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Topic: if truth be known and exaggeration be gone |
Bo Legg
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Posted 1 Feb 2015 1:49 pm |
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I’ve heard from different players here that in Steel Guitar playing the right hand (picking hand) is anywhere from 75% to 97% of your ability to play.
The 97% statement came from a person I respect highly and of course he knows it is an exaggeration.
Any time you are trying to convince anyone of something, you are using some kind of persuasion, debating, propaganda technique.
Just telling the whole truth about something is one simple propaganda technique, and a highly effective one. But exaggeration often works better, at least with some audiences.
Then of course the debate accelerates to I don't need to learn anything about music theory because to become a steel player “it's all in my right hand“.
If I sit down and start using my right hand only to discover my steel guitar is missing then what percentage of my ability to play is in my right hand?
If I don't have a clue what to pick with my right hand, what percentage of my ability is in the right hand.
I could go on for about an hour but all I’m trying to say is if truth be known and exaggeration be gone, there is a lot of percentage left over to include some music theory in your ability. |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 1 Feb 2015 2:35 pm
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What is the sound of the right hand picking? If the right hand picks, and the left hand does not intonate, is there music? If the sounds are related by only random happenstance, music will only occur in chaotic, or random, moments like mathmatical models similar to what is used to predict weather patterns.
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer |
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Bo Legg
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Posted 6 Feb 2015 1:11 pm
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I am just really tired of hearing "it's all in the right hand" crap.
If you transplanted Buddie's right hand on my body I would still sound like Bo Legg.
I would be nice to blame the lack of ability on the right hand instead of just admitting that some of us are pretty close to tone deaf and/or mentally and/or physically challenged and just in general have no natural ability. Add to that being just plain lazy.
A player I respect who has what he says is the correct technique and preaches "it's over 90% in the right hand" every time he gives a lesson plays very good except he is terrible when it comes to playing fast.
I rest my case! It's not all in the right hand then is it?
I think it's just another part of steel playing that has to be addressed but far from the largest part. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 6 Feb 2015 2:43 pm
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| Bo Legg wrote: |
I am just really tired of hearing "it's all in the right hand" crap...A player I respect who has what he says is the correct technique and preaches "it's over 90% in the right hand" every time he gives a lesson plays very good except he is terrible when it comes to playing fast.
I rest my case! It's not all in the right hand then is it?
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That's a non-sequitur, Bo. It does not follow that even if you have the right technique that you are able to do something fast. Michelangelo had flawless and unparralled technique for painting, but he still couldn't finish the Sistine Chapel in a day, or a week, or even a year. 
Technique is exactness, whereas speed is more just plain and simple reflexes. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 6 Feb 2015 4:28 pm
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| Rick Abbott wrote: |
| What is the sound of the right hand picking? |
Beautiful. It means to me there is a balance between right and left or no music,
and the percentages: you could say, the consciousness of the body concerns: what parts are conscious?
Steel playing is a whole body thing.
Propaganda's great, it works, meanwhile, it's the left hand/left brain that gets my attention.
Years of bass bring finger damping, so the right, it keeps on picking.
It's this left hand with the bar that keeps changing and challenging me.
I look forward to more balance, less dogma about it.
Too much focus on the right hand, you'll have some focal dystonia, like the left-handed pianist.
I like the cut of Bo's jib on this; it's not so cut and dried. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 5:10 am
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I think that part's a given, Charlie. You have to have the whole package to be a good steeler. You have to have a good right hand, and you have to have a good left hand, too! You have to be able to play the smooth, flowing stuff with preciseness and emotion, and you have to be able to play fast when the need arises.  |
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mtulbert
From:
Plano, Texas 75023
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 6:53 am
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Well I have to disagree with Mr. Legg on this case. After years of trying different steels, amps, etc I still sound like me.
Here is an example. This gig was professionally videotaped and I did the sound for it. Multi tracked into Pro Tools. I made a few goofs on this one which details I won't go into this time, but they are there.
Now the point of this. I recorded the original through My Mullen G2 into an Octal Preamp.
The overdubs that I did to fix the goofs were done with a Show Pro into a Revelation preamp.
Let me know if you guys can hear where the patches are done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PTQE-FNtMQ
_________________
Mark T
Infinity D-10 Justice SD-10 Judge Revelation Octal Preamp, Fractal AXE III, Fender FRFR 12 |
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DG Whitley
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 8:12 am
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I'm going to go with Charlie on this one, the left and right hands need to be in sync with each other. I think it would do little good if your right hand could pick, mute, etc. at warp speed if the left hand could not move with the same speed and accuracy. That also goes for hitting the pedals and knee levers at the correct time. That's not to mention the volume (expression) pedal technique going on at the same time.
Don't get me wrong, yes, you do need to have a good right hand technique, but that needs to be in concert with the left hand movements and the knees and pedals and yes, the volume (expression) pedal.
To me, you have to practice all these things if you want to be proficient in taking on this instrument. It requires all your physical and mental resources to be in sync and harmony, there are few if any other instruments that demand so much from a human body.
