HAVING TROUBLE finding a steel guitar teacher?

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Recent posts have suggested that in some areas of this great land, steel guitar instructors are as difficult to locate as a high paying job playing steel for a big name record artist.
Kenny Dail in far off North Carolina gave me some terrific lessons a year or so ago, by telephone. I learned a great deal; things I'd been playing incorrectly and couldn't figure out at all..........until Kenny phoned. A great and wonderful person, fine instructor and one I'm proud to call friend.
I participated in a similar lesson just yesterday, clear back in Ohio. The student Forumite will have to comment personally on the success of this adventure.
Hopefully, he gained enough to offset the telephone long distance expense.
Just a thought that others might wish to apply to their learning program.

[This message was edited by Ray Montee on 19 July 2004 at 09:29 PM.]

John Pelz · From: Kettering, Ohio, USA

I am the beginner to whom Ray kindly gave a lesson on the telephone this last weekend, and it was definitely a very helpful and learning experience. Granted, there is no substitute for in-person, one-on-one teaching/learning, but, barring that, phone-lessons are a great way to go.

I had been kind of spinning my wheels lately, trying to figure out on my own just what I needed to learn, how to learn it, what needed not be learned right off the bat, etc., etc. I think I almost have too much instructional material -- I was drowning it it, and having difficulty zeroing in on just one thing. (Now that my Jerry Byrd Instruction Course just recently showed up from Scotty's, though, the question has been solved: JB, all the way.) In other words, I was kinda lost & overwhelmed at the prospect of figuring out this maddeningly beautiful -- and frustrating -- instrument, the steel guitar. Feeling that way is often the death-knell for many a beginning steeler's career, I suspect. (I'm not talking about a literal career here, ie- making a living by playing steel guitar. I just mean that I understand that many a beginner has given up trying to learn the steel, due to its many challenges, which may seem especially daunting to a beginner like me. I've asked more than one E-bay seller of steel guitars or instructional material why they were offering their items for sale, and was told, "Because steel guitar was too much for me!")

Anyhow, Ray helped me sort things out, and gave me lots of good advice, tips & things for me work on. Basics like which strings will usually carry the melody; chord-formulation & layout; picking-guidelines; keeping melody-lines simple, yet effective -- basics that would have taken me a long time to figure out on my own, assuming I ever did. Although there are no shortcuts, Ray sure saved me a lot of time on relating these basics to me. One thing is for sure: there is nothing like getting help from someone more experienced than one's self. Find a more experienced player than you, ask them for help, and if you're lucky, they'll be kind enough to share their knowledge with you. Just like Ray called Kenny, I called Ray. There's tons of experience lurking out there in Steel Guitar Forum land -- pick up a phone and avail yourself of it!

Bennie Hensley · From: Yakima, Washington, USA

John, I can sure relate to your post about giving up on the steel guitar. I haven't played in almost a month and can't seem to get interested because, "I just can't get it". I listen to steel players and think how in the world does he (she) do that?? Things I think I do well are in reality ugly...
Bennie

Kenny Dail · From: Kinston, N.C. R.I.P.

Ray, you are too kind. I am not a teacher so far as the teacher student thing goes. I believe as our Hawaiian friend, Jeff Au Hoy, I look at it as sharing and learning experience for both of us. I was glad i was able to open any doors you were not aware of...God Bless you my friend.

------------------
kd...and the beat goes on...

John Pelz · From: Kettering, Ohio, USA

Hi Bennie,

I would most respectfully like to assert that you may not have quite gotten the point of my message above. Sure, I've felt like giving up at times, but I haven't, and I'm not going to. I think that feeling kind of overwhelmed is pretty normal for newer players, so realizing that might be half of the battle right there. I would suspect that even among the truly great players that blow you & me away, even most of them, as beginners, probably found the steel guitar daunting, but they just stuck with it. Some talent sure doesn't hurt things, but that goes only so far: I think that sheer dogged persistence is more likely what took them far. Stubbornness and desire. (And tons and tons of practicing. And then some more.) Stubbornness + desire + practice = proficiency. (Come on, someone out there -- back me up on this!)

