Beginners Pedal Steel to "Going Where the Lonely Go"

Beginners instructional video of how to play pedal steel to this Merle Haggard song. This teaches an approach to playing steel that will work with almost any simple country song. Keep in mind this is a beginners video and as you gain experience all of this may not apply to your playing style. The end game here is to make you comfortable "jamming" to songs, rather than memorizing every thing you play. I hope this helps you!
Gilroy Hollister

[@cincinnatipedalsteel4347]

I love the football announcer analogy for licks and scales! That’s perfect man!

[@mikedavis7733]

This guy is Great for teaching beginners!

[@Docsjeff]

Can hear a lot of Moon in your playing.Really helpful videos.Thanks for keeping it simple.

[@michaelrytter726]

Wow! Thank you! I am picking up a Used Carter Pedal Steel on Wednesday...sooo excited!

[@dtc6924]

Your playing on this song was very moving. thanks

[@larrydering1598]

A mutual friend, Ray DeVoe had me check out your channel. He spoke highly of you. You do a great job. Thanks. I will watch more videos.

[@foggymountainbreakdown206]

Without doubt the best starter pedal steel lesson out there. Thank you so much for your insights, advice and encouragement. Warmest regards from London. England. Thank you.

[@mamutcat]

Not just for beginners. Great for players further along the path. Simple tasty licks. Don't stamp on the vox. That's what will keep you working.

[@randyfennell3058]

Thanks Gilroy, as always good job. I like the way you give instructions. A+. RF/

[@MountainHomeJerrel]

Thanks for the great advice and guidance with these videos. All the best to you, rock on, cheers!

[@user-vv2xw1xr2r]

I like what you are doing. Keep up the good work. You help me a lot

[@garyguzzardo7800]

Love the Videos ,, Very helpful , I'm 7 years in and I do get into a slump playing the same licks your videos help me from falling victim m to the slump

[@GaryBook]

You do a wonderful job of explaining. Great job.

[@steelguitarplayer1]

i like the way you explained this , years ago i had a pedal steel teacher that never once explained scales OR how they were used in songs, all he did was teach licks and every time i spent a week learning what he showed the next time i saw him he would play what i had just spent hours learning a completely different way !!! it kept me totally confused for years . it took me a long time to "teach " me as much as he was showing off , all that time i spent with him was a total waste of time !!!

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

Great players don't always make great teachers, frequently the opposite. My experience is that a lot of music teachers take your money and are more interested in showing off than helping you learn. Don't waste your time with teachers like that. Also, memorizing dozens of licks in a short time is tedious and you almost never retain memory of them. The pedal steel is very much a "lick" instrument so you do have to learn licks. But you slowly add them to your scale playing, one at a time. Licks are what make your playing interesting and unique.

[@sonicmilk]

Can't thank you enough for all these. I'll probably post a video of my playing before too long. I think I'm getting there.

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

Post your video soon, then another one a month or two later. I'd like to see your progress. Maybe give you some advice after I see them.

[@Twang-Train]

Nice work! One of Merle’s best songs too!

[@ralphsain4288]

Excellent job, of explaining what you're doing,. And how it all works together. I think a good tune to use what you're talking about on.

[@royheap5178]

Really helpful, nice instructions.

[@MangoDaVille]

Another fine lesson, mahalo nui Gilroy! Growin a lick & scale at a time ~ I was able to duplicate your demo without the help of your spoonfeeding part. Mahalo again!!!!!!

[@davidanderson3073]

thanks for your love i trey to builds the steel

[@murblemtn]

I'm loving your beginners videos. I started on steel two years ago at the age of 72. There are lots of country music clubs here in Australia and I play steel at two. They are all open mic so anyone with three sets of chord sheets can walk up and sing anything. Makes for a musical challenge as sometimes you've never heard the song before and it might be in G# or Db. So, keep up the good work on simple jamming stuff. Thanks

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

My son and I were in Australia about 7 years ago.... beautiful country. Nice to know country music is alive there. After I came off the road I played at The Kansas City Opry (Tuffy Williams) for a year and had the same thing you're experiencing... any song, any key and some you never heard before. You'll learn fast like that!

[@MountainHomeJerrel]

That sounds great. I was in a country music club few years back. Of course with the weird last 2 years we've had, I can't even imagine any clubs opening back up again soon. Cheers mate!

[@dicktheplumber2]

...nice job!!!...

[@pastortatemitchell3838]

I love this. Do you have any more like this in just starting to play the steel

[@firesteel01]

Very nice work. Good instruction for beginners to really get an understanding of what to do. You have been putting out some outstanding stuff that will really get people going in the right direction.

[@allensells5654]

Such a good anology, Pedal Steel for the rest of us. I guess the play by play would be vanilla and the colorist would be the fudge and sprinkles. Hopefully the licks and chromatics will evolve. David Pots said on his six string sight that you want to capture the spirit of the song.

