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Topic: What is a PSG? (AllMusic.com says....) |
Bill Llewellyn
From:
San Jose, CA
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 7:55 pm |
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www.AllMusic.com describes a PSG this way....
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| The steel guitar, still the sonic emblem of American country music, has origins deep in the mists of American popular culture. In its modern form it is an electric guitar mounted crosswise in front of the player on four legs, with pedals that retune the instrument by changing the available length of the string, like a capo on a conventional guitar. The "steel" involved is a steel bar pulled across the strings to produce sliding pitches. The predecessor to this "pedal steel" was an acoustic instruments held on the lap and played the same way; the "lap steel" was common in country music of the 1920s and 1930s. All steel guitars trace their lineages to Hawaii, where the guitar was introduced by Mexican or Portuguese immigrants in the 1830s. The innvation of playing the guitar with a steel bar (originally a knife or even a comb) is popularly credited to a single Hawaiian individual, Joseph Kekuku. An American craze for Hawaiian guitar music flourished in the early years of the twentieth century, but was in decline by the time country players adopted the sound. |
Not a bad overview, really, but their analogy of pedal action to "changing the available length of the string, like a capo" is not quite accurate.... Still, I'm glad they give the instrument some real credence in country.
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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | MSA U12 | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 8:13 pm
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Yeah, pretty good, except I was a tad confused by this part:
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| ...an electric guitar mounted crosswise in front of the player on four legs |
I can't recall ever seeing a steel player on four legs, have you?  |
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Tom Olson
From:
Spokane, WA
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 8:37 pm
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| Quote: |
| their analogy of pedal action to "changing the available length of the string, like a capo" is not quite accurate |
I agree, because this implies that the bridge pieces move along the length of the string, which of course is incorrect.
If they insist on describing the psg in terms of spanish guitar features, then perhaps what should have been said is something like,
[...with pedal mechanisms that retune the instrument by changing the tension of individual strings as if each string had its own whammy bar]  |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 10:37 pm
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| That "sonic emblem of country music" thing bugs me. |
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Al Udeen
From:
maple grove mn usa
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 7:57 am
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| Just goes to show what the so called, Experts know about the most increadible & best sounding instrument in the world! au |
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Tony Rankin
From:
Land O’ Lakes, FL
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 8:01 am
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I always liked the Allmusic.com definition of southern gospel!
Quote:
"Southern Gospel is a country music gospel art form with emphasis on steel and rhythm guitars as its foundation. It draws on bluegrass, blues, and hillbilly elements. Southern gospel groups tend to use four-part harmony with a high tenor and baritone. The Happy Goodmans, the Speers, and Gold City are examples."
Tony Rankin
www.daytonambassadorsquartet.com
[This message was edited by Tony Rankin on 31 July 2005 at 09:03 AM.] |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 2:10 pm
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At least they didn't call it a "steel pedal" guitar.
I still think we should change the name of the instrument to "TIFKATPSG" (The Instrumnent Formerly Known As The Pedal Steel Guitar." |
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Jeff Lampert
From:
queens, new york city
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 2:27 pm
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| That "sonic emblem of country music" thing bugs me |
Since 98% of commercially played pedal steel guitar is in country music, the description is accurate. Unfortunately it implies that that is the only kind of music it can be played in, which of course is not accurate. Unfortunately, the very huge majority of pedal steel players only play in country music bands and don't want to play in other kinds of bands, so I find it understandable that the writer would perceive it as he does, although he should know better.
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[url=http://www.mightyfinemusic.com/jeff's_jazz.htm]Jeff's Jazz[/url]
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Paul King
From:
Gainesville, Texas, USA
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 5:55 pm
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| Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought a capo fit on all the strings on whatever fret you wanted it placed on. All it does from what I can see is let you play open strings you could not play if you played in in some of the flats. At any rate I do not feel like their description is accurate. The steel guitar does go back to Hawaii and I did not realize the guitar came from the origin they have stated it come from. I wonder what they would have to say about the banjo. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 6:21 pm
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"The steel guitar, still the sonic emblem of American country music ..."
Actually, I don't see anything wrong with this statement at all. Steel guitar is still the sonic emblem of American country music, but this does not imply that it can't be used in other styles. The statement doesn't address other styles at all. It is not correct reasoning to conclude that because someone states "A implies B", that they mean "NOT A implies NOT B" - in this case A is country music, B is steel guitar.
I think this is a pretty good overview except for the 'changing string length, like a capo' error, of course. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 7:01 pm
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| Yeah, they shoulda said that the bar does the same thing as a capo. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2005 7:46 am
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| I'm pretty sure that Tommy White has four legs. |
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Larry Schubert
From:
Orcutt, CA, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2005 11:19 am
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| It is good to rember that the artical was most likely writen for thoughs who don't play or know much about the insurment(dont for get at first sight most people think we play keyboards). If they would have had a steeler write it it would have been way to complicated. To indepth. Then an argument would have broke out if it was harp or not or if satinless steel bars or chromed bars were better and why you should only play threw a peavy. So I think the dude did a prety good job. Then again I play rock n roll aned can't spell to save my life |
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James Cann
From:
Phoenix, AZ
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Posted 1 Aug 2005 12:36 pm
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| "The steel guitar, still the sonic emblem of American country music ..." |
Great choice of words! Too bad, though, you can hardly 'see the emblem' in today's American country music.
[This message was edited by James Cann on 01 August 2005 at 01:41 PM.] |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 1 Aug 2005 1:22 pm
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I'm going with this.
Now that I have one (well, it's on it's way) (well, as soon as he gets the money)
I'm going to change everything. |
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Billy Carr
From:
Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)
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Posted 7 Aug 2005 10:51 pm
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| Sounds like someone picked up a book and read a few of the liner notes and decided to write about what was actually inside w/o reading the book. If they wanted PSG info they should've called or asked a steel guitar player. Very simple. |
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Jim Dunaway
From:
Seaford, Virginia, USA
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Posted 11 Aug 2005 6:55 am
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"In its modern form it is an electric guitar mounted crosswise in front of the player on four legs, with pedals that retune the instrument by changing the available length of the string"
What about a changer that actually DID change string pitch by pulling and releasing horizontally instead of over a rotating finger, each string having it's own movable bridge? Maby less string breakage? Sounds interesting to me. |
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