Pedal Steel Emulation

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nate_dennis

nate_dennis

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Does anyone have any ideas on how I can emulate the sound of a pedal steel on a standard electric? I don't have access to a pedal stell but would like the sound of one on some stuff I'm about to record. I'll be playing a strat if that helps at all. Thanks in advance.
 
i knew a guy

several years ago that played a Gretsch with a volume pedal and bigsby and a real clean sound with reverb. You couldn't tell it wasn't a pedal steel. This guy was an awesome guitar player! I picked up some of those licks from him but he was a master at it. He said it took a lot of time and practice to get the vibrato bar, the volume pedal and the strings bending all at the right time but it was good. He knew more chords than any body I've ever seen.
 
Not really answering the question, but I know pedal steels are really expensive -- lap steel guitars sometimes aren't so bad (but you don't have pedals, of course).

But anyway, we had bought my son a "Les Paul Peewee" for his fourth birthday - it was kind of cool, but it wouldn't hold tune hardly at all, and he got so discouraged, he put down the guitar for another 4 years! :D More recently, we put Martin resonator strings on it (really heavy) and use it as a lap steel - it sounds pretty good.

The pickup shouldn't be too hot (or you could turn it down), and just run the guitar into your DAW preamp (assuming you want to record -- for playing live, just use a really clean amp, I guess) - *don't* use an amp model, but instead just work with the dry sound, and put either echo or reverb on it. It's worth a try with a full scale guitar -- it might be more difficult to play because you'd have reach further and move faster.

Do you have a solid steel (or some kind of metal, I guess) slide? The ones that look like long bullets are easiest for me to work with, as opposed to the ones that have a built in handle - that's because I can roll them around better. Like this: http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-Stainless-Steel-Pro-Tonebar?sku=425257

Full disclosure -- I pretty much suck at playing lap steel, but I've been personally happy with some of the tracks I've made this way.

edit: - I actually went out and got a volume pedal to use with all this, but I haven't done it yet :o
 
I like the idea of volume+reverb+bigsby. I'll have to adopt it a bit, but could work. Yeah, I'll be using a slide. I can't watch youtube on this computer but I'll check it out ASAP. Thanks for the response. I was afraid this was one of those "you can't really do that."
 
Half the battle is also WHAT you're playing. I've also heard guys do some pretty good faux-pedalsteel stuff simply by doing compound bend licks.

Of the top of my head, two grips I'd try would be stuff like this:


|-------12------|----------|
|----12---------|----------|
|-11-----(b13)--|-----6b8--|
|---------------|---9------|
|---------------|-9--------|
|---------------|----------|


Try stuff like that - let it ring. Basically, play chord voicings and either bend from suspensions into chord tones, or from chord tones to like 6ths or 9ths or the like.
 
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Another option would be a lap steel guitar. Rondo has one for cheap, cheap, cheap and it's not horrible considering it's only $115 with a case included.
 
Real pedal steel sounds are basically impossible to emulate. Heck, even most steel guitarists don't do so well. :o The key thing isn't the slide or the volume pedal - it's changing chords by moving one (or more) notes while others stay still. For example, play a G and D note together. That implies a G chord. Now bend the G up to A, and you get A and D, implying a D chord, a I-V harmonic movement. Better yet, bend thirds - C-E to C-F, for example. Now, play four notes at once and do the same trick. THAT is why the pedal steel sounds so amazing! That's also why it's a difficult instrument - you really need to know your chords and voice leading inside and out in order to play it.

Lap steel can get you some of the whine, but not the harmonic motion. Guitar with a volume pedal... ehh. There's a whole subset of country guitar playing that's about getting pedal steel licks on a regular guitar using oblique bends, which is a fun art form itself if you keep in mind that it's just a shadow of the real thing. There's a device called a B Bender that's sometimes fitted to Telecasters (and occasionally other guitars). It'll bend the B string to C#, or perhaps the G to A, and it sounds a bit more like pedal steel than oblique bends do. The song "Take It Easy" by the Eagles uses a B-Bender for the lead guitar, and that's pretty characteristic.

Once a month or so, I sit down behind the pedal steel and let it kick my ass. The only way to play it decently is to practice every day for a couple of years, assuming you're already a competent musician when you start. Hardest instrument I've ever tried! Forget imitating it on other instruments at anything above the parody level!

You want some "country" pedal steel on your recording? Here's my advice... find a nice sample library of typical pedal steel licks, and use that. Or hire a session musician.
 
one of the Digitech units had a steel guitar setting that made things sound pretty real....

