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Topic: Pedals - smart short cut or being lazy? |
Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 11 Jan 2013 9:17 pm |
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I've heard two schools of thought regarding pedal usage. To give an example, take a scale on a given fret starting with string 8. The fourth note of the scale requires 6B, and the 6th requires 5A.
I have read that if you're thinking ahead you can save yourself effort and hassle by leaving that B down, and later the A down, and playing the string 2 and string 4 notes with AB down as it changes nothing. That way on the way down, you're already set up for the descending sequence. This can also be done during a song if you know you're coming back the same road you're going down.
On the other hand I've heard you should only be activating those pedals if you're using them, and that if you really know your stuff you'll be perfectly able to only use them when you actually need them. The suggestion being that the other approach is cutting corners and not really "proper". Thus you would use the B for that one note, release it, then two notes later engage the A for that one note only, etc.
I'm curious what opinions we might find here. |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 11 Jan 2013 9:23 pm
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It depends. If the next time I'll hit the string, I hit it pedal down, then I leave the pedal down. If I'll next hit it natural, then I pull the pedal up as soon as I silence the string
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 11 Jan 2013 10:51 pm
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Same as Lane ... it depends. And, I didn't "go to one or the other school" so I wouldn't know a thing about "right" or "wrong" here.
One approach, which I most often end up following when playing in "auto-mode", is that no matter which and how few strings/notes I actually pick, I tend to push and release pedals/levers as I play along so that I can pick almost any string(s) at any given moment and produce the "right" chord. In effect: no-one will ever know if I picked a particular set of strings on purpose or by accident, as it will sound right (even to me) no matter what - at least that's the idea. 
One, major, reason for nearly always wanting to have the right, full, chord at hand, is that I have for 2 1/2 decades played an S10 PSG tuned to Extended E Major, where big 8-string chords and/or drone-notes are always at hand when pedals/levers are operated to also keep silent strings in on the wanted chord. Only 2 strings differ between this personal tuning and regular E9, so I carry this approach over to E9 without thinking much about it even if E9 isn't so strong on big chords and drone-notes as my personal tuning. |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 12 Jan 2013 9:32 pm
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| If you like it and it sounds good then you're doing it correctly. |
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