My first lap steel student,- advice needed

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

While I teach 16-17 guitar and bass students a week, I've never had a student who is dedicated to the lap steel before, and could need some advice from people with some experience in this field.
This guy is a 15 year old total beginner on lap steel - he already plays keyboard and some guitar, so he knows his basic stuff about scales, intervals, and such - his parents had given him a Gretch lap steel (one of those new ones, nice sound) because he is very into C&W and had expressed a strong desire to learn to play the lap steel.

So far I've I presented him with various tuning options (his Gretch came tuned to highbass-G from the shop), basically the "big 3" - 151351, 135135 and 135613 - and since his interest is mainly in 'pure' C&W, plus it's the tuning with the most instructional material available, we decided to go with the C6 tuning.
Now, the C6 is not the tuning I'm most familiar with, but I know enough to keep him occupied for quite some time (and probably learn a thing or two myself in the process...

).

Here's a couple of specific questions:
* Is it best to start with playing simple melodies, or should I start with chord stuff?
* Any specific excercises to recommend regarding picking and damping?

Usually, with my guitar students, I rarely use standard notation or tabs, I believe in 'forcing' them to rely on their memory skills and develope a good ear. So I rather record a lesson and give them a CD than write something down,- so far I've had (mostly) good results with this.

Any suggestions, tips or advice you can come up with would be highly appreciated since I feel I'm on 'shaky' ground here (I've made it perfectly clear to him, and his parents who's paying the bills, that I've never had a lap steel student before so this is an experiment for me...).

I was quite surprised when I got this phone call from his parents, asking for lap steel lessons, because while I've had a couple of guitar students who's shown some interest in the lap steel and plays a little 'on the side', this is the first time I've come across someone who is totally dedicated to it (hey, this is in Norway!

).
So needless to say, I feel a great responsibility here, and really wants this to succeed..

Thanks in advance,
Steinar

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

Mike Neer · From: NJ

It might be a good idea to start off with some harmonized scales, just for him to get a physical feel for the layout of the tuning. Begin with the 1st and 2nd strings (3rds), then the 2nd and 3rd (3rds), etc. He will start to use both forward and reverse slants early on. After that, harmonize scales in 6ths (1st and 3rd strings, etc.)

Use Hank Williams records as a starting point for putting it all to use.

[This message was edited by Mike Neer on 14 September 2005 at 06:26 AM.]

Blake Hawkins · From: Florida

Having once been a 15 year old steel guitar hopeful (54 years ago),
I agree with Mike about teaching a familiar tune.
At 15 I didn't have the desire to do scales
but I did want to do "Steel Guitar Rag."
So that's the song I worked on and kept my interest up.
C6 is a good tuning to teach. I started with E major (for SGR) and soon found the C6th. After I learned SGR in C6th and a few Hank Williams songs, I started jamming with other players in my high school.
Since this student already has some music training, he will probably relate to the scales better than I did.

Blake

Randy Reeves · From: LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA

Steinar. best wishes for you and your lap student.
C6 is a nice start of country.
have him start on Steel Guitar Rag as it has evrything basic in it...slants, whole chords, and singular notes...well, depending on what version, as there are a million .

(BTW I play STG in open G ).

in C6 there are quite a few bluesy notes. so after a while you could show him blues.

as for something more specific...sorry.

Stephan Miller · From: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Steinar-- 1) all of the above: an actual tune is a project with a big payoff, and learning harmonized scales, along with a variety of chords, will get him ready quicker to reap those rewards. 2) Since he has some theory already, and good motivation, a couple "dry" projects for a little later: have him map out the neck up to the 17th fret, a) with note names, and then b) with many of the same chords he already knows on piano and guitar. Then he'll be ready to learn arpeggios for single line playing, which you can match up with more actual tunes. 3) You might review the Cindy Cashdollar C6 lessons on DVD or video (just for yourself as a teacher) since there's a bunch of good basic instruction there that might help you "cover the bases".
Let us know how student and teacher are coming along...

--Steve

Bill Blacklock · From: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada

Steinar,

I gave one lapsteel lesson in C6 to a young fella of 18 with some musical back ground.

I put masking tape across the fretboard at the 3rd fret and up the in side of the neck and along the body of my Ricky to the last fret.

