Did Buddy Emmons not do this?

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 16 Jun 2020 5:50 am

Over 41 years of watching and listening to everything Buddy,is it me or did he not use his B,C pedals to play a typical 5,4,1 phrase like 99.9 percent of us do?

Most every major hit he's played on seems to played using primarily A,B

You may now enlighten me.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 16 Jun 2020 6:38 am

Dick, you are already enlightened. If you study Buddy's playing in depth, as you, I and probably 3/4 of the people on this forum have, you will find he rarely uses his C pedal. All you need to do is check all his tab courses. Even if it's a lick coming from the pedal down one chord to a six minor he will jmuch more often just slide up on strings four & five with no pedals. Likewise going from no pedal position one cord to a two minor. That's not to say he never used it.
One of the few pronounced times I noticed him intentionally using it is onLinda Ronstadt's In My Reply. During his solo you can hear him strike a harmonic on the fourth string and pedal up and down. Sounds very different than his usual slide.
Often imitated, never duplicated!

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 16 Jun 2020 7:12 am

The C pedal was originally a means of lowering the G# strings (by sliding back two frets).

Buddy was one the first (if not the first) to lower 6 on a lever. Could there be be a connection there?

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 16 Jun 2020 9:33 am

There are a ton of recordings, new and old, of Buddy using the C pedal. I will agree that he uses it less than most major players.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 16 Jun 2020 10:02 am

Maybe question wasn't clear as it was worded. I'm asking about him using B&C together and not just the C by itself.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 16 Jun 2020 10:12 am

Dick Wood wrote: I'm asking about him using B&C together and not just the C by itself.

Here he is using A, B, and C together (right foot on the C pedal)

https://youtu.be/qnEMOQTh27s?t=127

john buffington · Post by **john buffington** » 16 Jun 2020 10:14 am

You'll hear it on "Touch My Heart" in some of his fills, behind Ray Price.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 16 Jun 2020 12:52 pm

Dick, I understand your question and I'm forced to conclude that he simply didn't care for it that much. Maybe he thought it was corny or something.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 16 Jun 2020 2:55 pm

Ian, I think you may have hit the nail on the head. Buddy was able to play any lick he wanted but that wasn't one of them for whatever the actual reason was.

I just wanted to hear if any of you noticed it and what your thoughts might be.

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 16 Jun 2020 3:49 pm

Hi Dick,
Buddy mastered and used every pedal combination on his guitar...With a musician at this level anything deemed useless would have disappeared over time. The fact it remained says it all.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 16 Jun 2020 7:29 pm

Hi Paul, Thanks soo much for your thoughts on this.He did not leave a pedal behind for sure...lol

BTW-A little bit of trivia. Back in 1980, I was just beginning to take steel lessons here in Fort Worth.My band was playing a club but we wanted to hear Mel Tillis at Will Rogers Auditorium before our gig started later. We walked in the back door and I heard you for the first time and was just floored by your ability. Later that evening Mel and the band came to the club we were playing and sat in for a set. We had no steel as I was still on bass but I'm not sure you came with them anyway.

Thanks for 40 years of keeping me busy trying to learn all your work over those years.

Here's a picture from that night November night 1980.

Tommy Detamore · Post by **Tommy Detamore** » 17 Jun 2020 6:26 am

I wonder if he maybe shied away from it because of hysteresis. I tune my 4th string to where my lower comes back in tune. Any subsequent use of the third pedal raise renders that string slightly flat.

I think maybe my tuning procedure for the 4th string "backwards" from the way many do it (?). I find that by tuning that way, if hysteresis does creep in, it's an easy fix to nudge my lowering lever a bit to bring it back up to pitch.

Sorry if I transgressed here....

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 18 Jun 2020 6:12 am

Hey Tommy, If I had a push pull, I'd probably get fired from all the bands...LOL

James Leaman · Post by **James Leaman** » 25 Jun 2020 5:16 pm

I hear Buddy using bc pedals all over a couple cuts on Rays Another Bridge to Burn album. The songs are: I Want to Hear it From You, and Id Fight the World. Thatâ€™s how I play what I hear.

Mike Petryk · Post by **Mike Petryk** » 26 Jun 2020 2:12 pm

This George Strait cut uses the B/C pedals on the wonderful solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Lo33Ep99I
Regards,
Mike

Edited here - From the replies below it sounds like this is NOT how Buddy played it.
Mike

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 26 Jun 2020 7:51 pm

I don't recall there being any pedal 3 in Buddy's "I Cross My Heart" solo.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 26 Jun 2020 7:53 pm

Right, Ernie, at least not in his tab.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 26 Jun 2020 8:40 pm

B & C pedals after the first and third vocal lines in "Our Yesterdays" from the Swingin' By Request album with Ray Pennington (and again after his great solo--one of my favorites):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHW-GC7onXA

Joe Krumel · Post by **Joe Krumel** » 27 Jun 2020 5:00 am

Brint, that song is one masterpiece. you can get totally lost in it BC pedals and all.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 27 Jun 2020 6:09 am

I play I cross my heart in a Strait tribute band and I never heard him use the BC pedals in that solo.

Mike Petryk · Post by **Mike Petryk** » 3 Jul 2020 9:05 am

Hi Dick,
I think this is where I saw the B & C pedals being used on "I Cross My Heart". It sounded right to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsc_9AG_IHU/

Regards,
Mike

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 4 Jul 2020 9:47 am

Listen to Buddy's B&C usage on his intro for Nancy Sinatra's "Its Such A Pretty World"
Someone just posted her CD with Buddy on "Steel On The Web."

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 6 Jul 2020 8:00 am

A couple more intros/solos of Buddy's using the C pedal
Rainbows All Over Your Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuxaVfeqTWA
Each Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25idl85H58

- John

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 6 Jul 2020 11:54 am

Thank you John. I had not heard those tunes before.

Paul, looks like I have missed some great tunes over the years. Thank you!

Brett Lanier · Post by **Brett Lanier** » 10 Jul 2020 12:13 am

Tommy Detamore wrote: I think maybe my tuning procedure for the 4th string "backwards" from the way many do it (?). I find that by tuning that way, if hysteresis does creep in, it's an easy fix to nudge my lowering lever a bit to bring it back up to pitch.

Jerry Fessenden told me to do that years ago. He said, "tune to the lower". Meaning lower the string, let it come back, then tune your open E. I think tuning problems can definitely occur by unknowingly tuning to the raise, then the lower after a few songs, or vise versa. I stopped lowering the 4th, but I tune the 8th string to the raise bc I probably use the F lever more.