Volume pedals

Richard Shelley · From: Denver, CO, USA

Any tips/advice on smoothing out with the volume pedal would be very helpful. I still struggle with too much volume at times I'd like to reduce it & vice versa. Kinda tough to coordinate that right foot with everything else, somehow.

Thanks!

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Fred Justice · From: Mesa, Arizona

Richard,this may or may not work for you but I have my pedal adjusted to where it does not shut all the way off,infact its high enough that I dont need to give it much more even when im playing.Let me know if it works.
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Fred Justice
Events Dir.
SWSGS www.swsteelguitar.com

[This message was edited by Fred Justice on 01 November 2004 at 03:31 PM.]

Charles Walker · From: Chester, Virginia, USA

Volume pedal, Well that explain's alot. I thought while I was and still am learning that it was an acelerator pedal. The thing's you learn on this forum is amazing. LOL.

Richard Shelley · From: Denver, CO, USA

Thanks, Fred; I'll give that a try, tomorrow. (You know, in a way, I guess it is an accelerator, huh?)

Gerald Menke · From: Stormville NY, USA

Dear Richard,

Sometimes the best way to get the hang of the volume pedal is not to use it at all. You may have already heard this advice, but it's so important, I will reiterate it:

Try practicing with the volume pedal under your foot, but plug your guitar straight into your amp. You will not believe what you hear. After you get that sorted out in few days, then try playing with the volume pedal in your signal chain, but try not moving it at all, keep your foot steady, in the 50% position, for example. You will find this is very tough to do when engaging your RKL and RKR levers but will come to you after a few hours of practice.

If I were starting out with the PSG or lap steel for that matter, I wouldn't use the volume pedal for the first six months or so. Bar control, intonation, tone and blocking are much more important, in my VERY humble opinion.

Good luck and don't forget to play the steel, don't let it play you!

Gerald

David Doggett · Posted 2 Nov 2004 7:18 am

Well, I agree with the first exercises Gerald mentions, but not the last part. While it's good to play without the volume pedal every now and then as an exercise, it is so important in the sound of pedal steel, and is so difficult to master, that it seems to me you really need to start using it right from the start, along with everything else. Otherwise, you may be permanently challenged by the volume pedal.

For fast picking, you mostly just need to hold the volume pedal steady at the proper volume. The hardest part for me is in slow music, where you jerk back on the pedal to soften the attack, then evenly increase the volume to exactly match the loss of sustain in the strings, without too much swell. I have found it helps to play a lot of simple slow music like ballads and church hymns, and to concentrate on a solid even volume.

Jennings Ward · From: Edgewater, Florida, R.I.P.

What everyone is trying to say is this,,,,LEARN TO USE YOUR HANDS AND FINGERS CORRECTLY. " PICK HARD" FOR LOUD PASSAGES,,[ PICK SOFTELY ] FOR LESS VOLUME OR SOFT MUSIC. THIS REALLY WORKS BEST..THE VOLUME PEDAL HAS ABSOUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR TONE AND PHRAZING , BLOCKING ECT::: CONCENTRATE ON YOUR HANDS, BOTH OF THEM AND DONT WORRY ABOUT VOL PEDAL,,AS SOME ONE SAID .SET IT IN THE MIDDLE OF ITS RANGE AND FORGET IT UNTIL YOU HAVE PERFECTED YOUR TECHNIQUE.....BEST TO YOU AND ALL..JENNINGS

THE BEAUTIFULL ANGELIC SOUND OF STEEL GUITAR.

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EMMONS D10 10-10 profex 2 deltafex ne1000 pv1000, pv 31 bd eq, +

George Plemons · From: Corsicana, Texas, USA

This is just a personal preference but if you play your starting position from the center down I think that gives you to much wa wa effect as you squeeze your sustain out of it. I play the top 1/4 th of the pedal under normal conditions when trying to play something smoothly. But that is just me. You need to do what feels comfortable to you yet at the same time recording your playing as often as possible to listen from the "outside" of your playing to look for things and ways to improve.

Richard Shelley · From: Denver, CO, USA

Some great suggestions, fellas; thanks so much. As Frazier says, "I'm (still) listening."

Bob Wood · From: Madera, California, USA

Richard,

Learn to play without using the volume pedal. A lot of the "monster" players learned how to play without using it. Including "Paul Franklin". If you start doing recording sessions..., you'll find that lot of the recording engineers will request that you don't use it. Once you become good at playing like that..., you'll start using the pedal for effects(swells, etc.). Think of it this way..., Six-string guitar players almost never play using a volume pedal! Right?

Bob

Bill Myrick · From: Pea Ridge, Ar. (deceased)

The thing that helped me more than any other was getting my Hilton Volume Pedal (but watch out for the women)
Like Fred mentioned--setting the pedal so the volume is never totally off will smooth out a lot of the bumps. www.hiltonelectronics.net

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