How many of you pedal steel players enjoy playing non-pedal?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 13 May 2011 10:03 am

I'm just curious, that's all. If you answered "yes", what kind of approach do you have to playing?

Robbie Daniels · Post by **Robbie Daniels** » 13 May 2011 10:17 am

I enjoy playing non-pedal steels in addition to my D12 pedal steel, I have a D10 non-pedal, a S12 non-pedal and a 6 string 1939 Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian non-pedal. All are distinct in sounds.

Peter den Hartogh · Post by **Peter den Hartogh** » 13 May 2011 11:55 am

I got a couple of 6 and 8 string lapsteels, each with a different tuning.
The tuning depends on the song I am playing so I just grab the guitar I need for a particular song.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 13 May 2011 12:01 pm

I play my console every chance I get. I love the sound.

If you answered "yes", what kind of approach do you have to playing?

I use the same approach on straight steel as pedal. If I want the note to be higher I go right. If I want it lower I go left.

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 13 May 2011 12:39 pm

I use to love playing some non-pedal. . .

but that EX of mine kept the Stringmaster when she divorced me AGAIN. And she wouldn't give me any visitation rights to it either.

Guess I didn't learn my lesson the first time back in 2007.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 13 May 2011 2:46 pm

Mike Neer wrote:I'm just curious, that's all. If you answered "yes", what kind of approach do you have to playing?

I basically play the old country E13th style (Don Helms, Little Roy Wiggins) and a bit of C6th/A6th Hawaiian style. Lately I've also been getting into the more folk/blues E major approach. Also, I can play rock leads on lap steel as required.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 13 May 2011 3:09 pm

Have,nt in a while but used to play a lot of blues and southern rock on a sixstring Catcan. worked great with a Boss DS -1 distortion pedal. REALLY enjoyed it. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Norman Evans · Post by **Norman Evans** » 13 May 2011 3:18 pm

I started out playing non-pedal about 37 years ago. I switched to pedals after a couple of years and very seldom touched the non-pedal until 4 or 5 years ago. Since then I have played it quite a bit and I really enjoy it. I have learned some things I can apply to my pedal steel playing from it. I play mostly A6th on a D-8 Fender Stringmaster, 1957.

Keith DeLong · Post by **Keith DeLong** » 13 May 2011 4:26 pm

Just got hold of an old TriState 6string lap steel, tuned it to C6h,CEGACE low to high, having a great time with it. The pedal steel is too heavy to bring everywhere, soi justy plug the lap steel into my Fender Deluxe Reverb and away I go.

David Kurrasch · Post by **David Kurrasch** » 13 May 2011 5:07 pm

Mike, it's funny that you included the option of the boss making you do it. That would describe how I got started. When I started my current gig, the boss wanted to hear a lap steel on a few songs. I tried to resist, and just get a different tone on my pedal steel, but I finally gave in, and picked up a couple of 6 string lap steels. Now that I am playing it, I am enjoying it more than I ever thought I would! I experimented with a few tunings, and ended up going with open g dobro tuning, mostly because I was already familiar with it.

Elton Smith · Post by **Elton Smith** » 13 May 2011 5:31 pm

I like playing non pedal very much.Its just hard to beat the sound of a Dobro.I EQ a power slide to replicate a dobro very well.Then I use an acoustic electric resignator if it don't feedback to much.I also use a 6string lap for some of the vintage stuff.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 13 May 2011 5:35 pm

I'd also like to hear from those who answered "Yuck, never!" Can you tell me why?

Joseph Barcus · Post by **Joseph Barcus** » 13 May 2011 5:46 pm

I love my job working with David Church as most know he is one of the best Hank Wiliams Sr tribute artist out there. I have a 8 string supro I take out sometimes and should do it more often but I also have a doubble neck emmons I play all the Hank stuff on the back neck with out the use of the pedals. after this next run out I will have some time off and going to tune the back neck to E6th with the 9 on top, curious how thats going to work thanks to Bob for getting the strings needed for that change

John DeBoalt · Post by **John DeBoalt** » 13 May 2011 7:54 pm

I play Blue Grass resonator guitar. I like the hammer on and pull off licks, and doing some of the faster stuff. I don't play my Morell lap much anymore. the country band I play with doesn't do much of anything out of the 50's, and it's just one more piece of gear to tote. John

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 13 May 2011 8:49 pm

Mike Neer wrote:I'd also like to hear from those who answered "Yuck, never!" Can you tell me why?

Well, neither of the 1st two answer categories applied to me: Since I don't play nonpedal steel, I can't say "Yes, Very Much", and I don't have a boss so I can't say the second one either. So I voted #3 ("Yuck, never") even though it doesn't really represent my opinion too well either.

But, FWIW, if you want to know why I don't play non-pedal, it's basically because I'm a lazy SOB, okay? (There. I've said it.) I've never invested the time to master the bar slant techniques required (and don't even ask me about trying the Leavitt tuning!) or the higher-order thinking about partials to get extended chords or when the root isn't present to anchor my thinking, etc. Oh, I've owned a few non-pedals over the years (and might again some day), but whenever I think about the time required for me to get good at it, it competes with the time I could be spending getting even better at pedal steel where I have a huge head-start and greater interest.

And now, to boot, I'm spending huge amounts of time studying jazz guitar. Originally, that was just as a vehicle to learn more jazz harmony and improv techniques, so I could apply them to pedal steel. But now I find, I've changed my mind; I've opened up the door. Help me if you can... (Oops! Sorry, free-associating again)

Now I'm enjoying playing jazz guitar in its own right, but it is indeed spilling over to my steel playing. (Well, it has to, right? After all, it's the same player, thinkin' up the same lines, attributable to and constrained by the same level of harmonic understanding.)

