The British Steelies Society

Not wishing to teach my "grannie how to suck eggs" I thought it best to elaborate on a learning method used by Hawaiian players I first met when I became interested in steel guitar. Although it mainly applies to non pedal steel it can also be used on pedal steel.
It consists of making a cardboard chart or "board" with fret positions and notes on it, slipped under the strings to show you where the notes are, this helps to gain knowledge of the fretboard and learn new tunes as you can see where to get chords and then figure out how to move between them.
Once this is learned the "board" is removed and memory takes over ( muscle or brain the choice is yours )
Lord Donald thought it a good idea in my last post so I will add pictures to show what I am talking about, besides a picture's worth a thousand words
I hope this helps someone, as it's helped me to understand different tunings on non pedal steel and you can see at a glance the relationship between them, the cereal packet I used has provided the best cardboard yet, with the usual disclaimer on the product contained within and I must add, no guitars were damaged in the making of this post
P. S.
Don't use a razor blade when cutting cardboard on the worktop as it leaves nasty marks

Give that man a Blue Peter badge!
Here's one I made earlier.....

Thanks for the badge Calum but I'd rather have this type of blue hat, to help me when I'm trying to play like the big E
P. S.
Did I ever tell you about my colour blindness problem

Robert, I am here to inject a sombre and serious comment, as requested
The idea of the 'roadmap' for a lap steel is brilliant - and actually, when I first got my lap steel some 18 years ago now, it already had a series of stickers on it to guide the player toward playing the right notes at the right time!
As a guitar player predominantly, I tend to think of chords and inversions as I would play them on 6-string, then try to transpose that to steel, so the 'map' is very easy to implement, but with pedals and knee levers it all starts to get a bit tricky. Although I suppose with some careful consideration I could probably get my brain to swap bar slants with pedal and knee movement... and possibly bowel movement. Oh no, there we go - the inevitable return to toilet humour! 5 lines of 'serious' talk before I did though, which I think may be a personal best

I recall someone mentioning an Excel spreadsheet that shows you all the notes on a pedal steel and how they change with the copedent, which I guess could be useful if one had a computer next to the steel. I may make myself a board/map for the back neck on my D10, come to think of it, as I struggle enough playing that without pedals. Which is odd, as I never used to get so flustered with a 6-string C6 lap steel, and those strings are still present on my current guitar!

But to land the plane on this thought, a board with note names is (to me, at least) a lot more useful than any computerised thingy as most of my playing is done without plugging anything in at the moment. Being able to sit down for 5 minutes and still learn something is quite an appealing prospect just now.

Do you know if any cereal manufacturers do a Sho-Bud sized box?

Sid
As this post was intended to encourage a serious discussion about steel guitar, it should not have been used to promote badges, bowler hats,cereal packets or any other trivia.
I am guilty of mentioning the bowler hat as my preference would be for the wearing of a hat, rather than having a blue peter badge for craft work and a vivid imagination, stuck somewhere on my personage.
I'm sure I could convince my fertile mind that anything would be an aid in the task of learning to play the plank in a proper manner.
The use of a cereal packet has become a positive source of inspiration to me, I shall try a bit harder and who knows where it may lead.
As long as I get better, hat or no hat, in giving it my all I may even try to emulate Buddy Emmons, but I must remember Jerry Byrd done alright without the hat, and I've never heard it mentioned he had a blue peter badge either.
Now to continue this discussion in a serious manner, any cereal packet will fit when cut wide open, C**n flakes have a brown interior and the one in the photo is white and easier to read.
I hope this answer is satisfactory and the topic can continue on a more serious note, thanks for your interest in this conversation.
Regards
Robert
P. S.
This was just to prove I can " do " serious but humour adds flavour