Pedal steel guitar

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Modern pedal steel guitar with two necks Pedals steel guitar moderne.jpg
Modern pedal steel guitar with two necks


The pedal steel guitar is a string instrument mounted horizontally on a frame and played while seated. The player typically plucks the strings with the dominant hand while pressing and moving a steel bar against them with the other hand. The instrument has no resonant chamber, and requires electric pickups played through an amplifier. It is an evolution of earlier steel guitar designs and features foot pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music than previous non-pedal guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can produce smooth glissandi (sliding notes) and controlled vibrato, expressive techniques akin to the human singing voice.

Contents

In the 1940s and 1950s, inventors sought to overcome the harmonic limitations of steel guitars. Mechanical pitch-changing devices, operated by foot pedals and supplemented by knee levers, allowed performers to make chords previously not possible, and also alter the pitch of selected strings while other strings continued to sound. The resulting bending harmonies was appealing and memorable to country music devotees and became the instrument's signature sound.

After Bud Isaacs demonstrated the sound of his novel technique of pushing a pedal to change pitches while notes were still sounding on Webb Pierce's 1953 recording of "Slowly", the pedal steel rapidly became a defining element of the Nashville country music sound. Innovations by Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day, Zane Beck, Paul Bigsby, and others established many of the mechanical and tuning conventions used on modern instruments. Although most closely associated with country music, the pedal steel has also been adopted in western swing, jazz, Sacred Steel, and popular music.

Design and Operation

A typical modern E9 pedal steel has ten strings, three foot pedals, and five knee levers. [1] The player generally wears picks on the thumb and two fingers of the picking hand. [2] The other hand holds a polished steel bar across the strings, and moves it along the neck. The instrument has no frets, only pictures of frets to serve as visual guides for positioning the bar. [2]

E9 pedal steel from underneath Pedal steel underneath.JPG
E9 pedal steel from underneath

Long metal rods connect the foot pedals to rotating shafts beneath the instrument. These shafts operate long pull rods traveling nearly the length of the underbody to individual changer fingers at the end of the guitar (pictured). Each string passes over a changer finger, which rotates slightly when a pedal or knee lever is activated. This changes the string’s tension and raises or lowers its pitch by a predetermined interval—commonly a semitone or whole tone.

E9 pedal steel tuning adjustment. Also shows changer fingers above Pedal Steel adjustment.jpg
E9 pedal steel tuning adjustment. Also shows changer fingers above

When the pedal or lever is released, springs return the string to its original pitch. [3]

The open strings are tuned at the tuning keys like a conventional guitar, but changes produced by the pedals and knee levers are adjusted separately in a small compartment at the end of the guitar (pictured). It houses rows of hexagonal nylon tuning rods, one for each pedal. While the pedal is held down the rod is turned to tune the altered note. The purpose is to avoid an out-of-tune chord whenever a pedal is pushed, retuning to perfect tune when released. These adjustments are made only after the open strings have been tuned accurately. [4]

Development

The pedal steel guitar emerged from earlier steel guitar designs. The acoustic Hawaiian guitar, now commonly called the lap steel, was followed by louder resonator guitars. The development of the electromagnetic pickup in the early 1930s led to electrified lap steels and, subsequently, console steels. [5] [6] As electric instruments became widely used, two subsequent changes followed: One, the production of the guitar amplifier, which had to be purchased in order to use the technology; [7] and two, that electrified guitars no longer had to have the traditional guitar shape—this profoundly influenced future electric guitar designs. [8] Instrument makers rapidly began making them into a rectangular block of wood with an electric pickup, the precursor of the pedal steel. [9] [10]

By the late 1940s the lap steel's inherent harmonic limitations and meager array of chords and inversions were exposing the limits of what fixed tunings could accomplish. [11] : 33  Players needed a way to have different voicings on the same guitar without stopping to retune. [12] [11] To get those voicings, scores of different tunings were used by lap steel players. [13] Some musicians kept an additional lap steel (with different tuning) on hand to be used for certain songs. Players learned to slant the bar [14] to alter individual notes within a chord, but the difficulty is that exact bar placement is demanding, varies with string spacing and fret position, and three-note slants may not place every note in perfect tune. [15] Another approach was to add more strings, thereby extending the instrument’s range and allowing narrower intervals between strings. These smaller intervals made more harmonically complex tunings possible. [11] : 36 

Rickenbacker Console 758 tripleneck steel Rickenbacker Console 758 tripleneck steel - 2011 TSGA Jamboree.jpg
Rickenbacker Console 758 tripleneck steel

