Lesson with David Hartley

I went for a lesson with David Hartley, who is arguably the best pedal country steel player in the UK.

For someone as talented as he is he is a very humble guy.

He loves getting stuck into pedal steel and scrutinising whatever Lloyd Green or Mike Johnson or other big players have recorded and nailing what they’ve played until he knows exactly how they played it, which on the pedal steel this can be extremely obscure, given the number of copedant variations and the number of options you have.

Dave took regular recordings during the lesson where he played and then described how he’d played the part.

I had a great day, he’s a very nice guy and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Here he is in action with (sadly departed) John Stannard, who was another prodigious picker..!