Short instructional material reviews.

Travis Bernhardt · Post by **Travis Bernhardt** » 28 Aug 2003 8:28 pm

I originally posted this as a response to a thread on Bobbe's forum. But I feel it's a good subject for here too.

When you go to a website to find out what's on a videotape or in a book, you usually get the most perfunctory and useless description imaginable, i.e. "unlock the secrets of <whatever> technique!" So you search the Forums for hints or scraps of WHAT MIGHTACTUALLY BE ON THE TAPE, or for any value judgement of the contents of some course, and find nothing.

Anyways, here are my two cents--the opinions of a novice steeler:

Part 1 - videos and tapes.

Bruce Bouton's Learn Pedal Steel video.
I actually don't remember much of this video, I took it out of the library a couple of times. He teaches a simple and pretty version of Mansion on the Hill, but the thing that I got out of this that stuck with me was the stuff on harmonized scales. He shows the harmonized major scale on strings five and six, and at a single bar position. Very useful for a beginner, and probably the most logical presentation of this info that I've seen. His section on blocking is pretty clear, too, and he gives a couple of useful exercises for that. He also shows a few fast country licks that I didn't like and so didn't bother to learn. Oh yeah, and he explains volume pedal use pretty well too, I think. The one thing I would say is that it could be better organized. But I think a beginner would do fine with this video. I don't mind the lack of tab or rhythm tracks so much.

Bruce Bouton's E9 Steel Guitar tapes.
I didn't spend too much time with these--he goes through the solos to a bunch of country songs that I frankly didn't much care for. If you did like the songs on these tapes and wanted to learn the steel parts, I don't see a problem with this. He talks you through them note for note. I think these tapes probably would benefit from rhythm tracks, though. I think the only thing I learned from this was another way to get harmonized scales, this time in sixths instead of thirds, using the A pedal and F lever.

Doug Jernigan's Texas Swing video w/ tab.
Very short. Four songs, a couple of licks, not too much detail. I would have liked for this course to be much more in depth and to have included at least some rudimentary material on soloing in the swing style. He kind of just says, "well, you'll probably use this position a lot in swing playing" and leaves it at that. Actually, I liked this tape if only because one of the songs is "Undecided," which is a favorite of mine (it also has Deep Water, Rose in San Antone and one other I can't recall). There's no rhythm track but I made a couple at different speeds in BIAB so that's really not an issue for me. If you like the songs and have BIAB this tape could be good, just get it cheap because it's not very long. And, like all Jernigan's stuff, it's very cheaply produced.

Tommy White's E9 video.
I really liked this video. Excellent presentation w/ split screen, Tommy isn't as stiff and stumbling as some others are. Beautiful playing, too. I like the way he refers to frets as the 'A' or 'D' fret instead of the 'fifth' or 'tenth' fret as once you get above the twelfth fret the numbers style can get confusing. He basically just demonstrates licks, and I found these licks to be more interesting than the previous tapes mentioned. Also, his section on rhythm playing is interesting and fun to play. The best part, though, is probably the C6 stuff he plays over the closing credits--very nice. You might learn more from watching this and also the E9 stuff he plays over the intro than you will from the rest of the tape. Worth checking out.

Doug Jernigan's Speed Picking video.
I wasn't very impressed. Not very interesting (your mileage may vary). Search the tab archives at the Steel Guitar Forum and Rebel and Ricky's site and save your money.

Doug Jernigan's E9 Intermediate Part 1 video and tab.
This isn't bad at all. Good songs to learn (Sugarfoot Rag, Doug's Melody, some others), and some decent speed picking stuff that's integrated into the songs. He does give all the chords to the songs in the tab so you could make rhythm tracks with BIAB, which is good. Also he does some more stuff on harmonized scales but I haven't touched it yet. I wish he would get more into the theory, especially when he takes off from the main melody for Sugarfoot Rag--why do the various positions and speed licks he's playing work over these chords? Oh well, NOBODY covers that topic as far as I've seen.

NOTE: If somebody would do a course of breaking down solos to songs with both simple and difficult chord changes in major and minor keys and explain why the different solos work in terms of modes, scales etc. so that you could use that knowledge in different songs and make up your OWN licks, I'd buy it for sure. I mean, learning licks is one thing, but learning how to solo over a chord progression is another... back to the subject.

