Hi Martin I'm 75 years old in March,and i started playing the Ukulele during the first lockdown,and picked it up really well. Considering i could only play four chords,i recorded over 100 songs. Since that time up until now,i developed Carpal Tunnel,so i have sold all my Ukes,gutted to say the least. Now that the Carpal Tunnel has subsided,i have taken a keen interest in slide. I have just ordered a Flight Pathfinder Electric Tenor Ukelele (left-handed) which is very hard to find,and i can't wait for it to arrive. I love the idea of the ridged tone bar that sits between your fingers,and the fact that this Flight Ukulele has steel strings is an added bonus to learn slide. Whilst i completely understand that it won't be easy to start off with,i intend to persevere with it. There are some great blues backing tracks on You Tube,my idea is to mess around trying to improvise a rhythm that feels right to me. Once ifind where the chords are,that will be half the battle.....looking forward to it. You are awesome my friend,a really talented musician and singer,keep up the good work. God bless you my friend. Lew. (York)
I was guessing brass was going to be the best for sustain. I didn't even think about a socket, I've got a few of those. I wonder how different strings effect the sustain.
Hi Martin I have been looking at various Lap Steel Guitars,and to find a decent one they are out of my price range,being a 74 year old newbie to the art of Lap Steel. It maybe worth me trying for an Electro/Acoustic Guitar,and raising the nut up i can get from Amazon for about £11. The problem comes not knowing if the right set of strings the Guitar comes with will be suitable for Lap Steel. I would most probably go for C6 tuning for a Country feel,or maybe as i am an absolute beginner,maybe a blues backing track might be better to start with. Also,because i am left-handed,normally on a Ukulele,i would have to change the strings around,but i guess with a Lap Steel,it shouldn't make a difference. Can you let me know my friend,i would appreciate your advice? Lew.
I doubt that a beginner would find this so-called tutorial all that helpfull; Harley mentions the tonal differences and sustain that slides made of different materials will have, but doesn't really talk about the various shapes and forms that slides come in. Most guitarists will have at least a passing familiarity with bottleneck-type slides and the manner in which they are employed on the fretting hand, but Harkey doesn't discuss which styles might be easier for a novice lap-style player beginner to hang onto and feel comfortable with. Pedal steel players typically prefer a rounded-nose, fat "bullet bar" that can be quite slippery. Dobro and lap steel players mostly prefer a bar that is shaped kinda like a piece of railroad track(often referred to as a Stevens bar), because it is easy to hang onto and the squared-off end is handy for hammer-ons and (unique to steel playing) press-down-on a string-and-pull-the bar-towards-you pull-offs (snap-offs?). There are also variants of the Stevens-style bars, with one end upturned like a sled rail (Shubb-Pearce bar), which makes it easy to slide straight ahead into the high strings but which you can also flip around in your hand so the blunt end faces forward if you prefer. Finally, nobody ever mentions that slides made of brass, or chrome plated brass, sound good but are surprisingly soft and will develop grooves from the strings cutting into the slide, at which point you will be unable to get a good clean tone (I once tried a brass alloy slide that was purposefully made with a rough finish and I thought it sounded terrible; slides are supposed to be extremely smooth! ). Glass slides are much harder than most metals and typically last much longer....nowadays you can get slides made of ceramic, or titanium alloys etc, presumably having longer life, but I have never tried any of those....
I doubt that a beginner would find this so-called tutorial all that helpfull; Harley mentions the tonal differences and sustain that slides made of different materials will have, but doesn't really talk about the various shapes and forms that slides come in. Most guitarists will have at least a passing familiarity with bottleneck-type slides and the manner in which they are employed on the fretting hand, but Harkey doesn't discuss which styles might be easier for a novice lap-style player beginner to hang onto and feel comfortable with. Pedal steel players typically prefer a rounded-nose, fat "bullet bar" that can be quite slippery. Dobro and lap steel players mostly prefer a bar that is shaped kinda like a piece of railroad track(often referred to as a Stevens bar), because it is easy to hang onto and the squared-off end is handy for hammer-ons and (unique to steel playing) press-down-on a string-and-pull-the bar-towards-you pull-offs (snap-offs?). There are also variants of the Stevens-style bars, with one end upturned like a sled rail (Shubb-Pearce bar), which makes it easy to slide straight ahead into the high strings but which you can also flip around in your hand so the blunt end faces forward if you prefer. Finally, nobody ever mentions that slides made of brass, or chrome plated brass, sound good but are surprisingly soft and will develop grooves from the strings cutting into the slide, at which point you will be unable to get a good clean tone (I once tried a brass alloy slide that was purposefully made with a rough finish and I thought it sounded terrible; slides are supposed to be extremely smooth! ). Glass slides are much harder than most metals and typically last much longer....nowadays you can get slides made of ceramic, or titanium alloys etc, presumably having longer life, but I have never tried any of those....
Hi Martin
I'm 75 years old in March,and i started playing the Ukulele during the first lockdown,and picked it up really well.
Considering i could only play four chords,i recorded over 100 songs.
Since that time up until now,i developed Carpal Tunnel,so i have sold all my Ukes,gutted to say the least.
Now that the Carpal Tunnel has subsided,i have taken a keen interest in slide.
I have just ordered a Flight Pathfinder Electric Tenor Ukelele (left-handed) which is very hard to find,and i can't wait for it to arrive.
