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Pedal Steel Guitars - What a sound!

Truckstop

By Truckstop,
in General Discussion

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Truckstop Proficient

Truckstop

Posted
Posted

I was listening to Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs earlier today and once again fell in love with the gorgeous tones of a pedal steel guitar. Never seen or heard one in person. How do they work?

Anyone play in a band with one? Anyone play? Anyone know where to get one?

Truckstop

samuelcroberts Rising Star

samuelcroberts

Posted
Posted

As far as I know, they work in a similar way to a harp with a pedal for each string or set of strings. Each pedal alters the pitch of the string (not sure by how much on a pedal steel, but on a harp it's generally up and down a semi-tone) so you can change note during performance. BJ Cole is the man for pedal steel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKo0mW8e96M

ratman Experienced

ratman

Posted
Posted

Check out Cindy Cashdollar. And Junior Brown, although he's not technically a pedal steel player, he has a double neck Tele/lap steel hybrid called a guit-steel. They're both amazing players.

Stacker Community Regular

Stacker

Posted
Posted

As well as pedals there may also be knee-levers which, again, change pitch. But where these differ from the pedals in that if you push the lever half of its travel you'll get a semi-tone shift and full travel is a full tone shift. It's pretty tricky to do.

oggiesnr Enthusiast

oggiesnr

Posted
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Right foot operates a volume pedal (instant change in attack and decay), left foot (and in some cases knee) operates the string pedals which stretch/contract the strings during play. Different pedals will bend different strings (or in some cases groups of strings). Either one or two necks (different tunings therefore possible in one number) and up to fourteen strings per neck! Great fun and fiendishly difficult.

Steve

wateroftyne Grand Master

wateroftyne

Posted
Posted (edited)

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1381750133' post='2243059']
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxr7LvoJ7s
[/quote]

[Pedant mode ON]

No pedals :-)

Edited by icastle
Link fixed.
Paul S Grand Master

Paul S

Posted
Posted

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1381745722' post='2242994']
Check out Melvin Duffy with Los Pacaminos!
[/quote]

Los Pacaminos! Seen them a couple of times, great band. Jamie Moses is a Star, capital C.

I go line dancing and there are a handful of country bands/duos doing the circuit that play live pedal steel. It is one of the joys of country music! Yeehaw.

oggiesnr Enthusiast

oggiesnr

Posted
Posted (edited)

A video is worth a thousand words, an explanation of how it works by one of the best

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrbSL92Kz1Y[/media]

Steve

Edited by oggiesnr
johnbiffa Mentor

johnbiffa

Posted
Posted

It bears no similarity to playing a guitar !

You pick triads that are altered via the foot pedals and also the up to 5 knee levers and the tuning to E9 is not bottom E to top E across the 10 strings.

I sold mine about 3 months ago due to not having the time to learn to play and it is undoubtedly the most difficult instrument i have ever tried to play but also hauntingly beautiful. Moved to Dobro and Mandolin which is much more understandable ( but not easy).

I had a student Sho Bud Maverick and if you are looking to begin the now discontinued Carter Starter is recommended as a second hand buy.

KevB Mentor

KevB

Posted
Posted

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1381750509' post='2243072']
[Pedant mode ON]

No pedals :-)
[/quote]

Yeah I was going to mention it in an edit but the editing seems to be going a bit haywire on my system at the moment.

mike257 Experienced

mike257

Posted
Posted

Jon Graboff plays some great pedal steel with Ryan Adams.

I was in an Americana band with a guitarist who had nailed the technique of making his guitar sound like a pedal steel with just a reverb, volume pedal and some virtuoso playing. I'll find some links later but people were often shocked when they realised it was 'just' a guitar!

KK Jale Experienced

KK Jale

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ray LaMontagne pedal steeler = Eric Heywood, a magical master. Also great to see John Graboff mentioned, he is ace!

PSG is a fascinating and addictive instrument, not at all impossible to play reasonably effectively if you have a good musical ear and some understanding of inversions and suchlike, but with more 'barriers' in your path than most others (in my opinion). Getting to a BJ Cole level would be a lifetime's undertaking but don't let that get to you.

Horror stories about its notorious difficulty kept me away for years and then I met a mate, a guitarist who plays with Eric Heywood, who said that HE said you could learn the basics in an afternoon and it wasn't really hard at all... actually that was utter bollocks but I now understand why Heywood told him that as the most important thing is to get away from the fear, it's not THAT hard. So I bought an old Sho-Bud Pro 1 and mended it (another story) and now have done some album sessions and gigs and so forth. Not playing much at the mo as bass has taken over work-wise.

The key IMO is 1) an hour a day without fail and 2) try to join a band within 6 months, it'll push you like nothing else.

Re. Carter Starter as a beginner's steel - a mate has one, I've fixed it as best I can and they are fairly seriously flawed. A better choice would be a Stage One by Zum. However, on both of these the copedent (what the pedals and levers do) is fixed, you can't change it. A used pro-grade steel is a much better buy, but do get advice.

Anything I can help with just ask :)

Edited by KK Jale
casapete Grand Master

casapete

Posted
Posted

A fabulous instrument in the right hands, nothing like it really.
Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green were the governors for a long time, although now Paul Franklin seems
to be generally regarded as one of the best. Look out for his playing with Vince Gill in The Time Jumpers.
I'm fortunate to play with a great steelie, Dave Holley. He plays with my country band sometimes, and the
steel really adds another dimension.
Other UK players of note include the aforementioned BJ Cole, Gordon Huntley, Melvin Duffy
and Gerry Hogan (of Hogans Heroes with Albert Lee).

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