Musicians began placing two or more differently tuned necks on the same instrument. Performers such as Noel Boggs and Leon McAuliffe routinely switched between necks during a performance, and triple-neck instruments such as the Fender Stringmaster or a Rickenbacker 758 remained in use well into the 1950s. [16] [17] The trend ended with guitars with as many as four different necks. [16] Although effective, multi-neck console steels were cumbersome and unaffordable by many musicians, leading inventors to seek a mechanical alternative. [18]

Early pedal mechanisms

Early designers initially sought a pedal mechanism that would change the pitch of all the strings simultaneously, effectively emulating a second neck [19] In 1939, the "Electradaire" used a pedal-controlled solenoid to operate an electrical apparatus that altered the tension of the strings, but it was not successful. [20] That same year, bandleader Alvino Rey worked with machinist John Moore to design a pedal-operated electric steel guitar. [21] Gibson subsequently introduced their design in 1940 as the "Electraharp", which featured pedals radially oriented from a single axis at the instrument's left rear leg. [22] Only 43 were sold before production was halted, but the U.S. entry into World War II may have been a factor. [11] After the war, Gibson redesigned and reintroduced the Electraharp and Bud Isaacs used one on the song "Big Blue Diamonds" for King Records. [11] The Harlan Brothers of Indianapolis created the "Multi-Kord" with a universal pedal that could fairly easily be configured to adjust the pitch of any or all strings, but was extremely hard to push when tensioning all strings at once. [20]

Bigsby pedal steel guitar Bigsby steel.jpg
Bigsby pedal steel guitar

The most successful pedal system from the various contenders was designed about 1948 by Paul Bigsby, a motorcycle shop foreman and racer who also invented a commercially successful Spanish guitar vibrato tailpiece. [23] Bigsby put pedals on a rack between the two front legs of the steel guitar. The pedals operated a mechanical linkage to apply tension to raise the pitch of certain strings. [22]

Bigsby built guitars incorporating his design for the foremost steel players of the day, including Speedy West, Noel Boggs, and Bud Isaacs; but Bigsby, age 56, was a one-man operation working out of his garage, and was not capable of keeping up with demand. [20] One of Bigsby's first guitars was used on "Candy Kisses" in 1949 by Eddie Kirk. [24] The second model Bigsby made went to Speedy West, who used it extensively. [23] [25] : 30  West remembered Bigsby as a perfectionist who did all of his own work, even secretarial work, and said, "He would not hire employees ... he just didn't think anyone else could do what Paul Bigsby could do." [25] : 30 

Bud Isaacs' country music breakthrough

Bud Isaacs c. 1950.jpg

In 1953, Bud Isaacs received one of Bigsby's new creations, a double-neck steel which featured pedals to change the pitch of only two strings. On this record, Isaacs was the first to push the pedal while notes were still sounding. Other steel players strictly avoided doing this, because it was considered "un-Hawaiian". [17]

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"Slowly" by Webb Pierce
Problems playing this file? See media help.

When Isaacs performed on the 1953 recording of Webb Pierce's "Slowly", he pushed the pedal while playing a chord, to produced a situation of one note remaining the same, one note slurring up a half step, and one note a whole step to join the existing first note. [26] : 71  This unique bending up from below to harmonize with the other strings created an ear-catching effect which was virtually impossible with the older (non-pedal) lap steels. [a] [27] The resulting distinctive style of playing became a defining characteristic of the country music coming out of Nashville for decades thereafter. [11] : 2  It caused a virtual revolution among lap steel players who wanted to duplicate it but their lap steels could not. [12] [23] The song was the first Billboard country chart-topper to feature pedal steel. [28] Isaacs' recording demonstrated that pedals could be "played" skillfully during a performance as an expressive musical device rather than simply to change tunings between passages, fundamentally changing the role of the steel guitar in country music.

