Volume Pedal-Is it a necessity???

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Is the volume pedal imperative to the pedal steel???

I would like to be enlightened by some of you guys who use the volume pedal VERY scarcely or even not at all as to how your technique and musical style differs from the players that use the pedal all the time.

Is it really necessary to swell with the pedal into just about every note, phrase, or chord? That seems to be the norm.

Just wondering.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Not, it's not imperative.

The pedal is actually used more for sustaining a note or chord than it is for a beginning "swell". There are exceptions...notably, Curly Chalker.

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

Bill...Awhile back I had a couple years of not being able to afford a decent pedal, so I got into the habit of bypassing it entirely when I'd record.
Now that I have a fairly good one, I still leave it in the case at sessions unless they want a typical crying country steel. I think of the pedal now more as an accident "panic button" as much as anything else on live gigs. It can be great for dynamics, but the volume swell thing is just an effect to be used sparingly IMO.

KENNY KRUPNICK · From: Columbus, Ohio

Yep!!!

R. E. Klaus · From: Montana, USA

No, a volume pedal is not necessary but most people do use them. Don't think of it as a volume control but rather as an "expression pedal." You can use it like an effects pedal (with taste and caution)to add feeling to your playing. As for what you can do without a volume pedal listen to any of the clips here: http://www.geocities.com/frsteel/index.html
I acually recommend to novice players to practice with out a volume pedal as too often it becomes a crutch for not blocking correctly and poor picking technique.
R. E. Klaus

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

I don't think I've ever seen anyone play at a steel show without one.

Buddy Griffin · From: Derwood, Maryland, USA

It can also be handy for backing off the volume while playing fills or coloring behind a singer or another instrument. I feel you get the best sound for faster solos with the pedal to the metal. It's very useful for extending the sustain on slower lines, harmonics, etc. It should never be used as a crutch for poor playing because it makes you sound tentative.

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

If you want to try a cool excersize, run directly from your steel to amp, but keep you volume pedal under your foot (not plugged in), and play.
You will be suprised at how much your right hand does to keep things in line with what your brain thinks your volume pedal is doing!

[This message was edited by Pete Burak on 16 June 2004 at 09:05 AM.]

Hook Moore · From: South Charleston,West Virginia

I think its much like pedals and knee levers. You don`t have to have it but makes life better.

Hook

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HookMoore.com

Dave Burr · From: League City, TX

Some interesting reading from a previous post started by Reece. I like the term "expression pedal". http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum15/HTML/004378.html

Respectfully,
Dave Burr

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

No more necessary than indoor plumbing...

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

Well said Ray

Joey Ace · From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Jim Florence · From: wilburton, Ok. US * R.I.P.

Lew Houston, He's dead now but I can still hear him when I competed against him. As far as I know he never used one, however he used a volume control on his guitar with great skill.
Jim

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

You are right about Lew. THE most unique and unusual steel player I have EVER seen. That little finger wrapped around his volume control almost defied logic IMO.

Four pedals only; and no knee levers; but what came out of his amp was pure gold.

May Jesus rest his soul,

carl

Bob Wood · From: Madera, California, USA

Bill, a lot of recording engineers request that PSG players play without using the volume pedal. When they start recording, they like to have near perfect control on the levels of tracks they are laying. Then a pedal steel player using his volume pedal gets put into the equation, and they go nuts!!! In playback, they go looking for that perfect volume level that they're use to, but can't find it! If you plan on doing some recordings, get use to that request. That dosen't mean you have to, but just be prepared to hear it!

Bob

Stephen Gregory · Posted 21 Aug 2006 6:24 pm

Interesting

Ben Lawson · From: Brooksville Florida

I think I read somewhere that Lloyd Green said most beginning players use the volume pedal too much, The point being many players ruin their sound by "pumping" the pedal.

Ken Byng · From: Southampton, England

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

For some traditional country styles I think it's like bread and butter..it's just meant to go together.

For more modern styles, especially outside country, no. and you don't HAVE to have it for anything - I do hear a lot of "pumping" on posted music samples, and it's sort of seasick...

Roger Edgington · From: San Antonio, Texas USA

CDIXON, Wrapping your little finger around the volume knob was a fairly common practice back in the lap steel days. I watched my dad and others do it many times.

I think it's eaiser to do without a volume pedal on non pedal steels than it is with pedals as the technique changes a bit. I also agree it is often a problem with players pumping or over working the volume
pedal,especially when learning.

Is it necessary? I would not want to play a pedal steel job without one. I'd do it if I had to , but I like to have control over dynamics and smoothness. It wouldn't bother me as much in a laid back soft job,but as stage volume increases ,the more you need control over it.

David Doggett · Posted 22 Aug 2006 6:51 am

Use of the volume pedal to soften the attack, sustain, and for expression is a major characteristic of country steel guitar, expecially for ballads. They were using them for that on lap steels before pedal steel. In attempting that style, beginners often add too much swell. They are not necessarily trying to swell, they just haven't developed the fine control for a softened attack followed by smooth sustain. While it may be a good excercise to sometimes practice without the volume pedal to see what happens, I don't see how beginners can learn fine control of the volume pedal without using it as much as possible. For me it is one of the most difficult elements of the classic liquid steel guitar tone. But it is essential. I really admire seasoned players with good volume pedal control.

Above a certain speed it is not possible to use the volume pedal on every note, so it is just held at an appropriate volume. Some C6ers even take their foot off of it to use on the pedals. Also, I have found I use the volume pedal much less for blues, rock and jazz. For these styles we seem to more closely mimick regular guitar style, and the attack doesn't need to be softened so much. But the sustain comes in handy. You can get clean sustain that rock and blues players strive for but can't get without distortion. Distortion also automatically softens the attack. So tube distortion and effects boxes are used by regular guitarists to do what we do with the volume pedal - soften the attack and add sustain. The difference is that we can do it for clean playing. Some guitar players use a volume pedal for the same reason.

So a volume pedal can be used poorly or with finesse. But if you don't have one, you don't have the choice. And if you have one and practice without it, you'll never learn to use it. You can play without one, but your style is more limited. What's the point of that?

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

Buck Grantham R.I.P. · From: Denham Springs, LA. USA

A lot of people use a volume pedal but never learn how to use it properly. A very necessary item to add personality to the playing. To me it was very hard to learn to use the pedal properly. Jimmy Day was a master at it and John Hughey is also great with a volume pedal. And NO you don't pump it every time you pick a note. You just have to practice ,practice,practice with it .

Dave Seddon · From: Leicester, England.

I had a motorcycle accident some years ago and broke my right leg, I was in plaster for 14 months, (took Barry Sheene 6 weeks)anyway I still went out giggin' with my leg up on a stool so I could still use my knee levers but obviously not the volume pedal. I think this was one of the best things that happened to me, (from a steel playing point of view,) as it taught me to control my right hand picking, soft, hard etc., to compensate for the loss of the V pedal. Even now 20 odd years later I very often practice without a V pedal, you never know when the string might break. That's my 2 cents worth.
Cheers Dave.

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

My right foot on the volume pedal while I'm playing is necessary to maintain a comfortable playing position.

Whether or not it's connected to my guitar and amp doesn't matter.

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www.genejones.com

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