ONE Summary of Learning Material for Newbies

Clair Dunn · From: Vermont, USA

I thought I would organize my experiences in case it might help others. Mind you, we're all different so I'm annotating my recommendations so that you can consider the source (me!). The top of the heap is just that, the top of the heap for me. So, I'll put my very short, "This is all you need list" at the top, and the rest annotated after that. (Note: I don't know any of these folks - no vested interest here.) I'm also older'n dirt and impatient to learn!

This is all you really need!

***DVD Lessons:
Josh Cho's video lessons,
I have Lil' Steel http://www.steelguitarmojo.com/lilsteelv1.shtml which I bought for the St. Louis Blues lesson. As are all of his videos, this one is incredibly focused, clear, and the voice-over and pace is perfect. You see only his hands with verbal explanation of what is going on. AND, the disk includes many good arrangements (.pdfs) of many familiar songs. The rest of the disk consists of back-up tracks for all the songs.

I got Lil' Steel because I wanted the music for the other songs as well as to try one of his lessons. St. Louis Blues is a tough place to start, simply because it's a faster song. But, I was able to get real flashes of what it would eventually sound like very quickly. Because it is a more difficult than other starting songs, you do pick up some cool bluesy licks right away. I would recommend that you get The Blue Hawaii lesson first. http://www.steelguitarmojo.com/bluehawaiiorderpage.shtml (It's maybe misleading because it says Chords in the title so you might assume it's not the melody, but it is the melody. It's a simpler song (and slower) than St. Louis Blues, therefore there's more instant gratification with it.

Both of these lessons really do make you feel like you are sitting in the room with your teacher. (I am a teacher and I can't say enough good words about how well this guy puts across the information you need.) In an amazingly short amount of time you will know that it is indeed possible for you to really learn to play this instrument!

*****Book: (Notice that there is no plural here.)
Doug Beaumier's 25 Songs for Lap Steel Guitar C6th Tuning
This book (and 2 CDs with the melodies and back up tracks for all songs) contains really nice arrangements of many very popular songs across a number of genres. [ur]http://www.dougbsteel.com/dougpage3.html[/ur] It's about $55 including shipping, but you won't outgrow this for a long, long time, if ever. Special note: the tabs are very large and easy to read from a distance.

So, your fastest road into learning the LSG is a couple of Josh Cho's DVD lessons, and then Doug Beaumier's book to give you a start in developing your library of favorites.

This is all the rest.

Other Books I Have:

Mel Bay Presents Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method, by Scott DeWitt. This is the first book I got a few years ago when I first got interested in steel. Good simple songs with tab lines under the notation. (If you don't read music, then this would be helpful for that. But for the rest, nothing beats a good video for learning how to work the thing!)

Mel Bay Complete Steel Guitar Method, by Roger Filberto is a classic "learning an instrument" book starting with how to read music. This book includes many exercises, scales, chord charts. There is no tab as we know it, and fret/string numbers for the most part disappear early on the the book. A lot of the later songs in the book are made up ones. I happen to thing there's a real boost in learning speed when you are working with a familiar song. This book gets into some serious musical complexity.

Hal Leonard Lap Steel Guitar, by Johnnie Helms does not use C6 tuning, rather: Open G, Open D, Open A, and Open E tunings. It does have a lot of licks in notation and tab with each of the keys and these are on the accompanying CD as well. (I'm dedicated to C6, so I won't be using this book at all.)

Other DVDs:

Basics and Blues 2008 for the C6th Lap Steel Guitar, by George Boards. This is very much not for beginners. The voice-over explanations are very terse when they are there at all and you are mostly watching hands playing the licks. This might be helpful to intermediate or advanced players coming to blues from other genres, but while the playing part of the video is there, the lesson part is pretty thin. And there are no included .pdfs of the licks you are watching/hearing.

