Steel Guitar Videos
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Steel guitar enthusiasts are greatly blessed to have access to free YouTube videos to learn from and enjoy. I've chosen just a few of my favorites to feature on this webpage, but go check out YouTube and search for steel guitar videos, Hawaiian steel guitar, pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, et cetera. I made this fun video in 2017, playing Hawaiian steel guitar by my front door on Guam, mistakes and all...
Steel Guitar Videos by David J. Stewart
Awesome Steel Videos By Basil Henriques
Here's one of the most famous steel guitar instrumentals ever written . . .
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Here's some more of my videos to download and share (the biggest here in size is approximately 10 MB .WMV ... I record different takes just for a variety, each is a little bit different. ENJOY and GOD BLESS!)
E Mama E (here I'm playing a Jerry Byrd Frypan, E9th tuning, tabs)
Too Much of You, 2, 3, 4 (E9th pedal steel)
Texas Tornado, 2, 3, 4 (E9th pedal steel)
Sweet Leilani (A7th pedal steel)
Take These Chains, 2, 3, 4 (E9th pedal steel)
Moon Of Manakoora, 2, 3 (played in D9th tuning. Here's some tabs)
Paper Roses (E9th pedal. I love the way Marie Osmond sings this)
Song Of The Islands, 2, 3 (performed on traveler guitar with square nut)
You Don't Know Me, 2, 3 (well, maybe you do! E9th pedal steel)
Farewell Party (E9th pedal steel)
Love Notes (original composition written by Lloyd Green. E9th pedal)
Blue Hawaii, 2, 3 (C6th lap steel. Jerry Byrd arrangement)
Beyond The Reef, 2, 3, 4, 5 (playing E9th pedal steel like a C6th lap steel)
So many tunings... so little time!!!
Green Screen
I used a process called "Green Screen" to put the cool ocean background in the following video. I explain how to do it in the above link if you're interested. It's very easy to do.
Old Fashioned Look
Here's me playing HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL with a new effect that YouTube freely offers, called "Old-fashioned" which gives your video that old timey-look. If you have a YouTube account, go into "My Videos" and find the video that you want to apply the effect to, then select "Edit." Now you can select "Effects" and pick your desired effect. There's some other nice effects too.
With single-note playing and YouTube's old-fashioned effect, you can record yourself as if playing from the 1930's and share your songs with others...
The following video is the classic Hawaiian song, Sweet Leilani, played by the great steel guitarist Basil Henriques...
The following cheerful video is by Marty Robbins and my favorite Hawaiian Steel guitarist Jerry Byrd (1920-2005) on acoustic steel guitar. I once met Jerry Byrd in Winchester, Indiana, in 1993. What a treat!
Here's Maurice Anderson from Texas performing, Tiny Bubbles. Reece is playing a 12-string non-pedal steel guitar.
The following is Maurice Anderson's 12-string Extended C6th tuning...
12 String C6th
Make Your Own Music Videos and Upload them!
Well what'cha waiting for, record your own steel guitar videos and get them onto the internet through YouTube. All you need is a camcorder. Heck, even a regular digital camera will record up to 45 minutes on a 1 GB flash disk. The needed software to connect your camera with your PC comes with it. It connects via USB. I recommend a High-Definition camera (which are not a whole lot more expensive). You don't need the fancy microphone adapter that is available. I don't use it. I just use the standard built in camera mic. Sounds pretty good, huh? You will need a big hardrive. I bought a Terabyte external hardrive just for video storage. One Terabyte is equal to 1,000 GB. My average music video is about 100 to 300 per song in HD video as MPEG.
Videos are great to share with others. You can burn your own DVD videos and give it to friends to watch on their living room TV sets, or upload to the internet to freely share with others. I just draped a red bed sheet behind me for a background, which works nice. I needed extra lighting, so I had to bring in some additional lights. You learn as you go. ALWAYS close your camera's lens when not in use to keep it clean. Buy a couple extra batteries so you don't run out. Starting a YouTube account is all explained on the internet, just do a search for help. It's as simple as clicking "UPLOAD." I'm really surprised that a lot more musicians don't share their music with others. That's my goal, i.e., to share my heart!
