Building Lap Steel Guitar Pdf Download Free
Books for Learning to Play the Lap Steel Guitar.Learning to Play.Biographies. '.Many of these books listed below can be ordered by your local music store. You can also find them on the web site. They are a mail order company that specializes in Guitar related items. They have a small sellection of books and videos on steel guitar, and hundreds of others on guitar in general.Please send me any suggestions or recommendations that you have. (If someone wants me to review your steel guitar-related product, send me!)The now has descriptions of many of their instructional methods for, and.is the author of the classic Dobro method called, strangely enough, ' The Dobro Book'.
It covers many different styles of steel guitar playing, and is an excellent introduction to the instrument.Peter Eden says, 'The Stacy Phillips book has a lot of information, lots of licks, tunes, etc. But when used in conjunction with the tape (actually, the copy I bought had one of those flexible plastic records attached), it can be a bit frustrating, since the tape doesn't illustrate all the examples in the book and there is often no reference to book pages, etc. 'It is published by Oak Publications in New York City, but I haven't been able to find a contact number. This book should be available through your local music store or directly from. If not, try this fine acoustic-oriented store:Fifth String Music3051 Adeline AvenueBerkeley, CA 94703(510) 548-8282is also the author of a fine Hawaiian steel guitar method called '. This is the first new Hawaiian steel guitar method in many years. It features a nice combination of Hawaiian tunes, many of which can be found on currently available CDs.
It is published by, who carry several other steel guitar and dobro instruction books. These books should be available at your local music store. If not, you may contact them directly.#4 Industrial DrivePacific, MO (800) 325-9518Mel Bay's Complete Dobro® Player is intended for people who already know how to play, but want to get better at it. Stacy Phillips's new instructional method starts with a lot of small examples, little riffs and such, using different fingerings and phrasings, and proceeds to fulfill his goal of being a book for the complete Dobro® player. This is the sort of book you want to read from beginning to end, rather than jumping around.
He lays a foundation in the beginning chapters and expands upon the foundation as he goes along. Stacy covers many different styles of resophonic guitar playing, including bluegrass, Hawaiian, blues (Albert King!), rock and country. I got a kick out of his version of Eric Clapton's version of 'Hideaway' (originally done by Freddie King). He also covers everyone from Jim and Bob, the 'Genial Hawaiians', to Jerry Douglas.Mel Bay's Complete Dobro® Player is intended to be complementary to and an extension of The Dobro Book.
The classic method book that Stacy wrote in the 70's has a lot of good stuff in it, but it doesn't go into as much detail as this book does. Stacy has a lot more room to discuss many other concepts in this volume.I think the additional years of teaching and performing have given Stacy a better perspective on how to approach teaching the instrument. He illustrates different approaches to the instrument, pointing out how different people play, and how you can adapt their styles to your playing. Every major resophonic guitarist seems to be recognized in some way in the book.I appreciated the interviews in the back of the book. Stacy talks with Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, Gene Wooten, Buck Graves, Bob Brozman and others about their views on resophonic guitar playing.I also have the accompanying tape, which is excellent for getting an idea of what he's trying to do.
The examples are clearly recorded, at a medium to slow tempo, so you can hear what he's trying to get across. Several of the examples are split into two channels - Dobro on the right, guitar accompaniment on the left - so you can practice on your own. Because the whole book uses tab notation rather than standard music notation, and because I tend to learn by hearing rather than by reading, I found the tape to be very valuable., owner of Scotty's Music in St.
Louis, Missouri and host of the annual International Pedal Steel Guitar Convention, has published through Mel Bay a new book that any C6th lap steel player should have. Titled Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method, this book fits the title exactly. Scotty starts with the extreme basics and progresses to some pretty difficult stuff. The songs are not your typical Hawaiian tunes, but the overall Hawaiian tonality of the tuning comes through in the presentation.
