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Topic: Standard names for pedals and levers? |
Fred Glave
From:
McHenry, Illinois, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2006 7:54 pm |
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| I recently got hold of a tab that uses the "L" pedal or lever. I don't think I've heard of that one before. I don't have a lot of experience with tabs, I've learned and play mostly by ear. With the different types of steels out there is there any standard for labeling pedals and levers on tabs? I know A, B, C pedal etc. is standard for E9, but I have a U12 with 8 pedals/5 levers and sometimes I need to hunt around for the answers. |
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 9 Feb 2006 9:52 pm
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Easiest way for me is to take whatever pedal is listed in the tab, find out what pedal or lever on your guitar does the same function, take a pencil and write in your corresponding pedal number or knee lever. P1, P8, RKL etc... Then there is no question what one you should play. We are never going to see a standard way to label pedals and levers.
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Carter D10 9p/9k, NV400, Korg Triton Le88 Synth, Korg CX-3 organ, Yamaha Motif Rack Module, Regal Dobro, Tele, Gretsch Acoustic.
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Ben Slaughter
From:
Madera, California
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Posted 9 Feb 2006 9:54 pm
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"L" in tab usually means to lower that string. I'm not familiar with a specific change being called the "L" lever.
There are differences, but often the "F lever" is the one that raises the Es to F. "E lever" is often used for the lever that lowers the Es. "D lever" is sometimes used for the lever that changes the 2nd string to D (and 9th on a Uni guitar). There was a discussion a few years ago to name the lever (often the LKV) that lowers the Bs the "J" lever in honor of the late, great, Mr. Jeff Newman. The "PF pedal" and "PF lever" were invented by Mr. Paul Franklin.
But, if you see "L" or "R" in tab, that almost always means LOWER or RAISE that string.
There are others. I remember someone talking about an "X lever," but I don't recall... Anyone remember that??? |
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Jim Gorrie
From:
Edinburgh ~ road works congestion capital of The World.
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 12:18 am
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The "X" lever ~~ as I recall from a Jeff Newman seminar I attended in the mid/late 80's, the "X" lever did the same as what we now accept as the "standard" LKV -- i.e. it lowers the 5th string a half tone.
I still have the seminar tab booklet and that note about the "X" lever is written in there. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 1:36 am
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| This is why Jimmie Crawford's system is so much better than stadard tab. It tells you what the pedal does, rather than just give it a name. |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 3:53 am
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All the above advice is correct,
Here's more: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/001519.html
The bottom line is learn the functions of your levers, then figure out what letters the tab author is using to indicate those functions. |
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Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 5:16 am
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| Joey's right, once I learned what each pedal and lever did to any string it didn't matter what symbol I saw. Once you learn this it starts to click when you see a symbol on a particuliar string and you'll know which lever or pedal to use. |
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John Daugherty
From:
Rolla, Missouri, USA
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Fred Glave
From:
McHenry, Illinois, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 4:19 pm
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| Thanks guys. I guess I should know by now that for the most part strings changes are either up or down and not both, except for the Es. |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2006 4:58 pm
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Once you know what your levers do, the meaning of letters on any tab should be pretty obvious. I often avoid the letter names entirely, using "#" and "##" for raises, "b" and "bb" for lowers.
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 Bobby Lee (a.k.a. b0b) - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Williams D-12 E9, C6add9, Sierra Olympic S-12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop S-8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster D-8 (E13, C6 or A6) My Blog |
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Dave Ristrim
From:
Whites Creek, TN
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 5:24 am
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Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford! Know what your pedals do, not what they are called makes for a better player IMHO.
Bob's got it right. |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 6:15 am
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Once you know what they do, I see no problem in calling them A, B, or C.
"A" is easier to write than "##".
I perfer to use R and L for Knee Levers, to indicate Raise or Lower. |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 6:39 am
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Now I'm really confused.
I thought 'RKR' meant 'right knee (or kick)/ right.
Anyone? |
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John Macy
From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 6:46 am
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A is easier to write than ##, but the latter makes you think about what you are doing, rather than just responding to a letter. This was Jimmie's whole point in his MusymTab system. It will make you a better player overall...
Richard said "We are never going to see a standard way to label pedals and levers", but actually this system makes everyone's guitar the same, assuming you have the changes tabbed out.[This message was edited by John Macy on 15 February 2006 at 06:51 AM.] |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 8:51 am
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I learned:
LKL = Left Knee Left
LKR = Left Knee Right
RKL = Right Knee Left
RKR = Stomp volume pedal (play way too loud) and miss the built in half stop thereby mutilating the lick |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 9:39 am
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| Quote: |
| "A" is easier to write than "##". |
Actually, Jimmie advocated using the 'double sharp' symbol from standard notation, which is 'X'. That's as easy to write as A and, in any case, knowing the musical interval a given pedal or lever raises or lowers the open note is CRITICAL to understanding this complicated contraption we play.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 12:25 pm
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| Ray and Charlie -- the reason Jimmy came up with his MusymTab system is because what he had on his LKL (for example) may be different to what you or I have on our LKL -- so there would only be confusion if you label knee lever changes by their location on the guitar...since a lot of people could have the same change on a different knee lever. Hence the much better idea of referring to what the change actually does to the string !! rather than what knee or pedal it is on. |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 1:06 pm
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Paddy, yep, I know, I'm currently struggling with some $%^&* set screws in a Dekley crossshaft trying to convert it back from Day to Emmons. My point above was that for me, RKR is mostly a nightmare...  |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 3:16 pm
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| I see now. |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 15 Feb 2006 4:14 pm
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| Quote: |
| " Jimmie advocated using the 'double sharp' symbol from standard notation, which is 'X'" |
Since Jeff called the Vertical Lever the "X Lever" this is more fodder to confuse the newbie.
I have nothhing against all the above Tab conventions. Using, and understanding, different styles helps you to learn the functions.
Try Joe Wright's "Right Hand Tab" for still another way of looking at it. Here's a good example: http://www.pedalsteel.com/joe/tea/sound.1/index4.html
Joe's tab has the benifit of also indicating the fingeriing.
There's no one way, but all will agree that you need to know the functions of your pedals and levers.
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 16 Feb 2006 12:49 am
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| John, the reason I said that we will never see a standard way of naming pedals is the fact that not all people writing tab will want to use the Crawford type system (which I actually prefer also). We have discussed this for many years now, yet still there is no standard. |
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