Steel Crazy: Getting Started on Steel Part Two: Pedal Steel

By Bill McCloskey
A Pedal Steel Guitar is a beast. It is big, it is heavy, it is complicated, and it is easily the most mechanical “portable” instrument in the world. It also can make sounds that no other instrument can make, which is why people get hooked, are addicted to the sound, and are willing to put in the years of work it takes to get comfortable behind this contraption.

So what is a Pedal Steel Guitar anyway? As we mentioned in our first column, the Pedal Steel was designed as an answer to the then current “Steel Guitar” problem. As the lap steel or as it is also known, the “Straight Steel” matured, additional strings were added opening up the opportunity to experiment with different Steel tunings. Different tunings led to multiple necks, eventually expanding to the “Quad” or four necked steel guitar.

Someone had the bright idea of adding a few pedals to the steel so that depressing a couple of levers, the steel could be re-tuned. Eventually someone discovered that by hitting the pedals while playing, a whole new sound, never heard before, could be made. The seminal recording that marks the beginning of pedal steel as a force and the beginning of the end for straight steel players is the song “Slowly” released in 1953 by country star Webb Pierce. Click here to hear the steel parts of Slowly That song drove Steel players crazy as they tried to figure out how it was done. It was done on a new invention: not just a steel anymore, a steel with pedals was now born and the world would never be the same.

In a nut shell, a Pedal Steel guitar is like a steel guitar but instead of the strings being fixed near the bridge, each string is attached to a crank, or changer, which is rotated via a mechanism of rods, pedals, and knee levers. That changer can tighten the string and thus raise the tone of the note a step or two, so that a C note is now a D just by pressing a lever, or the opposite: a string can grow slack and have the tone lowered.  By pressing different combinations of pedals and knee levers, completely different chords can be formed on the same strings at the same horizontal position of the bar on the strings. The Pedals and Knee Levers can be set up in different configurations and additional pedals and knee levers can be added and customized. Each Pedal or lever can raise one or more strings, lower one or more strings, or do both at the same time, raising some strings and lowering others. As a result chords can seem to melt into each other, a trick that no other instrument I’m aware of can pull off to the degree that a Pedal Steel can.

Traditionally the guitar can have one or two necks of usually 10 or 12 strings. The standard set up for most country steel guitarists is a 10 string neck tuned to an E9th chord and a minimum of 3 pedals. A second neck, which is more popular among jazzier, swing-style players, again with 10 strings, is usually tuned to a C6 chord. A third configuration, called the Universal Tuning, is a single 12 string neck which combines the E9th and C6th tunings in a single neck, although it drops the C6th tuning two steps to a Bb6 tuning to make this magic happen.

All these pedals, levers, necks, and strings keeps the Steel Guitarist pretty busy as you can imagine as every part of the body is engaged: feet, knees, hands, eyes, and, hopefully, ears.

The exact combination of strings, tunings, pedals, and knee levers, plus the strings that each raises or lowers is known as the instrument’s Copedent which stands for ChOrd PEDal arrangemENT (don’t ask me why). It is the mating call of all Pedal Steel Guitarists and is usually the first words out of their mouths when talking about a new Steel they might have purchased or are thinking of purchasing, or are thinking of selling: “What’s Your Copedent?”.

Other accessories in the arsenal of most  Pedal Steel guitarists include a volume pedal (in order to make those nice volume swells that are part and parcel of country pedal steel playing) and, of course,  an amp. Because of the dynamic range possible in a pedal steel, special Steel Guitar amps are employed and manufactured by companies such as Peavey, Fender, and other independent manufacturers. Other fun toys include reverb units and a slew of other effects.

All of this can make getting started in Pedal Steel expensive. Fortunately, Pedal Steel manufacturer, Carter, has come up with a solution: The Carter Starter. Priced at well under $1,000, the beginning steel player can get started with everything the need, including an amp for just north of $1,000.

