Best Practice Routine For Beginners?

Doug Burling · From: Ohio, USA

I'm trying to establish a practice routine for lap steel. What would you suggest? A couple things I'm doing now is working on string muting and intonation sliding from C to D to E etc. I'm also practicing the major's and minors in each key to know which strings to grip for each. Outside of that, I'm alternating between that and learning Harbor Lights from Doug Beaumier's book.

By the way, is it common to get a sore left wrist (bar hand) when you're just starting? We got the Sierra back from the luthier earlier this week and I've been playing quit a bit since.

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

You should try to keep your bar hand relaxed. You must be tensing up while you are playing. It should not get sore.

Doug Burling · From: Ohio, USA

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

dont worry about all that tech stuff. put on a song you like that has a nice melody to it. just learn to play the melody...single notes...not chords or anything. learn to phrase like the singer does, not like a guitar player.

if you start there and put some time into it, the intonation will come, because you will hear yourself along with the singer and the technique will come and you will learn where nice melodic things are on your guitar.

most players cant play a simple melody. its where everything starts. every song you learn, learn the melody first!! then work on the chords.

wish i had listened to my own advice many many years ago! lol still working on it..

Doug Burling · From: Ohio, USA

I just had a little practice session and payed close attention to my left hand. It does tense up. Something I'm going to have to work on for sure. I also tried a
Ron Tipton dobro bar that my dad gave me to try. It's soooo much easier to to get around the fret board with. I can move faster with it and vibrato is easier and sounds better. Moving the bar vertical is a problem because the nose of the bar gets hung up on the strings as you move. If I lean on the backside of the bar, I can avoid this. There is a slight drop off in tone with the dobro bar. That can be fixed with a little eq.

I guess the wise thing to do is stick with the bullet bar and work through it. Anyone else playing with a dobro bar with success?

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

Shubb-Pearse SP-2 bar. Best of both worlds.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I started off with a Stevens bar thinking it was easier to play with, but switched to a bullet for the same reasons you are experiencing. After using it for a few months, I became comfortable with it and stopped dropping it. The key is to just guide it on the strings and lift it only occasionally--at least for me.

Like Bill said, just try to focus on playing some melodies using maybe just 2 strings. Get your bar movement together by really listening to what you are doing. Hear what the effects of your bar movement are and listen closely to some clips of others, like Don Helms and Jerry Byrd with Hank Williams, etc. That is always a great starting point. You'll notice you don't hear a lot of long slides (meaning a distance of a lot of frets--you don't hear those very often and they can sound very novelty-ish).

Listen to the effects of stopping the notes with the side of your right hand (palm blocking) or with the picks (pick blocking). With pick blocking you are simply using the pick that you used to play the string to stop the string while you pluck another string or note. Try to establish patterns of picking either T-1 or T-2 (thumb and first or second finger--you use 2 fingers for double stops).

You're not going to get there overnight, so just take the scenic route and enjoy.
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links

Geoff Cline · From: Southwest France

My advice is to subscribe to Mike Neer's blog and start working on any of the things there.

Don't be intimidated and focus on tone. Play slowly and have FUN...timing and speed will come but learning good habits will only help down the line.

What I like about Mike's blog and materials is the attitude and approach... very musical and a broad range of styles and repertoire.

The late, great Joe Pass told me that when trying to learn guitar it is best to play songs (as opposed to scales) and to use your ears and heart (as opposed to your brain, which will follow along). Truer words were never spoke...and that goes double for any guitar that you play with a bar (IMHO).

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

The wonderful thing about a steel guitar is, that once you figure out the melody to a simply ditty, regardless of what key you played it in, you simply play the same string combinations up or down the neck and regardless of what KEY you're playing in, the picking and barring is ALL THE SAME. It's not like on a piano where black and white keys have to be utilized differently from one key to another.

For starters, why worry about the names of every note on every string in every key? Not necessary.

Learn to play Red River Valley, starting at the 5th fret. From there you'll make moves to the 10th and 12th frets as the song progresses. Simply apply the up five, up two forumula and back to start.

After you've nailed it, simply move up the neck to the 7th fret, Key of G, and repeat everything you just did at the 5th fret, Key of F. You can repeat this from fret one to 24.

LEARN the MELODY, relate that to what strings you're playing to do so and what frets you were at to make it all happen. That's MORE THAN half of the battle. LISTEN to what sounds you're creating and try to remember what was good and what might not have been so good.

You can learn to block or mute and all of the other technical tricks, as you continue to progress. Don't attempt to learn everything the first day. The steel guitar is a somewhat complicated instrument. Don't compound that factor by trying to do it all immediately. It's gonna be a lifetime project.