Texas Tornado | Beyond the Reef | Too Much of You
Here below is one of my favorite steel guitar artists, Kayton Roberts playing a 1941 Dual 8-string Fender along with his loyal wife playing a Wurlitzer organ, performing the Hawaiian classic, Mapuana, in an up-tempo arrangement. Here's Kayton's own words about his tunings:
Well, my main tuning is C6th, that’s my bread and butter neck. It has a little variation. Staring with the first string on the small end: E, C, A, G, E, C#, A, A (an octave lower). You will notice that I have two A’s together...the second is real low for that boom effect. It’s almost like a big third more than anything else. I use it only occasionally when I’m doing some thump style. Getting back to that C#, normally if you’re playing this C6th tuning and you rake across it, it will sound out of tune. But, if you rake across the strings and leave the second string out, then you’ve got a whole new tuning...and you see that second string there, the C, if you pull that a half step, it will fall right in tune with that tuning. You can really play some jazzy sounding stuff with it. It makes a whole new ball game. It’s like having a dual tuning. And on the other neck I’ve got a special tuning...it’s for rides and special things. The first string is F, D, A, F, G, Eb, C, F, but I couldn’t remember these if I didn’t right them down. I keep a list at home in case someone calls and wants to know. Don’t mind sharing these cause I don’t have any secrets. Of course, Hank doesn’t like notes played on the high register, so I’m usually limited to playing on the lower end.
...In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, he gave man so many good things to enjoy. He gave us a steel guitar to play if we choose to. This to me, is the most expressive instrument in the world. It fulfills a special hunger in my life and it won’t hurt you, as a lot of bad things in this world will. I met my wife Iva Lee while playing the steel guitar, our children followed, altogether they are my most treasured possessions!
SOURCE: Steel Guitar World magazine, Jan/Feb, 1993 issue
Kayton is using the C6th Tuning, which he tunes [High to low: E, C, A, G, E, C#, A, A (low bass)]
Comment from David Stewart—Although I don't care for the following song in particular, you can learn A LOT of awesome techniques just from carefully observing Kayton Roberts perform. Wow! Kayton really poured his heart into this performance. I love how he uses his 3rd finger to pull on the 2nd string behind the bar to raise it up a half tone. That's something rare that few players do. It's a much easier technique to do at the higher frets (where the string tension is less than it is at the lower frets). The song may be called Wrong, Wrong, Wrong; but Kayton's techniques are Right, Right, Right!
Kayton is using the C6th Tuning, which he tunes [High to low: E, C, A, G, E, C#, A, A (low bass)]
Notice in the preceding video that Kayton plays bass notes by simply placing the palm of his left hand on various frets, while picking string 8 with his right hand. It's nice having a double A note on the bottom, so if you want to mute and pick both (which gives you a stronger “thump”) you can. String 8 is a low bass A note.
Notice carefully the difference being muting the string at the bridge with the right hand, verses muting the string with the left hand at the fret. These are two very different muting techniques which are quite effective. Muting the string(s) with the left hand will definitely produce more of a “thump” sound than muting with the right hand at the bridge. It's good to be aware of, and to practice, both techniques.
Where you place your left hand will determine the note of the bass note (for the technique using the left hand to mute the string).
For the other muting technique where the right hand mutes the string at the bridge, where the bar is placed will determine the note of the muted note. Work at both techniques.
Speaking of bass: Here's an amazing pedal steel session with Don Helms, Tommy White, Stu Basore, and Jim Vest. They're backing each other up with the lower notes on their steel guitar necks, while the others take turn playing steel. I just wanted you to see the technique of playing bass on steel guitar. You can make your own backing tracks and lay down your own bass tracks with your steel guitar.
Stu Basore only uses a Peavey 1000 amp with a little reverb and nothing else. You can hear his awesome split-picking technique in this video of the song FADED LOVE. He picks string 6 and then 5 on fret 10; then string 6 and 5 on fret 12; and then he picks string 5 and 4 on fret 10. No one else has mastered this technique like Stu, which is why it is his most defining trait of his steel playing. If you watch Stu closely, he quickly strikes the strings. That's how he gets that sound. Stu doesn't just pick, nor split-pick; he strikes the strings from a distance. He aims and then goes for it. He's done it so much that it is second nature to him and comes natural; but that is why I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. I still can't play anywhere near like Stu, but I think I now know what he's doing that gives him such a wonderful unique sound. If you practice striking the strings and trying to pick them separately from half an inch or so away, you'll get the feel for it. Watch Stu and you'll see that he strikes the strings. It's really cool how he does this. I love it!
I believe some musicians have gifts from God. Jimmy Day played steel like no one else. Jimmy could sit down at anyone's steel guitar and make it sound the same, but no one else could make it sound like Jimmy. God is amazing! Each musician has something very special that no one else has, a gift given just to them.
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Sweet Leilani on A7th Pedal Steel by David Stewart (A7th)
The Steel Guitar of Buddy Merrill
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Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven!
