Pedal Point - Use in Jazz and Popular Music

Use in Jazz and Popular Music

Examples of jazz tunes which include pedal points include Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" (intro), Stevie Wonder's "Too High" (intro), Bill Evans's "Skidoo", Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance", Pat Metheny's "Lakes" and "Half Life of Absolution", and John Coltrane's "Naima". The latter, from the album Giant Steps, has the notation "E♭ pedal" to instruct the bass player to play a sustained pedal. Jazz musicians also use pedal points to add tension to the bridge or solo sections of a tune. In an ii-V-I progression, some jazz musicians play a V pedal note under all three chords, or under the first two chords. Other examples include Miles Davis's "Agitation".

Pop songs using pedal points include "Fly like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band, "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, and "Crazy" by Seal. The progressive rock band Genesis often used a "pedal-point groove," in which the "bass remains static on the tonic as chords move above the bass at varying speeds," with the Genesis songs "Cinema Show" and "Apocalypse in 9/8" being examples of this. "By the late 1970s and early 1980s, pedal-point grooves such as this had become a well-worn cliché of progressive rock as they had of funk (James Brown’s "Sex Machine"), and were already making frequent appearances in more commercial styles such as stadium rock (Van Halen’s 'Jump') and synth-pop (Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s 'Relax')."

Film composers use pedal points to add tension to thrillers and horror films. In the Hitchcock thriller film North by Northwest, Bernard Herrmann, "uses the pedal point and ostinato as techniques to achieve tension," resulting in a dissonant, dramatic effect. In one scene, "The Phone Booth", Herrmann, "uses the timpani playing a low pedal B-flat to create a sense of impending doom," as one character is arranging for another character's murder.

Rock guitarists have used pedal points in their solos, especially neoclassical guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen. Other rock guitarists that use pedal points in solos are Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, John Sykes and Vinnie Moore. Pedal points can be heard on records such as Vinnie Moore's "Time Odyssey" and "Mind's Eye"'; Yngwie Malmsteen's "Rising Force"; Jason Becker's "Perpetual Burn"; and Richie Kotzen's "Fever Dream". Thrash metal in particular makes abundant use a muted low E string (or lower, if other tunings are used) as a pedal point. Examples of thrash metal bands that make use of a muted low E string pedal point include: Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. Megadeth's song "Hangar 18" in particular makes use of pedal point throughout the track until its ending solo sections. In small combo jazz or jazz fusion groups, the double bass player or Hammond organist may also introduce a pedal point (usually on the tonic or the dominant) in a tune that does not explicitly request a pedal point, to add tension and interest.

Other examples include The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (chorus: octave E's against A, G, and F major chords) and John Denver's "The Eagle And The Hawk" (intro: top two guitar strings, B & E, against B, A, G, F, and E major chords). Also, Tom Petty's "Free Falling" and Goo Goo Dolls' "Name".