Pedal Steel Guitar - Playing

Playing

A performer typically sits on a stool or seat at the instrument. The right foot is used mainly to operate a volume pedal. The left foot is primarily 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 are mounted from underneath the body of the steel guitar.

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 or "tone bar" on the strings. 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 technique of angling the bar so that the strings played are unequal in length and different intervals between the notes are played is called "slanting". The right hand plucks the strings, usually with a set of thumb and finger picks. A technique used by either hand to mute the vibration of the plucked strings is called "blocking" or muting. In combination with the variable volume pedal settings of the right foot different sonic effects are implemented. The volume pedal is used in many ways. One of the more prominent techniques used is to eliminate the attack of the string being plucked. The volume pedal is quickly rocked forward immediately after the string is plucked, effectively fading it from no volume to full volume and creating a new, smoother attack envelope.

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 the E9 tuning, many characteristic idioms involve tonic-dominant and tonic-subdominant harmonic relationships.

Mastering the pedal steel guitar can take time due to its technical and complex harmonic innerworkings and unique physical techniques utilized to create the trademark sounds of the instrument. In country music, where the pedal steel guitar is most commonly heard, talented players are highly esteemed.

For a table of several tunings of the pedal steel guitar, see copedent.