In this post I would like to discuss both student responsibilities as well as Instructor responsibilities. Of course, as always this my opinion and solely based on my short time learning the steel since 2009.
Student Responsibility
Most of us learning or wanting to learn the steel guitar either work full time or are students. Unless you are independently wealthy, you need to be able to afford the initial investment required.
As it has been said many times before, regardless of what you learn or study you must set aside time dedicated to your effort. When I was a youngster learning the lap steel, our instructor wanted us to practice 30 minutes a day. His belief was that there was a diminished return on practicing longer. For beginning students especially younger students this is true as they become more easily discouraged because they do not see the immediate benefit of longer practice sessions. Also younger students learn more quickly than their adult counterparts. However, adult students do understand the benefit of longer practice sessions. As adults we have learned about delayed gratification, improved skill by repetition, and patience through life's lessons. Understand your daily life responsibilities, your drive and passion and schedule practice time daily. I would recommend at least one hour a day. Sometimes when I get home after work, I just do not want to practice. Yet I drag my sorry self to my guitar and practice. What I find is that I get in the groove and practicing energizes me. Also the opposite can be true, especially when I have been practicing long sessions over a long period of time. In this case, I either cannot get in the groove or I just cannot get it right. Time for a break! My point is there is nothing wrong with taking a break; just make sure your motivation for not practicing is not laziness.
During your practice sessions start out with picking exercises. An example would be 6th string with thumb, 5th string with 1st finger and 4th string with middle finger blocking each string after picking. Do not worry about speed, rather concern yourself with accuracy an precision. In time speed will come with the accuracy needed. Do this for 5 or 10 minutes and move on to another technique like rolls or harmonics. If you are learning a song then practice the song you are learning. If you get bored or need a break go back to techniques. Always relax and this sounds easier than done. Remember to breathe and don't hold your breath. When I was learning a somewhat difficult picking pattern (for a beginner), my instructor was watching my attempts at mastering the technique. After several attempts he stopped me and told me to take a break. During our break we had the discussion about relaxing and breathing. When the break was over and I attempted the technique I started getting the technique.
Record your practice sessions. When you get discouraged with your progress go back and listen to your recordings when you first started learning. You will be amazed at your progress. This a great confidence builder. Let me share a personal experience with you. The first song I learned was steel Guitar Rag. After I had learned the song, I recorded myself on my cassette recorder. Moving forward over a year, I was organizing my tapes and came upon this recording which I had forgotten about. I chuckled to myself and thought I would play the recording. When I hit the play button I was horrified at what I heard. It was not a song I was hearing! It was a stream of notes being fired off like a machine gun. There was no timing, no rhythm. It was awful. I then realized how far I had come and how far I had to go. I went back to my instructor and explained my discovery and apologized to him for the offense to his ears. My instructor patiently worked with me to get the timing and phrasing of the song down. This single incident changed the approach to learning for me.
When you are not at your guitar you can still practice. First, listen to steel guitar music. In the beginning you will think "I wish I could be good enough to play like that." After a while, you will recognize patterns and techniques and you will say to yourself "I think I can learn to play like that." Then after much practice and learning you will be playing what you thought to be impossible! Some of my favorite artists include Jerry Byrd, Jimmy Day, Lloyd Greem, and Speedy West all of which I have their albums on my iPod. Other albums I listen to include a CMH album Totally Hot Nashville which includes some TV theme songs, La Bamba and others. Another CMH album I like is A Tribute To The Eagles.
Also search Youtube and other sources on the internet for songs, techniques and such that interest you. Bring them to your instructor and he/she may be able to work them in your lessons in a way that benefits you for your skill at the time.
One of the other things I did was to practice forward and backward rolls on a table top. This drove my girlfriend nuts when we are at a restaurant and I am thumping on the table.
In short:
Practice daily
Set a schedule
Practice techniques daily
Record yourself
Breathe
Relax
Listen to Steel Guitar music
Be critical of yourself but do not be harsh. We are our own worst critic.
As always I am open to feed back and your own experiences and advice learning the steel guitar.
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