbly.
But more notes and theory to deal with.

Because of the number of things to control
and the extended theory neccesary,
the steel is harder.

Also figure it is easier to find a violin teacher,
and it reads normal musical notation,
no varying versions of new notation to learn.

Also figure if a mando or fiddle learns fiddle tunes,
we think; Ok what else is new...
But when we hear Doug Jernigan plays the same tunes
we go WHOAH!!
Monster player... why? Cause it's harder to do.

Still both steel and fiddle seem to fit the old
classical violin student adage.
Play the violin for 15 years,
and NOW you're a beginner
and can really learn to play.
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DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

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