Ian McLatchie · From: Sechelt, British Columbia

Doug: A couple of simple tips that might help to lessen the tension in your left hand and wrist. Particularly when you're just starting out on the instrument it's easy to develop tendonitis if you're not careful. First, are you playing with the instrument on a stand or your lap? The ergonomics are a lot easier to control if you use a stand. If you're in the market for one of those, Mark Roeder's stands are terrific; I can let you know the dimensions for the Sierra if you decide to order one anytime. If the guitar's on your lap, make sure you're playing with it flat against the belly and at a ninety degree angle to the body. Keep your posture upright and make sure that your elbows are pointing straight down. "Winging out" of the arms is a bad habit that needs to be corrected early on which can contribute to a whole range of muscle and tendon problems - not to mention musical ones.

As for bar technique, I always tell students to start every practice session by just letting the bar rest in the crotch of the first and second fingers, then gently rest the thumb against the side. That's all the pressure you need (flip your hand over, shake the bar hard and you'll see what I mean), and whenever you feel tension building in your hand or wrist during a practice session, repeat that process. When you're learning there's a tendency to lift the bar more than necessary to minimize bar and pick noise, but as you get better at muting with both the right palm and the fingers behind the bar you'll find you become much more economical in those movements.

Doug Burling · From: Ohio, USA

I can't thank everyone enough for your support and advice. What a great community! I think I'm going to give it a couple days rest or until the pain is gone. Then ease back in and be very mindful of tension.

The Sierra does have legs and that's how I play it. If I had to use the Sierra on my lap, my legs would go to sleep from the weight. This thing is heavy.

Scott Thomas · Posted 4 Oct 2011 9:39 am

I think we've been through the Shubb vs. bullet bar question with you before, but I think you really should get used to the bullet bar. Of course it may feel awkward at first, and will slip and drop, but that's part of the process. Don't worry about it, because it will feel natural soon. Also, you keep mentioning picking up the bar. You are probably doing that too much as a shortcut to proper palm muting and bar control. Try moving the bar in and out to cover only the strings you have to. (i.e. if a chord doesn't involve the top two strings for example, don't bar them, and let the fingers draging behind the bar keep things quiet.) Also, tip the bar for single string passages, lifting only slightly to clear the other strings. I think this is the only time the bar should be lifted.

A lot of this sounds complicated and would be easy to show you in person. You want to play mostly Hawaiian, right? Really, I can't think of one great player, past or present that would start you out on a dobro bar. You will be doing a lot of quick slanting, forward and reverse, and with the right technique on a bullet bar, the wrist doesn't even move, just the fingers. With a Shubb type bar, you will be cocking your wrist and arm out with a lot of unnecessary motion and fatigue.

You are just beginning, and have a golden opportunity to learn the right way from the start.

Jack Aldrich · From: Washington, USA

From Jerry Byrd via Alan Akaka: You should not be moving your wrist very much when you slant the bar. The bar should be moved under your hand with the thumb, holding it in place with the second and third fingers, with the palm resting on the strings. The bar should only leave the strings when you're playing single notes or hammering on. This motion results in good intonation when you slant the bar. Let the bar rest on the strings, too. This is easy with a bullet steel, but hard with a Stevens steel of equivalent. Watch videos of Jerry, Alan and Bobby Ingano to see what I mean.

Gary Meixner · From: New York, USA

Doug,

Here are a few more thoughts that might help.

I would encourage you to stay with a bullet bar. The Stevens style bar may feel more comfortable at first, but the bullet bar will feel very natural before long. You might consider trying a Tribotone bar. I used one for a while and felt that it was much less slippery to hold but still gave good tone. I have since changed to bars made by Jim Burden and find them to be superb.

You didn't mention if this was your first musical instrument or if you have played others; learning to practice efficiently and effectively is most important and hard to master. I recently started playing standard guitar again after a long break and decided to take lessons from good instructor. One thing that has helped me profoundly is to slow down the pace of my practicing.

Practice new material only at a speed that allows you get through the passages without mistakes. Concentrate on your tone. It is more satisfying to play a hand full of beautiful notes than a whole bunch of ugly sounding ones. Repetition is the key - sort of - but beware of just going over difficult parts repeatedly. Try this technique: Play a new passage slowly, concentrate on tone, intonation and staying relaxed. After one run through take your hands away from the instrument and relax, take a breath. After a moment play it again the same way, stopping at the end and taking your hands away from the instrument. Doing this 5 or 6 times will be far more valuable than 100 repetitions of the same passage without taking the break.

Remember though, every once in a while you've got to go for it and try the piece at speed. It is kind of like lifting weights, you don't want to max out at every workout but once in a while you just have to see what you got.

Best to you,

Gary Meixner

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