I numbered the strings across the fretboard for C6 135613 (bass to treble as you know)and lettered the frets along the side from C to the second A. He caught on right away, he could see how easy it is to drop the 3rd's back a fret to pickup the minor slants in different keys and location of harmonic minor and major scales.

I expland that if you bar the first three strings three frets up from the root you have your minor cord, we didn't get into minor slants as this was a crash course.

I also expland that the string numbers act the same no matter what tuning your in, a 1st acts like a 1st and a 3rd always acts like a 3rd and so on.

With in an hour it was amazing how well he picked it up, he thanked me for the jump start and that was all he needed to get him on his way.

I think the tape takes alot of the work out of learning a new tuning. Its nice to drive with a road map.

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I'm sure you'll do a good job going with your intuition, Steinar.
Myself, I like theory, and I also like a little tune I can play after the lesson.

Travis Bernhardt · From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Find out what song(s) he wants to learn, and teach him those songs (I like that you're recording the lessons, that's always a good idea). When a new technique comes up in a song (slants, harmonics, whatever), that's the time to teach it, I'd say. I think that teaching proper technique in the context of a song, rather than isolated as a drill, is generally a good idea for beginners, although for more difficult techniques there's no substitute for dumb practice and repetitive drilling. He shouldn't need to be drilling anything hard for a while, though, unless he progresses really fast!

Finding the balance between learning the techniques correctly and not getting bogged down in minute details is always a challenge. Sometimes it's good to really get something down solid, and sometimes it's good to emphasize flow (that is, keeping the song going regardless of the flubbed notes or missed harmonics).

As far as your specific questions go, unlike regular guitar I'd start with simple single-string scales, and stress good tone, intonation and vibrato (I know that some regular guitar teachers start with scales and such, but most that I've seen don't). For picking and damping, the same single-string stuff will work, but add picking the notes with different fingers, alternating picking fingers, and different kinds of muting (to produce staccatto effects, and to discover the sonic difference between palm and pick blocking, as well as the different phrasing that palm or pick blocking tends to provide, etc.).

I would introduce a lot of that information in the context of specific songs, but to start off with he's got to know how to properly hold the bar, pick and slide, so that may as well be done straight up as an exercise.

I love discussing this subject (how to best teach lap steel), so please keep me posted, especially if you learn anything new or surprising.

-Travis

Andy Sandoval · From: Bakersfield, California, USA

I think I've made the most progress when tryin to learn a specific tune I liked. I've never stuck with practicing scales and such, but lookin at tab for reference and hearin a sound sample of the tune is hard to beat.

------------------
55' Fender Stringmaster T8, 54' Fender Champion, Carter D-10, two Oahu laps, two National laps, and two Resonators

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

Steinar, one of the best and most efficient instructors is Joe Wright. He takes a common sense approach and knows exactly how to drill the student. Try his method.....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.

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

Howard, I've never laid a hand on a student,- don't have to, I just give them "The Eye"...

Thanks for all the suggestions folks! I think slants and harmonized scales may be a little premature for this guy, on the first lesson he could hardly hold the bar or pick the correct string, so we're talking VERY basic stuff here.

I asked him about what songs he knew and would like to learn, and "Amazing Graze" came up. So I showed him how to play the melody single-note style, and I suspect that will keep him busy for a couple of weeks.

I'll definitely get him working on harmonized melodies as soon as the very basic stuff is 'under control', and I'll look into all the other good ideas that's been suggested here.

I'll order the Cindy Cashdollar DVDs asap, I realize that thanks to this young student I may finally get the C6 tuning 'under my skin' once and for all. That's one of the best things about teaching,- you learn so much from it...

Thanks again, I appreciate all your suggestions and comments!

Steinar

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

Al Terhune · From: Newcastle, WA

Two different approaches for two different desires. Those who want to learn songs should be taught songs (to keep their interest). Those who want to be able to improvise should hop on the scales, which gives them access to play any song they can hum in their head. I wonder if he knows which route he wants? Both probably! Wish I was 15 learning steel....

[This message was edited by Al Terhune on 15 September 2005 at 01:21 PM.]

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

What would Jerry Byrd do?

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

A big THANK YOU to George Piburn of GeorgeBoards for sending me a copy of his new instructional DVD!
This will come in really handy when teaching this student.

Steinar

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

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Earnest asks,

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

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: