Steel players - which way do you think?

[shunka]

I'm struggling with a Chandler six-string lap steel. I tend to move more up and down the neck, yet I notice a lot of guys barely move their left (bar)hand. Or play a few notes, move, play a few notes move?Do you look for places where a chord, arpeggio, or run will fall mostly under the bar? Or is it a combination?
Also, should the neck extend off to your left, or is the guitar pretty much balance on each leg?

[DHM]

The amount of bar movement depends on the tuning youre using...a tuning like C6th (CEGACE low to high) or C6th/A7(C#EGACE) has alot more potential for the "park and pick" style than something like open G or E...in the 6th tunings you have a major, a minor, a 6th chord, and a fragment of the IV chord all in one bar position....the C6/A7 has even more..a minor, a 7th, two major chords( the I and the VI), the fragment of IV, and a tritone pair (C# and G) all at the same bar position...you dont get anywhere near that variety in , say dobro G, (GBDGBD, low to high). You can expect alot more bar movement in an open major chord tuning...


Its also a matter of style...Hawaiian style steel tends to move up and down the neck...county -bluegrass style tends to go "across" the fingerboard, rather than up and down the neck...

Youll also want to learn some forward and reverse slants...those also help keep your playing in the pocket...string chokes too...pulling a string behind the bar with your ring or little finger...I havent mastered that...but I saw a dobro player do it...he sounded like he had a pedal steel...

I find it helpful to diagram the neck...locate all the note on the neck...particularly where the roots are in relation to the IV and V chords...and when you figure out your licks try to find a way to play them with minimal bar movement....

I pretty much balance my lapsteels on both legs...whatever is comfortable...and so it wont slip away...I put those ahdesive non skid strips you put on stair treads on the back of one of my steels to keep it from sliding away...

[Marcondo]

DHM gave great advice I can add listen to Jr Brown he uses C6th and does alot of behind the bar stuff.

I find when I have my steel tuned to open E or G I play it like a slide and mostly play dust my broom type songs. When its tuned to C6th I automaticly play more hawaiian and country type stuff.

Steel is fun to play and a never ending learning experience.

[DHM]

Actually Junior uses C13th..BbCEGACEG, C6th with that big b7th on the bottom...low to high on his Guit-steel...its a cool 8 string tuning.... some of his recorded stuff is done on a pedal steel..altho he does have some great lapsteel-nonpedal steel moves...

[shunka]

Thanks guys! That's pretty much what I was hoping to find out. I've noticed that some guys seem yo move very little, and that's what I was curious about. I think CT6/A7 is the way I'll go for now.