Lap Steel Lessons
If you have always been drawn to the lap steel guitar, you’re in good company. Lap
steel lessons are available to players of all ages at Eagle Rock Music Studio. At Eagle
Rock, our mission is to help you transition from dreaming to doing, and it starts with
learning your instrument.
History
A Hawaiian man named Joseph Kekuku is credited as the inventor of the steel guitar,
and legend has it he spent his childhood continuously experimenting with different
sounds on strings until he arrived at what is essentially the sound of a guitar by
playing a plastic comb on a steel string; this became the first steel guitar. Kekuku left
his native Hawaii in 1904 — never to return — and traveled the country and world as
a vaudeville musician, sparking a lap steel guitar fad in the 1920s and 1930s in the
United States. Today, this instrument has evolved to include lap slide guitars,
resonator guitars, and electric lap steel guitars.
Appeal
It may not be a common sight to see a lap steel guitar on stage when you are at a
rock concert, but many of the most famous — not to mention greatest — guitarists of
all time also play lap steel, too. Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Chuck Berry, John Fogerty,
George Harrison, Jimmy Page, and Joe Perry are just some of the most famous
guitarists who also play the lap steel guitar. Others, like Robert Randolph, have
gained notoriety specifically through playing lap steel. It’s an instrument that figures
prominently into the rock & roll equation, even if it’s more of a fringe instrument.
Lessons
We offer two course paths for those who wish to learn the lap steel guitar: one for
those seeking to play professionally, and another for those seeking to just play
recreationally. Both paths start with the identification of your goals and working
with your instructor to create a detailed plan to effectively reach those goals. In the
case of an aspiring professional lap steel player, practice is enormously significant
for increasing your level of proficiency with your instrument. Actually refining and
perfecting these skills under the training of an instructor — who can help you work
towards fulfilling your goals every step of the way — is critical to your development.
At Eagle Rock Music Studio, we encourage our students to develop their own
musical voices, and because of this we believe students need to be in a supportive,
friendly, and engaging environment where their ambitions can be achieved in an
active manner. We recognize that everyone is different and responds to various
teaching styles differently, so we tailor our lessons specifically for each student — we
believe this achieves the best results. All lap steel lessons are private as a result.
Eagle Rock Music Studios is located just north of downtown Los Angeles between
Glendale and Pasadena. For more
information or to set up a lesson, please call us at 323-309-8467.