The British Steelies Society

Hiya Folks,
First post so if I break any rules, sorry in advance.

First off I'm 71, so an old F**t, All i know about music theory is "every good boy deserves favour" and "FACE" EGBDF goes on the lines FACE goes between the lines. I don't know where i got that from but I suspect from School which I left when I was 15. I know absolutely nothing else about music except what i like to listen to which is wide and varied BUT I would like to learn how to play things like Apache, Telstar, sleep walk etc anything Shadows or Ventures.I am not really into country, but if it helps me to learn to play Lap Steel then I am adaptable enough to adjust, You never know I might start to like it.

I have bought a Harley Benton Slider II lap steel, It seemed the best of the cheap Lap Steel Guitars and while i was waiting for it to arrive I also bought a Clearwater WEISSENBORN SHAPE LAP STEEL GUITAR in lovely condition(like new) for £100, I have a problem resisting bargains lol. I got new C6 strings for both and I was given a Boss GT-8 years ago which I am running it into my mixer. I will probably consider a proper practise amp when/if I outgrow the GT-8 setup but it seems fine in my little flat, loud enough, but not too loud to disturb neighbours. Oh! i also got a Martisan clip on tuner and slide tone bar and picks etc so I think I am good to go.

So considering the above what tuition do you recomend, I have decided that C6 tuning is best to start with as there is more information and lessons etc available and i want to keep things as simple as possible for the first couple of years. I have looked at some beginner videos but they all seem to assume you have a guitar background or some musical training and I got out of my depth pretty quickly. So can you remember how you started, what actually was the eureka moment for you when you actually started to understand what was happening, What advice can you give a complete noob like me who hasn't got a clue but wants to learn and has plenty of time on his hands, especially with this latest lock down(prison term?) starting this thursday.

Welcome Raymond,
You might find this useful

http://sierrasteels.com/lessons/lap-lessons.html

Great basic grounding. Hope it helps, and good luck with your steel journey.

Joe is not using picks in that clip, the majority of us very strongly recommend picks - usually metal fingerpicks and a plastic thumb-pick. Don't be confused by his 8 string guitar, your 6 string is still ok (I have guitars with 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 strings and use them all, for different music). Have a search for Doug Beamier as well, his videos often show 6 string guitars among his wide repertoire.
And have you got a steel bar? I suggest you get a bullet nose bar (something like a Dunlop 920 is a suitable size, I would think) and not a Stevens or Shubb (shaped) bar, which is more suited to dobro (because of the frequent lifting the bar on that instrument). A bullet nose bar is easier to get certain "slants" - where two or more strings are "fretted" at different frets.
Let's know how you get on?

Tony, Joe does get to the picks as he progresses, these lessons are aimed at the complete beginner. I, personally, found them really useful.

Me Again , Thanks very much for the response and particularly for the Sierrasteels link, It is exactly what I was looking for, not just lessons but exercises to get that muscle memory thing going, I know, being a retired carpenter, that you don't get good at anything until you can do the basics without thinking. So my next question is, should I follow Joes lessons exactly or should I start wearing picks from the beginning, I am assuming that all the picks do is give you a solid, non flexible surface with a more defined sound, I can certainly tell when someone is using picks and its the sound that I am aiming for, or are there techniques specific to picks which would only confuse me in the beginning?

Can you also give me a few lap steel players whose YouTube Videos i should watch and listen to, that might help me understand both the lap steel guitar and its capabilities, and maybe even expand my musical tastes into new directions.

Start with picks from the very beginning, it's very hard to change over once you've got used to wearing none. Picks give you an angle of attack on the strings that fingers don't. Without picks you have to turn your hand slightly more anticlockwise to get the thumb onto the strings, a thumb-pick puts the hand in a better position for "palm blocking" (i.e. cutting off the notes by touching the strings with the back edge of your hand).
There are very few decent players who don't wear picks.
As said before (but spelled wrong ) Doug Beaumier has many YouTube vids available, most are on 6 string guitar also using C6th.
For instance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTI_HK5Rm_Q
Have a look at that and several other videos will pop up in the sidebar.
Cheers, T

Raymond,
Jump to lesson 2 and Joe walks through a great explanation as he dons the picks. Then jump back and get those right hand moves cemented in.
As for players, a search for 'lap steel guitar' on YouTube will throw up allsorts. I love Jerry Byrd, Kayton Roberts, Leon McCaullife and for something different, Larkin Poe. After all, it's only a plank of wood with some wires, it's down to what the player puts in that determines what it can produce. The sky's the limit! Get slidin' and enjoy!

Further Listening. ......
Here's a couple of tracks from Dougie Stevenson, that I had the pleasure of recording for the Gartcosh Meetings CDs. Dougie plays a Duessenberg Fairytale Lap, that has 2 levers for string bending.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hprptgqdna6m63y/05%20Dougie%20Stevenson%20-%20My%20Love%20Is%20Like%20A%20Red%2C%20Red%20Rose.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lg2grhwvh9pig4h/12%20Dougie_In%20The%20Garden.mp3?dl=0

Hope you enjoy, I did hearing them again.

Hey, I remember Dougie from way back, he had (has?) the same Fender/ShoBud D-10 model as mine! Good to hear him again, thanks Danny

He still has it Tony. Dougie was the first person I ever saw playing a lap steel, it was a Hofner Hawaiin Artiste. We were both still in primary school. Young Donny.