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Topic: Steel Without Pedals? |
Kay Das
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 12:39 pm |
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A recent question from a very good musician acquaintance I met at NAMM to whom I introduced the Steel Guitar Forum...
"What is a 'steel without pedals' ?". I told him that us lap steel players were all wide-eyed and legless and hence the name.
But it begged the question: why is this section called SWP and why not just lap steel/dobro, names our favourite instrument is better known by the conoscenti of the musical world?
Kay |
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 1:00 pm
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i agree, its "disenfranchising" (i've been wanting to use that word!!)
we ought to be STEEL GUITAR and they ought to be PEDAL STEEL
the old forum "non-pedal" was a little better.
anyway, thats the way it is - WE don't have to call it that, and i don't - thats just the forum section, doesn't mean its the correct terminology. its probably like that to keep all the confused pedal guys from hi-jacking everything over here....we get to have our own little private party... 
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 1:16 pm
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| Quote: |
| why is this section called SWP and why not just lap steel/dobro... |
Probably because there are too many kinds of "steels without pedals" to put into a Title... lap steel, console steel, acoustic steel, dobro, Weissenborn style (no reso), etc...
I hate the term non-pedal or 'steel without pedals', but so much of the steel world is pedal steel, and we need some way to specify 'no pedals'. So we use a Negative term (non, no), unfortunately. We used to call it "straight steel" years ago.
When speaking to anyone Outside of the steel guitar world, I just say "steel guitar". That covers all steel guitars and that's all they need to know. But when speaking with other steel guitarists we need to specify what kind of steel we are referring to. Let's face it... it's a pedal steel guitar world and we're just living in it! 
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My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Greg Booth
From:
Anchorage, AK, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 2:20 pm
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I still like the term straight steel for plugged in steel guitars without pedals. I don't mind that this forum is designated steel without pedals for clarity. It sounds like a heading or category rather than a name of an instrument.
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Greg
Kathy Kallick Band
www.youtube.com/user/aksliderdobro |
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Jim Williams
From:
Meridian, Mississippi, USA - Home of Peavey!
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 2:28 pm
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Straight steel might not be politically correct anymore 
_________________
GFI SM10 3/4, 1937 Gibson EH-150, 2 - Rondo SX Lap Steels and a Guyatone 6 String C6. Peavey 400 and a Roland 40 Amps. Behringer Reverb Pedal. |
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Jim Smerk
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 3:07 pm
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| Jim Williams wrote: |
| Straight steel might not be politically correct anymore |
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Kay Das
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 3:49 pm
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No-one calls a pedal steel a "steel with pedals". For me, the pedal steel and lap steel (in its many forms) are two significantly different instruments each beautiful in their own right and with their own distinct techniques and identities in the history and future of music. I might argue that the pedal steel also has many variants (number of necks, pedals and knee levers). Regarding a pedal steel world, I have not seen one in Hawaii, the South Seas, China, or India...yet..though I have seen and heard lap steels.
Its just that "steel without pedals" sounds so un-musical (as remarked by NAMM friend)... "piano without black keys" or " man without pants" or "pub with no beer"...
I understand the good reasons cited in the responses so far and have no wish to change the world in this greatly enjoyable steel guitar forum, but maybe a poll...?
Kay |
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 4:11 pm
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kind of like "people of color"...as if the rest are "people without color"
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 4:36 pm
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"non-pedal" is just an unfortunate term that steel guitarists must use today when speaking to each other about the type of steel guitar we play. There is no reason to ever say "non-pedal" to anyone outside of our steel guitar world.
Another made-up word that pedal steel players use is "copedant". I hate that word! I've never used it and never will. It's a confusing term to anyone outside of the steel guitar world, and even to some within the steel guitar community. We don't need to make up new words that further separate us from other musicians.
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel
Last edited by Doug Beaumier on 13 Feb 2014 4:39 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Wayne D. Clark
From:
Montello Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 4:38 pm
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| Well I might as well add "2 cents" as we all know, those of us who play one of these, 6,7,8,10,12 or double 6, 8, 10, string instruments with or with out "P's" and of what ever type of material you choose to make one. To be politically correct [The guitar is the guitar. Lap, Console, or Pedal], it is the little item we hole In our left hand, [that we maneuver up and down, and back and forth across that multiple stringed neck,] made of STEEL called THE BAR. But we do not call the instrument a Bar Guitar? No, we call it a STEEL guitar. But now that they make the Bar of other material would we change the name accordingly? I think not. When I started it was called a Hawaiian Guitar and if it had a pickup on it we called it an Electric Hawaiian Guitar. Sorry I know I have blabbed on her, but I get that way a lot lately, and it probably was not worth 2 cents either. |
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Wayne D. Clark
From:
Montello Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2014 4:45 pm
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| After My Looooooooooooooong discourse above, let me say this. If you tell me you play a Lap Steel I know what you play if you tell me you play a Pedal Steel know what you play. If you tell me you play Steel Guitar, I have two choices and I know you play a beautiful instrument. |
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