Steelin' Corn Complete Tab - E9th Tab Added

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Steelin' Corn is an instrumental that was written, played and made popular by Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers. It featured Roy Nichols on lead guitar and Norm Hamlet on pedal steel guitar. The tempo at full speed is a brisk 240 BPM. I started learning it at 120 BPM for both the lead and steel parts and will include all the tracks for that below including the complete song, rhythm track with guitar only, rhythm track with steel only and rhythm track only. This way you can hear what the finished product should sound like and practice the steel and guitar parts separately. This song is not really playable on just steel or guitar because the steel plays lead in some sections and then plays harmony in others! Same for the guitar parts. I played this on my Excel 12 string (pictured at left) using just the standard 10 string C6 tuning with a high G string. If you have a high D string on your C6 tuning you can tune it up to G or else use the C to C# knee lever to get the high G string grouping 3 frets up.

It's important to keep pressure behind the bar at the 12th fret to minimize the strings ringing to the left of the bar. Although it's possible to eliminate a few bar slants I found it easier to slant the bar when needed and not have to focus on pushing a pedal while playing at a brisk speed. I've also avoided the use of any pedals or knee levers as they are not really needed but could be used. On the steel solo part you can add C6 pedal 8 and pick up the bottom string at the start of the solo as is barely audible on the original recording but I did not show that in the tab or play it on my recording. I've been able to play this now at 180 BPM after a few weeks of practice and will post sound files and tracks for that as soon as I get them recorded.

There are various links on the net including on YouTube for the guitar tab and a few different ways to play that part. I used the guitar tabs linked below. It's money well spent and you will get a lot more really cool licks with the tab purchase for just a few bucks. I made up my own guitar solo because I couldn't play Roy's version at full speed! The rest of the guitar parts on my recording should be identical to the original.

Updated 8/16/2021: Fixed one error in the tab. Also found a lot faster and more compact way to play the A9 part on steel and as a side lesson the ending tab is shown in 4 different approaches with the preferred approach better matching the timbre of the lead guitar (assumes high G string on top of C6 tuning).

Playing a small section of this song would make a great break tune for a country band!

For complete tabs in pdf format, sound files with rhythm tracks and a chord chart, visit my web site here:

More complete info on my web site

Mike Terry · From: Galesburg Il

Greg, thanks so much for posting this !

Michael Lester · From: Illinois, USA

Thanks Greg.

For Forum members who may not have visited Greg's Site - you should. There's an encyclopedia of knowledge there.

Well worth your time.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Thanks for checking in and giving feedback!

Page 2 of the tab is an idea used in a lot of music sequences and can executed arpeggio or as chords. It shows how the same pocket of notes is available in many places. I actually discovered approach #1 after recording the entire song and went back and re-recorded it using the approach #1 which sounds much clearer like the lead guitar.

I palm blocked all the notes which probably limits my speed to 180 BPM on the steel. I can play the guitar part at 200 now and can only marvel at players that can do this effortlessly at 240 BPM. If you listen to the original Strangers recording you can hear the steel struggling a little bit to get all the notes in and you can hear a few dropouts where notes were missed.

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Greg, super job as usual. I don't think I can do this even at 180 but it's a cool tune. Naturally it sounds better at the faster pace. Thanks Greg.

Allen Howington · From: North Carolina, USA

You wouldn't happen to have this in the E9 version................?

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

I havenâ€™t tried working this up on the E9 tuning yet. Might have to change keys but I see a few positions that would work very well.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

E9th Tab files

E9th tab uses standard pedals and knee levers. There's many ways to play this. What I've tabbed below seems easier to play as you increase your speed. Note that although pedals and knee levers are used, they are not actuated to move notes on the fly but just to mimic the C6 tuning positions and bar movement is used instead to create the correct song phrasing. This is an exact copy of the C6 version and very easy to play on the E9th tuning! The steel solo is part is not included but easily duplicated as well.

Tab in pdf format

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