I love the idea of the ridged tone bar that sits between your fingers,and the fact that this Flight Ukulele has steel strings is an added bonus to learn slide.
Whilst i completely understand that it won't be easy to start off with,i intend to persevere with it.
There are some great blues backing tracks on You Tube,my idea is to mess around trying to improvise a rhythm that feels right to me.
Once ifind where the chords are,that will be half the battle.....looking forward to it.
You are awesome my friend,a really talented musician and singer,keep up the good work.
God bless you my friend.
Lew. (York)
He is bloody amazing. What a sound.
I've been experimenting w/ using a Bottle Neck on a Lap Steel Guitar & it does produce a very special sound.
That is a gorgeous lap guitar. What beautiful wood!
Great video; I've been really interested in this style of playing lately and this came at just the right time.
extremely informative and useful tips from you thank you
Sounds really good!
I was guessing brass was going to be the best for sustain. I didn't even think about a socket, I've got a few of those. I wonder how different strings effect the sustain.
Excellent, thanks for the insight !
awesome!
great tips! ty
What tuning is he in?
Great sound man!
Are you using flat wound strings?
Great lesson!!! Thank you very much
Hi Martin
I have been looking at various Lap Steel Guitars,and to find a decent one they are out of my price range,being a 74 year old newbie to the art of Lap Steel.
It maybe worth me trying for an Electro/Acoustic Guitar,and raising the nut up i can get from Amazon for about £11.
The problem comes not knowing if the right set of strings the Guitar comes with will be suitable for Lap Steel.
I would most probably go for C6 tuning for a Country feel,or maybe as i am an absolute beginner,maybe a blues backing track might be better to start with.
Also,because i am left-handed,normally on a Ukulele,i would have to change the strings around,but i guess with a Lap Steel,it shouldn't make a difference.
Can you let me know my friend,i would appreciate your advice?
Lew.
That's one beautiful guitar...who made it???
Great! However would be nice to see him use crushsound ceramic slides ;)
What is that your wearing on your thumb?
Brendan Mather thanks for the info
The particular thumb pick he has on looks like a Fred Kelly thumb pick medium.
Nice Sound!
SOund so crisp
Glass is good for getting that Hindi sound.
it's open D
I doubt that a beginner would find this so-called tutorial all that helpfull; Harley mentions the tonal differences and sustain that slides made of different materials will have, but doesn't really talk about the various shapes and forms that slides come in. Most guitarists will have at least a passing familiarity with bottleneck-type slides and the manner in which they are employed on the fretting hand, but Harkey doesn't discuss which styles might be easier for a novice lap-style player beginner to hang onto and feel comfortable with. Pedal steel players typically prefer a rounded-nose, fat "bullet bar" that can be quite slippery. Dobro and lap steel players mostly prefer a bar that is shaped kinda like a piece of railroad track(often referred to as a Stevens bar), because it is easy to hang onto and the squared-off end is handy for hammer-ons and (unique to steel playing) press-down-on a string-and-pull-the bar-towards-you pull-offs (snap-offs?). There are also variants of the Stevens-style bars, with one end upturned like a sled rail (Shubb-Pearce bar), which makes it easy to slide straight ahead into the high strings but which you can also flip around in your hand so the blunt end faces forward if you prefer. Finally, nobody ever mentions that slides made of brass, or chrome plated brass, sound good but are surprisingly soft and will develop grooves from the strings cutting into the slide, at which point you will be unable to get a good clean tone (I once tried a brass alloy slide that was purposefully made with a rough finish and I thought it sounded terrible; slides are supposed to be extremely smooth! ). Glass slides are much harder than most metals and typically last much longer....nowadays you can get slides made of ceramic, or titanium alloys etc, presumably having longer life, but I have never tried any of those....
Hard to listen to this guy talk. Too many delays in his phrasing. It's like get with it dude!
I doubt that a beginner would find this so-called tutorial all that helpfull; Harley mentions the tonal differences and sustain that slides made of different materials will have, but doesn't really talk about the various shapes and forms that slides come in. Most guitarists will have at least a passing familiarity with bottleneck-type slides and the manner in which they are employed on the fretting hand, but Harkey doesn't discuss which styles might be easier for a novice lap-style player beginner to hang onto and feel comfortable with. Pedal steel players typically prefer a rounded-nose, fat "bullet bar" that can be quite slippery. Dobro and lap steel players mostly prefer a bar that is shaped kinda like a piece of railroad track(often referred to as a Stevens bar), because it is easy to hang onto and the squared-off end is handy for hammer-ons and (unique to steel playing) press-down-on a string-and-pull-the bar-towards-you pull-offs (snap-offs?). There are also variants of the Stevens-style bars, with one end upturned like a sled rail (Shubb-Pearce bar), which makes it easy to slide straight ahead into the high strings but which you can also flip around in your hand so the blunt end faces forward if you prefer. Finally, nobody ever mentions that slides made of brass, or chrome plated brass, sound good but are surprisingly soft and will develop grooves from the strings cutting into the slide, at which point you will be unable to get a good clean tone (I once tried a brass alloy slide that was purposefully made with a rough finish and I thought it sounded terrible; slides are supposed to be extremely smooth! ). Glass slides are much harder than most metals and typically last much longer....nowadays you can get slides made of ceramic, or titanium alloys etc, presumably having longer life, but I have never tried any of those....