The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal slide to stop the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. An electric instrument (which in the broadest sense includes both electrically amplified Acoustic instruments and Electronic musical instruments is one in which a The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The pedal steel is placed horizontally on a stand, with the strings facing up towards the player, and is typically plucked with fingerpicks. A fingerpick is a type of Plectrum used most commonly for playing bluegrass style Banjo Music. The instrument's pedals are used to change the pitch of its strings while being played; the action of the pedals may either be fixed, or may be configurable by the player to select which strings are affected by the pedals. The pedal steel, with its smooth portamenti, bending chords and complex riffs, is one of the most recognizable and characteristic instruments of American country music. Portamento is a Musical term primarily denoting a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by instruments such as the violin and in 16th century Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains.
While there are some fairly standard pedal assignments, many advanced players devise their own setups, called copedents. Copedent is a table used to describe the tuning and pedal arrangement on a Pedal steel guitar. The range of copedents that can be set up varies considerably from model to model. Aftermarket modifications to make additional copedents possible are common.
The pedal steel was developed from the console steel guitar and lap steel guitar. The table steel guitar is a type of electric Steel guitar intermediate between the Lap steel guitar and the Pedal steel guitar. The lap steel guitar is a type of Steel guitar, from which other types developed Like the console steel, a pedal steel may have multiple necks, but the pedals make even a single-neck pedal steel a far more versatile instrument than any multiple-neck console steel.
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Description
A pedal steel guitar is typically rectangular in shape, and has no resonant chamber or conventional guitar body but only one or more guitar necks. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles These are mounted on a stand and equipped with foot pedals and usually knee levers. Many models feature two necks, the nearest to the player most often using a C6 tuning and the farther away using an E9 tuning. C6 tuning is the most common tuning for electric Steel guitar, both on single and multiple neck instruments E9 tuning is a common tuning for Steel guitar necks of more than six strings The most common configuration is one or two necks of ten strings each, but eight-string and twelve-string necks are also popular, and even models with 14 strings on one neck can be found. Three-neck instruments are less common than those with one or two, but are not unknown.
The pedals and/or knee levers (engaged by moving the knees left, right or vertically) on the underside allow the performer to tighten or relax one or more strings in combination, changing the instrument's tuning during performance.
History
The pedal steel guitar is the latest development in a story that started with the invention of a technique of playing used in Hawaii in the late 1800s, wherein the strings were not fretted in the normal manner by the left hand, but rather by sliding an object such as a comb or the back edge of a knife blade along the strings above the neck of the guitar. The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the Several people have been credited with the innovation.
The Hawaiian style of playing was very popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the To increase the volume of the guitar, a resonator cone was added by the Doypeyra Brothers to create the resophonic guitar.
By the 30's, the hollow guitar body was abandoned for a flat slab of wood or metal and the addition of an electric pickup; this was the lap steel guitar. It was the first electric guitar to achieve commercial success. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder Several pioneering manufacturers of the electric guitar were first famous for their work on the then more popular electric steel guitar, among them Adolph Rickenbacher, Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder Paul Adelburt Bigsby (1899&ndash1968 was the designer of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (also known as a Tremolo arm) and proprietor of Bigsby Guitars Clarence Leonidas Fender ( August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991) also known as Leo Fender, was an American inventor who
The limitations of chord shapes imposed by the use of the steel slide (or "tone bar") led to the addition of multiple necks, resulting in the console steel guitar. The Gibson Guitar Corporation used a system of pedals to change the tuning of the strings on one of their console steels beginning in 1940. The Gibson Guitar Corporation of Nashville Tennessee, USA is a manufacturer of acoustic and Electric guitars The company's most popular guitar [1] This instrument, the Electraharp, had a cluster of pedals radiating from its left rear leg that operated similarly to the pedals on a harp. Alvino Rey was an early player of the Electraharp. Alvin McBurney ( July 1[[ 907]] – February 2 2004) known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American Swing era [1]
In about 1950, Paul Bigsby began making custom pedal steel guitars that featured pedals mounted to a rack between the front legs of the instrument. [1] Speedy West got the second of Bigsby's creations, and used it extensively in his work with Jimmy Bryant. Wesley Webb "Speedy" West ( January 25, 1924 – November 15, 2003) was an American Pedal steel guitarist Zane Beck began adding knee levers to console steel guitars, and in 1953, added a set of four knee levers to Jimmy Day's console steel. [1] Beck's knee levers lowered the pitches of the strings they operated, which was an action opposite of what the pedals accomplished. [1]
Around 1955, a console steel player named Bud Isaacs attached a pedal to one of the necks of his guitar. The function of the pedal was to change the pitch of two of the strings, whereby Isaacs would have two of the most common steel guitar tunings available on one neck. When he used this pedal to change his tuning while sustaining a chord during the recording of Webb Pierce's hit "Slowly," he touched off a revolution among steel guitarists. Webb Pierce ( 8 August 1921 - 24 February 1991) was an American Country music Singer. [2]
The steel guitar seems to have an unusually high number of mechanically inclined players, and a period of extensive tinkering followed Isaac's initial idea. Two of these tinkering musicians were Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day, and their playing and mechanical innovations alike have done more for the development of the pedal steel guitar than any other contributors.
