For those of you who started on 6-string guitars...

Atom Schmitt · From: Nashville, TN

How did you re-learn your right hand technique for pedal steel? It's obviously not the same as it is on guitar. I took a lesson a couple weeks ago with a pretty well-known player around here, finally had someone show me how it's supposed to be done (palm blocking in particular), and I can't for the life of me figure out how to undo 20+ years of muscle memory from playing a Tele, especially when I'm flipping back and forth between the PSG and the Tele on stage every gig.

I guess the problem is, if I sit and think about it, I know what my right hand is supposed to do and I can put it where it needs to be. But, if I sit down and try to play naturally, I get it completely wrong. When I stop, re-position, and then try to play properly, I feel like I'm using someone else's fingers. I'm sure some of it is just a matter of time and practice, but are there any shortcuts to force slightly better positioning? The guy I did the lesson with mentioned spending months playing with a popsicle stick taped to his pinky to keep it straight. I feel like that plus something to keep my thumb stretched farther away would be a good start, but I also figured I should ask around here and see if there are any other good ideas.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Sorry, just practice and habituation.
I've never played with a straight pinky, though.
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

I played 6 string with finger picks and used a form of palm muting, so the transition to PSG wasn't too hard to begin with. Then I attended a couple of PSG seminars where I was told I did it all wrong, and for a few years I tried to do it "right" - and was not happy with it.

In the end I said "to h**l with it", rearranged my picks and picking-style to somewhere between what felt right and what was recommended, and have picked PSG "naturally and wrong" ever since - for 20 years or so. Don't play 6 string much these days, but my PSG picking-style causes no problems on 6 string either.

The "taped popsicle stick" trick sounds familiar, as I did something similar when I figured out my own picking-style - taped a ruler to hold my ring finger and pinky straight in line with my forearm so I could bend my pick-fingers to where I wanted them. Worked fine but I don't lock my pinky straight since I sometimes bend it under for chiming or muting.

Probably best to pick PSG "traditionally" - the way "all" do, but whatever direction/recommendation you follow it will take time to make it run "naturally."

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Keeping the pinky straight is not a requirement. It's just the way your teacher plays. I play with my pinky extended, but it curls naturally. I also play with all fingers curled under and all fingers uncurled. It just happens that way without me even thinking about it. Practice is the only way to get it down.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Bo Legg · Posted 23 Nov 2011 1:12 pm

The right hand was the easy part.
I played Chet style and when I went to PSG I learned the pickblock method and my right hand palm blocking and pick blocking are the same on guitar and PSG.
It was the bar hand (using a bar, feet and knees instead of just fingers) as well as bar hand things necessary to Pick Blocking that was completely foreign to standard guitar. It took a lot of practice time to learn. Those extra 4 strings and two of them out of place and chromatic were a little hard to get used too.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Like Bo and Georg, I had a head start. I started on 5-string when I was 13, then added 6-string guitar shortly thereafter. So by the time I started on pedal steel, 13 years later, I already had an "experienced" right hand. I used fingerpicks, even playing lead in a Zappa styled band. Never was any good with a flatpick. Stickin' out my ring and pinky fingers? No way! I was used to using them to grab larger chords on 6-string. Tried stickin' them out, and that pretty much paralyzed my hand. Before I started gigging, I took three lessons from a great teacher. He used the straight ring and pinky style. He looked, and listened, and said, "Your right hand sounds fine." So the lessons were spent on the other aspects of playing.

Lynn Fargo · From: Fort Edward, NY

Funny, I used to try to tape my pinky under, as I read some 35 plus years ago that pinky-out was totally wrong. I also read back then that pick-blocking was a no-no. How times change! Well, I started pickin' on lap steel when I was 8, tiny little hands, so pinky-out was the only way for me to block anything. Tried to switch over many years later for PSG, but never could. Now I see my fingers just have a mind of their own and they'll be out or under depending on what they need to do. Also, I started wearing 3 finger picks when I was real young, so ring finger is under. When I went on to playing 6-string, using a flat pick was almost impossible. Usually just wore a thumb pick and strummed with the backs of my fingernails. Hey, whatever works. Had no trouble fingerpickin' acoustic though. Winking

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

"Usually just wore a thumb pick and strummed with the backs of my fingernails. "

Lynn, here's what I did. I made a double-sided pick for my index finger. You can grab it just like a flatpick if you need to do that sort of thing on 6-string.

John Castelletti · Posted 23 Nov 2011 4:22 pm

Atom, I am a relatively new player as well. EVERYTHING seems really foreign and awkward at first - in fact I am just now getting comfortable with ankle movements after playing for several months.

Get the RIGHT HAND ALPHA dvd from Jeffran and work through it as slowly as you need to. There is no shortcut but it starts to feel pretty natural after about a month. Good Luck!

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

There are as many ways to do it "wrong" as there are experts who will tell you about it. You have the advantage of exposure to such at an early stage, I learned to play PSG in a vacuum for the first thirty-odd years before I found out there was a "RIGHT" way to play and that I was not doing it...

Pick blocking came natural for me, palm blocking not so much so and I'm still working on that, but the difficult habit to change for me has been to control the bar slap from lifting the left hand to damp notes as might be done with a fretted instrument, as I still play guitar and bass regularly.

For staccato effects with a lap steel or dobro this technique serves very well, but with the electrified pedal guitar it can be the source of lots of useless noise.

The bottom line, as with all else in this business, is if it sounds good it IS good.

Lynn Fargo · From: Fort Edward, NY

John B.,
Ingenious! Would love to see a close up video of you workin' that thing.

Clete Ritta · From: San Antonio, Texas

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Craig Schwartz · From: McHenry IL

Atom , start by learning the string combinations
use your thumb and middle finger as a start
For the e9th :basic exercize
3&5 4&6 5&8 6&8 8&10 ... 3&4 4&5 5&6
There are other combos but start here and learn it.
Get an instuctor if you can afford one,
Jeffran College instuctional videos or you tube videos
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SO MANY LURES, SO LITTLE TIME....

Clete Ritta · From: San Antonio, Texas

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

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