Following the ears or the hands

[Curt Trisko]

If you are like me, when you play a complicated phrase or series of phrases on steel, and then listen back to yourself later, you'll visualize your hands and feet/knees, your positions, and your technique in your head. That visualizing is a key part of learning, but I think it's starting to hold me back too.

The reason for that is that when I'm focusing so much on my hands, I'm focusing less on my ears. I'm not talking about pitch and timing. Instead, I'm talking about the overall sound profile that is being created. In other words, losing perspective on what the audience actually hears and experiences. For example, your reverb, delay, and distortion can create excellent musical opportunities that can go unnoticed if you think too much about the nuts and bolts of our playing. Having an awareness of the sound created by the way you slide, subtleties in how you work the volume pedal, how hard you pick a particular string, etc... these can all take your playing to a higher level.

Will I automatically become more focused on hearing those musical 'opportunities' and less focused on visualizing my physical technique the more proficient I become?

[Ian Rae]

Yes.

[Gene Tani]

Ian said it all

Except recording yourself whatever stage you're at allows you to fine tune the instruments tone, your phrasing, while also minimizing pick pedal and bar noise etc

[Curt Trisko]

And sometimes I'll find that I like phrasing a part in a certain way not so much because it sounds the best, but because it feels the best to play - such as it being ergonomically interesting or being something tricky that I'm good at.

[Tony Prior]

interesting question, one I have never even considered or thought about. I would also say YES

Its like driving a manual tranny car, we don't think about the gas pedal, the clutch , the shifter or the steering wheel, somehow we just do it. And some smoke a cigarette or talk on the phone at the same time ! Oh yeah we are looking out the windows, the windshield and reading street signs and talking with passengers ,analyzing traffic, thinking of the work day, or the gig, etc...all at the same time ! Oh yeah, and eating a Burger too. And somehow we end up where we are wanting to go ! ( most times)

[Donny Hinson]

I focus on the music, the sound I'm hearing...and want to hear. I'm not even thinking about all the little details of pedals and levers, strings and frets, fingers and volume pedal. All that is reflex, as is most of my thought processes. If you're always thinking "slide the bar to the 3rd fret, pick the thumb and first finger on strings 3 and 5, add the middle finger on 4, press A&B, pick the thumb and second finger on strings 2&6, release B, and then slide up 2 frets and pick etc., etc., that "serial-type" of thinking will slow you down tremendously. It all has to be (or eventually get to be) automatic. I hear the sounds I want in my head, and then it all "just happens". The fingers, knees, feet and mind just do it. If I had to think about every aspect of what my body is doing (feet, knees, fingers, bar, frets, and strings) to play this thing, I'd still be well below the Jerry Garcia level of playing.

Maybe I'm alone in this?

[Kevin Fix]

I agree with you Donny. The hands, knees and feet are all reflex now after years of playing. To me it is what I hear. Embellish may be a good definition. Putting fill where it needs to be or backing a singer to make them shine.

[Larry Dering]

As above, I depend on my hearing and reflexes to take over when playing. My gigs are often unrehearsed and I have to fit in with the group. Just lots of seat time and doing what comes naturally is my attempt to make it work for the job. I don't stress too much on what to play. Simple seems to work well.

[Fred Treece]

Hearing the music you want play in your head is an important aspect of creating it on your instrument. But technique and creativity feed off each other, so your hands and feet can also do things to jump start the ideas in your head.

[Bill C. Buntin]

Donny, you are not alone. What you describe is accurate. Reece Anderson taught me from day one to develop the mechanics to second nature by repetition, muscle memory, essential instincts. Like driving. Second nature. From there you are open to enjoy playing. I will never forget him saying, bill don’t look at your right hand! Don’t look at your feet. Keep focused on the bar hand. Stay ahead of the changes, in your mind. Like playing chess. He was right. One day all of it sort of clicked.

Great topic.

Bill

[Pete Bailey]

Stay ahead of the changes

So true!

If I'm not struggling to process whatever is coming next, the rest of my playing improves noticeably.

All the seat time and mechanical practice adds value of course but being able to reliably "pre-load" the next bar or two in my mind always yields the most pleasantly positive results.

[Rick Myrland]

So true!

If I'm not struggling to process whatever is coming next, the rest of my playing improves noticeably.

All the seat time and mechanical practice adds value of course but being able to reliably "pre-load" the next bar or two in my mind always yields the most pleasantly positive results.

This is actually quite profound, at a time when I needed to read it the most. I just got back into a band setting after some years staying in the bedroom and been freaking out because I constantly feel like I'm trying to keep up with the changes--but of course never am, and the more I focus the further behind I fall, and I then change my focus to technical aspects, which does no good. This is exacerbated by playing with guys who've played together for some time and they just know where they're going, so they wing it. We have rehearsal tonight, so today I went through and printed almost all of the 25 songs they threw at me so I can see the changes coming, and once I've been through them a few times I'll know what I want to do for each, but up to now it's been (or at least I feel it's been) a disaster. Thanks for saying what I need to hear.

[Lane Gray]

I focus on the feet and hands until I have internalized the passage. Once I don't have to think about how to hit the notes, I can think about how to play the music that the notes contain.
You can't put your heart in it when your head is in control.
I can play my old stuff with feeling, but not so much the new stuff. I try to make the new stuff into old stuff as quickly as possible.

[Bob Hoffnar]

If my hands are leading the way and not my ears I’m playing Pedalsteel but not playing music.

A few things I do to make sure I’m playing music are:

Practice singing a short phrase and then playing it on the steel. Playing only what I have sung. Then onstage I try to play what I hear in my head. If I don’t hear something to play then I don’t play. Unless I need to. Then I play some lick I know or fumble through.

Onstage I play at 50 percent of my perceived ability. That leaves me enough wiggle room
to focus on phrasing and intonation.

Practice along with drones and a metronome set super slow. I will play whole notes at 60bpm until I can feel it and get it just right. Then I play slow quintuplets until they are even.

It is so easy to forget about the music part

[Bill C. Buntin]

Hey Lane! Good to see you post again!

Bill

[Michael Sawyer]

No matter if it's a 6 string,pedal ,or lap steel- if I start thinking, I'm done.
My set up and playing is elementary.
My ears have to take my hands where they're supposed to be.
And I'm ok knowing I would not impress most of yall with my playing- however I'm a firm believer in playing in live situations with other musicians as much as possible..i have never had enough sense to be intimidated by it,and it's the only way I get better,and will do it long as I can.

[Lee Baucum]

interesting question, one I have never even considered or thought about. I would also say YES

Its like driving a manual tranny car, we don't think about the gas pedal, the clutch , the shifter or the steering wheel, somehow we just do it. And some smoke a cigarette or talk on the phone at the same time ! Oh yeah we are looking out the windows, the windshield and reading street signs and talking with passengers ,analyzing traffic, thinking of the work day, or the gig, etc...all at the same time ! Oh yeah, and eating a Burger too. And somehow we end up where we are wanting to go ! ( most times)

You left out a few things, such as reading/sending text messages, checking Facebook, reading/sending email...

I see way too much of that these days.

[Bill C. Buntin]

Lee, you forgot “putting on makeup”😂 I see that every day in Dallas on the freeways.

Bill

[Ian Rae]

Hi Lane, good to have you back!

A common thread here seems to be anticipation - whoever mentioned chess had it right. I can't decide how to play the next chord until I know the one after that! I don't think there's another instrument that's quite so tactical.

[Jack Hanson]

For me, it's a combo platter. I use the eyes to get in the ballpark, and the ears as the final arbitrator.