Philcguitars
New member
So,
I thought I'd share how I've been learning various Lap steel solos, and also making sure that I can find chords for songs too. I tried Lap steel because I just couldn't get comfortable with bottle neck.
Now, I know that it should be like playing guitar, but a couple of factors work to confuse your mind in my experience.
1st. You're looking at the fret board [frets or not] face down, not as normal.
2nd The note is where the fret normally is, not where your fingers normally go.
I picked up and felt comfortable with playing it immediately, and was getting a cool sounding group of screaming cats from first try. However, the biggest problem was running over the final position of a slide because I'd lost track of the normal fret positions.
I had an Idea!
I got some clear plastic sheet [the type you use to bind documents]. I cut it to the shape of the fret board [took 2 strips taped together] and taped it to the fret board. I'd already put stick on dots on the fret board as there were none.
So, now I found the route note of the solo I wanted to learn on EVERY string. I marked this with a BLUE dot. Then I found all the notes used in the solo and marked them GREEN.
The results are shown in the pics. All I can say is it works. I now learn every 'steel' solo this way and then work to get rid of my need/dependence on these 'plans' until I don't screw up... That often! Practice makes perfect. Thought I'd share.
The Solo, [for those wondering] are the relevent positions on each string for Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". I'm left handed so you may want to/need to flip them! Oh it's a weird tuning but the solo starts in G!
I thought I'd share how I've been learning various Lap steel solos, and also making sure that I can find chords for songs too. I tried Lap steel because I just couldn't get comfortable with bottle neck.
Now, I know that it should be like playing guitar, but a couple of factors work to confuse your mind in my experience.
1st. You're looking at the fret board [frets or not] face down, not as normal.
2nd The note is where the fret normally is, not where your fingers normally go.
I picked up and felt comfortable with playing it immediately, and was getting a cool sounding group of screaming cats from first try. However, the biggest problem was running over the final position of a slide because I'd lost track of the normal fret positions.
I had an Idea!
I got some clear plastic sheet [the type you use to bind documents]. I cut it to the shape of the fret board [took 2 strips taped together] and taped it to the fret board. I'd already put stick on dots on the fret board as there were none.
So, now I found the route note of the solo I wanted to learn on EVERY string. I marked this with a BLUE dot. Then I found all the notes used in the solo and marked them GREEN.
The results are shown in the pics. All I can say is it works. I now learn every 'steel' solo this way and then work to get rid of my need/dependence on these 'plans' until I don't screw up... That often! Practice makes perfect. Thought I'd share.
The Solo, [for those wondering] are the relevent positions on each string for Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". I'm left handed so you may want to/need to flip them! Oh it's a weird tuning but the solo starts in G!
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