Standardization of the modern instrument

The pedal steel design was rapidly adopted by country music lap steel players in the early 1950s. In accordance, the number of lap steel players gradually diminished with only pockets of devotees remaining in country and Hawaiian music. [11] : 2  Taken together, these technological evolutions eclipsed the lap steel. In its place came a complex instrument with increased possibilities, used almost exclusively in country music. [29]

Buddy Emmons

When Webb Pierce's "Slowly" was released in 1953, Paul Bigsby was in the process of building a new pedal steel guitar for Buddy Emmons. After hearing Bud Isaacs bend two strings simultaneously with a single pedal on the recording, Emmons asked Bigsby to make his guitar setup to split the function of Isaacs' single pedal into two pedals, each controlling a different string. [17] He could easily push both pedals simultaneously to achieve the same effect as Isaacs, but had the option to push either independently, giving more options to play minors and suspended chords without moving or slanting the bar. [17] This "split-pedal" setup became the standard copedent in the E9 tuning, since it allowed greater musical flexibility. Jimmy Day had the same idea, but reversed which strings were affected by the two pedals. This prompted future manufacturers to ask customers if they wanted a "Day" or an "Emmons" setup. [17] In 1957, Emmons partnered with guitarist/machinist Harold "Shot" Jackson to form the Sho-Bud company, the first company devoted solely to pedal steel guitar manufacture. [17] [30] Emmons later expanded the standard tuning by adding two chromatic strings and a third pedal, giving players greater melodic range and harmonic flexibility. [31] Sho-Bud instruments incorporated all the innovations developed through the 1950s, including 10 strings, the third pedal, and Beck’s knee levers, standardizing the E9 single-neck pedal steel guitar. [17]

Knee levers

Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Zane Beck pioneered the use of knee levers in the 1950s, and was the first to install them on production guitars. [32] [33] Beck extended the pedal concept by recruiting the player's knees to control a separate mechanism to lower the pitch of certain strings. [29] The levers are located unobtrusively underneath the body of the guitar, protruding downward on each side of each of the player's knees. The addition greatly expanded the instrument’s harmonic possibilities. [17] Depending on the instrument, the player operates the levers by moving either knee to the left or right or by raising it. Like foot pedals, knee levers change the pitch of selected strings and may be used alone, with another knee lever, or in combination with the pedals [34] Beck’s original knee levers lowered string pitches rather than raising them; on modern pedal steels, knee levers may be configured to raise or lower strings. [17]

Copedent

Certain players prefer different setups regarding which function the pedals and levers perform, and which string tuning is preferred. [29] In the early 1970s, musician Tom Bradshaw coined the term copedent ( /koʊˈpiːdənt/ koh-PEE-dənt), a portmanteau of "chord-pedal-arrangement". [29] Often represented in table form, the copedent chart is a way of specifying the instrument's tuning, pedal and lever setup, string gauges and string windings. [29] The term is unique to pedal steel guitar. [17] The copedent chart was a way players could communicate with each other and with guitar manufacturers. [26] : 187  In addition to these contributions, Bradshaw’s entrepreneurship was instrumental in establishing the larger pedal steel community of professionals and amateurs. At first it was newsletters and gatherings, later websites including the Steel Guitar Forum. [26] : 192–3 

Evolution of the E9 copedent

The Nashville E9 tuning for a steel guitar (also called the "E9 Chromatic Tuning") [35] : 7  is the most common tuning used in Nashville's country music. The tuning evolved from 1950 to 1970 by incremental innovations by many professional steel guitarists. Hall of fame steel players including Emmons, Jimmy Day, Ralph Mooney and others made contributions that eventually became permanent changes to the instrument. [36] By the mid-1970s, major manufacturers had largely standardized the ten-string E9 instrument with three pedals and four knee levers, although individual players continued to customize their guitars. [17]

E9 and C6 necks

Since the 1950s, the double-neck pedal steel had been the professional standard. [26] : 178  The C6 neck (closer to the player) is typically used for western swing or jazz music and the E9 neck is usually used for country music. [37] The two tunings differ substantially in their musical capabilities. The C6 has a wider pitch range than the E9, mostly on the lower notes. [38] The two tunings evolved for different musical idioms and are optimized for them. [38] According to author Timothy Miller, [26] : 143  one of the factors that influenced the dominance of the E9 tuning was a decision made in 1972 by one of the highest profile steel players of the time, Lloyd Green. Green declared that not only was the C6 "not a profitable pursuit," but that the E9 fulfilled his musical needs. [26] Green made his point by dismantling the C6 neck on his instrument and installing a padded arm rest in its place. [26] : 178 

Universal tuning

There are proponents of a "universal tuning" to combine the E9 and C6 into a single 12 or 14-string neck that encompasses some features of each. [23] It was developed by Maurice Anderson and later modified by Larry Bell. [19] By lowering the C6 tuning a half-step to make it a B6, many commonalities with the E9 tuning are achieved on the same neck and it is called the E9/B6 tuning. [39]

Use outside country music

The pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music, but it is also heard in jazz, sacred music, popular music, nu jazz, and African music. [40] [17]

