The British Steelies Society

Hi there everyone, it's been a while. Hope you've all been keeping well.


I'm looking for some advice on learning material. Isolation has given me the opportunity to bust out my six string lap steel guitar again. I put it down because I got frustrated with not being able to find any good theoretical books on how to play the instrument. I got 'The Art Of Hawaiian Steel Guitar', but found it hard to follow without a basic understanding of the instrument. I like all styles, so would be open to learning country slide as well as Hawaiian style.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated, whether they be video, websites or books I can buy during this time.

Thanks

Pete

PM sent.

Doug Beaumier produces great books with well known tunes and tunings that are easy to follow. They are all playable with the same set of strings in order to avoid added expense and having to restring your guitar.
They come with printed Tabs, a CD which contains the backing tracks and Doug’s original tracks to find out where you’re going wrong !!!
They’re not cheap when you add the postage to UK, but if you know anyone visiting the US, you could order to an address for them to collect for you.
Andy Volk’s books are good, with good “off the wall” jazzy arrangements, but his backing tracks have to be downloaded separately and his original tracks are all midi. Not acceptable to my ears!
Also, Lessons with Troy gets good feedback on the US Forum, although I haven’t tried any myself.
So, I have to recommend Doug Beaumier.




Good luck
Keith.

Last time I saw anything about lessons with troy, Basil H gave him a big thumbs down for bad tone poor placement of the bar, bad or in the wrong place glissando etc. Another couple of books to add to Keith's info:
Beebop lap steel by Mike Neer.
Four Star Lap Steel Folio by Roy Thomson.
Lap Steel Guitar by Hal Leonard Publishing.
Fretboard Roadmaps for Dobro.
Cindy Cashdollar does a two part lesson series which is for C6th tuning It's online but you can download PDF's of her course.
Last and not least Don Helms Steel Guitar Song Book for Non pedal steel.

Apart from that most of the guy's and gal's on this site are very helpful (at times) but there is enough knowledge base out there to help all of us.

Pete,
my frustration has always been not being able to hook up with anyone to learn/play with.
I have been a "bedroom" player for several years now and this and the Dobro are my only musical experience and self teaching.
I live in Banstead, so if you feel like getting together when all the Covid dust settles, drop me a pm.
I have the Doug Beaumier books and they have been my salvation.
Regards,
Dave.

For a beginner ,You tube can be useful. You can also have a look nationalguitaracdeny.com It is a fee paying course, but it has a free introduction

I've just decided to get rid of my collection this morning. Anything here of interest to you?

I had a saved search on Ebay for the Jerry Byrd course book for over a year. I finally scored one a few months ago and it is an absolute game changer. I'm working my way through it, then I'll be going back to C6th on the Fender Deluxe 8. Find a copy of Jerry's book ASAP.

I got bogged down in Troy Brenningmeyer's lessons and the steel went under my bed for a few months. Jerry has me playing every day.

Mel Bay Basic C6 nonpedal lap steel method by DeWitt Scott. Available through Amazon or was. Free CD with it.

Hi
I am a lapsteel newbie who is also knocking on a bit. In order to learn the instrument after some investigation I ended up here www.joedocmusic.com This is C6 tuning and you get two DVD's an Ebook in various formats at a fairly reasonable price. I am enjoying the lessons and making progress. Worth checking out the site to make your own mind up.
Regards
Terry (alias Huey)