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Topic: Lap steel noob |
Randy Chow
From:
California, USA
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Posted 20 Nov 2016 3:53 pm |
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Hi. I am totally new to lap steel and am having trouble finding a teacher in the Long Beach/South Bay area of Los Angeles. Does anyone know of any??
I will also be posting many annoying noob questions about lap steel. I thank everyone in advance for any assistance and patience. |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 21 Nov 2016 4:20 pm
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Hi Randy
You might try Skyping some lessons if you don't find a teacher in your area. Best of luck. |
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Rick Abbott
From:
Indiana, USA
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Posted 21 Nov 2016 6:13 pm
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Welcome!
Tell us about the kind of music you like and the kind of music you want to play. Do you have a steel? Have you played other instruments? Can you read music?
Finding your way to the right lessons and teachers is easier if you can answer some of the above questions.
Good luck and enjoy the journey.
_________________
RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Sehy #112
1975 Peavey Pacer |
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Nathan Laudenbach
From:
Montana
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Posted 21 Nov 2016 8:41 pm
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I think there are two ways to approach lap steel guitar.
1. Figure it out on your own and have a totally unique style
2. Take Skype lessons with John Ely
After trying with approaches, I would recommend taking lessons with John. |
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Randy Chow
From:
California, USA
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Posted 22 Nov 2016 11:14 am
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Thanks for the helpful replies!
Re Skype - OK! In this day and age it never occurred to me about online lessons. I will also check out YouTube for videos. Such innovative resources were not available back in my youth.
Re myself - I have been playing bass for the past 30 years or so. But as I become more crusty my fretting pinky finger has been getting painful. Although I would not say my bass career is over yet because of it I decided to try other things in preparation for that eventuality. My musical/bass background has been classic rock/progressive rock with a little country and I play fretless bass exclusively. So as I delve into the steel guitar world the concept of 'playing on the fretline' is one I am very familiar with. As far as reading music I am not a fluent sight reader but I do make my own chord charts with occasional standard notation when I need to learn original material.
I want to really get more into slide Delta type blues and having no knowledge of slide guitars of any sort I was overwhelmed at the vastness of it all: pedal steels, lap steels, resonators, square necks, round necks, tri-cones, single cones, biscuits, spiders, etc. etc. and a plethora of open tunings. Further complicating the issue is that I am left handed which limits my instrument choices but I am used to this during my years as a bass player.
My friend suggested a resonator and wearing a slide on a finger style, but I gravitated to the lap style because it was less painful since I don't have to fret anything. To start out I ended up buying a lefty Rondo SX off eBay for $125 and although it is very entry level the quality is not *too* bad and I have been able to noodle around with it a bit to the point where I am playing it more than the bass these days. Eventually if I get better and keep at it I will get a better lap steel and a resonator.
Right now I am playing easy rock stuff only because its music that I already have and am familiar with (i.e. When the Levee Breaks, In My Time of Dying & Celebration Day from Zep, Mercury Blues from David Lindley and Just Got Paid from ZZ Top among others). It is kind of a pain to have to retune so often for different songs, but I group them by tunings for efficiency. I was not aware that so many rock songs had slide! Playing these easy songs is allowing me to get to know the instrument and although I am not all that good I must say lap steel is a blast!
One thing I think I have discovered is that I seem to prefer to play without any finger picks. This probably comes from my finger style playing on the bass, and probably also from the lack of left handed thumb picks at stores. I haven't bought a traditional tone bar yet so at the moment I am getting by with a .50 cal round, but I am still looking around the house for other things to use. Traditional lap steel tone bars are not asymmetrical are they?? I should be able to buy one and play it left handed (with the bar in my right hand)??
Thanks again for the responses and I am sure I will be posting more questions. |
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2016 5:48 am
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| Nathan Laudenbach wrote: |
I think there are two ways to approach lap steel guitar.
1. Figure it out on your own and have a totally unique style
2. Take Skype lessons with John Ely
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I guess it depends what you want to play on steel guitar:
1. your own music, or your own take on blues and rock, and more based on slide techniques and tunings whether held in the lap or like a guitar.
This path often is one of self-teaching and writing tunes that use what you know how to play.
2. Learning an established traditional style and repertoire, such as Hawaiian music or Western Swing or Jazz:
This is harder to do without some form of instruction, be it in person, book, Video, on Youtube, Skype, etc.
Why? Because there is a tradition, with more tunings and bar slants and other techniques that go with it - plus a batch of tunes a steel player in whatever genre would be expected to know. |
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2016 5:51 am
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| Randy Chow wrote: |
It is kind of a pain to have to retune so often for different songs, but I group them by tunings for efficiency.
I haven't bought a traditional tone bar yet so at the moment I am getting by with a .50 cal round, but I am still looking around the house for other things to use. Traditional lap steel tone bars are not asymmetrical are they?? I should be able to buy one and play it left handed (with the bar in my right hand)??
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Hi Randy. There are left-handed lap steels, with the controls on the other side, and the bars are indeed symmetrical, so except for one or two odd type, they are reversible. The 918 Dunlop I use is symmetrical.
Grouping songs by tuning is efficient; are you using open D/E and G/A? |
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David M Brown
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2016 5:53 am
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| David M Brown wrote: |
| Randy Chow wrote: |
It is kind of a pain to have to retune so often for different songs, but I group them by tunings for efficiency.
I haven't bought a traditional tone bar yet so at the moment I am getting by with a .50 cal round, but I am still looking around the house for other things to use. Traditional lap steel tone bars are not asymmetrical are they?? I should be able to buy one and play it left handed (with the bar in my right hand)??
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Hi Randy. Those left-handed lap steels, like yours, with the controls on the other side, use regular tonebars, and the bars are indeed symmetrical, so except for one or two odd type, they are reversible. The 918 Dunlop I use is symmetrical.
Grouping songs by tuning is efficient; are you using open D/E and G/A? |
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