So, if you feel like taking a break, maybe that's OK. But I would not give up. If you stay away from the steel too long, you will lose the chops that you have. (I found that out the hard way with my bass-playing -- takes a long time to get back lost chops -- at least it was for me.) Have you looked for local players to learn from? Or to even just hang out with and watch? Yakima is a medium-sized city of around 75,000, isn't it? (OK, sorry, that's a trick question

: I just looked online -- according to the 2000 census, it is.) I'd think there must be other players in the area; maybe not teachers, per se, but players who probably wouldn't mind helping to get a player through a dry-spell. In fact, I just did a quick search here at the Forum, and found that, at least as of November 2003 (maybe even more recently than that; this was just a cursory search), there was at least one gigging player in the immediate Yakima area...

Maybe you've already done this. If so, then use the Forum. I've been pretty regularly e-mailing a few Forum members who are experienced players. I bug 'em with questions, but they don't seem to mind too much. In fact, they've all been very gracious & helpful. I won't name names, but they know who they are, and I sincerely appreciate their willingness to help a beginner.

As you can see in the above posts, I've even called some of them & gotten help that way. It was through the Forum that I found someone in my neck of the woods to give me lessons. And there's no law that says you can't ask questions of more than one person.

Sorry for the long-winded rant, but my point (and I do have one) is that I just don't like the idea of someone giving up on the steel. (And the point of my above post was not about giving up -- it was about not giving up. I hope that you don't feel that I'm singling you out, Bennie -- I can really empathize with your frustration. I've totally "been there, done that" in the frustration-department. Really, I'm writing this for you, me, and everyone else who has thought of giving up on getting good at steel guitar.) I think the steel guitar, be it pedal or non-, is the most frustrating -- and beautiful -- instrument there is. I can't say that my opinion is based on much experience (altho I thought the steel guitar was a beautiful instrument long before I actually got my first one), but I have read more than one great player express similar sentiments: steel guitar is both beautiful and frustrating. And the learning never stops, no matter what the proficiency-level. Even though I'm just a beginner, I know that getting anywhere near proficient on this thing is going to come about only with one butt-load (or ten) of desire & mule-headed stubbornness. Oh, and practice, too! Practice, practice, practice.

Good luck, Bennie, and don't give up on the steel.

Bennie Hensley · From: Yakima, Washington, USA

John, thanks for your reply and I apoligize for not answering sooner but, I have been on vacation and had some walleye and rainbow trout with my name on them.
I have sent email to a person here in Yakima about steel guitar lessons and got one reply and sent another and have not heard from him for several months. I sent another email and got no answer.
I am not going to give up! I had a chance to jam with some local "kitchen pickers" last week while on vacation but played pretty low key. I think the chance to set in with some guys gave me some new inspiration. Thanks for the advice.

Bennie

John Pelz · From: Kettering, Ohio, USA

Hi Bennie,

Good to hear that you had a good vacation, and that the steel isn't getting the best of you. I haven't been at this very long myself, but I have a sneaking suspicion that perserverance might be one of the keys to success on the steel. You just keep at it, and I will, too.

Your vacation sounded like a lot of fun -- I'm kind of envious! You say that you caught "some walleye and rainbow trout with [your] name on them" -- they must have been decently sized to fit "Bennie Hensley" on them!

I used to live in Alaska, and there was a lake about 45 miles down the road from where I lived, and which I made a point to hit at least several times each summer. This lake was just absolutely gorgeous and a great spot for rainbow trout. (They sure put up an acrobatic fight, don't they?

) Not much in the way of trout in Ohio, however -- although there's lots of corn...

Keep on picking!

Bennie Hensley · From: Yakima, Washington, USA

John, my wife's name is not as long as mine but she caught bigger fish! Explain that!
Bennie

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