Sacred steel

In the United States in the 1930s, during the steel guitar's wave of popularity, the instrument was introduced into the House of God, a branch of an African-American Pentecostal denomination, based primarily in Nashville and Indianapolis. The steel guitar was embraced by the congregation and often took the place of an organ. The sound bore no resemblance to typical American country music. [41] The first documented use of a pedal (rather than lap) steel in this tradition was in 1952, but it did not become common until the early 1970s. [41] : 60  This musical genre, known as "Sacred Steel" was largely unknown until, in the 1980's Robert Randolph [42] popularized it and received critical acclaim. [43] Neil Strauss, writing in the New York Times, called Randolph "one of the most original and talented pedal steel guitarists of his generation. [44] Campbell Brothers are another American Sacred Steel gospel group from Rush, New York.The ensemble features pedal steel guitar and began as the house band for a House of God Keith Dominion congregation.

Nigerian jùjú music

The pedal steel guitar became a signature component of Nigerian Juju music in the late 1970s. [45] Nigerian bandleader King Sunny Adé [29] featured pedal steel guitar in his 17 piece band, which, wrote New York Times reviewer Jon Pareles, introduces "a twang or two from American blues and country" [46] Adé's steel player was Demola Adepoju, playing in his own style which sounded nothing like American country music. [45]

Norwegian jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, considered a pioneer of future jazz (a fusion of jazz and electronic music), released the album Switch, which features the pedal steel guitar. [47] In a 2021 interview, Molvær explained that he was drawn to the pedal steel because "its sound is very similar to that of the trumpet," allowing the timbres of trumpet, pedal steel, voice, and electronics to merge so that "the boundaries between the individual instruments" become blurred. [48] A review in London Jazz News highlighted Geir Sundstøl's pedal steel phrases and the instrument's recurring presence throughout the album Buoyancy, describing the resulting sound as "weird and wonderful." [49]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Theoretically, it was "possible" on a lap steel, but not possible to play it rapidly with perfect intonation; the pedal version was immediately recognizable. [27] : 190 

