Switching from AB to BC pedals

Richard Keller · From: Deer Creek, Illinois, USA

I am having trouble switching from AB pedals to BC Pedals and back. Seems like my foot will not move to the right place. I either overshoot the C pedal or do not come all the way back to the A pedal.
What are some good exercises to improve my pedal switching skills?

Willis Vanderberg · From: Petoskey Mi

Richard:
Do you have the C pedal set a little higher than the AB ? This might help.

Lincoln Goertzen · From: Taylor, British Columbia, Canada

Alternatively, Richard, since you listed a D-10 in your gear list, you could set your pedal 4 higher than any of the others, and set every other pedal the same.

Then, just practice. Somehow Joe Wright manages to find all the right pedals without a problem.

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

Just do it!
Practice C to Am at fret 3 -- A+B then B+C
Play with a metronome to keep you honest and start giving each chord 4 beats. Once you have that mastered give it 2 beats, then 1 beat. Remember to block the C chord for a microsecond before playing the Am.

What Bud V says about raising the C pedal slightly will help keep you from overshooting.
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Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

Carl Kilmer · From: East Central, Illinois

Hi Richard, I use the B&C all the time. It's hard to get used too
from the start, but the more you use it, the easier it will become.
I wish we lived closer so we could jam for a while with tracks and
I could show you what I like to do with the B&C pedals. If you ever
get down in the Marshall area, bring your steel and we'll jam and
swap some ideas. I have everything here you can use, so all you'd
need to bring is your steel. I have many tracks we can play with.
I'm always home and easy to find. Just 10 miles south of Rt I-70.
Are you going to Bobby Reed's show in Benton in the next 2 weeks.
I'll play Thurs afternoon, and I'll be the one doing the videos.
Carl "Lucky" Kilmer
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Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Muscle memory and practice. After a year or so of playing, it'll surprise you that you had trouble a year ago.
Or in other words, there's no real short cut. Just a period of frustration and then one day, you got dis.
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Michael Hummel · From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I agree with Lane! I've been playing about 18 months. For the first year, I thought that trying to use the B&C in any kind of phrase would be impossible!

After lots of practicing, I'm now at "Stage 2" where as long as I know it's coming, I can pre-activate my leg muscle memory to get ready to switch over and it works.

Next stage (3) will be to have it, as Lane says, from brain to strings, with about another 6 months' practice.

There are so many things about this instrument that work that way. I'm still slaving away at the Jeff Newman palm blocking. I'm almost at "Stage 2". It's not quite natural yet.

Cheers,
Mike
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Too many 6-strings and amps to list

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Here's a different idea....which take with a grain of salt because I really don't consider myself very accomplished on the instrument:

I use the mooney inspired E-F# lever instead of the C pedal....but not for the reason of foot placement/overshoot.

Disadvantage of E-F# lever is that playing quickly executed runs on those adjacent strings takes a different type of coordination and I don't think a knee will ever get to the speed of a double hammer by foot. Advantage is that the E-F# raise is independent of the "A" pedal, so there's more soulful options for the slower stuff. For E9 stuff (I have a U12), you can keep your feet firmly planted on the A+B pedals and make more use of knee levers...5 would be a minimum, IMO...

Even though my copedant came stock with the C pedal, I just never bonded with the adjacent string raises, but did bond with the Mooney lever the minute I tried it.

I'm sure there's a thousand different opinions on C-pedal vs. E-F# lever, but that was the copedant decision I made 10 years ago, and have no plans on going back!

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Are you wearing cowboy boots?
Having the heels raised way up helps alot, for both AB/BC pedals and volume pedal usage.
If you don't have boots you can use a piece of 2x4 or whatever under your heel to see what a difference in feel it makes.

Willie Sims · From: PADUCAH, KY, USA

[This won't help you on your switch and pedals, but you can get the same sound by using your leaver that lowers your 4 and 8 strings. Try this hit your 4,5,6 strings at the fifth fret, Push b .c. Pedals slide up two frets and back to the fifth fret and listen to the sound. Now hit 3 4 5 Lower your E string, slide back to the third fret, and then back to the fifth fret. With your foot on the a and b pedal, you get the same sound without moving your foot to the C pedal. Hope you can get some use out of this. Do not push A B pedals down.

