A few newbie questions

Geoffrey Collier · From: South Carolina, USA

I'm a guitarist. In a moment of insanity I picked up a pedal steel. A guy a few hours from me had an MSA classic d10 for $1300 (no case) in good condition, and it seemed like a deal. Since I know theory I have been figuring it out on my own, with a few books. I "cheat" and use a few guitar habits-no finger picks, and use 3 fingers instead of two (I assume the PD police won't bust me!). (I'm working on the e9 neck only for now).

A newbie question:
My levers from left to right, using the most common nomenclature, appear to be:
F E ? D
?-raises high D# to E and F# to G#.
Does this have a standard letter or name? Or maybe the guy who sold it to me had it in a nonstandard tuning?

Eric Dahlhoff · From: Point Arena, California

Very standard Smile

_________________
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

Itâ€™s the G lever. Standard for it used to be to raise F# to G, but what itâ€™s doing on your guitar has become so common that it is also considered standard. Determining standards with psg copedents is somewhat of an exercise in futility.

Pat Chong · From: New Mexico, USA

It may include dropping your 6th string or raising your 7th string, too.

.................Pat

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Naming of the levers can, and will, change depending on the player. The one lever that was named decades ago is the F lever (raising the E's to F). Things are starting to standardize a little. You often hear the E to D# lever referred to as the D lever (I would call it the E lever as it affects the E strings). I would use the D lever for the second string lowers, as one of the notes is a D note.

I never refer to any levers by a letter, except the F lever, which is pretty much used by a majority of steel players. I will refer to a lever by what it does, like lowers string 2, raising 1,2, and lowering 6.

It would be nice if there was a standard, but who will make the standards. Some will resist some levers being named something, when they already refer to the lever by a different lever letter.

Another issue is that players might have different other changes on a lever that has a name. For instance, in the past, raising strings 1 and 7 from F# to G was very commonly called the G lever. Now raising 1 to G#, 2 to E, and lowering 6 to F# (or raising 7 to G#) is commonly referred to as the G lever. How is one to be sure which changes are on a G lever whdn someone mentions the G lever. I'm sure a lot of us older players still call the F#'s to G the G lever.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Geoffrey Collier · From: South Carolina, USA

I'll just put a label on it that says "g". I just need something to get me organized, and for my own notations.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I'd sooner call it RKL (because that's its location: Right Knee moving Left), or "1st and 2nd string raise".
But it's a standard change. I like it better on a pedal, so it can combine with the whole tone drop of 2.
The most evident and obvious use of it is the intro to Brad Paisley's "He Didn't Have To Be", where it, along with the A pedal just before it, make up the entire intro.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

welcome to the crazy world of steel guitar. Since Mr. Buddy Emmons set his pedals up A-B-C and Mr. Jimmy Day set his up C-B-A That was the start. The raise 4-8 is F knee lever, Lower 4-8 D knee lever.
You just have to figure out what they do, Where they are located, and how to use them.
To get a faster start and understanding the E9th neck I would suggest getting an E9th Mel Bay Steel Guitar chord chart. It helps you transfer moves from a 6 string neck to the steel guitar. Notes which strings to pick too.
Good Luck, The adventure begins, Happy Steelin.

Paul Pearson · From: Alabama, USA

What really gets me is you get someone who is describing the knee levers for instance they will say just push the lol most of the time that would be raising Es to F on Emmons set up I play day set up and my Es to Ed are on my rkr and my e yo f are on my lot it would be nice to at least say what the knee lever is doing some of our new players may not be far enough alone to figure it out let's not get them confused just imo thanks

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Jeff Harbour · From: Western Ohio, USA

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Darrell Criswell · From: Maryland, USA

Sounds like you got an absolute steal of a deal on that guitar, how did you hear about it?

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Once you get to where you feel ready to take it out of the house, I'd recommend not just a case, but split cases. That's a heavy guitar, and it's easier with the legs, pedal bat and pedal rods in the other half.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Bobby Nelson · From: North Carolina, USA

Mine is a Day, and LKL does E to Eb; Rkl does E to F. I have a LKV that I can't tell you out of memory what it does, but gives me some cool 9th cords; RKL does B to A (which is very cool!) and RKR does some stuff with the 1 & 2 strings (and possibly something else). Like you, I'm an old 6 string player and just learning it, and I can't really tell you what they are named. So, I just mash stuff until it sounds good (my ear knows a lot more about it than my brain, and that's OK with me - all that'll come later). I have a zero pedal which is about a half of a Franklin, but don't use it much. I will tell you this though: I'm already wanting a couple more levers. I can't really tell you what I'd want them to do but, if my ear could talk, it could.

James Jacoby · From: Ohio, USA

[quote="Geoffrey Collier"]I'm a guitarist. In a moment of insanity I picked up a pedal steel. A guy a few hours from me had an MSA classic d10 for $1300 (no case) in good condition, and it seemed like a deal. Since I know theory I have been figuring it out on my own, with a few books. I "cheat" and use a few guitar habits-no finger picks, and use 3 fingers instead of two (I assume the PD police won't bust me!). (I'm working on the e9 neck only for now).

I was like you (6 string lead guitarist), learning on PSG. I saw one of the Eagles, playing steel, with just his fingers,(I think it was Don Felder), so I started that way--but I soon started using picks. (They do feel much better, after you get used to them!) -Jake-

Forum Index > Pedal Steel		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic