The British Steelies Society

I'm at the beginning of my lap steel journey. I have good ears and have settled on A6 as my tuning for now but have been struggling with finger picks, like everyone does at the beginning. So much so I just spent £30 on a bunch to help find the "right" ones and then crack on...lol .

After searching quite a bit on here, the US forum, and for vids, I haven't found anything really helpful and up close about right hand position. I probably haven't searched long enough and am now being lazy and impatient. I have sausage fingers and can't quite get my right hand in what feels like the correct placement, and then get my picks on the strings where they work well. Thumb pick feels the hardest as does the relationship between the index and middle finger. I have good dexterity in the right hand as I've played electric and double bass and some piano for 35 years. I appreciate that technique can be unique as per one's physiology but there must be some gerneral rules.

Could anyone please point me in the correct direction for more close up instruction, albeit DVD, video etc...? I don't even mind paying for one-on-one tuition around Yorkshire or by skype. I'd like to know about or see how you shape the finger picks with pliers so they fit snug but don't hurt, like everyone mentions about Jeff Newman and his advice, and what good placement looks like in motion.

Many thanks in advance and apologies if I just didn't search well.

Hi Tom,
Search on YouTube, there are lots of clips to choose from.
Good luck,
Keith.

Hi Tom. Our Baz does Skype help and his info is first class... I don't bend my picks to funny shapes just buy fairly heavy ones .25 and use them as they come out of the box.... but that's just me passing on what Gordon Huntley told me....

Try this site, Tom

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

This guy has incredible right hand facility and the lessons for both lap & pedal are excellent. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help. I did have a rummage around youtube but I guess my search criteria wasn't very good.

I'm waiting for the box of picks to arrive so I'll see how I get on just using them as is John.

That site looks great Danny, thanks for that.

I'm an advocate of getting stuck in and not getting to0 hung up with things, but I think I need a bit more knowledge to get going.