Mel Bay's Anyone Can Play Lap Steel Guitar.
I've briefly ranted about this one elsewhere. It a very poorly designed and produced DVD. I shut it off after 45 of the 90 minutes because the commercials were still going on--strings, bars, amps, Petersen Tuner, etc.!!! At least ten minutes on the tuner -- and this purports to be for beginners. (No playing of songs or anything up to this 45 minute point. I've not checked out the last half.) You are very likely paying Mel Bay for this collection of commercials for which Mel Bay has likely already been paid handsomely. (I may be wrong, but that's my guess.)

*****NON-LESSON STUFF:

1. Stick to this forum like glue. Make it part of your daily life. Read about anything that you even vaguely understand at first. Even donate -- it will be good for your soul and will noticably increase your performance skills! [grin]

2. Only place I've found to order several little things at once (I'm poor and paying three sets of postage sucks.) Hank's House of Steel sells strings and picks and bars (and a bunch of other stuff)-- those are what I needed all at once. http://www.hankshouseofsteel.com/default.asp And you can select different thicknesses there for the Dunlop finger picks. Nice clean web site with long menu down the side (I'm a web designer and I care about such things!)

3. I started with a Stevens tone bar because I didn't know anything. Saw Josh use a bullet bar, and then looked them up here; made much more sense to me. Moved to a Dunlop Bar (bullet-type) and liked it much better. So much so that I'm ordering a Jim Burden bullet bar because I can specify the diameter and length. (I have really big hands and long fingers so want a bigger, fatter bar.) http://www.bulletbars.com

4. Things I'd love to have but are lagniappe so I can't justify them until I have some extra cash: Andy Volk's book Lap Steel Guitar, and The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and its Great Hawaiian Musicians by Lorene Ruymar (both at Hank's House of Steel), and Mike Neer's digital download re-issue of The Magic Steel Guitarist http://www.steelinfromthemasters.com/?p=199

I'll shut up now.
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My Personal Site: http://www.clairdunn.com

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Clair, Thanks for mentioning my C6 song book/CDs. I'm glad you like it.
I would say that most of my arrangements are intermediate level, and many are good for beginners, especially the ones without slants (Greensleeves, Amazing Grace, etc.) Some of the ones with slants are more challenging.
Yes, I made the tablature fairly large. I've discovered over 30 years of teaching steel and guitar that most students/players like large tab. As Jeff Newman once said "most tablature is too small too read".
In my teaching I’ve been able to see what the students/players respond to and what they don't respond to, in terms of the tab, the size of the tab, the slants, the level of difficulty, etc, and I've taken all of that into consideration with these arrangements. Thanks again, and enjoy your steel guitar! Cool

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My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel

Josh Cho · From: New York, NY (orig. Honolulu, HI)

Clair Dunn · From: Vermont, USA

I'm glad I found you and Doug -- I'm all set -- and I just today ordered Cold Cold Heart to get in on the sale and save my meager bucks.

I must say, the DVD technology helps those of us who live in the boonies for sure.
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My Personal Site: http://www.clairdunn.com

Mitch Crane · From: 1000 Oaks, CA

I would agree with Clair. I've found both guys to offer great teaching and tunes.

One thing I would have liked to see on the 'Lil Steel' CD, was a performance by Josh of each tune (as Doug does on his CD)... the tab alone without a performance reference point is a bit odd to me ? But it's probably just me.. Clair seems to be doing fine with it the way it is !

Great job gents !

Clair Dunn · From: Vermont, USA

I'm both a verbal and visual person--but when it comes to learning the lap steel, I find the visual to be incredibly helpful -- sort of a "teach me to fish and I'll go off and fish!" There are some nice slants in Blue Hawaii that seem to come quite naturally to me.

The two things I work on above all others are (1)teaching my muscles the distance between, say a 1st string C and a first string A, etc. I expect this is why everyone says watch your left hand, not your right. So I do. I'm still stumbling with my picking fingers, but I'm not worrying, that will come. And (2) finding the easiest pattern of notes across the strings for any given section of a song.

My fingers get tangled up most when I'm playing a series of single notes; my grips seem to be doing fine.
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My Personal Site: http://www.clairdunn.com

Josh Cho · From: New York, NY (orig. Honolulu, HI)

James Nottage · From: Indiana, USA

Thank you Claire.