[@craigdavoulas7996]

Thank you, instructional and inspirational. Is tab available?

[@stevenbrennon9284]

How much does a steel guitar like that cost and I live in High Point NC so where could I find one like yours fine video thanks for posting would love to learn how to play the steel guitar thanks and take care.

[@tegenkraemer5453]

Do you have intro on “Why Am I Drinking? Thanks much. Tom

[@timpullen482]

Awesome job, I could use a steel player, can I ask where your from

[@chanchinlianavavala2978]

Can you kindly show us your katana amp setting, please?

[@caseymartinpedalsteel]

What kind of amp are you playing through? Enjoy your videos!

[@GibsonF4F5]

Are you out of the gilroy area?

[@jorgestereo3497]

Thanks for these videos Giroy! I have just bought a pedal SteeI, so i am totally new player. I followed the video how to play the scales...Are you improvising this song just using only the scale of D? or you are mixing Scales I am lost with this issue. Thanks. I will learn a lot with your videos

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

Well, I'm mostly using simple 2 note scales, occasionally improvising around those scales. The reason to improvise a little is to keep my playing from being too predictable or boring. That comes with time and practice. Working with the simple major scales is fine for beginners. Sometimes you will make a mistake and realize "hey, that sounded great"! Then you incorporate that into your playing. Or you slowly add more non-scale licks that you learn from various KZbin vids or elsewhere. These non-scale licks are typically transition things that sound a little dissonant but resolve nicely back into the major scale notes.

[@josvroomans3573]

Hi Gilroy. Thanks for your very helpful videos. Would you please share the settings of you Katana amp. I'm curious, as I have te same amp, and am still trying to get the best possible sound out of it. So I would really like to know you amp type, gain, and equalizer settings on the Katana. Thanks!

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

AMPLIFER: Amp Type - Clean Gain - low.. about 7 o'clock Volume - to desired level EQUALIZER: Bass - 3 o'clock Middle - 1 o'clock Treble - 2 o'clock EFFECTS: Booster/Mod - 12 o'clock Deadly/Fx - 8 o'clock Reverb - 11 o'clock TONE: Presence - 12 o'clock Master - 3 o'clock Power Control - 50W Having said the above, your tone varies based on your ability, room acoustics, guitar, pickup, old strings, etc. Here's the thing... if you have a good guitar and amp and new strings, and you still can't get good tone... it's probably in your technique, mostly the right hand. Allow time to be your friend as your tone will improve the more you play and get comfortable with the instrument.

[@josvroomans3573]

@@gilroyhollistermusic9199 Thanks Gilroy. I tried your settings and I like the sound a lot!

[@dsebring]

Nice videos! Could you tell me what tuning you’re using? I’ve tried both E9 and C, and neither one seems to fit.

[@margaretcole4629]

Gilroy could you tell me what equipment you use to get the sound out of your pedal steel. I have a Carter E9 guitar with a Peavey 112 amp and Goodrich pedal and I cannot create the same tone quality that you able to produce. Any help would be appreciated. Great instructional videos. Thanks

[@cincinnatipedalsteel4347]

Tone is in your hands. Gilroys tone is what it is because of the time he put in and the hard work and dedication. Your tone will develop over time. You have a good rig and can get a fabulous sound with what you have.

[@gilroyhollistermusic9199]

For this video I ran the signal out of my Boss Katana-100 amp "Phones/Rec Out" jack and ran that into a Roland VS 2400 Digital Studio that I recorded this song onto. As I played, that mixed signal went into the camera audio input. In all previous videos I mic'd everything. I did this one through the Roland to get better sound quality on the backing track. My guess is that if I used your equipment for this video it would sound pretty much the same as my equipment. Morris Music comment is correct. So my advice for you is.... Use just a little Digital Delay and Reverb, no other effects. Do not over use heavy effects to compensate for inexperience (in other words "hide your mistakes"). It becomes a crutch and you never learn to play correctly. You want to hear your mistakes loud and clear! Adjust your tone controls to the room you're in... I try for not too bright or too much muddy bass. Work on coordinating your right hand and your volume pedal. Slightly raise your volume pedal (reduced volume) when you first pluck the strings on these slow songs.Then quickly increase the volume to sustain the notes. This gets rid of the initial harsh sound of the picks on the strings. This takes time to perfect. One more thing beginners might do is over vibrate the bar in their left hand. This is usually to compensate for being out of tune. You sound out of tune because your bar position is slightly off or... On most pedal steels, some strings are always slightly out of tune due to cabinet drop. This one is tricky to overcome... it involves slight bar movements - sharp or flat - to compensate based on what pedals you are using. I think this is something expert studio players learn to do subconsciously. I try to avoid (or not linger on) the more obnoxious pedal/string combos that expose this problem on my guitar. I am out of tune for these reasons in several places on all my videos. I just deal with it..!! Ha! Lastly, try putting new strings on your steel. This helps tone and intonation. Hope this helps!