Pedal steel sound?

[ESQUIRE JR]

Not sure where this ? should go, but does anyone know how to get pedal steel sound from a standard electric?

Skip ahead to 1:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yltq0...eature=related

[waparker4]

I hear a loud clean amp, compressor, volume pedal, and technique.

[TBird]

Originally Posted by waparker4

I hear a loud clean amp, compressor, volume pedal, and technique.

Exactly. Emphasis on the volume pedal at the 1 minute mark.

[Asphalt Cowboy]

Originally Posted by TBird

Exactly. Emphasis on the volume pedal at the 1 minute mark.

Both of these guys are dead on. In general, a little reverb helps, too.

[telex76]

Originally Posted by waparker4

I hear a loud clean amp, compressor, volume pedal, and technique.

+1, with 90% of it being technique.

[Old Bill]

A volume pedal is an absolute must when bending the third string. Good luck with your practising.

[jmiles]

Volume pedal? Yes and no! There are a lot of things I play on pedal steel (Kline U-12 & '59,'64,'67,'74 Shobuds) that never use the volume pedal. And don't "pump" it too much. As for compressors, use a very transparent one. I use a Meek VC-3 for steel sounds on 6-string. Also,,, steel pickups are generally wound to around 18-20 K,, a lot more oomph than even a very hot humbucker! Keely Katana helps there. Reverb? Definitely! Delay? Sometimes. Technique? All the time!

[the embezzler]

Originally Posted by Old Bill

A volume pedal is an absolute must when bending the third string. Good luck with your practising.

Not necessarily. Check out Danny G in this clip -
Also check out players like Arlen Roth and Jerry Donahue.

[jmiles]

Great Gatton clip. Doesn't even remotely sound like pedal steel though.

[the embezzler]

Originally Posted by jmiles

Great Gatton clip. Doesn't even remotely sound like pedal steel though.

Sure. No solid body electric is going to really. It's more the style that he is adopting here that is steel-esque. I have seen other clips of him where he gets scary close to a steel sound using nothing more than his Tele and volume pot with the pinky on it. He 'stole' a lot of steel licks off of Buddy Emmons when he was playing with him in the late seventies.

[tele salivas]

Originally Posted by ESQUIRE JR

Not sure where this ? should go, but does anyone know how to get pedal steel sound from a standard electric?

Skip ahead to 1:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yltq0...eature=related

Don't listen to other guitar players, listen to steel players and try to copy them. Also., look for some pedal steel instruction on youtube, they will slow things down and you can translate the notes to guitar and go from there. Lots of pre bends, and a little volume/tone knob work goes a long way. Listen to Ralph Mooney(Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, countless Capitol Records sessions), Norm Hamlet (Merle Hagard), Hal Ruggs (Loretta Lynn) for some good steel that is not too complicated, able to be translated to the standard guitar. This guy taught me a lot about steel guitar sound, which I was able to incorporate into my guitar playing...

[garytelecastor]

WaParker 4 nailed it.

[Modern Saint]

Great DG clip!

[ESQUIRE JR]

Thanks for responses. So the volume pedal would be used create the swells?

[T Prior]

Swells ? Sure they are nice and sound kool, but that is not why Steel Players use a volume pedal...

A seasoned Steel player, for the most part you won't even recognize that they are using a volume pedal. Typically the V Pedal is set at about 50% to achieve normal volume..the rest of the Pedal is used for extended sustain of chords or notes...

Beginner players have way too much swell, one of the practice techniques recommended is for new players to put their right foot on a block of wood for a month or so, maybe longer...this prevents it from moving with all of the other physical things going on...feet moving, knee's moving, both hands moving..all while trying to stay on pitch !

Volume swell may be used as an effect but it is not a typical Pedal Steel thing, quite the opposite, players need to be able to NOT swell and control it... proper right foot technique is to be able to prevent the swell from occurring.

Most of the great Telecaster bending things we hear are artifacts from Pedal Steel phrasing , not necessarily Pedal Steel phrases. They began with the influence and turned into another kool technique for guitars which many think are actually Pedal Steel licks !

t

[the embezzler]

Originally Posted by T Prior

Most of the great Telecaster bending things we hear are artifacts from Pedal Steel phrasing , not necessarily Pedal Steel phrases. They began with the influence and turned into another kool technique for guitars which many think are actually Pedal Steel licks !

t

Yep!

[Colin]

In the original video mentioned, you can see at about 1.40 the volume pedal being used to swell in. I had to practice to get this usable sometimes. I find I have to get to the chord a little early to get the swell where I want it.

[Tonii]

Even after watching the video until the end and and after read the text below I'm still not sure that there is no pedal steel guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBRCEHuJ210

[Frontier9]

Originally Posted by Tonii

Even after watching the video until the end and and after read the text below I'm still not sure that there is no pedal steel guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBRCEHuJ210

Huh? Bender equipped tele + talent in that video.

[GuitarDaveBenic]

Originally Posted by ESQUIRE JR

Thanks for responses. So the volume pedal would be used create the swells?

Yes. You can see the guitar player's leg moving as he works the volume pedal in the video. Alternately you can use the volume control (on certain guitars like strats) to achieve the same effect. I've known some players to use an auto-volume effect as another alternative to the volume knob or pedal but it's not my favorite.

As for the rest of the tone - try using a combination of mild reverb and a short to medium delay (140-180ms or so, 20-30% mix, zero repeats) to fatten up the notes.