Hope this makes some sense.
My two cents, YMMV. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 9:21 am
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I've always understood the "it's in the hands" mantra to be a shorthand way of referring to touch. As in the personal approach to all the things DG mentions, the combination makes up the differences in tone and live or recorded sound between players.
It may be a bit confusing to a new player to be trying to concentrate "primarily" on how to hold the right hand, wear the picks, attack the strings, mute with palm or fingers… when all those moves are in concert with minute adjustments to seating position, pedal and lever attack, volume pedal, and left hand position and pressure, vibrato, etc...
Regardless of where one focuses attention on development and execution, it all has to transit through and be directed by the brain.
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 9:30 am
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I've heard people claim that tone is all in the right hand. Nobody I know claims that the ability to play is all in the right hand. Seems like a straw argument to me.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 10:21 am Re: if truth be known and exaggeration be gone
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| Bo Legg wrote: |
| If I don't have a clue what to pick with my right hand, what percentage of my ability is in the right hand. |
It seems Bo is opening the issue of consciousness vs. propaganda and resonates with me in terms of
the effect of proper, less-lateralized brain functioning on playing.
It seems to be Bo's thesis that proper state of mind will accomodate the huge amount of theory the brain uses
in real time that perhaps people don't trust, putting their attentions instead to aphorisms about technique,
the 'monkey see, monkey do' part of learning steel. I'm frequently wrong about what Bo actually said. 
| Bo wrote: |
| I could go on for about an hour but all I’m trying to say is if truth be known and exaggeration be gone, there is a lot of percentage left over to include some music theory in your ability. |
... more than we're conscious of.
You are absolutely right, Donny, I state the obvious given and I defer, but I am not a good steeler, don't have the complete package.
I can't imagine how Franklin plays in the closing passages of 'Elvis Calling', and I will never even reach the speed of sound.
| Donny wrote: |
| Technique is exactness, whereas speed is more just plain and simple reflexes. |
I think the reflexes are complex, and that this is an empty aphorism, as Li Er would say, respectfully, since technique is also reflex. |
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Bo Legg
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 10:55 am
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"tone in the right hand" has been thrown around so much it has progressed to "your ability to play is in the right hand"
It's all propaganda in fuzzy math.
Good right hand technique = good tone
Great players = good tone
therefore
Good right hand technique = great players |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 11:05 am
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| Quote: |
Good right hand technique = good tone
Great players = good tone
therefor
Good right hand technique = great players |
Good right hand technique = great players with good tone.. |
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Bo Legg
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 12:07 pm
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Guess what? After practicing PSG for a period of time the right hand becomes automatic. The pedals and levers become automatic.
It’s like running, after you learn to put one foot in front of the other as fast as you can you never have to think about it again you just run.
I never look at my right hand, my pedals or levers when I play PSG but I sure have to look at and concentrate on what I’m going to do with my left hand.
What I’m saying is with me when I’m playing PSG it’s all in what I’m going to do with my left hand because I have practiced enough that my pedals, levers and right hand are all going to be on auto pilot. |
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DG Whitley
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Posted 7 Feb 2015 12:17 pm
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...so what went wrong with the left hand?
...lol...I'm kidding Bo, I tend to look at my left too... |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2015 9:56 am
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I still practice right hand technique more than any other. I even tap my fingers in picking patterns when I hear music on TV or at the movies. Right hand dexterity is crucial to good steel playing. It seems to fade more quickly than the other aspects of playing.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 10 Feb 2015 11:22 am
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Sensory motor amnesia is forgetting that we can do things.
The right hand operates at a higher frequency in the brain than the left while playing; the more transient movement takes
more reinforcement or practice than lower frequency muscle movements, so it makes sense, b0b.
In addition, as I think about it, from what steelers describe the eye is on the left hand more for accuracy--
I may be wrong. Vision is a higher order harmonic so to speak than hearing... nah.
Wait--
| Rick Abbott wrote: |
| What is the sound of the right hand picking? |
There it is! The ear hears the picks, and the left eye watches the bar hand, causing the right brain to operate at a higher frequency, and the two are in balance.
So no, Bo, the right hand could not be responsible for 97% of your picking ability. 
_________________
Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Stuart Legg
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Posted 10 Feb 2015 2:32 pm
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| OK so they knocked the right hand down to 96%. Are you happy now Bo? |
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Roger Francis
From:
kokomo,Indiana, USA
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Posted 11 Feb 2015 7:37 am
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I think the right hand is the master and it helps teach the LH where and what to do along with with your pedals and knee levers. What good would it do to play something if your RT hand cant hit the strings your aiming for? Just about every ooops ive had while playing has been because of my RT hand, missing a string or hiting the wrong one, ive always got my eye on the bar and fret im wanting
_________________
Rittenberry SD10, 2 nashville 112s with telonics speaker, behringer EPQ450 power amp, 705 pups, Telonics FP-100, live steel strings, mogami cords, wet reverb |
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