Hi this is Dave Anderson with online lesson videos. And today we’re going to do a volume one, a complete workout for E9 pedal steel guitar. So let’s get started.
So what we want to do in this video is do some exercises of the neck both in terms of grips and in terms of doing a lot of tuning of arm in our scales. So you can just get more comfortable going from position to position when you’re playing in a key. That way if you’re running through a song especially a quicker song and you don’t exactly know it very well, that muscle memory will sort of take over and you’ll kind of naturally flow right into the next chord. We won’t have to think about stuff too much.
So for starters, let’s start with grips. Now, I’ve got over this in the beginning videos but just to review a little bit. Your grip is going to be the 10th, 8th, and 6th string and you’ll use your thumb, index and middle finger, so that will be one grip, and the 8th, 6th and 5; 5, 4, and 3; 4, 3, and 2. So those grips give you different versions of the same chord and whatever position you are with your left hand.
So what we’re going to do is we’re just going to use the measure now then we’re going to practice [Demonstration]. So I’m working my way up the strings and then next fret and we’re going our way back down. You’re going back up and then back down. I kind of warm up like this usually when I practice. It’s just gets your right hand really use to know when, where to go in terms of playing chorded stuff on this on the strings. So I’m going to start with my metronome. We’re going to start 10, 8, and 6 and we’re just going to work out all the way up to grips; 10, 8, 6; 8, 6, 5; 6, 5, 4; 5, 4, 3, okay; 1, 2, ready, play [Demonstration].
So it started on the 3rd fret and then went all the way to the 15th fret. You can do this exercise going all the way up. You can also work it going all the way back down, which is a little rougher because you don’t really—you’re not able to see your left hand bar quite as much [Demonstration]
Now, we’ll get used to really use it as your grip primarily, and your left hand is just chromatically going back and forth. Another thing you can do with your grips is go through your changes, in which case you can just do a 1, 4, 5 chords. So you would start on your one chord same we’re staying in G and on the open chord. Go on for the grips, start on the 10th, 8th and 6th string, and then you’d switch the chord with A and B down, then move to the five chord, keeping the A and B down on the 5th fret and then go to the 6th fret, 8th left, A pedal left knee lever out. Go on from there up to the 8th fret and back open, the 10th fret and then ending with that A and B down, and what is that doing is that running you through 1, 4, 5, 1, 4, 5, 1. Let’s try that as an exercise.
Start your metronome, three, play [Demonstration]. And again, this is all designed to get you used to really running your right hand, get a real foot when you’re going chromatically you’re going through your changes. And then as you get more comfortable doing your grips back and forth and you can start running through your 1, 4, 5 changes and that’s really going to help you out doing a lot of different songs especially when you’re playing with the band and you don’t necessarily know the song that you’re doing.
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