Winnie did an EXCEPTIONAL job of presenting various ideas of music theory and explaining them in simple terms. Things like the Circle of 5ths, tetrachords, etc. Of course, being a pedal steel book, Winnie only took the theory so far. My question now....what is the BEST resource to continue on with Winnie's method of presenting this stuff? I know there are a lot of music theory books out there, but most of the ones I have seen at the bookstore and library are a few notches ahead of where I am at (and the "Dummy" books do not come near Winnie's method of explanation....).

Were any of you in this boat and, if so, can you offer a good resource for me to follow?

Thanks!

Scotty's "Anthology of Pedal Steel Guitar" is good.

There is also Scotty's "Deluxe Pedal Steel Guitar Method" book/CD set. (available from b0b.. click link at bottom of this page and go to "Instruction").

Buy Bobbe Seymour's "Masters" CD and corresponding Tab Book and get ready for a wild ride...

Of course be sure to shop at b0b's window panes first.

[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 28 December 2005 at 07:03 AM.]

Not pedal steel instruction courses.

Thanks,

Theory is abstract, and you need to make the sounds real to understand and use them. The pedal steel is a very challenging instrument which does not reveal, in an obvious way, the workings of theory, UNLESS you already know what to look for.

Piano will give you the most flexible view of music theory (guitar isn't bad either- I graduated from Berklee in 1980 with zero piano experience, but I learned to arrange for large ensembles, etc. by understanding chord construction and voicing, etc. Lots of ear training too). You may find the concepts of chord construction and inversion on pedal steel more easily understood if you can "see" it in notation and/or on the piano, and then sit down and apply the concept to the steel.

I have tons of steel instruction, and almost no one uses standard notation, and there is very little theory ever presented- it is almost all mechanics, "do this here and then do this". The mechanics are fine, you need to know them, but if you are curious about theory, you are probably like me-it drives me crazy to not know what I'm doing in terms of "what is this against the chord?". It makes "playing from tab" just the starting point of figuring out what the hell is going on, musically, so then the IDEAS can be applied to other situations, in other keys and tempos etc. and I'm not just reciting licks.

Lots of guys on the Forum will chime in and say forget all that stuff and just play. Different strokes, etc. The fact is that many players can hear what they want to happen, and make it happen, but can't explain it in musical terms, as they just didn't learn that way. I don't think one way is better than the other, for everyone- whatever floats your boat!!!

I'd suggest finding a good private teacher to work with- it can be pretty confounding, especially in the beginning, without someone to help decode the lingo. Also, the classical folks tend to use a lot of obscure terminology, where as the jazz guys will call the 3rd of a chord the 3rd, rather than "a 6/3 inversion" or whatever the hell the conservatory calls it

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[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 December 2005 at 08:29 AM.]

I do have some basic knowledge of music theory....I can read music (but I'm slow), I understand most chords and their notation (major = I, III, V) and some chord progressions (basic = I, IV, V).

I'm looking to get a better understanding of the whole "Circle of Fifths," determining when and where 7th, 6th, 13th, etc. chords could and/or should be used, get a better understanding of minors in relation to majors (which, I guess, means fully learning the notes in each key and the chords in each key...if that even makes sense!!).

Like I said, Winnie touched on many of this, but it was a primer. Certainly, I can see when I am playing a progression that "oh! I am playing a F7 right now and resolving into an C while everyone else is playing a C major....that sounds nice." Now I want to understand WHY it sounds nice. I believe knowing this stuff would help improve my playing quite a bit....

Sooo....any books that any of you have used that would be a good progression from the basic theory Winnie presented?

Joe

The printed material that I have found most useful after the Winston and Scotty books are 'E9th Chord Directory' by Jeff Newman - how to form and where to use various chords,

and

I'm working away on my book, the toughest part is making it comprehensive enough to cover what we really need and use on sessions and gigs, and yet not making it too daunting for the theory beginners who might need it most. Tricky!

Something about the way he explained it in that book made it easily understandable and easy to visualize...unlike all that conservatory babble i got from my previous attempts to learn theory.

I've also written a steel guitar supplememnt with tabbed out examples from the book and an explanation of how the things in the book r3elate to the E9 pedals.

quote:

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. Mike P. has written ...a pedal steel music theory book

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Well, yes and no. I orininally wrote a series of articles for SGW, then consolidated them all into a book on theory for steel, but then I re-wrote the book to be about music theory in general as it applies to all instruments. This is the book that is published by Mel Bay. The only reference it contains to the steel guitar is in the "about the author" section.

I subsequently took all the material that was in the articles and the steel version of the book, and re-wrote them into a steel guitar supplement to the Mel Bay book. This is of course what I'm offering for free.

Because the published book is NOT instrument specific, it appeals to players of many different instruments, and has outsold many of Mel Bay's other books that teach just one. It remains one of that company's better sellers.

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"Never underestimate the value of eccentrics and Lunatics" -Lional Luthor (Smallville)

[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 01 January 2006 at 06:32 PM.]