do any of you play pedal steel?

miroslav said:
I'll have to check out the Marlen method.

So man, if you play and you got that stuff down...why don't you do a track of jimistone?

I'm just a pedal steel hack. I spent last night getting reacquainted with my PS...but toward the end I found the sweet spot and got the pedals/levers under control well enough to where I was puling off a few decent licks...but it's like an accident waiting to happen.
I think if I make a wrong move with my feet and my knees, I may be singing soprano! :D

I'm hoping to lay down the actual track today.
Click to expand...

I was just learning, I don't have a steel at the moment. My fingerpicking with fingerpicks was coming along pretty good. I never used fingerpicks on the guitar but it just sounded better on the steel. Learning the chords with the pedals and knee levers was pretty easy if one can transpose quickly. I only used the E9 setup, not familiar with anything else. I intend to get a single neck, had a double neck, 20 strings 8 pedals and four knee levers and 85 pounds was a bit much. This time when I get one I will put the time in and get better. Maybe I could have sat in with a band and played simple progressions and simple leads but I would never have fooled a steel player.
P.S., not the Marlen method, the E9 setup.
 
dragonworks said:
.
P.S., not the Marlen method, the E9 setup.
Click to expand...

Oh...

I'm using a rather standard E9 3 pedal/3 lever setup.
When I got the steel...I just did some basic research and went for the most "standard" setup...that way I figured it would be easy to learn and understand.

I've not tried the C6 tuning.

Even just messing with it again the last couple of days, I'm starting to see the chord positions and relationships with the pedals and levers. At this point I was limiting myself to the B & C pedals and the F lever for my setup, and for Jimistone's song, which is just C & G chords...with only an F added durning the intro...so thank god I can keep my positions on the steel simple!! :D
 
3 pedals 3 levers, you should be able to get just about any chord you want, get some chord charts for the E9 setup. Just the left pedal should be the relative minor, add the left lever and it changes the relative minor to the major, the left and the middle should be a fourth above, the middle and right should be the two chord, etc. if it is the same setup I had. I think the 7th ninth and tenth strings are a fourth above the major you are at. Learn all the "open" ones, go from there. I forgot a lot of it and will have to relearn if and when I get another. I met Tiny Olsen once when I did sound for these guys. We had a long talk and he flipped over the instrument for me and went through all the mechanisms etc. Another thing, turned out he was into trains and so was I and we talked a bit about that too. He is pretty good by the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Qgq5w9pZQ
 
dragonworks said:
3 pedals 3 levers, you should be able to get just about any chord you want, get some chord charts for the E9 setup. Just the left pedal should be the relative minor, add the left lever and it changes the relative minor to the major, the left and the middle should be a fourth above, the middle and right should be the two chord, etc. if it is the same setup I had. I think the 7th ninth and tenth strings are a fourth above the major you are at. Learn all the "open" ones, go from there. I forgot a lot of it and will have to relearn if and when I get another. I met Tiny Olsen once when I did sound for these guys. We had a long talk and he flipped over the instrument for me and went through all the mechanisms etc. Another thing, turned out he was into trains and so was I and we talked a bit about that too. He is pretty good by the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Qgq5w9pZQ
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Damn, sounds like pedal steel is a bitch to learn. It looks easy when Buddy Emmons plays one.
Also, unlike a guitar you can't go buy a cheap used one for $100. Even if you come off $1000 you're not in the ballpark of a good used one. (Maybe an unfinished project that is missing all the pedals and levers)
 
I'm doing several country tunes and I thought "I'll just buy a steel and figure it out. I'll record it one phrase at a time on 2 different tracks and then edit it all into one steel track. Then I went into shock over the price of pedal steels. I may get one yet but it's a major musical instrument investment.
Hell, a pedal steel is almost as much as that $3000 flute I bought my daughter for high school band. I backed through the door of that music store with my pants down. :D
Anyway, I would love to have a pedal steel
 
Get ready to laugh your asses off.This is a piece of soft maple I hacked up, stuck an old acoustic guitar fretboard onto it. A set of chinsey classical guitar tuners, then attached my Roland GK3. It works beautifully! :D
Bettin' jimi's havin' 2nd thoughts about my involvement in this project!:eek:
 

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jimistone said:
Damn, sounds like pedal steel is a bitch to learn. It looks easy when Buddy Emmons plays one.
Also, unlike a guitar you can't go buy a cheap used one for $100. Even if you come off $1000 you're not in the ballpark of a good used one. (Maybe an unfinished project that is missing all the pedals and levers)
Click to expand...
you can pick up a nice used single neck, 3 pedal 1 lever for between 1000 and 1500 if you take your time and look around. Considerably less than a new Les Paul.

here is one GFI Instruments s 10 SM Pedal Steel Guitar w Case 3 Pedals 4 Levers Mint | eBay
 
I just bought a car for the wife and found out during the financing that because I haven't bought anything on credit since 2008 my credit score is nonexistent. I have to laugh, the wife has a credit score of over 850 and she is retired and doesn't work, but, she buys a lot of stuff on credit cards that I am not a part of. My coworker says, why don't you buy something on credit. I thought about it and said there is nothing I need or want? Then I thought yea, I will get a card or a loan and buy a pedal steel. Ran it by the wife and maybe withing the next six months I will be buying one.
 
jimistone said:
Damn, sounds like pedal steel is a bitch to learn. It looks easy when Buddy Emmons plays one.
Also, unlike a guitar you can't go buy a cheap used one for $100. Even if you come off $1000 you're not in the ballpark of a good used one. (Maybe an unfinished project that is missing all the pedals and levers)
Click to expand...