Doug Beaumier's basic speed picking tape.
Very, very short, but also very to the point. A good, simple intro to speed picking. Very basic and again, could go into more theory but if you were a total beginner it would be just fine. Doug is the most professional and comfortable sounding of all the people I've heard. I'd like to see more of his stuff. Just don't pay too much.

Part 2 - books.

Winnie Winston and Bill Keith's book.
An excellent book which totally deserves its reputation. My opinion is based entirely on the fact that the intermediate tab is excellent. I haven't even read the beginning or end, but I play the version of Danny Boy and Bud's Bounce they give every time I practice. I haven't made rhythm tracks for these songs yet but I will. Worth it for the Danny Boy tab alone.

Jeff Newman's E9 Chord Dictionary.
Kind of interesting, kind of weird. He's got these strange diagrams he uses which are more confusing than anything else. I've only seen the book, I don't know if this comes with a video or something which would explain it better. I do like the fact that he shows how chords can flow together in basic chord progressions. He has charts which show the various ways you can play a I-vi-ii-V7 for example. This was something I was slowly figuring out on my own--because it's essential to know--but it's nice to have it presented in a more comprehensive way. And it's the only place I've seen this info presented (which is odd considering how fundamental it is). So that counts for something. I just don't refer to it that often (maybe I should!).

Scotty's book.
Also good. The first song I ever learned was Wild Mountain Thyme from this book. Lots of good stuff, though, all the basic positions and chords are covered. I like the bulk of the songs better in Winston's book, but this book seems to cover more about the different positions and chords. His Wild Mountain Thyme tab could use a chord chart--not for making backup tracks but just for reference so you can see what chord you're playing.

Joe Wright's Technique Bundle.
Kind of a monster of a book. Lots of exercises. You'll never run out of things to do. Hard to say whether it's actually useful to do these exercises. I suppose in the long run it will be helpful (b0b says they help him), and I do find that doing these exercises tends to lead me towards making up my own licks, which is nice, and no small thing. But as far as pure technique goes, it seems to me that a lot of the time if I'm trying to play a lick from some tab or something, then even though Joe claims all licks are made up of "basic moves", these moves rarely translate directly to the lick I'm trying to learn. So even though I've got my forwards and backwards rolls pretty solid, real licks are more mixed up than that, and I kind of have to learn them from scratch anyways. I suppose his theory is that after enough practice on the various exercises you'll start to develop finger independence and then any lick will come easy--I guess I'm just not there yet...

Also, I wish he included specific pick blocking info in his crossover exercises, if he did this book would really be the complete technique manual for pedal steel. As it is you have to figure out the blocking stuff yourself (or buy his video I guess... $:\$ ). I do use this book a lot, probably more than any other, it's just that it's not a quick fix kind of thing, like learning a song is. I'll tell you whether I think the exercises work in a year or so!

Internet.
There is a TON of good material on the internet. Starting with the Steel Guitar Forum archives, Roy Thompson's excellent tab and audio site, Rebel and Ricky's site, and lots more. I've learned tons from stuff I've printed off the internet, from a whole bunch of sources. You have to do the work of putting it together and finding it but it's worth it. Several pieces I found for free on the internet are part of my practice routine.

Anyways, there are some short reviews of the instructional materials I've seen. If you've got more questions on anything I'll be happy to offer up whatever information I can.

-Travis

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 29 Aug 2003 5:54 am

Travis,

Thanks for the reviews.

To everyone,

This is my general outlook towards learning and teaching music.

When I learned how to play there were NO instruction courses. I was forced to put the needle back on the record until the grooves were worn out to learn anything. IMO I wish students would discipline themselves to learn this way for ten years or so. If they did I believe they would be more advanced than the student who never takes this approach for discovery.

The way I learned forced me to increase memory, My ear became more intense for judging intervals and harmonies, and I learned alot more about how things work because the "learning how its done" part was not already transcribed for me. When I eventually saw the patterns up and down the neck, because of my time consuming hard work, they were already burned into my memory.

I am also a professional student. I buy videos by every known Jazz player that has one available. The same critiquing done here applies to those lessons as well. No tab, sometimes not enough info on theory, sometimes too much. Some greats are better teachers than others, but I learn something from them all. God bless them for a willingness to share their knowledge. So, what I learn in the bigger picture makes all of those videos priceless to me.

As a student I accept that even though someone is teaching me, there are still NO shortcuts available, No quick fixes, ONLY time consuming hard work to be done if I want to play at their level. Becoming an accomplished musician is painfully full of time consuming hard work.