I pretty much agree with your evaluation and comments on the different products. I especially like the work that Josh and Doug have done to help us beginners.

While it is more expensive and different in that it is an on-line learning environment, I am also very partial to and highly recommend Reece Anderson's lap steel for beginners. Some readers of the forum may not be aware of this resource. Go to the following location for details. Use of the lessons for a year comes in at just under $100. http://www.musictexasstyle.com/maurice-reece-anderson-online-music-lessons-lap-steel-guitar.html

Mr. Anderson is accessible and responsive to questions, a great player, an effective teacher, and a deeply experienced musician.

James
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Clinesmith S-8; Pettingill P6; Rick-Style Vintage 47 Amp

Clair Dunn · From: Vermont, USA

Hi James --
Thanks for that link -- had not run across that site??

It sure looks interesting. It also appeals to me because of the western/country slant (no pun intended). And, given my most un-robust finances, by the month sounds do-able. This is a keeper.

Clair
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My Personal Site: http://www.clairdunn.com

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

Clair, here are some other important resources: The Art Of Hawaiian Steel Guitar Vol 1 + 2, Stacy Phillips (Mel Bay); Traditional Hawaiian Steel Guitar DVD Bob Brozman; Billy Hew Len-The Hal Smith Archives mp3. I guess you can see my bias.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother.

Clair Dunn · From: Vermont, USA

Kekoa Blanchet · From: Kaua'i

Clair, I believe that the Billy Hew Len mp3 files were available through Andy Volk, who participates in this forum. You might try to email him to see if they are still available.

Brian Hunter · From: Indianapolis

Thank you very much, Clair. I have been obsessed with steel guitar since childhood and after 32 years of playing your standard rock and heavy metal guitar have given in to my hillbilly birthright and have decided to take up lap steel. I took an old acoustic of mine and restrung it for c6 tuning and have been having a blast. Purchasing my first (very budget level) lap steel next week. Your original post is incredibly helpful. I will be returning to it in the weeks to come.
Again thank you!
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Brian

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Claire, Chuck Wilson and I collaborated on the Billy Hew Len DVDs but they are all gone, as far as I know. Send Chuck a Pm via the forum and maybe he can make some more available. The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association was supposed to sell them but I'm not sure where it all stands today.

If you diligently search the Forum you'll see close to 14 years of folks asking many of the same questions you're asking and lots of good info. Most everyone who is enamored of lap steel eventually gets to the Jerry Byrd instruction book (sold by Scotty's music). Depending on the style you want to play, there are some good resources on Homespun Tapes as well. With the exception of being light on blocking, Cindy Cashdollar's DVDs are excellent as are Bob Brozman's. Good luck.

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Hi Clair,
The GeorgeBoards videos that you want as a beginner are:
LAP STEEL GUITAR 101 (C6 TUNING)---2 DVD SET

These are an excellent way to start in C6 tuning. George assumes that you know very little and slowly but methodically teaches the basics of playing lap steel in C6. He even goes so far as to show you how the steel sounds when you DON'T exert enough pressure on the bar. He teaches both hands and he teaches at a pace where you don't feel overwhelmed or lost.

I'm working my way through it now and am enjoying the journey.

John Burton · From: Manassas, Va

I've played through some of the things mentioned here, but really found that I was only memorizing Tabs and not really learning C6 and how it works.
Not necessarily was that a bad thing, because, I believe that 80% of steel playing is really nailing down blocking, tremolo, picking and intonation. Memorizing and running through whole songs over and over develops those skills.
But..
For me, the thing that got me REALLY playing and understanding better what I was playing, was the humble Dewitt Scotts' "Mel Bay Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method".

G Strout · From: Carabelle, Florida

I don't have any experience with most of the methods discussed here. I do have Doug Beaumeirs' 25 songs for lap steel and can't say enough good about it. The book is definitely printed in large type, (I can actually read it w/o my glasses!) and spiral bound so that it lays flat on the music stand, and both CDs are well done.

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