My First C6 song Kansas City

In the beginning, I told you that for the first few years you would probably be concentrating on the E9 neck. During the 38 months I have been learning to play the pedal steel guitar, I have learned all my songs on the E9 neck. There have been a couple of exercises on the C6 and a brief attempt at learning Walking After Midnight on the C6 neck. After finishing learning The Last Date, my instructor surprised me by starting to teach me To Kansas City on the C6 neck. The first noticeable transition from the E9 to C6 neck is that pesky optical illusion. Also I am having to relearn my picking hand position. I initially am having difficulty locating my chord combos 3-4-5, 4-5-6, 5-6-8 and 6-8-10. I am fumbling around for them or picking the wrong string entirely. This will go away in short order the more I practice and get use to being on C6. The tone bar optical illusion is not as dramatic for me but I can still see and feel it. I include this little ramble for the benefit of both students and instructors. As an instructor, if you hear the problems I as a rookie have (however minor they are), then you can bet other students experience the same or similar problems. While this is a minor issue which will go away with practice, it is still annoying to me. My best advice to an instructor is be patient with us. I know I am not going to set Nashville on blaze any time soon, however, I am better than I was when I started. My tendency is to be more harsh on myself than my instructor is. My instructor keeps reminding me to relax and have fun with it and don't put needless pressure on yourself. This helps and I must always remind myself of this. If your instructor my hat is off to you to have the patience for a beginner. To students of this instrument you must:

1. Practice religiously
2. Have patience
3. Pay attention to the little details
4. Do not be to harsh on yoursel. Be critical, yes, but don't over do it.
5. When you are not practicing or playing then listen to steel guitar music
6. Work on technique -- rolls forward and backward, harmonics palm and finger, sustain, precision

Remember success comes in baby steps. All the little details do not look like much, yet when you combine them all they make all the difference in the world. If you are a guitarist transitioning to the steel guitar you will need to overcome your natural tendency to pick every note. IMHO violin players would find the transition to the steel guitar easier than most. About a year ago, I convinced my instructor to start teaching me violin. The first lesson was obviously how to hold the violin and bow and how to draw the bow across the strings both downward and upward with the proper rotation of the bow. I went  home and practiced. A few times during practice I would achieve the classic screech of all beginners. By the time I went back to my next lesson and demonstrated to my instructor the lesson I had learned, I was able to go through the lesson without the infamous screech. I then asked my instructor if the infamous screech was urban legend or just blown out of proportion. He laughed and said no it is very common. Of course that made me feel good about what I had learned but led to my next question. Why am I not having the same problem. The answer was that I had been playing the steel guitar for two years and the bar is to the steel guitar what the bow is to the violin. You have the relationship intuitively and it is easier. I thought wow, I do not consider myself a gifted musician by any stretch of the imagination yet I am able to accomplish something so simple in a very short time. Just think what an experienced violin player could accomplish coming to the steel guitar. My instructor thought highly enough of my potential or dedication or both that he sold me one of his violins. It is a Hoff circa 1890 to early 1900's. A previous owner had taken the finish off the violin and it looked awful. Yet when my instructor played it the sound was beautiful. I took the violin to Bischofberger in Seattle WA bviolins.com and met Kenny who told me he could do the work and it would take 6 months or so. I agreed and 8 months later it was done. In the mean time, I was not going to wait that long so I went to Ted Brown Music Co http://www.tedbrownmusic.com/ in Tacoma and bought a violin and two new cases. Now, I was taking steel guitar lessons and violin lessons 3 times a week. By the time, I could play twinkle twinkle little star on the violin, it became very clear to me I would not be able to keep this pace up of lessons and the time to practice and maintain normal life duties and responsibilities. Sadly, I decided to postpone my violin lessons for now and pick it up later. The reason I include this little story is I am beginning to get the cravings to start with the violin again. If I do, I do not think I will try and be as aggressive with it as I was before. The big advantage to learning the violin for me was it was training my ear. Also, I think this is a nice match between instruments and players of either instrument would benefit learning the other.

Here are some pics of both violins.

Hopf violin Refinished!

The Hopf Mark

My other violin

Back to the steel guitar and my current lessons. One of the techniques I am starting to learn bar shivers. Bar shivers is where you pick a note, let it ring and as you slide down to your next fret, vigorously over emphasize a vibrato as you slide down. The difference between vibrato and shivers is the range of movement used to achieve the effect. Many steel players use shivers like vibrato and overuse it.

Well thats it for now. Today is Sunday 27 JAN 2013 and I have a lesson today. I will write another post this evening about my lesson. I am going to try and keep up my posts 3 times a week to match my lesson schedule otherwise I will forget details to include in my posts.