Travis,

From reading all of your reviews I would say the teachers accomplished the objective with you. You learned something from every course. I agree with you that some courses hit the spot for your level of musicianship better than others. That is not to say that in a couple of years from now the OTHER courses can't do the same. Keep on learning from them all. It is the blend of knowledge that will help you find your own way. My only advice to you is going to be hard. Force yourself to learn all of the information taught. According to your reviews you are skimming through these courses for what you like. The teachers are trying to teach from a wider approach. Something you may not like may be the very thing you need to learn.

I have always considered that if I learn one usable thing from a personal lesson that it was a great lesson.

When learning from my Jazz videos depending on my level of comprehension some things might just be going over my head, but a few years down the line after I have placed another brick in my foundation, I go back, a light clicks on and I learn something else from the lesson I thought was less useful.

Paul

[This message was edited by Franklin on 29 August 2003 at 07:04 AM.][This message was edited by Franklin on 29 August 2003 at 07:17 AM.][This message was edited by Franklin on 29 August 2003 at 07:23 AM.][This message was edited by Franklin on 29 August 2003 at 11:21 AM.]

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 29 Aug 2003 6:48 am

Excellent points, Paul!

I was roped into doing some teaching a while back, but became frustrated by the pupils' lack of commitment; they wanted me to dissect specific phrases from recordings and then simply learn them by rote, making no attempt to fathom the theory that was the bedrock of all music. When I would see them a week later, it was clear that very little studying had been done.

Unless one is motivated by that passion, there's little hope for success, in my view.

While I'm prepared to admit that I probably lack the proper temperament for teaching, I do feel that the student should, at the very least, bring unbridled enthusiasm to the project!

Some of the people I learn from are steel players, some of them aren't; whoever they happen to be, they're all better musicians than I. What a joyous gift music is, and how bleak life would be without it....

RR
(I don't think I've put this very well - I'll hit the 'Submit' button anyway!)

Dave Little · Post by **Dave Little** » 29 Aug 2003 7:03 am

Good subject for discussion. I agree with both of the above. I find some courses better than others, but I havn't bought anything yet that didn't help me. Recently I've been working thru a course on jazz guitar. So far, I've found this to be very helpful. There's more of the "why" you're doing something. You don't get pedal steel tab with this kind of course so you have to search for your own positions for scales, licks, arps, etc. When I do it this way, I remember better.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 29 Aug 2003 8:11 am

Folks, we have a world class forum when Franklin takes the time out his busy schedule to advise and answer questions. The steel community is a compassionate community, I think because everyone recognizes the extreme dedication that it takes to learn and play this instrument. It can be very frustrating, especially for a beginner. For my book, licks are not where its at. Teaching materials that are lick oriented fall short of learning to play through chord changes and themes. You can learn all the licks in the world, but if you don't know how to use them through chord changes they are a waste of time. If there is anything that I would fault the video teaching materials it would be the teaching of licks out of context. I learned so much from learning to play complete songs from the Jeff Newman C6th courses. He teaches the steel in context to a complete song and also some theory as he goes along with what you are playing. Licks without song content equals incomplete knowledge. Like learning calculous equations without knowing how to apply them to electronics applications.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 29 Aug 2003 8:55 am

Those of us older than Paul have missed the multitude of instructional material available to the steel players of today. What I do is "bootstrap" and while I admit that it is inadequate I wish that there had been some help when I was learning. Whatever I learned was from recordings that I heard on the radio...and it was inadequate to compete with the great steel players that abound today. You guys who are learning today can benefit from the great players who share their knowledge...I envy you!
www.genejones.com

Jim Eaton · Post by **Jim Eaton** » 29 Aug 2003 9:48 am

I can relate to "put the needle back on the record"!!! I wore out 2 copies of the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo when it came out.
I use to get up early on Sat morning to watch "Town Hall Party" and "hope" to see some shots of the steel players hands to get some idea of how they were getting those sounds! Anyone starting to play today has a big head start with the instructional material out there now.
JE:-)>

Travis Bernhardt · Post by **Travis Bernhardt** » 29 Aug 2003 11:31 am

Interesting replies. Paul, I would agree that the different courses all taught me something. In fact, that's something I discovered when writing out the little reviews. I was sort of surprised to realize that I had learned something from pretty much everything I had seen.

