posted 19 December 1999 02:48 PM         

Did you take 1 string at a time, learn all the notes all the way up to the 12th fret (horizontally), or did you take 1 fret position at a time and learn all the notes at that fret on each string (vertically), then work your way up the fretboard?

Or did you learn a few key positions, then start interpolating for lesser used keys? Or did you build a mental picture of each note together with where you could find it at each fret/string?

Any helpful pointers would be appreciated, including dead-ends or jumpstarts.

I'm making some progress, but so far the effort is way higher than the payoff.

posted 19 December 1999 10:29 PM         

Also it helps me to sing a simple melody or riff and then look at the neck and "see' how I will play it. Then I play it and find out what I screwed up and what I need to work on.

posted 20 December 1999 11:15 AM         

I think there was an assumption that I was a beginner - I'm not. And that it was open to debate whether or not to learn the notes - it's not either.

I'm trying to take an essential baby step to
opening the door to the next levels, so what I'm looking for is tips from folks that have been down this road before.

Jim, I can pretty well do this, but I want to extending it by developing the mental circuits to go from head lines & chords to the strings & frets.

Bob, I've got ClicTab which also does this; I agree it's really useful.

posted 20 December 1999 11:34 AM         

Well uhh..one more thing:

Reading simple notated music will make you learn where the notes are. Get some beginer classical excersise books. If you use tunes to learn reading its too easy to fall back on whats familiar. Then play the same reading exersises on 3 different places on the neck and you will be as confused as I am. But you will know where all the notes are after a bit of practicing !

Bob

BTW: Learning like this is very difficult for me and is taking a long time. But the rewards are great in that it makes it so I am more able to play all sorts of music on the steel rather than have it be a device to puke up cliches.

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 12-20-99]

posted 21 December 1999 07:42 AM         

The spreadsheet that Bob mentioned generates charts that tell you where all the notes are. I use them as study guides.

This pattern is your guitar in the key of C. You should memorize this pattern!!!! To memorize the notes you need to live with this chart for about a month and then it'll start to become ingrained in your mind.

This chart happen to be the key of C on the E9th tuning. A C6th tuning would generate a different pattern.

For more reading about scales and such check out http://pedalsteel.com/joe/sca/scale1.html

You need to use whatever technique you need to imprint this pattern in your mind. Once you have that then you need to learn how the pedals and knee levers alter that pattern.

posted 21 December 1999 03:28 PM         

Further comments are always welcome.

Warm Seasons Greetings, Bob

posted 21 December 1999 08:29 PM         

Howard always tried to demystify learning music. For me, this book really opened up some doors when I applied it years ago to guitar and bass.

Just instantly knowing the name of the note at any fret on any string (on the 6-string) has been a part of me for so many years that it's hard to imagine not knowing them.

Now after a year or so of working on the steel, I can play a fair bit, but it really started to bug me that the F#, G#, and D# strings weren't automatic. I was always mentally calculating them in relation to the strings I do know perfectly, so have finally started working on 'em.

In a nutshell, Howard's book said that learning the notes on a string is just a mechanical process. It's easier to learn them separately than to be trying to read music, play in rhythm, pick the strings, and find find your place on the fretboard all at the same time. That's too hard. Instead, learn where one note is really well, and that note on that string will never get in the way again.

So, choose a string and mentally play a major scale up and down in each key. Start with just a couple notes and visualize them on the fretboard and on the staff (if you care about that). Know the fret numbers. Slowly work up and down, a couple notes at a time, until you can go up and down the whole fretboard and visualize it in that key.

I'm working on the F# string now. In the key of C, there's no F#, so the scale has to start on the first fret at G. Then A at the 3rd fret, B at the 5th, C at the 6th, all the while noticing how that's similar to an E string (G's at the 3rd, A at the 5th and so on), but different. The idea is to know the F# string cold, so that while I could think "C is at the 6th on an F# string and at the 8th of an E string, two frets apart", I don't have to go through that process.

Instead: where is C on an F# string? Bam: 6th and 18th frets. What note is at the 11th fret? Bam: F. If I had to think "uh, F# is at the 12th freat so one back would be an F" then it's not learned yet.

HR always talked about doing this stuff away from the guitar. It's too boring at te guitar, so do it where things are so boring that this becomes fascinating.

While driving to work, look at car tags: whatever they say is a quiz. BR-549? OK. Where's B on the F# string? What notes are at the 5th, 4th, and 9th frets? Where do you find the 5th, 4th, and 9th (2nd) tones of a B major scale? The only hard part is not missing your exit or driving right through stop signs...

After the key of C is working well on that string, add a sharp to the key signature. Now it's the key of G, the open F# is usable, and you go up and down that way. Then add another sharp, mentally work it that way. Then go through the flats. Or do them in any order, whatever to keep from getting bored.

(The book has you doing a key a day, but I might stay one one for days, or run through a bunch before dopping off to sleep.)

Anyway, pretty soon, that string is learned cold. You can name notes up and down it and read music in any key on it, and it's easy. It's only one string, but it's down COLD. Pretty soon there are other strings to go with it.

Howard Roberts always said that becoming an expert on one little thing was more useful that knowning a little bit about a lot of things. He was talking about the 6-string, but that advice must be even more true on the PSG. There sure are a lot of things on it that I know just a little about, anyway!

posted 22 December 1999 10:54 AM         

Adhering to a logical learning direction will allow the mind to "organize" vast amounts of information very quickly.

The correct organization plan for learning to play is based on total numerical logic which will guarantee quick memorization.

posted 22 December 1999 11:57 AM         

I'm about 2 years into this little PSG project, and I'm basically doing it without the benefit of a teacher because I live in the boonies. I also realize the tremendous amount of information that has to be digested - more like assimilated or absorbed - so for me, I've had to draw mostly from written and video resources to break it down into some kind of 'curriculum'. It's tough going it alone, but it IS getting there, but I do want to reiterate your point that for me, I HAVE to be organized or else I'd be awash in a sea of information.