Advice on tunings & tuition for a newbie

[Bellsie]

Hi - I am brand new to the lap steel. I have just bought a cheap one at auctiom to see if I can make anything of it. I am a multi-instrumentalist and have been playing guitar for a long time so have a pretty good understanding of chords / harmonic theory etc.

I have tuned the guitar to open D. I am aiming to be able to play some blues and maybe sit in with Bluegrass/ Americana sessions. I’m not sure if the open D is the best option but I don’t want to go down the C6 route as Western Swing is not for me. I would also like a bit of advice on a tuition book. I live in the Scottish Highlands and the music shop in Inverness doesn’t have any lap steel tuition books. There seems to be only one other forum member in Scotland (100 miles away in Glasgow) but he is a pedal steel man. There are plenty of tuition books for sale online but obviously it would be a lottery as to whether one I might buy would be any use to me, so if you have any recommendations that would be greatly appreciated. Also any online lessons that you would recommend.

Thanks in advance, Graham

[Alan Thompson]

Hi Graham, if you haven't already found him - Lessons with Troy on YT is a good place to start https://www.youtube.com/@LessonsWithTroy. Like you I came from guitar and found this helpful when starting out!

Cheers, Alan