As for learning from records, I agree that this is an excellent way to learn. One thing I've found, though, is that part of what makes it possible for me to transcribe what I'm hearing is that I get used to what the different sounds are that the guitar makes. By learning songs and licks from tab or videos or whatever, I learn the characteristic sounds of different pedal and knee changes. Also, it trains my ear so that I can start to hear what different chord changes sound like. Then, when I sit down with a record, I can figure out what's being played more easily, because I've played it before, or something like it. So I would totally agree with learning from records, but I think that being taught songs and licks (and theory) as well helps speed up the whole learning process by developing your ears. But yes, any learning program for any instrument should include figuring out songs just by listening and playing along (and should probably be weighted more heavily towards this process than towards tab etc.).

As for "picking and choosing" what to learn, that's a tough one. Without a teacher whom I trust to talk to directly, I kind of just have to accept that what I'm being taught in a given course will be useful. It's a judgement call, and sometimes I just don't think that something looks very relevant. I don't really have an answer to that, though.

-Travis

Whip Lashaway · Post by **Whip Lashaway** » 29 Aug 2003 12:25 pm

I agree that all of these videos, books, tabs, etc.. are great for getting started and refresher training. However, one must reach a point where you are doing your own thing. I still buy instructional material from time to time and most of it just sits on a shelf after I've looked through it a time or two. The first couple of years that I played I poured over tons of stuff that I bought. Probably made me a compotant player years ahead of where I'd been otherwise. But, eventually I started applying all the theory and comming up with my own music, rather than copying someone else's music. Not only is it more rewarding to do your own thing, it's more fun to play when you understand what's going on! Has this been anybody else's experience? Just my 2 cents. I guess we all have to do what works for us.
Whip

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Whip Lashaway
Sierra E9/B6 12 string
Sierra E9/B6 14 string
78' Emmons D10 P/P

Tom Callahan · Post by **Tom Callahan** » 29 Aug 2003 3:22 pm

As a "novice" too, I learned very quickly that there was not an instructor within a two hour drive of me. A friend got me a tape in Nashville by a dude called Tim McCasland. He started out by teaching you how to tune the thing and then went into explaing and showing chords. Then he took you to the Harmonized scales. Also included were blocking tips and excercises. Couple of intros and turn a rounds. I liked the tape and learned a lot from it.
It even included a little tab booklet that you could follow along with as the tape played.

William Steward · Post by **William Steward** » 30 Aug 2003 9:57 am

I am grateful for Paul Franklin's response as a both an instrumental master and teacher. The 'transcription' approach has been the stuff that seems to be sticking with me as I continue to learn both piano and steel. I met an 18 year old whiz kid jazz pianist this summer and at this stage of his learning now relies largely on his ears....he even doesn't look at fake book charts to learn new tunes and his arrangements were full of wonderful (intentful) chord substitions voice leading and harmonic ideas. As I stuggle with a new tune on the steel, I may search for tab on it but have started trying it my own way to see if I can find more economical patterns or more pleasing voicings for a phrase. One of the confusing (and exciting) things about steel is the variey of possibilities in playing a voicing on the neck (in comparison to the piano). I have to second Kevin's endorsement of Jeff Newman's C6 videos. Kevin put me on to them this year and I haven't regretted the expense for a minute. They allow you to jump in with both feet to playing swing tunes through a chordal approach. Although there is a lot of theory implied, he doesn't baffle fundamental music-making with music terminology. For example he shows how to use a simple a 'tritone substitution' in a tune without ever referring to it as such. I am grateful for any tip, tab, tape or teacher that can throw anything at this aging brain and have it stick! I am going to try to follow Paul Frankin's advice about not skimming over too many things at once....I have found it is easy to collect too many learning aids and move on to a new lesson before mastering the first. I have also started a written practice journal which was suggested in Rob Ickes dobro learning video - great idea. I think I have enough to keep me going for the next 5 years easily but would still like to hear some more 'reviews' if anyone has found something especially illuminating. This forum is fabulous and my first source of everything - thanks Bob. [This message was edited by William Steward on 30 August 2003 at 11:00 AM.][This message was edited by William Steward on 31 August 2003 at 04:54 AM.]

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 30 Aug 2003 6:17 pm

I appreciate the reviews. I got a Steve Palousek instructional video when I first started because I didn't even know how to tune the darn thing. As with the other instruments I play, I moved on to stealing licks and tunes off of records, tapes and CD's. Like everyone else. What other way is there?

cheers,
Drew

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www.newslinkassociates.com
www.drewhoward.com