Anyway, that's probably more than you cared to know. But could you add a fourth category to your poll, called "Cuz I'm too frickin' lazy, that's why!" ?

Jimbeaux
p.s. The thing is, as I study more jazz guitar, I'm learning those partials anyway, so once I have them under my belt, I might consider another run at non-pedal steel.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 13 May 2011 11:22 pm

Since i started out on lap steel, i've always played some
Basically, my musical upbringing bein' da blues, a lil 6 string tuned open E w: a dom7 on string 4 ( when needed a 6th or 13 on string 2) does me jes' fine
Never messed around w: an 8 string job but since i got a D10 psg & that i really dig C6, well i'm set for the holy land
Thanx to this forum my musical education, has been enlarged & that's priceless

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 14 May 2011 12:14 am

I'm playing more non-pedal than pedal steel these days. For me, it's more a matter of using the right tool for the job. I might be able to play Hawaiian music on a modern pedal steel, but it wouldn't sound right, or look right, or feel right to me. Similarly, vintage western swing of a certain era really needs the kind of sounds that are inherent in the tunings used for that music. Also, I can't play a pedal steel standing up.

Although the non-pedal is fun for swing-era jazz, I prefer the pedal steel and it's extended chord capabilities for playing modern jazz. Like Jim, I already know my way around it without having to think very hard. I can sight read and blow over a set of jazz changes on C6 pedal steel, but to do that on the non-pedal with any tuning would probably overload the circuits in my aging brain. The pedal steel is a better tool for expressing myself in that genre, just as the non-pedal works better for me in others.

That's not to say that I think non-pedal has to be relegated to any particular genre or style. I know that there are new players taking the steel in new directions without pedals, and that's great too.

As someone who started out playing pedal steel and only recently got serious about non-pedal, I think playing non-pedal has helped me conceptualize the pedal steel in a more complete way. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I had come to pedal steel from a solid non-pedal background, the way an earlier generation of players did. I imagine that my approach to pedal steel would be very different.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 14 May 2011 12:28 am

Here is my 14 string converted half of a Stringmaster.

My 7 string cat can, the only one Duane made

and the cam levers on my 3 neck stringmaster.

This song is a duet between my stringmaster and my pedal steel guitar.

http://www.perlowinmusic.com/GershwinPrelude2.mp3

john widgren · Post by **john widgren** » 14 May 2011 5:37 am

I do, specially when the option of lugging PSG is unattractive, or impossible. It is fun, and a challenge. I just play the bottom neck (modern C6) without pedals. As non pedal is not my primary focus, I always prefer 10 or 12 strings, which helps.

I like making them too, when I have the time.

Best, JW

Dennis Olearchik · Post by **Dennis Olearchik** » 14 May 2011 6:08 am

Mike P, I enjoyed that duet clip. Thank you!

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 14 May 2011 6:56 am

I don't play n.p. for the honky tonk gigs. I do play my 52' Custom with a jumpin' rockabilly/swing/jump blues band. It seems to be "genre appropriate".

E13/C6/A6

h

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 14 May 2011 9:08 am

I'm a 'Yuk, Never' guy.

Like Jimbeaux, it doesn't represent my real feelings, but it's the closest. To me, the joy of playing pedal steel was always in the ability to change chords seamlessly with maybe four or five strings ringing throughout the change. Slanting the bar is an enviable skill, but it doesn't give one the same result, and the ensuing intonation compromises spoil the effect for me.

While I appreciate the historic significance of yesteryear's steel players, I'm not drawn to the sound of, say, Hank Williams' recordings - perhaps I'm a Phillistine, but there it is.....

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 14 May 2011 9:55 am

Roger Rettig wrote:the joy of playing pedal steel was always in the ability to change chords seamlessly with maybe four or five strings ringing throughout the change.

I agree with you 95%.
The other 5% is the closer connection with the sound that I feel while playing a non pedal guitar.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 14 May 2011 10:13 am

I am not sure whether or not I should be doing this or not; however, I’ll do it anyhow. I have a Guya D8 and a Remington D10 both of course non-pedal. A new but very good friend of mine, Kyle Rhodes, plays a Mullen 12 and he will not leave my no-pedals alone. He continuously takes my Guya D8 home and will keep it for two to three weeks at a stretch, (if I don’t have to use it at a gig).

His theory is that it’s like learning to play a new instrument that is just as difficult to learn as his pedal steel. (he has to use a D10 bar because of the size of his hands). To him it has a completely different sound, the no pedal thing means that he has to play it in a completely different manner “slants” and has had to learn to play with a completely different tunings.

To me, playing his Mullen 12 is like laying a harp and its side and trying to keep my fingers from getting lost.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 14 May 2011 10:25 am

I could never really catch on with the pedal steel--it is what I wanted to play, though, but I just wasn't any good at it. Not to mention that I didn't like packing and unpacking it every night.

Part of my approach to playing non-pedal is to try to do all the things I like the sound of that aren't necessarily associated with the instrument, such as playing all those "other" chords, playing single note lines like Buddy Emmons might play, or even trying to sound like Jan Hammer or George Duke, which is my latest fascination. In other words, I don't want to be limited in any way.

I really enjoy the freedom that I've found on the non-pedal. I don't think it would have ever happened for me on a pedal steel, although that is what has inspired me to go the extra mile.

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