| Author |
Topic: How Do You Hold Your Bar? |
Justin Douglas
From:
Austin, TX
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 1:03 pm |
|
I've played pedal for quite some time and wielding a large bar's been no problem.
Now I'm playing some straight steel and find my big bar is a little to heavy for all the lifting I'm doing. From watching videos, I think after all these years I'm not holding the bar correctly to lift it off the strings and play single notes with the nose.
Which fingers do you fellas hold the bar with when you lift it? Do you press the butt against your palm, or is it all finger pressure?
Thanks! |
|
|
 |
David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 1:36 pm
|
|
Hi Justin, you're no newbie to steel, but here's a link to my earlier post. Anything I do comes out of this basic grip. Works for me, as they say.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=193741&highlight=
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.
Last edited by David Matzenik on 30 Jan 2011 10:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Justin Douglas
From:
Austin, TX
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 1:51 pm
|
|
| very nice david, thanks! |
|
|
|
Steve Green
From:
Gulfport, MS, USA
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 4:05 pm What about slants?
|
|
David,
When holding the bar as pictured in your link, do you have to do slants using your WRIST? Particularly reverse slants. I'd read on another thread that slanting with the wrist might cause artheritic pain.
I haven't been playing long, and am just now experimenting with slants. I want to be sure I'm doing it correctly, as I have no local teacher or non-pedal players to consult with. Steve
_________________
Some songs I've written |
|
|
|
David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 4:57 pm
|
|
Steve, what I do for a forward slant is to ease up on the middle knuckles, then use my thumb to tuck the heal of the bar back down toward the nut.(under my fingers) With the reverse slant, I put my thumb in the hollow of the bar and flip it up the neck. When I do this my first and second fingers remain on top of the bar at about the first knuckle. I hope that is clear enough.
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.
Last edited by David Matzenik on 30 Jan 2011 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Peter Lindelauf
From:
Penticton, BC
|
|
|
|
Norman Evans
From:
Tennessee
|
|
|
|
David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
|
Posted 30 Jan 2011 10:13 pm
|
|
Everyone's hands are a bit different so interpretations of the basic idea will vary. Personally I see no advantage in arching the first finger during a reverse slant. To me it feels uncomfortable, and a bit of a liability.
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
|
|
|
Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
|
Posted 31 Jan 2011 2:42 am
|
|
What seems to work best for me with a Dunlop 920 is to hold it between the first knuckle of my middle finger and the base of my thumb. My Paloma Stone is a little bit shorter, with a thumb recess so that fits between the same knuckle on my middle finger and the top joint of my thumb. The index finger helps guide it when doing forward or reverse slants, which are almost like doing tricks with a deck of cards. 
I think that the length of the bar has a lot to do with where exactly in your hand that you hold it. You can order a custom length bar (like I did from Paloma) but you first need to figure out how you are going to hold it. So it is like Catch-22... you probably need to try a few different lengths before you find one that you can hold and manipulate effectively.
Watching YouTube videos I have seen a wide variety of bar techniques that work for the artists. If you can do the forward and reverse slants, and can use just the tip, I think that is what really matters.
Steve |
|
|
|
