I recently inherited a steel guitar from an uncle who passed away last year. He didn't really play it, just had it. It turned out to be a 1955 Fender Stringmaster T8. Wasn't the greatest condition, had a lot of cleaning to do. The electronics don't work, as of now. But that shouldn't be too hard to remedy. Coming from playing slide on regular guitar, and dabbling in different tunings. I'm excited to see what I can do with it.
I have one of these in sunburst. I love it. I used to have a 50's Gibson BR9 but stupidly sold it. I bought one of these a few years later. I'm still a very basic lap steel player but its such a great instrument.
@@GetOffset it’s not how I’ve ever seen anyone do it, but if it works for you that’s the mort important thing. I always keep my index finger in the groove, and use my other fingers to support, mute behind the bar, and rock the bar for vibrato. I find it gives me more accuracy when I move from string to string as well.
@@andrewsovine5121 I should try that again now that I have a bit more mobility vs the old one, but my hand cramped something awful holding it with my index finger on the top groove. I'm just trying a lot of stuff right now since I'm still pretty fresh!
Love my lap steel. The first time I played some of this David Giilmour licks from Breathe or Great Gig in the Sky I just had the biggest smile on my face!
Glad you are doing a video on the steel. That Gretsch looks nice. Lap steels are great fun. I have a 6 string -open E- and an 8 string -C6. I also have an old Epiphone acoustic that I put a nut extender on to make it an acoustic lap guitar. It’s a cheap fix on a cheap guitar that turned out to be really nice.
Nice! I started lap steel about half a year ago - mainly due to a band called Larkin Poe with an excellent lapsteel-layer named Megan Lovell - incredible precision and great tone. I tried out diffeent tuning and am now stuck in a kind of "bastard" between standard guitar and lapsteel: G, B, D, g, b, e This is basically an inverted E6, so I have a G major chord in the low strings and an (inverted) E minor in the high strings, but with the four higher strings in standard tuning, I can still rely on common scale-patterns and I don't have to learn new patterns all over again. One thing: I'd recommend holding the bar differently, that is between middle finger and thumb, with your pointer finger on the top of the groove. That's what I've seen by nearly every player of lapsteel. I also feel better control of the bar this way. Enjoy your playing!
That's a G6 . There are multiple ways to truncate a 6th tuning to only 6 strings . Most commonly used is GBEGBD . ************** For starting out , there are a Buncha tunings , influenced by your playing style ( & previous playing background) , and intended primary genres of music . Players of armpit guitars dabbling in lap steel for occasional change of pace , will typically use Open D or Open E . If they are experienced with Bottleneck slide , also Low Bass Open G - DGDGBD . Dobro players obviously will gravitate to High Bass Open G - GBDGBD ( as used almost exclusively by the above mentioned excellent Megan Lovell ) . Because that's what we do , and Repetitive Triad Tuming is a wonderful thing . Instruction material and tab nominally intended for Dobro , will be directly applicable to Steel in this tuning . For entry level Traditional Hawaiian and 1930's and 40' Western Swing , C6 is the default . Again a myriad of 6 string variants . CEGACE is common , and what is usually found in readily available instruction material and tab . ***************** It's a semi free country , and one can play their instrument as they wish , and to fit their musical vision . That said , not using proper finger picks , you're missing out on something like 2/3 of the instrument 's potential. Tone Bar shapes are personal preference . But there's reason for the cliché of Pedal Steel using Bullet Bars , and Dobro some flavor of grooved . Grooved facilitates hammer on , pull off , raising one end of bar to play single or two adjacent strings .
I got an old Guyatone lapsteel a few years ago, I need to get back into playing it. It's got "heavy" gauge strings but it still feels too spongy to me. Thinking about getting some flatwounds
Cool addition to your arsenal! Every time I hear Jerry Douglas play on a song, I want a resonator guitar, but a good one just costs too much for me. Something like this just might scratch the itch and introduce me to slide guitar w/o breaking the bank.
