Chords for How to Play Lap Steel Guitar

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[D] Hey there, welcome to You Can Learn Lapsteel Guitar.
I'm Andrew DeFrancici and today we're going to take a look at this instrument right here.
This is a Weissenborn style lap steel.
It's basically an acoustic guitar with raised strings, a hollow neck, and it's played with
a steel slide instead of actually fretting notes.
Now, the lap steel can be used in a variety of genres of music, including [Cm] country and bluegrass.
In fact, this particular model, the Weissenborn, is traditionally used in Hawaiian style music,
but I personally don't mess around with any of that stuff.
What I like to use it for is old time music and blues, and that's exactly what we'll be
focusing on today.
So the first thing I'd like to teach you is proper sliding technique.
Now notice how I'm holding the slide.
I grip it in between my thumb and middle finger, with my index finger laying on top.
But you can hold it however you want.
Just make sure that you have a firm grip on it and that the entire bottom part [F#] is able
to touch the strings.
So now you should be able to press the slide down firmly [G#] enough to get a good sound out
of it, but gently enough so [G] that you're not bending this thing like that.
[B] So here's the trick for sliding up and down a string.
You have to make sure that the slide is always laying exactly on the fret line in order for
the note to be in tune.
This isn't like a normal guitar where you're fine as long as your finger is somewhere in
between two frets.
So [D] watch what happens when [B] I move the slide in between two frets.
And getting this exact all the time, especially on faster slides can [D] be really tricky, which
is why you should practice it a lot.
So now let's actually try to play something.
I'm in open D tuning right now if you'd like to follow along.
So try playing the simple version of Amazing Grace.
It doesn't have to be perfect, just make sure that you're getting a good clean sound out
of the slide and that all the notes are in tune. _ _ _ _ _ _
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[G] _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
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[A] _ So [D] _ _ _ now that we have sliding down, let's talk about proper picking technique.
Now I use a technique called Travis Picking, which is based around alternating the 6th
and 4th strings just like this, with your thumb acting as an alternating bass line.
Now with your middle and index finger, alternate in between the bass line notes with your middle
finger on the first string and your index finger on the second string.
This is called an alternating picking pattern and it's one of the fundamentals of Travis Picking.
However, don't get afraid to get creative with it, like this.
_ Just as long as you keep your thumb doing that alternating bass line.
So John Fahey's Poor Boy is a really good example of Travis Picking on the lap steel guitar.
Pay attention to how I have the bass line alternating with my thumb.
Just to keep the rhythm going.
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_ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ Well, I
think that about covers the basics of lap steel guitar.
I'm Andrew DeFrancisi and I hope you enjoyed this lesson.
And always remember to keep practicing. _ _ _ _ _ _
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