Pedal steel is a very different instrument from the lap steel and console guitars. You play it with a steel bar like those instruments but you also modify the pitch with pedals and levers. It also has 10 strings rather than 8 or 6 strings on a lap steel. It is complicated to play because you are using your legs and knees as well as your hands (try scratching your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time).
My current pedal steel is a GFI Ultra keyless version with four pedals and five knee levers (1 vertical) tuned to E9 (Nashville ) tuning. I previously used an MSA Classic SuperSustain II single neck with three pedals and four knee levers.
In E9 tuning the lowest 8 strings are tuned to a dominant 9th chord. The 9th interval is repeated on the top string but the second string is tuned to a major 7th interval. So if you simply strum all strings it will sound dissonant because of clashes between the dominant 7th, and the major 7th intervals.
The playing technique involves selectively picking strings so as to omit the dissonant strings and form chord “grips” (major triads are usually formed by picking the 10th, 8th, & 6th strings, the 8th, 6th & 5th, 6th, 5th and 4th, or the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings). The presence of the major 7th interval means that you can easily change to a dominant chord in the same key without moving the bar.
As well as sliding the bar to change pitch, you also use pedals and knee levers to raise or lower the pitch. Levers can be set up to raise or lower the pitch of more than one string at a time. Sometimes one knee lever will raise the pitch on one string and lower the pitch on another at the same time. Different players set these pedals and knee levers up in different ways – the way they are set up is called the “copedant” (from “ChOrd PEDal arrangemENT“). My steel is set up with the following copedent:-
This copedent ant is pretty much the standard GFI E9 set up but with the extra 4th pedal with a change inherited from the previous owner. I am considering modifying this to be a “Franklin Pedal”.
Here is a recording of me playing pedal steel on a track for Claire Hamill:-
Here are song tracks of me playing pedal steel for the Seaview Playboys :-
Links
Here are some links to websites that I have found useful to refer to when learning pedal steel:-
Forums
British Steelies – Steel Guitar Forum – Pedal Steel Pages – Pedal Steel Advice Tips & Tricks (Facebook Group) – Pedal Steel (Facebook Group)
Steel Guitar Supplies / Repairs
Bob Adams’s Site – Gerry Hogan Music – Promendade Music – PSG Parts – Steel Guitars of Nashville – Steel Guitar Shopper – Steel Guitars of Canada – Billy Cooper’s Steel Guitars
Tuition / Lessons
Jonathan Gregg Lessons – OnLineLessons (Dave Anderson) – Jeff Rady Lessons – Lessons With Troy – Johnny Up Lessons – MusicCityLicks – Paul Franklin – Doug Beaumier – PlayPedalSteel (Casey James) – Zak Musiclub (Zachariah Taylor-Fray)
Pedal Steel Manufacturers
MSA Pedal Steels – Sierra Steel – GFI – Mullen – Williams – Sho-Bud
Accessories – Bars – Ezee Slide from Basil Henriques
Accessories – Picks – Eagle Music
Tuners – Peterson Strobe Tuners