DVD-Learn To Play Pedal Steel Guitar

Starring:Bruce Bouton
Studio: Homespun Tapes
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Bruce Bouton starts you off on pedal steel the right way! Working in the E9 tuning, he teaches the steel's "natural" chords; proper use of the bar, foot pedals and knee levers; how to play in all keys; and the essential harmony scales that give the distinctive steel sound. Develop greater right-hand speed and flexibility with Bruce's in-depth discussion of picks and hand positioning, "hand blocking," "pick blocking" and other techniques.

Description

Bruce Bouton starts you off on pedal steel the right way! Working in the E9 tuning, he teaches the steel's "natural" chords; proper use of the bar, foot pedals and knee levers; how to play in all keys; and the essential harmony scales that give the distinctive steel sound. Develop greater right-hand speed and flexibility with Bruce's in-depth discussion of picks and hand positioning, "hand blocking," "pick blocking" and other techniques.

Bruce covers classic licks, intros and endings, plus exercises, major to minor changes, chord inversions, string-lowering licks, unison licks, and lots more!

Customer Reviews:

Great benefit to anyone with a genuine interest in pedal steel........2007-05-11

I've been playing guitar for over twenty years and finally bought a Pedal Steel.
This DVD is really an invaluable tool to anyone wishing to become familiar with
many different aspects of the Pedal Steel.
* All the basics; terminology,tuning, picking, blocking (dampening strings rapidly for that "pro" sound).
* Demonstrates how to run major scales in different configurations and the many inversions of the major
(and minor) chords with the pedals and levers.
* Reveals a few stock "hot-licks" that give you just enough knowledge to be dangerous
* Suggests many other sources of Pedal Steel information and insight into what it's like to be a pedal steel pro

I'd like to also add that what made this DVD so wonderfully useful was ripping it to a video ipod.
Placing the ipod on the music stand next to the Mel Bay Pedal Steel Guitar Chord Chart
and using the headphones to pace myself through each new exercise and technique. The DVD itself is
only an hour or two, but I let myself take it in very small steps and after six months and two cycles through it, five minutes at a time, with hours and hours of practice - I'm totally addicted to my pedal steel.

Bruce seems like a nice guy and was easy to take virtual direction from. I'd love a more advanced DVD, which he elludes to in the DVD but is not yet available...which is not surprising, given the relative obscurity and underuse of the pedal steel in modern music.

If you're gonna plop down the huge chunk of change that is a pedal steel, you need to know that it takes years to learn to play. It takes a ton of patience just to tune the thing, much less learn all the chords and licks. Approaching the tutorial with that frame of mind will maximize your enjoyment of it. If you expect this DVD or any other product to magically teach you to play the pedal steel for your gig or session tomorrow, you're throwing good money after bad. It's clear that the instructor views the pedal steel as a discipline that provides a real longer term satisfaction. If you're on board, you must purchase this DVD.

Definately Not A Beginner Lesson.......2006-12-26

I purchased this for my daughter who is a true beginner on this instrument hoping to give her an introduction. I was looking for the very basics. Unfortunately this DVD assumes you know a great deal about the pedal steel. Bruce jumps right in with exercises, scales, and a song without going into the stuff you need to know first. How to hold the bar (taught about a third of the way in), how to hold the picks, how to pick, how to tune the guitar, how the strings are numbered, how the pedals are numbered, etc (never taught). Early in the tape he freely admits he hopes you have someone in the neighborhood who can teach you. Gee, isn't that why I bought this DVD? You definately need a pause on your remote because Bruce blows through what he is doing in the examples.

Very disappointing from a true beginners standpoint. It will benefit the more intermediate player more.

Excellent Beginner DVD if you have the patience........2005-04-03

Let me start by saying that this DVD taught me more than the instructor that I paid $40 per hour for lessons did. But you have to go at your own pace and be sure that your guitar is near the TV and the pause button is close at hand.

I only have one criticism of this DVD and it isn't Bouton's fault. The DVD needs a director. Sometimes Bruce jumps ahead of the beginner's pace and sometimes he gets a little dyslexic (ie: the last parts of Mansion on the Hill are a mess). They should have gone back and re-shot that part before distributing this DVD to the public.

If things like that don't bother you, then by all means pick it up. I must say that those flubs definitely got me annoyed because I paid $$ for this, and there are obvious errors, minor errors, but errors nonetheless. Still, an excellent learning tool.

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