and it's not about my playing..it's more about where my playing is headed and sharing some of the stuff on my journey with those that may also be on a similar path..

For the past several months I have basically had to change my style( like I had one to begin with ) to meet the demands of the band I play in. Pretty much mostly hot meter with a very hot young Tele player ( Matt Cook) .

Each very early morning I sit for at least 1/2 hour or more and play repetitive phrases as many term Speed Pickin'. I play these over and over and over...I'm not certain you can call mine speed pickin' but I have been adding several phrases to my comfort AUTO PILOT zone which allows me to jump in on tunes with METER and participate in the action. The Auto Pilot zone is the one we have all talked about countless times, it's the stuff that you JUST PLAY without thinking about..this is the stuff that just flows with minimal or zero thought.

Here is a phrase I started working on this past weekend, key of D , simple 1,4,1,5 progression that can be applied in full or in part to pretty much any tune at meter.

5 downloads

1 track with Steel
1 track without steel ( repeats 3 times)
3 pages of tab written out in 4 parts which can be printed.

Phrase and track are played at 85 bpm..I think on the gigs they exceed the Speed Pickin' limit in my view..probably closer to 100 bpm..geesh..

Most of you probably already have this burned into auto-pilot..for those that don't you may find it useful.

Of course many things are redundant on the Steel and we should learn phrases in several positions. Phrase 4, the last one is something I have been fooling with as it involves bringing the last note on the B string( 10) down a whole tone. I have been considering a full step lower with the verticle lever but what the heck, sliding the Bar works too ! This would be pretty much the same phrase which can be done from fret 12 and 10 with the B Pedal but this is a full octave under with nice depth.

Anyway..Merry Christmas..and thanks to all of you for all the stuff I learn't from you all this past year..

It may be a tad on the sloppy side but if I waited 'till I had it down perfecto it would be too late for Christmas.

Oh..PS, if you do this stuff regularly everyday..keep a few .017's and a few .011's handy.

Pick +Pedal/Steel

Pick +Pedal Track

Tab Page 1

Tab page 2

Tab page 3

no returns or complaints accepted or responded to..
t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 21 December 2004 at 04:41 AM.]