Canadian multi-instrumentalist, Dan Walsh is already well known for his collaborations with a number of talented musicians. He's added his bluesy-bluegrass signature style to two dozen albums and toured across North America, Europe and Australia.
Musician, Corb Lund says of Walsh's sound: "Walshy is awesome. I've played with him lots and he's on everybody's record and he's always tasty as hell."
Producer and musician, Gurf Morlix adds, "Dan is one of the most musical people I know. Never played a bad note in his life. Never will."
Mr. Walsh Could you please.make a video on how to wear and use finger picks. Ive tried and have multiple sets but cant seem to get it, I feel like Edward sizzor hands. At least show how to get them out of the guitar when they fall off I use a pick but I know this limits my range of playing ❤
Well hello Dan and yes it has been a while. That sure is a Beauty. I do miss our live performance hangs at your channel, hope you do that again some day. I love your channel and I almost went for a Weissenborn because of you. But didn’t 😢. 😂 stay healthy. Tim
Dan thank you for the lesson I just bought my lap steel today and I watched videos all afternoon and you are the best I watched your are a good teacher thank you again .I played guitar for many years and always loved the sound of steel guitar, and at 67 years old time to teach this old dog some new tricks
Hello Dan. 80 yr old trying to learn acoustic lap steel. Long time ago had a few lessons, but essentially starting over. I’m using a converted acoustic, much like the one in your videos. Very much enjoying the first view videos and hope I’ll find more. Thanks for doing this.
@@slideguitarGood to know. Yes, I have viewed a few of the lapsteel videos and hoped they were easily translated. Thanks for your time responding, Dan. I’ll start my ‘project’ seriously now that you’ve provided a sound beginning.
Guitar player for about 50 years and for reasons I can’t explain I now want to learn to play the lap steel. My interest is mostly blues and old rock. This is by far the best how to video I’ve seen so far. Thanks for all the great info. Your teaching style is great it really makes sense to me.
the slide youre using, is it a shorter one? i got one of those heavy bars and i find it kind hard to let the lower string ring while i play the higher ones. maybe thatll just get easier with time
I can’t recall for sure un this video but I mostly use a Dunlop Ben Harper tone bar however I do use a Shubb (the one with the wood top) occasionally as well
The idea to simply convert an unused flattop guitar into a acoustic lap steel intrigues me! What strings do you use on yours, Dan? Any special strings, like thicker than your regular ones? Or just the common bronze strings like you would use them to play your guitar in a regular way?
For me, it really depends on what the neck and bridge can take. I always prefer heavier for slide. On a dobro I use 14-59 or so but I use 2 18’s on the high strings. If your converted acoustic can take a 13-56 or even a gauge higher, I’d use that. For me, heavier string=more tone more beef :)
@@slideguitar Expected something like that! Thanks a lot! I have here a cheapo Weissenborn copy but with regular Weissenborn strings, like John Pearse, the bridge bends forward really alarmingly, so I decided to put a set of 13-45 (d to G, I use only five strings, as I’m a newbie and only used to playing four-stringed instruments at this time). I suppose I’ll have to replace that cheapo at some point. But for the moment, it’s ok for practice.
I play Travis style guitars and have 7 guitars, one of which is an inexpensive Fender resonator. I’m interested in learning lap steel guitar and assume this would be ideal for conversion to lap steel.
What a fun video! I am using an acoustic lap steel....trying to mike it has been torturous! Much noise connecting the sm57 to an RC-3 looper.... Any suggestions?
As a punk/hard core/metal electric guitar player my whole life, at 52 I'm looking to upgrade my skill set to lap steel, loving your tutorial here man. It makes me happy to see you share your craft, I'm into this. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your instructions. I can honestly say you have made it more clear than any other instructional video I have watched so far by anyone else! I've had a very difficult time trying to learn this instrument and still am. Trying to find anything that sounds like music and not just a bunch of noise has been an extreme challenge for me so far. Again, thank you for your help. Please keep it up, Blessings
Unfortunately, with the new record coming out last year and my schedule being what it is, I’ve just had no time to do more. Each video takes about 6 hours from inception to finished upload. Thru the pandemic, I had nothing but time. These days, there ain’t enough time. I wouldn’t say Im done with them just yet, but currently the clocks are in overtime :)
Thank you so much, Dan! As a beginner, this is an excellent pace and level of difficulty to start with. You're an excellent teacher and have a great personality!
Hi Dan appreciate these lessons. I have played guitar for decades and know my way around the fretboard so I can effortlessly improvise lead guitar. How I learned that was simply playing along with records as a teenager and with bands in my 20s. Now in my 60s LOL I absolutely love pedal steel (especially rock oriented rusty young, sneaky pete, etc) but don't want to tackle pedal steel so I have a lap steel. I have been frustrated by very slow progress and really not getting a feel for it (not knowing the patterns, where my notes are given the music I am playing along with). I intend to spend time with your series (plural or series? LOL) acoustic and maybe more so electric lap in open G. But how would you suggest I can maybe take a shortcut to learning the patterns appropriate for particular keys, e.g. 12 bar blues or I IV V song structure, major scales , minor scales, pentatonic although I am not well versed in music theory. OMG I feel I have been rambling aimlessly.
Hi:) This is kinda a tough to answer for me. I think the simplest way is to maybe choose your tuning (assuming youre using open tunings) and then just remember, in a 12 bar simple blues, your 4chord is at the 5th fret and your 5chord is at the 7th. There are no 'bad notes" in these positions assuming your in an open major key. From there, you just gotta choose the notes that speak to you. I think more importantly, if youre starting out, technique is necessary before note selection. Meaning, working on your pitch visually and audibly. As well as a controlled vibrato technique. Once you've got a handle on those, then you can begin the quest for the perfect note selections. I wish I could give you a simple shortcut, but I just don't have one:) But I hope I was able to help you a little here:)
It worked seamlessly for me but I was using it as a very basic triggering system for triggering bass lines while I played slide guitar. No latency at all. The tricky thing, was making sure I pressed the 12 step properly so as not to miss the note. Ocassionally I would miss. It’s why I moved over to Taurus Pedal type triggers. They were easier (for me) to utilize. But the midi plus certainly worked flawlessly for my application
Nice job on the intro! And great to see the choices…basic, totally accessible just to get started and give it a try. Thanks so much for the hit! Cheers!
I hear you. I got lucky when I found a used one in Toronto. When I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to incorporate it into my show, it sold in about 3 minutes.
@@MikaelLewisify I do a solo slide guitar looping show. I typically use a Kala U Bass and wanted to try a different tone. Turns out I just didn’t gel with it:)
@@slideguitar ah…I see. I have a Kala UBass as well. Cool little bass, but I rarely use it since I got the EHX bass9 pedal. So much easier to not have to switch instruments.
Just ordered a lap steel (electric) and found your videos Dan. I have loved the sound of the steel guitar since I was a young child. 51 now and finally going to try to learn. I don't know music so it might be a bust but what the heck!! LOL! Definitely starting back at the beginning of your lessons and will work my way through them. Your style seems very easy to follow and I hope I can make some beautiful music someday. Thanks Dan!!
Happy ground found. Thanks for these Dan, I’m finding them just right. I’ve played guitar a fair bit but just three days in to owning a lap steel. I like the material and the way it’s taught. So much of what is out there is geared towards C6 stuff. I’m more into your country blues sort of feel so this is spot on. Working my way through your videos slowly and learning a lot. Many thanks.
Great lesson. Concise. Clear & logical. Beautifully performed, and with a terrific lick to study/learn at the end .... Thank you very much for posting it.