Songs are listed in both standard notation and tablature, a big help for those who wish to read music.The Mel Bay website at has more information on these methods, as well as many other Mel Bay books and tapes.The following two reviews are courtesy of Peter Eden.' Dobro® Techniques for Bluegrass and Country Music', by Stephen F. Toth - This book, which comes with a cassette tape, is quite a bit less intimidating than Stacy Phillips'.
What I like most about the book was mutiple versions of the same tune, each progessively more difficult. The downside is that the book is not long enough.ISBN 0-931759-68-4Centerstream PublishingPO Box 5450Fullerton, CA 92635, by Tom Swatzell and Ken Eidson - While there is no tape with the book, the front of the book gives Ken Eidson's address. This book contains two verions of every song, a simple one with just the plain melody, and a more fancy one 'Dobro-ized'. All songs are notated both in tablature and treble clef, a practice which is useful when playing with others.The William Leavitt tuning (C# E G Bb C D) is an interesting tuning developed by the late Chairman of the Guitar Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Mike Ihde, Associate Professor of Guitar at Berklee, has a series of ten jazz standards such as 'Someday My Prince Will Come', 'Moonlight In Vermont', and 'Misty' arranged for this tuning. You can purchase Mike's recordings of these tunes, tablature and notation, and/or a play along cassette. More information can be obtained by writing to Mike directly:Mike IhdeP.O.
Box 143Berklee College1140 Boylston St.Boston, MA 02215(617) 247-6878 faxemailDavid Hamburger's ' The Dobro® Workbook' is subtitled 'Licks, Techniques, and Improvisation for Lap-Style Resophonic Slide Guitar'.' S Instruction Course for Steel Guitar is the overall Bible of the lap steel guitar world. Sold through in St. Louis, Missouri, this book comes in a large 3-ring heavy cover with a plastic holder for the cassette tapes. Included are two 2-track stereo Rhythm/Demonstration tapes.
Steel Guitar by Jerry Byrd is on track 1 and trio accompaniment in on track 2. This allows the student to turn off track 1 and play with the trio. Covers material in books 1 and 2.If you have questions, suggestions for improvements, or additional information, please.
(Image credit: Shane Speal)This is one of the easiest homemade guitars I've ever built, and it took me only an hour to make.This lap steel was made from an extra 2x4 I had in my shed, with just a few saw cuts to the wood. I even used a pre-wired acoustic sound hole pickup, so there was no wiring needed.Anybody can build this lap steel guitar! The lap steel plays great, too.
It's set up with a standard 23-inch scale, just like the store bought-lap steels! The whole thing feels great on your lap and looks absurdly cool. Here’s a quick video (below).As you can tell, I’m still learning how to play this properly.
(I built it so that I could learn how to play it). These plans will give you a very basic, yet absolutely playable lap steel. It might look like a lot of steps, but trust me, this instrument is easy to build. You are basically just marking down a few lines, making a couple cuts to the 2x4 and installing simple hardware.This is my first prototype 2x4 lap steel.
I have a second one on the shop table right now. Look for a followup column on installing better pickups and adding some cool “hobo” mods.Parts needed.
32” section of 2x4 pine lumber. (Note: Due to harmful chemicals, do not use pressure-treated lumber!). Two (2) 1/2” diameter allthread rods, 3.5” long (Allthread rods are like bolts without a head. You can find these at hardware stores. I found a box of them at a flea market.).
One pack of guitar tuners, three-to-a-side. Pre-wired acoustic soundhole pickup. One pack of medium-gauge electric guitar strings.Tools needed. Electric drill + two drill bits: 3/32” and 5/16”.
Table saw or circular saw. Small screwdriver.Directions01. Cut a standard pine 2x4 into a 32” length.02. Cut out the headstock: Turn the 2x4 on its side and mark a vertical line 4” from the left end.
