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Topic: My First Steel!!!!! |
Joey Aguilera
From:
Whittier, California, USA
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Posted 3 Nov 2004 2:57 pm |
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Hi Guys,
I would like to thank everyone that helped me out recently when I asked about buying my first steel. I took the advice of most and saved a bit more cash up, spent a few weeks researching and asking questions and ended up purchasing a really nice BMI S10 3/4 from a forumite on Ebay. I just got it today and am having a ball with it. I am surprised how well it stays in tune.
So I have a few questions. Now that I have my steel I will need a few more things to help me along the way and I wanted to know what your recommendations were.
First I am looking for what you guys think is the best beginner’s video instruction out there that will cover the basics of the steel. At this point my main interest isn't so much to be a soloist but to be able to do some mild comping behind the vocals, adding some textures to the progressions, chords, and some of the picking techniques.
Which Volume Pedal do you guys recommend? I currently have an Ernie Ball VP on my pedal board (guitar rig) that I don't really feel like removing from the board but I think this one may be a bit bulky to place under the PSG. I've noticed some really tiny ones you guys seem to play in the various pictures out there.
As far as tuners go I have a boss floor tuner on my pedal board. I did some research and noticed a lot of discussion regarding tuners. Is it really that important? Will any chromatic tuner do?
More questions to come soon !!
Joey
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Grant Johnson
From:
Nashville TN
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Posted 3 Nov 2004 3:11 pm
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Congratulations Joey!
The Winnie Winston book is a great place to start... Also, try to rely less on a tuner and learn how to "ear tune" your instrument. Try tuning the E and B strings with a tuner and tune the rest by ear, including your pedals and levers. Read about "tuning out the beats" and "just intonation". When you get to the point of playing with a band, you will sound more in tune... Learning how to hear your tuning will improve your experience immensely. Also, check out fellow forumite Bob Hoffnar's Intonation Practice CD. A great way to improve your ear...
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Travis Bernhardt
From:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 3 Nov 2004 4:44 pm
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Bruce Bouton's video is the one. Its treatment of harmonized scales, string grips and vibrato is good, and fits what you appear to be looking for.
-Travis |
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Robert Porri
From:
Windsor, Connecticut, USA
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Posted 3 Nov 2004 7:54 pm
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I agree about the book and video already mentioned. I'm new too, but both have been very helpful. Jeff Newman has a good beginner's video called Pedal Steel Guitar Techniques Part One and Two. It was one of his early ones, but on DVD I think it is very good for showing beginning techniques and some of the other things you said you were looking for.
I also had an Ernie Ball volume pedal I used for guitar. I still use it for my PSG, but plan to get one of the ones used more for PSG as soon as I can. The problem with my Ernie Ball pedal, is that the cords go in and out of the front, which means you have to keep it back too far from the pedal board. It is also pretty big. I bought a few cables with 90 degree jacks which has made it much more useable for the time being.
I think you really need a tuner with the cents readout for PSG. There are different approaches to tuning, but at least the way I understandit and do it, some strings are tuned a little sharp and some a little flat. The "averaging" that happens when you play, helps the guitar sound more in tune overall than if you tuned to the exact pitches. You'll probably get some good technical explanations (and differing opinions) about this from others who unlike myself actually understand this. But I do make use of mine having the cents capability. So any old tuner will not necessarily have that.
Congratulations on your purchase.
Bob P. |
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