New player, how am I supposed to think?

Tyler Love · From: New York, USA

Hi everyone, I’m a relatively new pedal steel player, but I have a strong music theory background and years of experience with guitar (I'm solid at the CAGED system, very good at travis picking, decent at improvisation, know every note on every string intuitively etc) and piano.

Here’s where I’m at: I can navigate a chord chart with some preparation, but I feel like my thinking process is inefficient. Right now, I tend to relate the steel fretboard to guitar bar chords. For example:

A C chord: 8th fret, no pedals. An F chord, the 4th, is A+B pedals engaged.

When it comes to minor chords or more complex changes, I often think in guitar terms too. For instance, for a C minor, I’ll think: “E lever makes a minor triad and the root is one fret up from where I’d play a Cm bar chord on guitar at the third fret.”

I’ve also tried thinking of the steel more like piano inversions—e.g., visualizing how raising the 5th of a chord creates the relative minor, similar to how the A pedal works. But this approach feels overwhelming due to the sheer amount of memorization required. On piano is visual since the notes are laid out linearly.

When I learn songs what happens is I often end up memorizing “shapes” without fully internalizing the chords I’m playing. I’m wondering if this reliance on my guitar habits or piano analogies is holding me back.

How did you experienced players develop a more intuitive understanding of the steel? What’s the “right way” to think about pedals, levers, and the fretboard to minimize bad habits and improve efficiency? Are there good exercises for this?

I'm playing an hour+ a day and 2-3 times a week in a band where I play PSG and guitar.
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K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Thinking of it like singing has helped me in my playing. I don’t have a deep theory background but that approach helps my expression and intonation(as does lots of seat time!).
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Bill C. Buntin · Posted 16 Dec 2024 4:53 pm

I think you’re thinking right. The E9 tuning is so theoretically laid out to me it’s sort of second nature. I tend to look at it in layers. As you pointed out c major at 8th. 4 chord with ab depressed. Just go further…A pedal depressed is relative minor. Bc depressed is 2-. E lower is a 3-….AF is a 6…BE is 5(7) …..b is a sus4 and so on…combinations are vast really. Check out Jeff Newman up from the top. I think the entire series is on YouTube…..that will take you along pretty well down the right path. Have fun with. It’s an awesome instrument…

Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

Tyler, I am an old time guitar hero. Have played for going on 70 years at home, clubs, bars, weddings etc, and have just taken up pedal steel a couple years ago.

I also have looked at the psg as the regular tuned guitar and found it's best not to think about it, just do it.

This has worked well for me.....I still stink...........

Sam

Tyler Love · From: New York, USA

Pat Chong · From: New Mexico, USA

Hello Tyler,
You have the right idea of how to play. The exercise you mentioned can be done in other ways, by incorporating your "home pedals".

That is a term used in reference to the key you are playing in. For example, you talk about playing in the key of C on the 8th fret. That's correct, and when you press the A+B pedals, you get F. That's not the only way to play in C.

If you pressed the A+B at fret 3, you still have the chord C, and if you learned the associated chords THERE, then your home pedals would be A+B. Then at fret 11, you press A+F, you have C, again, and a new set of home pedals.

See what I'm saying? There are so many different ways to do the same thing on the pedal steel!

You mentioned the chords I, II, III, IV, V, VI etc. And you need to learn the ASSOCIATION of chord number vs. home pedals.

Example: If your home pedals are "pedals up", pressing the A pedal gives you VI, right? But if your home pedals are A+B, then pressing only A gives you III.

That's the thing to learn, using the chord chart, where the chords are vs. what home pedals you are using! Relating to the very exercise you mentioned in your last post!

Being a guitar player, you have the same goal: To play without having to think too much.

Play on! ........Pat

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

The moves of playing a steel guitar has to be practiced properly, Till you have the moves in your Neuro Memory.
When you body recognizes the Exciter,(Sight, tab or sheet music /Hearing, singer or instruments.) Your body moves without your brain having to process the information.

The song Some Day Soon in G is a good example song.
E9th tuning, Chords G-D-C-Em-Bm.
These 2 pockets, For a simple chord exercise.
G 3rd fret open.
C 3rd fret A-B pedals.
D 5th fret A-B pedals.
Em 3rd fret A pedal
Bm 5th fret B-C pedals
Work out these moves.