References

  1. ↑ "Sample Tuning: S-10". The Steel Guitar Information Resource. Carter Steel Guitars. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Brenner, Patrick. "Info for Beginner Steel Guitarists". Steel Guitar Academy. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  3. ↑ Sierra Technical Manual (PDF). Sierra Steel Guitars. p. 5. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  4. ↑ Carter Steel Guitar Owner’s Manual (PDF). Carter Steel Guitars. August 1997. pp. 3–4. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  5. ↑ "First-ever electric guitar patent awarded to the Electro String Corporation". history.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Earliest Days of the Electric Guitar". rickenbacker.com. Rickenbacker International. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ Teagle, John (September 1997). "Antique Guitar Amps 1928–1934". Vintage Guitar Magazine. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Early History of the Steel Guitar". steelguitaracademy.com. Steel Guitar Academy. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  9. ↑ Foley, Hugh W. Jr. "Dunn, Robert Lee (1908–1971)". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  10. ↑ Ginell, Cary (1994). Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. Urbana, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press. ISBN   0-252-02041-3.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cundell, R. Guy S. (July 2019). Across the South: The Origins and Development of the Steel Guitar in Western Swing (PDF) (PhD thesis). Adelaide, Australia: University of Adelaide. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  12. 1 2 Brenner, Patrick. "Early History of the Steel Guitar". steelguitaramerica.com. Patrick Brenner. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  13. ↑ Bechtel, Brad. "Common Tunings For Lap Steel Guitar". people.well.com. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  14. ↑ Hayes, Brian (January 7, 2017). "Basic Slant Bar Technique for Slide Dobro". youtube.com. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  15. ↑ Ellis, Andy (July 2, 2016). "Hand Jive! Master The Fundamentals Of Lap Steel". premierguitar.com. Premier Guitar Magazine. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Meeker, Ward (November 2014). "Boggs' Quad". Vintage Guitar Magazine. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ross, Michael (February 17, 2015). "Pedal to the Metal: A Short History of the Pedal Steel Guitar". Premier Guitar Magazine. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  18. ↑ Burns, Chelsea (July 1, 2019). ""Together Again," but We Keep On Crying: Buck Owens, Tom Brumley, and the Pedal Steel Guitar, 1964". Music Theory Online. 25 (2). Society for Music Theory. doi: 10.30535/mto.25.2.2 . Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  19. 1 2 Anderson, Maurice (2000). "Pedal Steel Guitar, Back and To the Future!". The Pedal Steel Pages. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  20. 1 2 3 Seymour, Bobbe (April 30, 2012). "Early History of the Pedal Steel Guitar". pedalsteelmusic.com. Steel Guitar Nashville. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Pedal Steel Guitar". countrymusichalloffame.com. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  22. 1 2 Ross, Michael (November 17, 2011). "Forgotten Heroes: Paul Bigsby". Premier Guitar Magazine. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Winston, Winnie; Keith, Bill (1975). Pedal steel guitar. New York: Oak Publications. p. 116. ISBN   978-0-8256-0169-9.
  24. ↑ "Eddie Kirk". allmusic.com. AllMusic, member of the RhythmOne group. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  25. 1 2 Babiuk, Andy (2008). The Story of Paul Bigsby: The Father of the Modern Electric Solidbody Guitar (First ed.). Savannah: FG Publishing. ISBN   9780615243047.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Miller, Timothy D. (2013). "Instruments as Technology and Culture: Co-constructing the Pedal Steel Guitar" (PhD dissertation). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. doi:10.17615/wp4f-rp39 . Retrieved July 26, 2026.
  27. 1 2 Miller, Tim Sterner (2017). "This Machine Plays Country Music: Invention, Innovation, and the Pedal Steel Guitar". In Stimeling, Travis D. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Country Music. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-024817-8 . Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  28. ↑ Zaleski, Annie (February 20, 2024). "70 years ago: Webb Pierce Hits No.1 with 'Slowly'". theboot.com. Townsquare Media, Inc. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jarnow, Jesse (January 7, 2020). "The Endless Potential Of The Pedal Steel Guitar, An Odd Duck By Any Measure". npr.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  30. ↑ Betts, Stephen L. (July 30, 2015). "Steel Guitar Great Buddy Emmons Dies". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. ISSN   0035-791X. OCLC   693532152 . Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  31. ↑ Hurt, Edd (July 30, 2015). "Remembering Steel Guitar Innovator Buddy Emmons". Nashville Scene. SouthComm.
  32. ↑ "The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame / Inductees". scottysmusic.com. The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, Inc. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  33. ↑ Scott, Dewitt (1992). Back-Up Pedal Steel Guitar. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay. p. 41. ISBN   978-1-61911-598-9.
  34. ↑ "What's This Part? Knee Levers". steelguitar.com. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  35. ↑ Scott, Dewitt (2010). Anthology of Pedal Steel Guitar: E9 Chromatic Tuning. MelBay. ISBN   9781609749460 . Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  36. ↑ Kurck, Charles (January 3, 2014). "E9 Charts". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  37. ↑ Brenner, Patrick (2011). "The Open Tuning". steelguitaramerica. Steel Guitar Academy. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  38. 1 2 McDuffie, John Groover (October 28, 2010). "The Steel Guitar Forum/C6 vs E9". bb.steelguitarforum.com. Steel Guitar Forum. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  39. ↑ Bell, Larry. "The E9/B6 Universal Tuning". larrybell.org. Larry Bell. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  40. ↑ Fischer, John (January 27, 2016). "Hawaiian Steel Guitar". tripsavy.com. Tripsavy. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  41. 1 2 Stone, Robert L. (2010). Sacred steel : inside an African American steel guitar tradition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 2. ISBN   978-0252-03554-8.
  42. ↑ Meeker, Ward (September 1, 2013). "Robert Randolph The Sacred Steel, Family, and SRV". vintage guitar.com. Vintage Guitar Magazine. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  43. ↑ Hansen, Liane; Wharton, Ned (August 5, 2001). "Heavenly 'Sacred Steel'". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  44. ↑ Strauss, Neil (April 30, 2001). "Making Spirits Rock From Church to Clubland; A Gospel Pedal Steel Guitarist Dives Into Pop". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  45. 1 2 "Juju and Pedal Steel". oldtimeparty.wordpress.com. WordPress. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  46. ↑ Pareles, Jon (May 15, 1987). "MUSIC: King Sunny Adé and Band from Nigeria". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  47. ↑ Fordham, John (15 May 2014). "Nils Petter Molvaer: Switch review – a striking new statement from trumpet star". The Guardian. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  48. ↑ "On his album Stitches Nils Petter Molvær makes peace with himself". eclipsed Rock Magazine. September 16, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  49. ↑ Mallows, Rob (2 November 2016). "CD Review: Nils Petter Molvær – Buoyancy". London Jazz News. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
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