Pedal Steel Guitar is a unique instrument that can be used to play any type of music. It is difficult to learn because you have to coordinate the hands, feet and knees. The way most people have learned to play is by playing the same phrase or "lick" over and over until you finally get it correct. That is the hardest way to learn a complex instrument.
Movement is the key to the beginning student getting ahead playing the Pedal Steel Guitar. As you learn to play steel guitar you start to develop more dexterity. Learning to place things in simple movement categories makes it easier to start training your hands. Get your picks on the Thumb, First Finger, Second Finger and place them on the strings. Combinations of movements can be learned and applied to different groups of strings. Movements in all directions, by all the fingers are the key to opening up the senses to create music on the Pedal Steel Guitar. The fingers can develop with drills the necessary coordination to complete the task.
Start simple and expand to make things complicated. Patterns can be learned with the fingers to create the music that you need to play Pedal Steel. Broken down in small pieces and put back together, the hands can develop individuality that makes the picking of the strings in different patterns second nature. Drilling your right hand parts, to play these moves can give you the tools to expand your musical Pedal Steel Guitar horizons. Grouping things together to create more complex movements and patterns can be expanded to all parts of the movement chain.
The first group is the singles movement group. You would play the thumb, first finger and then the second finger four times each. The thumb is where it begins. Each individual right hand body part is developed in turn. The parts can be drilled to create the ability to combine and play but starting in this manner helps to learn small and simple first and then combine things together to make larger patterns.
The next group of moves would be the alternating moves. That would be playing the thumb, then the first finger, then the thumb. You would alternate back and forth between the thumb and first finger. This would be the first alternate move that you would work on, but the key to all of this is learning the singles before you start to combine them into more complex movements.
Continuing the simple alternate group is learning to combine your thumb and second finger. Over and over. Then you would learn to move the first finger and second finger in repeating alternating moves. This will strengthen the muscles that play and give you a solid foundation for moving the opposite movements of the first three basic alternates. You can learn the other three alternates by reading these first three alternates backwards. Thumb/First Finger, Thumb/Second Finger and First Finger/Second Finger. Learn these forwards and backwards and you'll be on your way to those magic hands that play the Pedal Steel Gutiar.
What students need to realize is that starting a picking move with any finger is a NEW move. All this is done without regards to the type of music, type of guitar, tuning of the guitar or any other non movement factor. This is because the tuning can be changed by the tuning keys, the guitar can be bought and sold, and the type of music is irrelevant to the dexterity the hands need to play this most complex instrument.
Joe Wright is a leader of online Pedal Steel Guitar Teacher. This Pedal Steel DVDs technique is unique with One-on-One interactive video conferencing.
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