As I stated, if you know basic theory and chord building and can transpose in your head fairly quickly it is not that much of a bitch to learn, but, it is a bitch to play. They are not musical instruments, they are contraptions.
 
dragonworks said:
I just bought a car for the wife and found out during the financing that because I haven't bought anything on credit since 2008 my credit score is nonexistent. I have to laugh, the wife has a credit score of over 850 and she is retired and doesn't work, but, she buys a lot of stuff on credit cards that I am not a part of. My coworker says, why don't you buy something on credit. I thought about it and said there is nothing I need or want? Then I thought yea, I will get a card or a loan and buy a pedal steel. Ran it by the wife and maybe withing the next six months I will be buying one.
Click to expand...

Cool dragonworks!
I can supply you with "Ray price shuffle" and classic country tunes to practice on.
:)
Also, pedal steels kick serious ass on blues....but I don't think most of the guys doing blues use the pedals and levers. They mostly use them like a lap steel it appears. I may be wrong about that.
 
beezelbubba said:
Get ready to laugh your asses off.This is a piece of soft maple I hacked up, stuck an old acoustic guitar fretboard onto it. A set of chinsey classical guitar tuners, then attached my Roland GK3. It works beautifully! :D
Bettin' jimi's havin' 2nd thoughts about my involvement in this project!:eek:
Click to expand...
Shit man, I'm impressed! It looks like you did a great job on it to me. I'm still at the beginning stages of a telecaster project, but after I knock that out I may do a steel guitar next. As far as my project goes, I'm honored that you are taking the time to collaborate with me beez!
 
jimistone said:
Cool dragonworks!
I can supply you with "Ray price shuffle" and classic country tunes to practice on.
:)
Also, pedal steels kick serious ass on blues....but I don't think most of the guys doing blues use the pedals and levers. They mostly use them like a lap steel it appears. I may be wrong about that.
Click to expand...
I went and saw the Robert Randolph band for free and he was using the right knee lever #4 more than anything else. I had to leave after about the fourth tune, it was too loud. I have been told by steel players he uses it more like a lap steel than anything else. Once you start getting the bends in the leads along with the swell of the volume pedal it is just too cool.
The one pictured is the same as the one I had. First three pedals and knee levers for the E9 neck, the other four pedals for the C6 neck.
 

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dragonworks said:
They are not musical instruments, they are contraptions.
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Fuck yeah. :facepalm:

Tuning them and getting all the pedal/lever action to also be in tune and smooth operating...
.... is like changing spark plugs on a Japanese sub-compact.

My PS is a Frankensteel...no-name brand, though I can see where there use to be a name plate.
It's older...uses round-wire rods, and it's been overhauled and changed around a bit judging by the amount of drill holes and screw holes underneath.
I spent a couple of days on it when I first got it...cleaning it, and making adjustments to the pedal/level action. It's obvious that it was assembled from a variety of parts....but it plays and works....it's just not a brand-spankin new one with modern mechanics.

I would love a new top-name PS...but they're not cheap, and at the time when I bought this one, I was working on a song that needed that sound, so I grabbed the first decent looking one on eBay that I could afford at the time. I think I paid $600-$700 for this one.
I've thought many a time about getting more proficient on the PS...then selling my "starter" one for a brand new one, maybe even built-to-order from one of the more reasonably priced builders. I have specific preferences....I hate the pedal positions, and I would prefer all pedals to any levers...well, maybe one lever on the right...and I could probably do fine with only an 8-string.
Of course...if I ever get more serious into the PS...I might have a different perspective...but honestly, I don't see myself getting that serious where I go play with a country band. It would still be for my own use...so I think I would want it to fit me, rather than me having to fit some standard layout...but from what I've seen....there is no one "standard" pedal/level layout. I mean...it does seem to be a player's choice for a lot of them, though the classic 3+3 is pretty much the most common.

Anyway...I still need to get Jimistone's song done. :D
Broke a string last night...ended up retuning the WHOLE thing...pedals and levers too...and finally laid down some tracks.
I think I will have something representable done today...and I'll tweak it and finish it NLT the weekend.
It's been frustrating getting the PS out of the mothballs...but also fun.
Took me awhile just to figure out which signal path sounded best, as I chose to track it DI rather than amp/mic.
I'll post a picture and also give you the signal chain when I'm done. :)
 
There's a tuning system, the name of which I am forgetting, that uses slightly flat or sharp values for notes bent by pedals or levers. When our pedal steel player switched to that system things sounded substantially more in tune.
 
I've got big hands, and the finger picks are really uncomfortable - so as I have thick strong nails, I'm using my finger nails and just the thumb pick.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
There's a tuning system, the name of which I am forgetting, that uses slightly flat or sharp values for notes bent by pedals or levers. When our pedal steel player switched to that system things sounded substantially more in tune.
Click to expand...

I just use the "sweetened" proprietary tunings that are programmed in my Peterson V-SAM tuner.
Has them for both E9 and C6, and yes...they are +/- offsets from equal tempered.

I tried by ear, and equal...and the Peterson sweetened tunings sound the best.
Not sure of the values, but I can tune and then check against equal tempered if anyone really needs to know. :)

First I set the lever and pedal tuning action using equal...then I use the Peterson E9 to tune the guitar.
 
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