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Gary Ulinskas
MSA S-12 + Walker mono

I have felt that I would not be able to do it had I not taken it in small steps. It seems to me that it is just too much to gulp at once.

You can always bring in the volume pedal. And there is something to be said for learning to vary your volume without the aid of a pedal first. Great Hawaiian players were masters at this.

So you are fine just as you are. May Jesus bless you in your quests,

carl

If I could start playing steel all over, the first thing I'd do is keep the volume pedal quite some distance from myself for the first year, probably. I've spent the last six months trying to break a really bad volume pedal habit. I get together with some other newer players from time to time and the first thing I notice is volume pedal over-use. I'm sure you'll sound terrific on the PSG due to all that time playing without pedals, the volume one in particular. Best of luck!

It was easily incorporated once I did have one, I guess 'cause I had some of the inital confusion about feet hands and knees sorted out already...

Gerald, what kind of "over use" do you mean? Swelling, or just pumping unnecessarily?

When I went from noodling on a lap steel, to pedal steel (which had a volume pedal included), it was as if the lights came on about why the sound on recordings was the way it was... it's a way to get pick attack feel of your choice, at the volume of your choice, and also to get that feeling of "sustain" that comes from squeezing volume out against the decaying notes.

It seems to me that if it's the one thing you don't feel comfortable with, you might at least want to poke around with it from time to time, maybe.

FWIW, I don't intend to contradict anyone above, they are better pickers than I will likely ever have the patience to become...

[This message was edited by Nicholas Dedring on 19 December 2003 at 09:14 AM.]

Me, I think it is not important to start with a volume pedal..quite honestly the only way to concour the nervous right foot volume swell is to not have a volume pedal under your foot at all...but rather an 8" piece of 2x4 or nothing.

Non of the advise above is right or wrong..it's all opinions that work for some and don't for others. One thing is for certain though..the right foot nervous volume swell will show it's ugly face, but if there is no volume pedal under your foot..it won't...

I say..practice and learn without it..then add it later on..when you start jamming with friends, if your nervous, just move it to the side and bring it back when you calm down..

The 8" piece of 2x4 will bring your foot up a tad and get it used to being just off the floor level as well.

Good luck
T

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 20 December 2003 at 05:52 AM.]

quote:

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It would be like having sex using someone else's organ.

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Farfisa? or Hammond...?

A bunch of my gigs this last year or so have been non-pedal Hawaiian/early Jazz type gigs. I left the volume pedal at home and didn't miss it.

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Gary Ulinskas
MSA S-12 + Walker mono

[This message was edited by Gary Ulinskas on 19 December 2003 at 03:11 PM.]

Make 'em all jealous..and then tell them all what it is your playing...! ( After they beg of course) Be vain..act like a Rock Star..!!

I played with a volume pedal for 40+ yrs. Then I found a '37 Rick Bakelite. When I began to play it, I heard all kinds of sounds that I did not like; because of my picking hand aquiring bad habits that the volume pedal had covered up.

After a few weeks, little by little these sounds began to go a way. Know what?

When I would go back to my pedal steel WITH the volume pedal, it was better. In other words HAVING to play without the "protection" of the volume pedal forced my brain somehow to correct some bad habits I was doing.

For whatever its worth.

May Jesus richly bless you all,

Suppose one never played a regular guitar. Should one first study guitar for months or years before moving to steel? If you play guitar, but only with a flat pick, should you learn finger picking on a regular guitar before moving to steel? Should one play for awhile on 6-string lap steel, then awhile on 8- or 10-string lap steel? Then add two pedals, then a 3rd, then knee levers? Should you learn on a single-neck E9 before getting a double-neck or a universal? If any of those things are all you have at the moment, then fine, play what you have, they are all instruments in their own right. But if you want to play modern pedal steel guitar, and you can afford one, then why not shorten the learning curve and get a pedal steel with a standard modern setup and a good volume pedal? Six months down the road you will be way ahead of someone who plays for six months on a lap steel, or a pedal steel with no volume pedal.

1. Take on ONLY those students under 12.

2. Start them out on an a 6 string acoustic guitar with a raised nut.

3. Only using a thumb pick and a flat bar.

4. Start them out with simple tunes using a straight strumming technique.

5. The tuning would be A low bass.

6. No volume pedal.

IF the student progressed, I would introduce in increments; different tunings playing the SAME songs they had learned using A high bass. Then I would introduce one finger pick.

Again, IF the student progressed I would teach them to play with 2 finger picks. Aslo progress to a round bar.

As the student matured; and governed by the speed he matured' I would introduce the volume pedal, etc.

Then and ONLY then would I start them on pedals; And then only A and B. NO knee levers. Gradually introducing them to one knee lever at a time. Then other pedals.

Would some leave thru lack of patience?

Of course. And some would leave under my decision realizing they simply did not have it. But for those who had it and were willing to go thru this "learning" curve, what an incredible thing would evolve in my opinion.

Yes, exactly that, swelling on every note. When I listen to indie rock records (for example) that feature steel, more often than not every note is "volume pedal-ized". This technique and dubious intonation are for me the two trademarks of a junior steel player. And I say this as someone who has some playing on records and demos out there that feature this problem prominently. But I have seen the light. (Thank you Bob H.)

Sustain is enhanced by squeezing in as the note decays.

Putting yourself further forward or back in the "mix".

Getting a wider range of dynamics at a wider range of volumes... without the volume pedal, the tone of the attack, and the volume of the attack are related to a point... if you want a really hard, bright attack, it will be louder... soft attack will be quieter. To be able to get more punchy attack, and not knock yourself off the seat, or a big lush sound of a soft picking touch doesn't seem easy without using the pedal.

I also recommend that a new player start with a volume pedal under their foot and plugged in. If you do choose not to hook one up, at least have it under your foot. Learning to play the right knee levers with the volume pedal under foot is very important. When I just sit at my steel with no pedal, I have a hard time with those knee levers because my knee hits them at a different spot on the lever and it seems that my knee has to travel farther to activate the lever.