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Topic: When |
Jerry Dragon
From:
Gate City Va.
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Posted 28 Aug 2008 12:23 am |
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can you call yourself a Steeler? I am just getting my first real steel. I know I will have to wait awhile but I was just wondering? Any milestones that must be reached, like being able to pick up a seventy five pound guitar? Or being able to count the strings?
Is remembering the tuning a prerequisite? If so, it just might take me a bit longer than most. Yesterday I couldn't even spell PSG, and today I have one. Do you have to know the names of all the parts?
Tell me the secret, now, please. |
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Olli Haavisto
From:
Jarvenpaa,Finland
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Posted 28 Aug 2008 12:46 am
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You can call yourself a steeler right now. It might take awhile before other people start doing it ,too. 
Get the Winston/Keith book on OAK Publ. That will clear a lot of things up.
_________________
Olli Haavisto
Finland |
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Ray McCarthy
From:
New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 28 Aug 2008 2:37 am
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Jerry, It's a long, at times painful process, often fun, more often frustrating, especially at first, trying to figure out this wonderfully complicated instrument. I think you can call yourself a steeler when your feet stop slipping off the pedals and you hit the right strings more often than not, and someone besides your mother says--"hey-that sounded great!" It took a while (and a lot of practice) for me to get to that point. If you really love the steel guitar you'll get past the frustrations--stick with it!
The Winston book is a good idea, that's what got me started.
Derby SD-10, NV-112, Truetone, Geo-L cables-(important!) |
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Eric Philippsen
From:
Central Florida USA
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Posted 28 Aug 2008 4:16 am
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It's been mentioned twice by others in this thread. Let me be the third. That is, get Winnie Winston's book.
There are thousands of instructional materials for all instruments. For each of those, a few courses and training aids show up year after year. They withstand the test of time because they prove to be effective and do what they're set out to do - teach. Winston's book for pedal steel is one of those.
When I started out on steel my first book was Winston's and I learned A LOT from that. It gave me a solid foundation and licks and phrases that could use right away as a beginner on the bandstand.
Then I went to Jeff Newman's school in Nashville for a week. Wow, that was really it. Newman was an incredibly good teacher. ANY of his instructional material is highly recommended. I really miss him. |
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Jerry Dragon
From:
Gate City Va.
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Posted 28 Aug 2008 7:43 am
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I have DeWitt Scott's book. I have been improvising on lead guitar for 43 years and have gotten quite good at that. I use the volume control pedal as an integral part of my guitar playing to get that violin PSG effect. I know basic theory, chord construction, progressions, scales, that sort of thing. Been writing and recording my own material for a long time. I will add some steel to some of my recordings when I get better at it. It won't be as much of a mystery as starting out from scratch. I was able to play chord progressions and pick out the chords and do some basic fills on the multi-chord I bought. I am sure looking forward to it.
My wife never yelled, "turn it down." That must be a good sign. I took the Multi-chord out and jammed with it and got no complaints, another good sign. |
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