Emmons and Day split the function of Isaac's pedal into two separate pedals and added two strings to fill in the gaps in the E9 tuning, bringing the number of strings to ten. [2] Although Emmons' and Day's setups do the same thing, Emmons and Day used the opposite of each other's pedals to raise the strings. To this day, when one buys a pedal steel, the manufacturer will ask whether the player wants an Emmons Setup or a Day Setup. Emmons incorporated a third pedal to his setup, based on a change Ralph Mooney had used on his instrument. [2] Emmons joined forces in 1957 with another steel-playing machinist named Harold "Shot" Jackson and formed the Sho-Bud company, the first pedal steel guitar manufacturer. [3] Sho-Bud guitars incorporated all the innovations that had taken place during the 1950s, including Emmons's third pedal, Beck's knee levers, and ten strings. The single-neck pedal steel guitar was now standardized with three pedals and (up to) four knee levers.
Both lap and pedal steel guitars were closely associated with the development of country music and western swing. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. This article is about the Musical genre. For the popular western swing Steel guitar tuning see E9 tuning. The pedal steel's liquid, yearning sound has begun in recent years to be coveted by many modern musicians, beginning in jazz and blues. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression In particular the rising popularity of alternative country has brought the instrument's beautiful sound to a much wider audience, and it has been used in many different musical genres. Alternative country is a term used to describe a number of Country music subgenres that tend to differ from mainstream or pop country music A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Jùjú music, a form from Nigeria, uses pedal steel extensively. Jùjú is a style of Nigerian Popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal
A Concerto for Pedal Steel Guitar and Orchestra has been written by Los Angeles composer Michael A. Levine. The term Concerto (plural concertos or concerti) usually refers to a three part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an Orchestra An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Michael A Levine is an American Composer born on 20 February 1964 in Tokyo Japan, and currently based in Los Angeles. It was premiered on April 16, 2005, in a performance by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, with Gary Morse (of Dierks Bentley's and Dwight Yoakam's bands) as soloist, and Paul Gambill conducting. Events 1178 BC - A Solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dierks Bentley (born November 20, 1975, in Phoenix Arizona) is an American Country music artist Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American Country music Singer, Songwriter, and Actor The piece is believed to be the first concerto ever written for the solo steel guitar.
Playing
A performer typically sits on a stool or seat at the instrument. The right foot usually is used to operate a volume pedal. The left foot is used to press one or more of the instrument's foot pedals. The knees are positioned under the instrument's body so that by moving them left, right or even vertically, they can push levers that hang from underneath it.
The strings are positioned high above the neck of the instrument. Rather than being pressed to a fret on the neck, the player's left hand holds a polished metal bar called the steel on the strings. A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a Stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the Guitar. The steel can be slid up and down the length of the neck, while still touching (effectively fretting) the strings. This raises and lowers the pitch of the notes heard when the strings are played. If the bar is kept perpendicular to the neck (in the orientation of a fret), all strings touched have had their effective length changed equally. The right hand plucks the strings, usually with a set of thumb and finger picks.
The pedals and knee levers raise and lower the pitch of certain strings "on the fly" while the instrument is being played. The exact action of these pedals and levers—which strings are affected—can be set by the player to their preference.
Characteristic effects are obtained by changing pitch of one or more strings while other strings' pitches are static or change at differing rates. Melodic lines are composed primarily of dyads (two-note chords). In Music, a dyad is a set of two notes or pitches. Although most chords have three or more notes in certain contexts a dyad may be considered to be a In the E9 tuning, many characteristic idioms involve tonic-dominant and tonic-subdominant harmonic relationships. The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition. In Music, the dominant is the Fifth degree of the scale. For example in the C Major scale (white keys on a piano starting with C the The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition. In Music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the Diatonic scale.
Mastering the pedal steel guitar can take time due to its harmonic complexity and unusual physical technique required. In country music, where the pedal steel guitar is most commonly used, talented players are highly esteemed.
For a table of several tunings of the pedal steel guitar, see copedent. Copedent is a table used to describe the tuning and pedal arrangement on a Pedal steel guitar.
Manufacturers
Most pedal steel guitars are produced by smaller makers, and many are custom-built to player order. While there are dozens of manufacturers of pedal steel guitars (past and present), the list below represents the larger manufacturers and notable smaller manufacturers.
