New here, Saying hi and of course pick blocking adivse.

[Daniel Holden]

Just wanna say hi and a little background.

I'm new to lap steel, but I come from an acoustic/electric guitar background. Of course, ego said No problem, I can travis pick at a pretty crazy speed, I've got good finger control. I get my lap steel, attack 4 strings at once with the dust in the wind picking pattern, it turns into a muddy mess, and I hit a wall. So now I need palm/pick blocking, think I've got my head wrapped(I'm complete trash)around it, but I feel directionless. I'm guessing that since I have a strong theory/music background, I just need to keep grinding out this pick blocking thing that feels completely weird? It feels more weird than Travis picking ever did lol.

For now, I'm just trying to pick block every single string I hit as I noodle or go through a scale. Is this a good thing? I dont want bad habbits, those suck to break. I live pretty close to Steve Cunningham(he's an amazing player), maybe I will pay for a few lessons for a solid foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtI6_wOgvcU This is what I want to play, this slow melodic style. I hate speed nowadays, and that's one thing that drew me to the lap steel. I can play it slower and have it sing out.

My lap steel is one of those SX ash bodies, and lucky for me, it came working perfectly, it's actually GROUNDED PROPERLY lol.....

Edit: a weird thing, I can actually have a fair degree of audiation with a lap steel, I had ZERO on electric guitar, I would literally go blank holding it. Maybe the ringing notes gives my brain time to react?

[J Fletcher]

Well if you haven't already , Google search pick blocking . There's tons of stuff. Personally, I palm block . When i started working on my blocking , I practiced an exercise everyday for a month before I got it . Many years later , still working on blocking . Hope that's useful. Jerry

[Pete Martin]

Search for and download Dave Magram's blocking PDF, it is very complete and terrific!

[Daniel Holden]

Thanks guys.

[Michael Kiese]

For now, I'm just trying to pick block every single string I hit as I noodle or go through a scale. Is this a good thing? I dont want bad habbits, those suck to break. I live pretty close to Steve Cunningham(he's an amazing player), maybe I will pay for a few lessons for a solid foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtI6_wOgvcU This is what I want to play, this slow melodic style. I hate speed nowadays, and that's one thing that drew me to the lap steel. I can play it slower and have it sing out.

Aloha Daniel,

The player in your video is clearly Palm Blocking. The knife of his right hand is right on the saddle when you hear the low muted strings.

Check out a Hawaiian player named Billy Hew Len. He had no left hand, so all of his muting came from palm and pick blocking, and he was very precise. It’s pretty amazing.

Hope that helps!

Enjoy!

[Daniel Holden]

Wow no hand, let me find him. That should be amazing.

[Michael Kiese]

Wow no hand, let me find him. That should be amazing.

Lol. Well let me clarify. He had no fingers on his left hand. haha.

Shop accident in his teenage years.

The Shriners Hospital folks fashioned him a custom glove with a bar attached to it.

Start trying to pick up some of Billy's stuff, and you'll start to appreciate how clean his playing is.

I transcribed some of his stuff by ear. I was getting it. But I was amazed at how much cleaner Billy was than me.

It was like "Geez, Billy! You did this ALL with just palm and pick blocking???"

It gave me a heck of a lot more appreciation for how good Billy was.

[Daniel Holden]

Yeah, i just saw some of his videos. That's still impressive; he really had to focus on that right hand a lot. I'm also looking for a few transcriptions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feVv07CkdWE&t=1s I'm working this out the old-fashioned way, but man a good transcription would be nice. AI is still trash for creating them. This seems like a pretty easy song to learn, of course, making them sound good is another thing, heh.

[Michael Kiese]

Yeah, i just saw some of his videos. That's still impressive; he really had to focus on that right hand a lot. I'm also looking for a few transcriptions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feVv07CkdWE&t=1s I'm working this out the old-fashioned way, but man a good transcription would be nice. AI is still trash for creating them. This seems like a pretty easy song to learn, of course, making them sound good is another thing, heh.

Aloha Daniel,

Nothing beats transcribing by ear. Nothing.

That IS the process itself. Figuring it out by ear yourself is the golden process that develops your ear and your musicianship. The YouTube video makes it even easier because you can SEE his hands. AND you can slow down the video while still retaining pitch. There's no excuse. The work still needs to be done.

The more you transcribe by ear, the better you get at it. There are only so many tunings, and honestly steel guitar music is only in a handful of keys. There IS a limit, and there ARE common keys and tunings.

Having someone else do the transcription for you cheats yourself of the process. You develop reading skills and muscle memory, but your brain doesn't see the big picture.

It's like using GPS to drive everywhere. We all do it, and it's convenient, but we don't learn the relationships of where everything is in relationship to each other. The major work is already done for us, and we're blind to it.

If you want to play a few songs and that's it, then transcriptions will get you there. If that's how you enjoy, then that's 100% valid.

That said, if you want to become a good musician and a good player, you MUST do the work yourself. Music is a language, you either speak it or you don't.

There's a difference between speaking a language fluently with a native speaker and having a conversation, and reading a foreign language from a piece of paper, but having no idea what you're saying.

Depending on your end goal, either paths can be valid.

Main thing is that you enjoy. Just try not to cheat yourself from growing.

Just my 2¢.

Enjoy!