Nice video! I like the sound of the gretsch, too! I’d like to test one first as I’m a lefty, and I’d like to know how easy it would be to convert to lefty.
From what I remember, the Gretsch is probably the best known entey point for lap steels but in the past the fret layout wasn't the most accurate. I wonder if they fixed that? I do think its a good "bang for the buck" entry and if you do get better than get a more upscale brand and model. You can get cheaper models but to be honest, those are regular guitar parts (beidge, Strat pickup, etc) on a plank of wood, see the Rogue model from 20 years ago. Also you got a pinky for those volume swells or you may want a volume pedal if you want to use your foot.😉👍✨
Such a short scale lap steel! (Or maybe I’m just accustomed to table pedal steels.) I wonder how tricky those highest frets are. Love the design though, looks very cool. The wider range of a lap steel has always piqued my interest As to the wound-G, my flat-wounds always have them! But I don’t know if these lap steels just take regular strings.
Definitely keep messing with fuzz. Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the steel player from the Flying Burrito Brothers, famously made use of fuzz pedals, and he got some really cool sounds out of it.
Yep, I get to keep it! I ultimately keep most things, with the main exceptions being some amps and some guitars. I've had to send back one or two pedals. But most brands who send stuff out don't really want to deal with the hassle of returns or "send along to the next person."
Get the G5700 Lap Steel from Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/LapSteel (affiliate link)
I recently inherited a steel guitar from an uncle who passed away last year. He didn't really play it, just had it. It turned out to be a 1955 Fender Stringmaster T8. Wasn't the greatest condition, had a lot of cleaning to do. The electronics don't work, as of now. But that shouldn't be too hard to remedy. Coming from playing slide on regular guitar, and dabbling in different tunings. I'm excited to see what I can do with it.
A lap steel is one of those itches I've wanted to scratch for a long time
There are a lot of affordable options out there like this one. Never a better time to try one out!
I have one of these in sunburst. I love it. I used to have a 50's Gibson BR9 but stupidly sold it. I bought one of these a few years later. I'm still a very basic lap steel player but its such a great instrument.
That bar hold is breaking my brain. Great work as per usual, pal!
Is that not the right way to hold it???
@@GetOffset it’s not how I’ve ever seen anyone do it, but if it works for you that’s the mort important thing.
I always keep my index finger in the groove, and use my other fingers to support, mute behind the bar, and rock the bar for vibrato. I find it gives me more accuracy when I move from string to string as well.
@@andrewsovine5121 I should try that again now that I have a bit more mobility vs the old one, but my hand cramped something awful holding it with my index finger on the top groove. I'm just trying a lot of stuff right now since I'm still pretty fresh!
@@GetOffset holler sometime and we can have a video hang/catchup/Old Man yells about steel technique party!
Love my lap steel. The first time I played some of this David Giilmour licks from Breathe or Great Gig in the Sky I just had the biggest smile on my face!
Very interesting video. I knew nothing about lap steel, and this was a good introduction.
Glad you liked it!
Glad you are doing a video on the steel. That Gretsch looks nice. Lap steels are great fun. I have a 6 string -open E- and an 8 string -C6. I also have an old Epiphone acoustic that I put a nut extender on to make it an acoustic lap guitar. It’s a cheap fix on a cheap guitar that turned out to be really nice.
Nice! I started lap steel about half a year ago - mainly due to a band called Larkin Poe with an excellent lapsteel-layer named Megan Lovell - incredible precision and great tone.
I tried out diffeent tuning and am now stuck in a kind of "bastard" between standard guitar and lapsteel: G, B, D, g, b, e
This is basically an inverted E6, so I have a G major chord in the low strings and an (inverted) E minor in the high strings, but with the four higher strings in standard tuning, I can still rely on common scale-patterns and I don't have to learn new patterns all over again.
One thing: I'd recommend holding the bar differently, that is between middle finger and thumb, with your pointer finger on the top of the groove. That's what I've seen by nearly every player of lapsteel.
I also feel better control of the bar this way.
Enjoy your playing!