Then Down neck.

G 10th fret A-B pedals
C 8th fret open
D 10th fret open
Em 10th fret B-C pedal
Bm 10th fret A pedal

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Tyler wrote:

"e.g., visualizing how raising the 5th of a chord creates the relative minor, similar to how the A pedal works...."

I think yours is a good approach. Theory is theory - applicable to any musical endeavour.

I'm sometimes disturbed when I read about players seeking a minor chord by flattening the thirds in the basic positions: example: - getting an E minor at the zero fret by lowering strings 3 and 6.

If you use basic theory, you simply go up three frets: there's a G chord - press the A pedal and there's the relative minor, E minor in this case. This is much better, because you're now in a position where the minor scale is laying under your fingers. Lots of single-note options await you that would be more elusive at the zero fret.

I, too, visualize my two necks just as I do the neck on my six-string guitars. I see them in terms of geometric patterns that are instantly transposable up-and-down the neck.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I map out the neck at first like the white keys on a piano. I practice diatonic scales. chords and intervals every day.

Here is a starting point I did for a student a while back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTu8wjihN7c&t=162s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-J9l_pjseY&t=110s
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Bob

Jason Altshuler · From: Brooklyn, NY

This is a great question, and one I've thought about a lot myself. I think your comparison to piano inversions is insightful. The changes on a PSG do work somewhat like a piano; rather than like on guitar, where you might have to move all your fingers to shift one note (think going from an open A shape to an open Amaj7), on the pedal steel you have independent control of each voice, like a piano. Using a pedal or lever is like moving "one finger at a time" in a piano voicing.

For one thing, it might be helpful to try and internalize the relationships between chords (raising the fifth of a major chord with A pedal gets you the minor chord a minor third below, lowering E's gives you a minor chord two whole steps above) outside of the context of a specific key. That is, if you're playing C at the 8th fret, but you're actually in F major (where C is the V chord), it is helpful to know that you can hit the A pedal to get the iii chord (of F) rather than having to start over mentally with the tonic. You can take that one step farther by finding the relationships between neighboring frets. Like, if you have a major chord with A&B down, you can always get the four chord of that chord one fret up, with A&raised E.

As Pat and Bobby said, it is important to not only think within a position, but across positions. Your chart of the diatonic chords shows, for instance, there are three easy ways to get a minor chord: the ii, the iii, and the iv. Rather than thinking within a given key, search for all the ways to find Am across the neck: fret 1 (E's lowered), fret 3 (B&C), and fret 8 (B's raised) are three. You can easily use any of those as valid Am voicings, regardless of the fact that they are technically the iii of F, the ii of G, and the iv of C, when thinking about the open chord of that fret. All of this will give you more reference points throughout the neck, rather than having to mentally return to the guitar fretboard every time.

Finally, part of the task might be really learning the NOTES you're playing, rather than just the chords. If you know a Cm is C Eb and G, and an Ab major is C Eb and Ab, then you can "see" that you'll get that Cm at the 4th fret (where Ab is the open chord) with the root lowered. Similarly, knowing that Eb major is Eb G Bb, you can see that all you have to do is raise the 5th a whole step to get Cm at the 11th fret. Etc etc. Ultimately, on a piano or a guitar, each key or fret position is the same note, every time. (Unless you use alternate tunings I suppose.) On the steel, you have to grapple with the fact that one fret/bar position can be many different notes because of the levers and pedals. This is admittedly difficult, and it means it is extra important (in my opinion) to keep track of what notes you are actually playing, or else you might find you are mostly memorizing.

Bob Shilling · From: Berkeley, CA, USA

Interesting serendipity. The same day this post was made(12/17), Troy Brenningmeyer posted a Youtube video showing the I-ii-iii-IV-V7-vi and VIIdim chords, all on one fret. He also produced some interesting diagrams for this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l05hYsL9-E
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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10, "Classic"

Marty Broussard · From: Broussard, Louisiana, USA

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"Technique is really the elimination of the unnecessary..it is a constant effort to avoid any personal impediment or obstacle to achieve the smooth flow of energy and intent" Yehudi Menuhin

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