But that youtube deal is the best I have seen ;)
 
JTC111 said:
Another option would be a lap steel guitar. Rondo has one for cheap, cheap, cheap and it's not horrible considering it's only $115 with a case included.
Click to expand...

Yup, actually better then all the others in that price range. Has that goldtone sorta look to it too.:D
 
kludge said:
Real pedal steel sounds are basically impossible to emulate. Heck, even most steel guitarists don't do so well. :o The key thing isn't the slide or the volume pedal - it's changing chords by moving one (or more) notes while others stay still. For example, play a G and D note together. That implies a G chord. Now bend the G up to A, and you get A and D, implying a D chord, a I-V harmonic movement. Better yet, bend thirds - C-E to C-F, for example. Now, play four notes at once and do the same trick. THAT is why the pedal steel sounds so amazing! That's also why it's a difficult instrument - you really need to know your chords and voice leading inside and out in order to play it.

Lap steel can get you some of the whine, but not the harmonic motion. Guitar with a volume pedal... ehh. There's a whole subset of country guitar playing that's about getting pedal steel licks on a regular guitar using oblique bends, which is a fun art form itself if you keep in mind that it's just a shadow of the real thing. There's a device called a B Bender that's sometimes fitted to Telecasters (and occasionally other guitars). It'll bend the B string to C#, or perhaps the G to A, and it sounds a bit more like pedal steel than oblique bends do. The song "Take It Easy" by the Eagles uses a B-Bender for the lead guitar, and that's pretty characteristic.

Once a month or so, I sit down behind the pedal steel and let it kick my ass. The only way to play it decently is to practice every day for a couple of years, assuming you're already a competent musician when you start. Hardest instrument I've ever tried! Forget imitating it on other instruments at anything above the parody level!

You want some "country" pedal steel on your recording? Here's my advice... find a nice sample library of typical pedal steel licks, and use that. Or hire a session musician.
Click to expand...

It's not impossible to emulate; you basically said how to do it.

You have to use lots of precise oblique bends (bending notes while holding others unbent) and volume swells.

A B-bender on a Tele will do a great job at many pedal-steel sounding licks.

Drew listed two very common ones that will sound very pedal steel-like with precise intonation and volume swells.

Also, the use of pre-bends and releases helps to get pedal steel sounds.

For instance, fret a C# (ninth fret) on string 1, and pre-bend the G (eighth fret) on string 2 up a whole step to A. Pluck this (you should hear A and C#) and then release the bend, so you end up with a G-C# A7 sounding-double stop.

Those kinds of things are very pedal-steel-like.
 
very killer! Thanks so much guys. I will check out the YouTube thing when I'm at a comp. that will let me. You guys rock!
 
I play a B-Bender tele and use it to cop pedal steel parts here and there. It can get you close, but it's hard to match up because of the steel's tuning and lever system. There's some stuff they do that guitar players just can't! Some guys go all out with volume swells and such trying to nail the steel vibe where as I'd rather just hit the bends and leave it sound more like a guitar.

Here's a link to a song I did where I use the B-bender throughout with lots of little licks and such. It's not great, but might give you some ideas to try.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6368798
 
EZchair Pickin said:
I play a B-Bender tele and use it to cop pedal steel parts here and there. It can get you close, but it's hard to match up because of the steel's tuning and lever system. There's some stuff they do that guitar players just can't! Some guys go all out with volume swells and such trying to nail the steel vibe where as I'd rather just hit the bends and leave it sound more like a guitar.

Here's a link to a song I did where I use the B-bender throughout with lots of little licks and such. It's not great, but might give you some ideas to try.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6368798
Click to expand...

Yeah, these are exactly the kinds of things! Use some volume swells and lots of verb with these types of bends, and you'll get a very pedal steel sound.

Granted, these types of bends are much easier with a B-string bender, but they're not impossible to do without one. Just listen to Jerry Donahue for evidence of that!

P.S. What a strange country song, with all those modulations! It was nicely done and all, but the structure was quite different! :)
 
famous beagle said:
Holy crap! That is one of the coolest inventions I've seen for guitar in my life!

Do you know if you can get a normal guitar fitted with one, or do they only come on Doozys? I seem to be able to find a frightingly small amount of info on these things.
Click to expand...


You can buy it separate, and it fits right on a strat without any mods. Attaches the same way a vintage 6 screw bridge attaches.
 
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