My first lesson was in November of 2009 using my Carter. The first lesson was an introduction to the guitar. How to setup the guitar and get it out of the case without killing the guitar or myself. Next was sitting behind the guitar. Using the Jeff Newman approach and center your body behind the 15th fret. This was not comfortable for me and I think if you look at my pics you will see me centered on the 12th fret. Works for me - at least for now. I also learned how to wear the picks and how to bend them properly for a good fit. I also learned the picking patterns strings 3-4-5, 4-5-6, 5-6-8, 6-8-10. My lesson for that night was palm blocking picking 4-5-6 and palm blocking each string. My instructor wanted me picking them slowly and not worry about speed. I needed to develop the muscle memory. I did not bother telling my instructor that this would not be a problem since I am still counting strings to find the 4th string! I went home and practiced trying to pick 4-5-6 palm blocking. I was hitting the wrong string, getting my pick caught in the strings. Sticking with it, I soon was able to pick the right string consistently and palm block.
At my second lesson, my instructor began to teach me Steel Guitar Rag. No pedals or levers to worry about! I learned hammer on and hammer off technique. Hammer on is where you pick an open string and while the string is ringing put the tone bar down on the string. Hammer on is the opposite pick a string with the tone bar on a fret and while the string is ringing lift the tone bar off the string. I also learned how to hold the tone bar when picking a single string so the tone bar is only against the single string being picked.
Over the next several weeks we went through the song from start to finish. I brought my cassette recorder to record each lesson. I still struggled with picking the correct string combinations and getting my picks tangeled with a string I did not want to pick. Right hand position was a problem as it drifted south away from the pickups. Left hand position was a problem too as my precision was not there. When I look at the tone bar, I would think I was on the fret and I would actually be flat. At the lower frets like the third fret, I would need to position the tone bar so I could not see the fret itself and I would physically move my body so I was lined up behind the tone bar so I could see if I was on the fret or not. Once I was on the fret, I would pick the chord repeatedly and try to memorize the pitch. The higher the fret the more pronounced the illusion of where the tone bar appeared to be versus where it actually was.
After I learned the mechanics of Steel Guitar Rag, my instructor started teaching me Blue Hawaii. At this point in my education I did not realize how badly I was playing Steel Guitar Rag and this would not become evident for about a year and I will come back to this in another post. Blue Hawaii was the first song where I would be using pedals and levers in a song. Albeit A and B pedals and the F and D levers. How these pedals and levers work is not magical. The pedals and levers are spring loaded. Press down on a pedal and it changes the pitch of the string. Release the pedal and the string returns to the original pitch. Same thing occurs with the levers. Your left leg is positioned between the F and D levers. I have a Day setup so My second pedal is B and the D lever is the left most lever. This means B and D are lined up on the same side of your leg. Likewise the A and F are lined up on the right side of your leg. Makes it easy to press B pedal and D lever or A and F. I had to learn how to use the pedals and levers properly and not slam into them.
Additionally I had to continue to focus on precision of my tone bar, left hand position as I was still drifting south off the pickups. After I learned the mechanics of the song my instructor focused on developing timing, getting into the "groove". He had me use a metronome. This was the most frustrating things for me to learn. I was having a difficult enough time focusing on right hand technique, left hand technique, precision, remembering the song and now he wanted me to play to the metronome! To many of you it may seem a simple matter, but to me I struggled with timing and still do to a degree. Eventually I started getting the concept down. With practice, as with everything else, it gets easier in time.
The next song I was to learn was Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny. The first technique I had to learn was finger harmonics. For those of you who do not know this technique it goes as follows:
1. Place your tone bar on a fret. For our purposes lets use the 3rd fret.
2. Now you get to hold your picking hand in a weird contorted position. With your picking hand in front of you, hold your thumb in the 9 o'clock position with your forearm at a 30 degree (approximately) to your body. Your ring finger will be at the 9 o'clock position. Your middle finger will be pointing straight back at your body. The proper position will have the middle finger parallel the fret markers.
3. With tone bar at the 3rd fret, we need to pick one octave up at the 15th fret. Pick the 4th string with thumb and middle finger at the same time. The image below shows me at the 17th fret.
Do not be surprised if you get a "thunk" sound the first few times you do this. What you will need to do is ensure your tone bar is properly placed. Just because you are exactly on the 3rd fret does not ensure a harmonic. If you are tuned slightly flat or sharp you will need to adjust your placement of the tone bar. Also, in conjunction with tone bar placement, you may pick slightly flat or sharp around the 15th fret to find the "sweet spot" of your guitar. Some guitars are more forgiving than others.
Tip:
After you get the basic technique down for harmonics, here is an exercise that helped me. Place your tone bar at the 5th fret. Pick your harmonics at the 15th fret, picking all ten strings. I start at the 10th string and work my way up to the 1st string and then back down. Now, leaving your tone bar at the 5th fret, move down to the 12th fret and pick the harmonic there repeating the 10 string process. Do you notice it is a little harder to hit the harmonic? Once you get this down, repeat the process leaving the tone bar at the 5th fret and move your picking hand to the 10th fret and pick all ten strings up and down. Finally, leaving the tone bar at the 5th fret, move your picking hand to the 8th fret and pick the harmonic on all 10 strings up and back down. I promise you that there is a harmonic at each of these positions. What this exercise will do for you is improve your precision. It is very difficult to get the harmonic at the 8th fret. Once you get it down, then your harmonic at the 15th fret will be almost effortless. This is what I mean by paying attention to details. This will take hours upon hours of practice. I do not know why, I picked this harmonics up pretty quickly. Maybe you will and maybe you will struggle with it. If you do this exercise, I would like to hear from you on your success or frustration with it.
Once I had the harmonics down, I learned the entire song sleepwalk using the harmonic pick and slide. Maintaining sustain during a slide with a harmonic is difficult in my opinion. At first it was dying before I could complete my slide. Again, I practiced this one move hour upon hour until I started getting it. To this day two years later, I still practice harmonics daily.
In my next post, I will cover my next group of songs I learned "The Old Rugged Cross", "Amazing Grace" and "We Could". I will also discuss a personal tragedy for me and how it impacted me musically.
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