Mark a horizontal line 5/8” from the top (as pictured). Cut away the bottom portion in the headstock area (shaded are in the picture). I used a dado blade on my table saw.You can also do the same thing by running the saw in multiple passes over the shaded area and then using a chisel to remove any extra wood chips.03. Optional: I smoothed out the underside of the headstock on my belt sander. It also provided a little heel curve.04. Drill tuner holes: Mark your tuner holes on the underside of the headstock. I went in about 5/8” in on each side and spaced the tuners roughly an inch apart.
Use a 5/8” drill bit to drill the tuner holes.05. Turn the 2x4 back over and the following marks on the board, starting from the butt end and going up toward the headstock: a) 1.5” (this will be our through-body string feed) b) 3” (bridge location) c) 4.5” (pickup cavity) d) 6” (pickup cavity) e) 26” (nut location)06. Cut out the pickup cavity: Notch out the wood between the 4 ½” and 6” line. Go about ¾” deep.
Use the same dado technique as above with the headstock.07. Drill the string feed holes. Use a 3/32 drill bit to drill six holes for the strings to feed through the body. Quite honestly, I eyeballed these holes. The rough measurements from left to right are: 3/4”, 1 1/8”, 1 ½”, 2”, 2 ½”, 2 ¾”08. Mark your fret guides: Measure out the frets by starting at the 26” nut location and making pencil marks for each fret location.
Then use a contractor’s square to draw the fret lines. (I used a Sharpie for some quick and dirty fret lines. You also can paint or woodburn them if you want.)Fret markers.: 1 1.29” 2 2.50” 3 3.65” 4 4.74” 5 5.76” 6 6.73” 7 7.64” 8 8.51” 9 9.32” 10 10.0” 11 10.8” 12 11.5” 13 12.1” 14 12.7” 15 13.3” 16 13.8” 17 14.3” 18 14.8” 19 15.3” 20 15.7” 21 16.1” 22 16.5” 23 16.9” 24 17.2” 25 17.5” 26 17.8” 27 18.1” 28 18.4”09. Optional: Carve grooves for bridge and nut.
Use a wood rasp to notch grooves at the 3” mark and the 26” mark. These grooves will keep the allthread bolts from moving. (You can see these grooves in the picture at Step 13.) 10. Install the tuners and bushings at the headstock.11. Install the pickup. Depending on the pickup you choose, installing could be one of many different ways. As you can see, I just bent the cheap mounting tabs down on my pickup and shoved a couple screws into them to mount to the guitar.
Lap Steel Guitar For Sale
My pickup cavity was too deep, so I put a little bit of cardboard to raise it up. Ideally, you want the pickup to rest approx.
¼” away from the strings.12. String up the lap steel, but leave the strings slackened. If the strings start to pull through the soft pine wood, place a small nail through the ball loop of the string to keep it anchored.13. Carefully wedge the allthread bolts into the 3” and 26” marks. These will act as your nut and bridge.14. Space the strings evenly over the pickup, using the threads on the nut and bridge bolts as your string slots.15. Tune the guitar.
Try an open D chord to start (D, A, D, F#, A, D, low to high).16. Optional: If the strings keep pulling out of the threads on the nut, use simple roundhead wood screws to act as string trees. Simply slacken the offending string, position the screw beside the string (so the screw head holds the string down) and insert it just deep enough to provide tension on the string.17. Use your choice of slide or just grab a beer bottle and go.
Lap Steel Guitar Construction
In the video qt the top of this story, I’m using a deep well socket!NOTES: If you can’t find allthread rods to serve as bridge and nut, try other bolts, pipe pieces with notches cut into them or sections of ham bones. Please spread the word and share this story on Facebook! Wanna build more? Read my story,.I used the Stewart MacDonald fret calculator for these measurements. (Thanks, StewMac!) They have been rounded off to the nearest hundredth.Shane Speal is the 'King of the Cigar Box Guitar' and the creator of the modern cigar box guitar movement.
Hear the music, see the instruments and read about his Cigar Box Guitar Museum at. Speal's latest album, is on C. Gitty Records.