That's a G6 .
There are multiple ways to truncate a 6th tuning to only 6 strings . Most commonly used is GBEGBD .
**************
For starting out , there are a Buncha tunings , influenced by your playing style ( & previous playing background) , and intended primary genres of music .
Players of armpit guitars dabbling in lap steel for occasional change of pace , will typically use Open D or Open E . If they are experienced with Bottleneck slide , also Low Bass Open G - DGDGBD .
Dobro players obviously will gravitate to High Bass Open G - GBDGBD ( as used almost exclusively by the above mentioned excellent Megan Lovell ) . Because that's what we do , and Repetitive Triad Tuming is a wonderful thing . Instruction material and tab nominally intended for Dobro , will be directly applicable to Steel in this tuning .
For entry level Traditional Hawaiian and 1930's and 40' Western Swing , C6 is the default . Again a myriad of 6 string variants . CEGACE is common , and what is usually found in readily available instruction material and tab .
*****************
It's a semi free country , and one can play their instrument as they wish , and to fit their musical vision . That said , not using proper finger picks , you're missing out on something like 2/3 of the instrument 's potential.
Tone Bar shapes are personal preference . But there's reason for the cliché of Pedal Steel using Bullet Bars , and Dobro some flavor of grooved . Grooved facilitates hammer on , pull off , raising one end of bar to play single or two adjacent strings .
Nice job.
I got an old Guyatone lapsteel a few years ago, I need to get back into playing it. It's got "heavy" gauge strings but it still feels too spongy to me. Thinking about getting some flatwounds
Cool addition to your arsenal! Every time I hear Jerry Douglas play on a song, I want a resonator guitar, but a good one just costs too much for me. Something like this just might scratch the itch and introduce me to slide guitar w/o breaking the bank.
Sweet! Want a pedal steel myself.
I want to play mine so much more!
@@GetOffsetyou know Sweetwater could sell pedal steels too, hint hint Sweetwater
@@thepostapocalyptictrio4762 hahah! I have a really nice one that I bought used locally. I just need time.
It's only a single coil Emily. I switched to a Gretsch humbucker
I might do something similar
Nice video! I like the sound of the gretsch, too! I’d like to test one first as I’m a lefty, and I’d like to know how easy it would be to convert to lefty.
I think it'd be pretty easy. I don't think you'd need to really do anything, but the controls miiiight be a bit annoying? I'm not sure it'd bother me.
@@GetOffset changing the nut wouldn't be a big deal, but the knobs would probably get in the way a little😂😂
Nice. I tried pedal steel for a while. It's tough!
From what I remember, the Gretsch is probably the best known entey point for lap steels but in the past the fret layout wasn't the most accurate. I wonder if they fixed that?
I do think its a good "bang for the buck" entry and if you do get better than get a more upscale brand and model. You can get cheaper models but to be honest, those are regular guitar parts (beidge, Strat pickup, etc) on a plank of wood, see the Rogue model from 20 years ago.
Also you got a pinky for those volume swells or you may want a volume pedal if you want to use your foot.😉👍✨
Such a short scale lap steel! (Or maybe I’m just accustomed to table pedal steels.) I wonder how tricky those highest frets are. Love the design though, looks very cool. The wider range of a lap steel has always piqued my interest
As to the wound-G, my flat-wounds always have them! But I don’t know if these lap steels just take regular strings.
Definitely keep messing with fuzz. Sneaky Pete Kleinow, the steel player from the Flying Burrito Brothers, famously made use of fuzz pedals, and he got some really cool sounds out of it.
Is the solo from what is and what should never be by zeppelin on steel?
SOME!
Demo fee? Just curious, personally I hope that means you get to keep it lol.
Yep, I get to keep it! I ultimately keep most things, with the main exceptions being some amps and some guitars. I've had to send back one or two pedals. But most brands who send stuff out don't really want to deal with the hassle of returns or "send along to the next person."
@Sassy Cat 👋
I thought every guitar player needed a bass . I was wrong. 😑