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Notable players
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See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Winston, Winnie; Bill Keith (1975). Paul Adelburt Bigsby (1899&ndash1968 was the designer of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (also known as a Tremolo arm) and proprietor of Bigsby Guitars Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Quincy Illinois is a manufacturer of stringed instruments such as solid-body Electric guitars including the Sho-Bud is a brand name for a manufacturer of Pedal steel guitars The founders were SHOt Jackson and BUDdy Emmons both active steel players in the 1950s Susan Alcorn (born 1953 is an American Composer, improvisor and Pedal steel guitarist active in contemporary music and Free improvisation. Roy Ayres (1929 -) is an American Pedal steel guitar player A Grand Ole Opry musician known for full chords and smooth tone Ayres played steel guitar Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen was a Country rock band formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor Michigan. Jerry Brightman (born 1953 is a Pedal steel guitarist that played for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and featured on television's Hee Haw along New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American Country rock band B J Cole (born Brian John Cole, 17 June 1946 Enfield, Middlesex) is an English Pedal steel guitarist who is best known for playing Pete Drake ( 8 October 1932 – 29 July 1988) born Roddis Franklin Drake, was a major Nashville, Tennessee -based Paul Franklin (born 1953 in Detroit Michigan) is an American multi-intrumentalist known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist Stuart Goldman is a highly controversial Journalist, Author and Screenwriter. Norm Hamlet is an American steel guitarist best know as a member of Merle Haggard 's Stranger's group Don Helms ( February 27, 1927 - August 11, 2008) was a Steel guitarist best known as the steel guitar player of Hank Shot Jackson (born Harold Jackson September 4 1920 - 1991 was a country music guitarist best known for playing Dobro and Pedal steel guitar. Doug "digndoug" Jernigan (born January 5, 1946 in Pensacola Florida) is an award-winning Pedal steel guitar musician Ben Keith is an American Pedal steel guitarist from Bowling Green Kentucky Peter E "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow ( August 20 1934 - January 6 2007) was an American Greg Leisz (pronounced "Lease") is an American multi-instrumentalist playing lap and pedal Steel guitars Guitar, Mandolin, and bass Lloyd Maines (born June 28, 1951) is a Country music musician and producer who was born and raised in Lubbock Texas and is now based in Ton Masseurs (born 7 December 1947 in Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands) is a Dutch guitarist noted as one of the first Pedal steel guitar players in Europe Jeff Newman ( January 7 1942 - April 7 2004) was an American country musician who played the Pedal steel guitar. Robert Randolph & The Family Band is a Multicultural American Funk and soul band composed of Robert Randolph Marcus Randolph (drums Alvin McBurney ( July 1[[ 907]] – February 2 2004) known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American Swing era Orville Rhodes, known as Red Rhodes or O J Rhodes (born in Alton Illinois on December 30, 1930) was an American Steel guitarist Wesley Webb "Speedy" West ( January 25, 1924 – November 15, 2003) was an American Pedal steel guitarist Rusty Young Gifted Guitarist, vocalist and song writer Born in 1946, in Long Beach California; Rusty was raised in Colorado. Steel guitar is A method of playing Slide guitar using a steel. Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the Guitar. The lap steel guitar is a type of Steel guitar, from which other types developed Sacred steel is a musical style and African-American gospel tradition that developed in House of God churches in the 1930s Pedal Steel Guitar. Oak Publications, p. 115. ISBN 082560169X.
- ^ a b c Winston, Winnie; Bill Keith (1975). Pedal Steel Guitar. Oak Publications, p. 116. ISBN 082560169X.
- ^ Winston, Winnie; Bill Keith (1975). Pedal Steel Guitar. Oak Publications, p. 116. ISBN 082560169X.
External links
- The Pedal Steel Pages - Where to start.
- Jeffran College - Jeff Newman's instructional website.
- digndoug.com - Doug Jernigan's instructional website.
- Steel Guitar Jazz - Videos, sound clips and photos of jazz steel guitarists.
- Performance Steel Guitars Performance Steel Guitar, LLC
- Brad's Page of Steel - Discusses lap steel guitars in more detail.
- Steel Guitar Forum - A discussion board for steel guitarists.
- SteelGuitarInfo.com - Information on the pedal steel guitar, provided by Carter Steel Guitars.
- Photographs of one pedal steel guitar model.
- Jerry Brightman Home website for Jerry Brightman formerly with Buck Owens.
- Steel Guitar Zone Articles, music, instructional materials and DVDs for Dobro and all steel guitar players.
- www.16tracks.com Collection of free . mp3, . wma, and . wav files submitted by the people who played them.
- Pedal Steel Power from Country Pickers - article originally published in The History of Rock 1983; republished in Crawdaddy! 2008
Dictionary
pedal steel guitar
-noun
- (music) The elements of an electric guitar, mounted horizontally on legs, that uses a combination of a steel bar and pedals to vary the pitch
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