What is a pedal steel guitar? The pedal steel guitar is a relatively recent development in the guitar family, a direct descendant (or mutation) of the lap steel and is most often a ten stringed instrument.

Also includes a 198 chord chart with instructions on how to develop. In learning to simply play a song on my pedal steel. E9 Beginner very helpful. Pedal Steel Guitar Instruction. William Litaker Music teaches and gives steel guitar lessons. Billlitakermusis gives instruction on the pedal steel guitar.

It is supported by legs, set up in a horizontal position with the playing surface facing upward, and played from a sitting position. Strings are plucked with one hand, usually the right hand and usually with the aid of finger and thumb picks. The other hand 'frets' notes with the use of a tone bar which is usually made of steel and is the source of the name 'steel guitar.' Pedals and knee levers are used to change the pitch of the strings which provide more possibilities for chord construction and melody line playing. The pedal steel guitar has most often been associated with American country and western music in which it was a prominently featured instrument particularly in the 1960's and 1970's.

An extremely versatile instrument, its performance has expanded far beyond its country roots, being used for nearly every style of music conceivable. Its use in the future will only be limited by the imagination of present and future players. How is a pedal steel guitar played? The pedal steel guitar is like any stringed instrument in that the choice of what pitches the strings are tuned to will allow certain chords and even melodies to be played using the open strings alone. When the bar is used on a steel guitar, a player can now change the pitches of the strings by moving the bar up and down the neck. This allows much more freedom for melody playing, but chords will still be limited to the relative intervals and voicings available within the open strings (though slanting the bar can provide some more options). Pressing a pedal or knee lever changes the open pitch of a string, allowing even more freedom to play melodies and far greater options for chord playing.

Using certain pedals and knee levers in combinations adds to this even further. The speed at which a pedal or knee lever is engaged and thus the pitch is changed becomes a manner of musical expression as well, and this ability of the pedal steel to bend notes in a musically expressive manner is an integral part of its unique sound. New York Dolls Greatest Hits Rar.

Playing the pedal steel really involves almost the entire body. One foot pushes the pedals, one foot controls the volume pedal (and may occasionally push a pedal as well), both knees move levers in multiple directions, one hand controls the bar, the other hand does the picking, the rear end provides a foundation and all of this is controlled by the ears, eyes, and brain (and maybe even a little heart). How is a pedal steel guitar tuned/set up?

The pedal steel guitar is an evolution of the lap steel. Lap steels can be very expressive instruments but the particular open string tuning will somewhat limit the choice of notes that are available, especially regarding the playing of chords. One direction lap steels took to provide greater musical flexibility was the use of different open tunings on different necks. Three and four neck lap steels were not uncommon and gave players the ability to play music in a wider variety of styles and keys on the same instrument. Players also began to experiment with homemade attachments that could change the pitch of a string and thus the open tuning.