And as long as you are interested in playing country music, there is a big old pile of instructional material and the Carter Starter can play about 90% of it. The late Jeff Newman has complete courses in Pedal Steel that will get you up and wailing in hours. Other well regarded teachers and materials include the late Winnie Winston’s book, and materials from Joe Wright, which  are my personal favorite. Joe also has the distinction of playing a great rock and roll pedal steel and provides one of the few courses available for those wanting to rock out.

As far as players go, Buddy Emmons is God to most Pedal Steel players and his name is spoken with reverence among all steel players, the way Clapton or Hendrix, or Steve Ray are among guitar players. Other great players include Herbie Wallace, the late Hal Rugg, and Paul Franklin who has played with Dire Straits. And of course we can’t mention rock and roll steel without mentioning the great pioneer Sneaky Pete, who was responsible for many people taking up steel in the first place after hearing him wail with country rock bands from the 70’s like the Flying Burrito Brothers. And much to the consternation of many in the Steel Guitar community, Jerry Garcia’s Pedal Steel playing on Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Teach Your Children Well” is probably the most instantly recognizable PSG licks, by a cross over audience,  in the history of the instrument.

The Pedal Steel Guitar does face its challenges: the cost and weight of the equipment can limit its appeal and the rock bands that drove demand in the 70’s are no longer around to excite a new generation. Even in the country music realm, steel guitar which so defined country music for an older generation, is goes missing as country acts become pop acts with a cowboy hat.

The sad fact is that hard core Pedal Steel players are an ever aging group. But there is hope on the horizon. Unknown until the late 90’s, a whole tradition of Black worship music whose main instrument was the straight and pedal steel has been making people leap to their feet since the 30’s in House of God churches around the country. Unknown outside of the church until it was recorded by a documentary film crew in Florida just a few years ago, this music, marketed as Sacred Steel, has excited a new generation of musicians with its driving rhythms and rock-style playing. Robert Randolph grew out of this tradition and is documented in his teens playing in the House of God church in Newark and, along with his band, has been able to cross over and popularize the Sacred Steel tradition within the pop mainstream. The Campbell Brothers present a closer tie to the original church tradition and are just drop jaw amazing. Pick up their latest album “Can You Feel It” if you want to have your world changed. This is music so exciting, that you won’t believe it has been closeted away under our noses for so many years.

For those wanting additional info on Pedal Steel Guitar, the best resource, bar none is the Steel Guitar Forum.

Next time: the last in our “Getting Started” article as we attack the lap or straight steel.

Comments

[Dave Hendricks]

Great intro to some great players Bill.

How about Lloyd Green? While certainly no cross-over artist, he is widely held to be one of the best PSG players, especially among his peers. Check him out, he's been in re-release lately.

[Bill McCloskey]

Oh Boy,

Here it comes..

:)

I knew as soon as I mentioned one player, I'd get someone mad because I left out their favorite!

The fact is that there are many many many many great players not mentioned in the article - including one of my favorites Reece Anderson!

Additional players are left as a research project for the student. :)

[Joey Ace]

I enjoy reading your articles, Bill.

I am usually not concerned with spelling, but please note the rock band Paul toured and recorded with is "Dire Straits".

Tom Bradshaw should be given credit (or is it blame) for inventing the term "Copedent".

Joey

[Bill McCloskey]

Thanks for the correction Joey,

Be on hand for a lot more: I'm a lousy proof reader.

[Larry Strawn]

Bill, excellent article, I really enjoyed reading it.
Larry

[Clay Eals]

Bill:

Wonderful to see your reference to Steve Goodman having worn your cowboy hat in 1972 at a club in Denver. You may know about my biography, "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music," but if not, please see my web site, clayeals.com. The book is in second printing, and in case it goes to a third, I would like to talk with you and get your anecdote into the book. Please contact me.

Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958

(206) 935-7515 home
(206) 484-8008 cell
[email protected]
http://www.clayeals.com