Suggestions for fast warmup...

Tom Quinn · Posted 16 Jan 2009 10:42 pm

I have come back to playing the pedal steel again after many years. It's a lot of fun, but I basically suck for the first 15 minutes. It's terrible -- I miss strings, get the volume-pedal goosies and a nnneerrvvoouuss trem.

After a bit I'm okay, but it sucks at band practice. Anybody have a warm up suggestion?

Thanks!

Tq

Jerry Erickson · From: Atlanta,IL 61723

As Howard Roberts said(kinda).... If you can't play it slow, you can't play it fast.

Brian McGaughey · From: Orcas Island, WA USA

I always start by playing the common 3 finger grips I use at the nut, then do them up the neck at the common locations in the common keys. Only takes a couple minutes but shows my fingers where the strings are, and warms up the muscles.

I play it at a tempo only fast enough to comfortably make the move in between the plucks.

Tom Quinn · Posted 17 Jan 2009 7:17 am

I can play fast and I can play slow, but my fingers spaz out for the first 15 minutes...

Michael Douchette · From: Gallatin, TN (deceased)

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

regular everyday practice.

tp

Brian McGaughey · From: Orcas Island, WA USA

MD...that's almost as bad as the fact that I MISSED IT!... Laughing

Tom Quinn · Posted 17 Jan 2009 9:53 am

Add everyday practice and you're into another thread entirely...

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Tom with any luck yer "suck period" will shorten just a bit as time goes by and yer "wow" period will lengthen. Come on out to the Old Ironsides this Friday and check out me with Sugarballs and the 18 Wheelers. All Trucker all the time.

Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

Get 2 golf balls and on your way to practice or before practice or the gig rotate them in circles with your pickin hand. Do it palm up, palm sideways,palm upside down. It takes a little practice to get good but you'll think you just played a set when you sit down behind your guitar. I have to credit Randy Beavers for that tidbit of helpful information.

Wayne Franco

Mike Cass · Posted 17 Jan 2009 2:57 pm

Somewhere, in some of Buddy Emmons' teaching materials he has a nifty paradiddle warmup for both hands. If you know where to purchase his products Im sure you can find it. It may have even been part of "Blues to Use" but Im not sure on that. Its my main warmup tool, especially when Im in a hurry. Its a real good workout and the exercise is expandable if you have the time.
Another thing I like to use with Buddy's warmup exercise is an oversize tone bar. I got mine from GeorgeL and its like swinging two bats. When you then pick up the regular one it feels like youre holding a small sharpie instead of a big ol' heavy hunk of steel.
good luck!

Tom Quinn · Posted 17 Jan 2009 4:47 pm

Thanks everybody. More concentrated practice, more relaxation and more gigging will also help.

Mike, I'm playing an early Pro II and man it sounds great! Buds are back bigtime... -L-

Doug Seymour · From: Jamestown NY USA (deceased)

Hi Mike Cass, I seem to recall some warm up ideas from Buddy Emmons in one of Scotty's Mel Bay lesson books?
Didn't Jimmy Crawford suggest working your picking hand with a small rubber ball? I remember reading that somewhere?

Mike Cass · Posted 21 Jan 2009 6:55 am

hi Doug,

you're correct. I checked it out and that is the exercise I was speaking of. I knew it was out there somewhere.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

Doug, the Buddy Emmons warm-up exercise you mentioned is in Scotty's Anthology of Pedal Steel Guitar.

Jimmy Crawford's recommendation of the rubber ball is in Winnie Winston's Pedal Steel Guitar: A Manual of Style. Also in there is a warm-up exercise from John Hughey.

Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

I think the concern is warming up rather than exercising and building muscle. More muscle slows you down. That is why the spring hand grips, etc is not a good choice for the long term. Anything that warms you up and streaches out is by far best.

Nathan Golub · From: Durham, NC

Here's my current favorite finger warm up. Just keep moving it up the fretboard by one fret. When I hit the octave of whatever fret I started on, I head back down. Very effective to warm up slowly with a metronome, then keep increasing the speed until it's too fast for you. If I have time to warm up before a gig this is also what I'll use. There are a lot of variations you can do off of this too.

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