pedal steel chord mania!!!

Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

I have been going nuts (in a good way!) with my beautiful new Williams. I got an S-12 with five on the floor and five knees, E9th tuning. I ordered the following copedant: LKV lowers both B's to Bb, LKL raises both F# strings to G, LKR lowers the D# and the D to C#, and the right knees raise and lower the two higher E strings one fret. The first three pedals are standard, Pedal 4 lowers D# to D, and Pedal 5 is the same as Pedal 2, which is strange, but I use it with Pedal 4 a lot so it is useful. Pedals 2 and 5 both raise all three G# strings to A.

Why am I telling you this? Check this out: I asked on the Forum recently, "Does anybody move two knee levers at the same time with the same knee?" and everybody who responded said yes. So I did the math and figured out that I can get 180 different combinations of pedals and knee levers, everything from none of either to three knees and two pedals simultaneously. So I spent about five hours last week charting out what all 12 strings would be in all 180 different tunings. Then I sat down to start figuring out what chords and scales are possible. Each combination of 12 strings can make several chords, of course.

So here's the amazing news: I can get all 12 major triads, all 12 minor triads, 11 out of 12 seventh chords, and all 12 minor seventh chords IN OPEN POSITION AND AT EVERY SINGLE FRET! Yes, you heard that right! I can get an E chord open, another E chord at the first fret, E at the second fret, E at the third fret, etc. I was astounded. I knew I could get a chromatic scale with every halftone between low G# and the A more than two octaves higher, but the idea that I could get every major chord and every minor chord at every fret totally blows my mind. I stayed up most all of last night scribbling them out, and then thought of more while lying in bed. F in open position! Bb in open position! I couldn't believe it!

And of course I can also get lots of diminished and augmented and ninth chords at every fret too. Dozens of complex chords, but I haven't had the time to chart them all out yet. And I'm too overloaded! Every single major chord and every single minor chord without even picking up the bar! It just boggles my mind. But now I'm all anxious and depressed. It's one thing to figure this stuff out, it's another thing to actually LEARN it well enough so that I can use all these new chords while playing and improvising! I'm not sure I'll live long enough!

Do any of the rest of you get into this chord theory stuff? Some of these 8 pedal single necks must have like 600 pedal/knee lever combinations! Who has a brain large enough to remember all that stuff?
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I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com

Bob Parins · From: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Hey Barry-

Your enthusiasm is infectious! I'd love see a couple examples of the more unexpected ones.

What a wonderful instrument Smile

Bob

David Doggett · Posted 16 Jun 2009 7:47 pm

Well, if you can get a chromatic scale at any single fret, then any other fret will just be the same chromatic scale starting on a different note. Since a chromatic scale at a single fret will allow you to play any chord at that fret, then a chromatic scale at every fret will allow you to play any chord at any fret.

Ed Packard charts this stuff all out for his 14-string universal, and I believe he might also have such charts for 12-string uni, and 10-string E9 and C6. I suppose such charts are useful for looking up how to play some unusual chord you can't come up with off the top of your head. But it's way too much stuff to memorize and remember on the fly. And I don't think many people (maybe no one) plays the instrument that way. We don't approach it like a chromatic harp. We approach it as tuned to an open chord, that can be altered or changed to a few other chords with the extra strings, pedals and levers. When we want something other than that handful of chords available at that single fret, we slide the bar to other frets. This gives the characteristic sliding sound of the instrument, that you cannot get by playing everything at the same fret. Also, we play single string melodies and licks, and a lot of two-string stuff (which is harmony, but technically not a chord). We play some 3-note chords, and some of us play 4-note chords. But we don't really need to play every note of complex chords that require 4 or more notes. We can play part of the root chord, or the color note(s) and part of the root chord. We just don't often (ever?) need to play every possible note of chords requiring 4 or more notes.

So a completely comprehensive mapping of every possible chord at every fret has never been something I thought was worth the time. A dozen or so chords you can always come up with on the fly in your common positions are worth more than hundreds of chords on a chart that have to be looked up.

Bob Parins · From: Brooklyn, New York, USA

It's just fun and you find some useable unusual stuff. Makes me wish I had a 1/2 step raise for my B strings. Half-pedaling to get C notes in open position is tricky.

Does anybody have a strange position that they regularly use that they'd like to share with the class?

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

I lower B half a step with RKR, so when I push P1 and RKR together I get a half step rise to C. Does that count Smile

Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

David, I couldn't agree with you more. What you describe is the way I've been playing for decades. I play improvisational (never the same thing twice!) steel in bands on stage several hours each week. Country, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues, etc. I play pure simple melodies, diads, and triads straight from the heart, with my left brain mostly turned off. I'm not a jazz player, and I use very few complex chords in the music I play or in the music I compose. But every once in a while I get a kick out of learning something new, so I have been trying to discover the uses of the new pulls that I ordered on my Williams, and the possibilities blow my mind. Probably out of all the new chord positions I discovered yesterday there will be one or two that I will actually integrate into my playing. Not really depressed or anxious -- that was an attempt at humor...
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com

David Doggett · Posted 17 Jun 2009 7:59 am

Yes, there's no question you can learn interesting new stuff by making those kinds of charts. Just the process of making the chart drills some stuff in. And after you have it, it's great for future reference. But, like you said, the new grips you learn and keep will be only a very small percentage of the whole chart. The whole thing is way more than most of us can get into our head, although a few people who read music seem to claim they have it all.

Bo Legg · Posted 17 Jun 2009 8:55 am

I'd be careful with all of this or some of those just play the damn thing folks will accuse you of using Theory.

Nic du Toit · From: Milnerton, Cape, South Africa

This post made me remember a book I got many years ago....."Doug Jernigan's Nashville Pedal Steel Guitar Chord Manual"....that's the full title!
Some juicy stuff in there.
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1970 P/P Emmons D10 flatback 8x5, BJS Bar, J F picks, Peavey Session 500, Telonics pedal. Boss GX700 effects.
Skype : nidutoit

Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

To answer Bob's question:

So far I am most excited about the G (talking open position here) that you get when you raise the F#s to G and lower the D# to D. This is a lovely fat chord on six strings (I love those low chords!) with my new copedant: Strings 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, and 10. My LKV lowers the B's to Bb and turns it into a G minor if I can manage to engage two knee levers with my left knee. I am also trying to integrate my new seven string D chord -- now that Pedal 5 raises all three G#s (S-12) to A, if I add Pedal 4 which lowers my D# to D I get a D triad on strings 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, and 11. If I raise the E's to F and use strings 4 and 8 instead of 1 and 7 it becomes D minor.

I announced at a gig recently that pedal steel was more fun than sex and drugs and rock 'n roll all put together, and the wife of a local country star who is in her eighties (I am 57) said, "Damn, Barry -- you ARE getting old!"
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com

Bob Parins · From: Brooklyn, New York, USA

It's fun to bust out of the usual shapes, grips, and positions a little. Thanks Barry I'm gonna try those today!

Bob

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