Raising the E's

Stephen Williams · From: from Wales now in Berkeley,Ca, USA

What is the purpose? You can get a C# major chord but other than that what am I missing?

Dale Rottacker · From: Walla Walla Washington, USA

Iâ€™m no theorist, but with your A pedal & F lever you also get a Major Chord 3 frets up from the open position... with AB pedal you get an Augmented chord 1 back of the open position... B pedal and F lever gives you, I donâ€™t know what itâ€™s called but itâ€™s pretty... Strings 986 and 5 with the F Lever will repeat every 3 frets... Like I said, Iâ€™m NOT a Music Theorist, but these are just a few of the ways I use them and there are many many more.
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Will Cowell · From: Cambridgeshire, UK

The E's lower and E's raise are really, really useful, Steve, for a variety of chords and scale notes. It's worth remembering that the steel community would not have stuck to them if they were not worth having.

PM me if you would like a copy of my E9 cheat sheet, it may help.
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Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

I didn't have this change in my first pedal steel life (I owned lots of 3+1 guitars back then), so I am not one of those "couldn't live without this change" players. But I find myself using it more and more nowadays. In that C# (or, as I thing of it, three frets above open) position, you get a lot of unique voicing and melodic possibilities.

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Rule of thumb: if you take too long writing a convoluted reply, others will have already posted the same answer in a more succinct and direct way. Winking

Douglas Schuch · From: Valencia, Philippines

Stephen,

Here are a couple of samples in the very first stanzas of a song I am working on: Doug Sahm's "Cowboy Peyton Place". The steeler is Tommy Detamore, and the tab was done by Jeff Garden. Here is a link to the tab and there a further link to the song on Youtube:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=283143

In the intro, just before the fiddles come in, there are a series of slides up, each going higher, on strings 4+5. The third slide up ends on fret 6 with the A pedal and F lever engaged. You see this in the second line of the first page of Jeff's tab. There is an extended version of this lick at the start of the solo, again using the F-lever.

Next, in between the second and third lines of lyrics in the song, Tommy does a nice descending lick on strings 3+4 that uses the F lever. This is found on the second line of the second page of the tab.

The steel on this song just blows me away - I have suddenly become a big fan of Tommy D.!
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Dale Rottacker · From: Walla Walla Washington, USA

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

The E to F raised is also used to get a 7th chord.

Jim Kennedy · From: Brentwood California, USA

Tom Bradshaw's chord book, available on his site for free, covers all of the basic chord possibilities of an e9 3&4. Well worth the read for both beginners and seasoned players.
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Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

Tom Bradshaw's work develops chord structure on E9 in a way that makes sense. Chord building. I concur with Jim.

Stephen Williams · From: from Wales now in Berkeley,Ca, USA

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful replies. Truly Awesome.

Since i don't have an E9 co-pedant but some version of it I'll have to translate e.g. what levers are what.

BUT I do know that it is an important change, I just put it on my PSG.

Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

Seriously, raising and lowering the E's a half tone are my most used knee levers.
First off it give you the next inversions 3 frets up from the chords without pedals.
A very smooth passing as you go from the non pedal open chord to the pedals sown chord 7 great up.
As Erv said, another 7th, can't have too many places to have 7th chords.
From the open go up 3 frets while engaging pedal A and the knee that raises the E strings. After you get there release the A pedal for a great 7th. From there you can slide up 2 frets to the open 4th or down 1 fret releasing the knee and adding the B pedal to get the 5th and then down 2 more releasing the Pedal A and lowering the E's by the other knee to get the 5th chord as another 7th.
And a whole lot more.
Back one fret from open and engage that knee for your diminished...
Add that knee to the AB pedals for an augmented 5th.
I'd guess I use those two knee levers 10 time for every time I might use my other 3 knee levers. If I only had two knee levers it would be those. With those and the AB pedals I'd think you can play 85% of what you have heard.
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Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

If I only had one knee lever I'd have a hard time deciding if I should get the E to F or the E to Eb. It's that good.
If I only had 1 lever I guess I'd use it to raise the 4th and lower the 8th each a half tone.
Lloyd green and some other pros have that but don't lower the 4th at all.
But I ain't no Lloyd. Whoa!

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Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

With the F lever and the A pedal, you have all 3 voicings of a major chord on the same strings. The top 2 strings also provide scale tones in those positions. release the A pedal and you have a (rootless) 7th chord or a diminished chord.

FWIW, I have a Sho-Bud Maverick with only one lever, and that's it. To me, it's the most important knee lever.
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Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

just look at strings 8 + 5 alone

There is so much melody on those two strings with the E raise, E lower ( string 8 ) and raise and lower ( string 5) that it will take us a lifetime to find it all.

string 8, natural, raise and lower ( two levers)

String 5 natural ,raise ( A ped) and lower ( X lever)

Note:

The X lever ( 5 lower) although an excellent addition is the one we could live without if need be , as when seeking melody with 5 and 8, we can always back up the bar one fret for the 5 lower and raise the E ( string 8 ) for the redundant phrase.

And yes, all the above stuff is true, scales , chords etc...Root chord open position, to 4 frets up with the A ped and E raise lever is not an option, it's fundamental.

Go yee forward on the journey ! Smile

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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

If you use the F lever in conjunction with the A and B pedals, you get an augmented chord.

I wish someone would explain to me how to get a demented chord.
Or maybe they're only available on a banjo. Laughing

Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Andy,
You've got that wrong!
All the girls get prettier at closing time. Laughing

Pat Chong · From: New Mexico, USA

Hello Steve,

The A-F combo adds another "home fret" (where you start to play).

There are 2 "home frets" you can start with:
No pedal and A+B pedal home frets.
That said, you have 5 frets back or 7 frets forward before you can reach another home fret, and that is too much fret room. However, when you add the A-F combo, it reduces the space, adding another home fret.
Instead of 0(start), 7(frets up), 5(more frets up), (12 frets to the next octave), it now becomes 0, 3, 4, 5 (next octave). So you have 3 home frets between octaves (what I am familiar with).

And then there is "half-pedaling" the A pedal (raising the B to C instead of C#). For example, the A-F combo at the 3rd fret will give you E major. Half pedal A and you get G#m (3m) at the same fret. 2 frets back and it F#m (2m).

That's the interesting thing about the steel guitar: being able to do the same thing in so many different ways!

...................Pat

Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

"She Ain't much to see, but she looks good to me through the bottom of a glass"
From a Hank Thompson song.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.

David Mitchell · From: Tyler, Texas

I made a video for a guy that asked me that same question. Many uses but here is just a simple one. The E raises and lowers are the oldest levers on a pedal steel guitar.

https://youtu.be/qReN7iV5TdI

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Here's an interesting little chart:

Rick Abbott · From: Indiana, USA

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

Could not image a life without the "F" and "E" knees. I use those two knees constantly without thinking of it. To me it's like using a "A, B, and C' pedals. Or the 5th and 6th pedals on the back neck.

Jason Duguay · From: Massachusetts, USA

This is good stuff.
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