Willie SIMS

Willie Sims[/list]

Fred Amendola · From: Lancaster, Pa.

You can try raising your 4th pedal a bit to kind of act as a stop.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

What Lane and the muscle memory/practice boys say. Keep at it and it'll get there eventually. Place heel generally in the B pedal position like Donny suggests. Then practice.

Regarding Tom Gore's comment (and what I think he implies), the E-F# solo lever/pedal is NOT redundant with p.3, though both raise s.4 a whole tone. There are situations where the instantaneous action of the pedal is needed, and there are other situations in which an independent raise of s.4 is also the best choice. I have a foot pedal on one of my guitars dedicated to that raise, in fact.
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Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Hi Herb, in fact, I dropped my C pedal entirely, and rely on that voicing exclusively using my A pedal and the E-F# raise on a lever.

That said, I agree that the two approaches aren't necessarily redundant.

But I didn't really make it clear that to mimick the "C pedal" I use the A pedal + the E-F# knee lever raise. That gives the same thing with more soul, but less speed.

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

I am writing this as a Firearm Instructor not as a steel player. First, Your equipment proper size and properly fitted. There is an action called NEURO-MEMORY. Once you practice a move over and over so many times muscles will react without you thinking, This is neuro-memory. When the exciter occurs, Be it sound by the ear, Or vision by site, Or touch by feeling you have the muscles trained so well your muscles react on their own, without your brain processing the information and making a decision. When playing by ear when you hear the sound you move feet, knees, fingers without thinking it just happens. If you play by sheet music or tabs, vision is the exciter, That makes your feet, knees, fingers move to form the note or chord needed. It takes a lot of practice to train your foot, knees and hands to go where required for the sound. Good Luck and Happy Steelin.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

Jim Priebe · From: Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.

Bobby has it so right - wow!
Here is an exercise though to put that into practice.
Simply (on strings 4,5 & 6) do pedal slurs repeatedly - like a hammer on and off on the string
the pedal works on - no need to stomp - just quick controlled down ups. Then do the B&C pedals together. Pros use these pedal slurs a lot - just watch their feet. Watch Dave Hartley - I think it's on his pedal 3 & 4 mostly.
After 500 of these Whoa!

get your DeWitt Scott Anthology book out and play the B C Swing exercise 'till you can do the pedals without thinking.
You will soon be able to rock your ankle on these - there is a great minor scale there for single string too.
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Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I am a newbie with the same problem, but I am proficient on other instruments where I've overcome the same sort of difficulty - e.g. I can play the trombone without looking at the slide - and Jim's type of exercise is the way to go. I know it will come. BTW does anyone out there never look at their feet?
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Jim Priebe · From: Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.

Well I look at my pedals a bit I guess mainly the 4th pedal as it is close to my "tray".
With an S10 it is easier to see them than a D10 or even a 10 or 12 with an arm rest (I have a U12 also) as it is just a glance down.
My main 'look' is to do my effect changes which are programmed into the Zoom and I do the changes with the Right foot.

Note the plectrum there - I don't use a thumb pick - one day the rest of the world's players (other than Sid Hudson, Myself and a few others) will realise it's the way to go but that's another thread. Laughing

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Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

I only look at the pedals after I hit the wrong one when I play the D10. Sometimes I have to check on the Universals, but I'm relatively new at it, and there are 10 of them. The more comfortable you get at it, the less you'll need to look.
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Richard Keller · From: Deer Creek, Illinois, USA

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions guys. I have found that if I anchor my heel and just pivot my foot to switch pedals for AB to BC and back, that my heel does not stay in the same position, it wants to walk across the floor. I must be doing something wrong.

Bob Hickish · From: Port Ludlow, Washington, USA, R.I.P.

Richard

I know your looking for ideas to make yourself a proficient player , however , there is another way -- in a discussion here on the Forum , it was suggested using the (V) lever where a lot of players have an A# / Bb change -- putting the C pedal change there -- I give it a go and so far have not wanted to change it back --- BTW - I never used the Bb V lever , I found it to be an uncomfortable move but with the A B and V it feels natural

just an idea

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Richard, try setting your heel so that BC is almost straight out (but slightly inward), and AB is duck-footed (turned out). It's what I often do, and did exclusively in the early days.
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

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