Pairing the steel guitar down to the bare essential

[Paul Leoni]

The 60's 70s era is to my ears *the* defining moment of E9th pedal steel. The very songs themselves are
"pedal-centric" Jones, Conway, etc.

[Paul Strojan]

At a bare minimum, you don't need pedals to play country music. Pedals give more options and make things easier but people were making classic country music before pedals.

Well, Jerry Byrd certainly could sound just like he was playing a pedal steel when he wasn't, but he was a far bettter player than most. The rest of us would struggle, I think.

To my ears, non-pedal country (think early Lefty Frizell etc.) can sound a bit amateurish (as apposed to old western swing stuff that did well without the pedals).

Remember, we are talking about the bare minimum to get started at steel guitar. I started with a 2x4 lap steel kit and the Don Helms songbook. I wish there was more teaching material for E9 lap steel to ease he transition to pedal steel.

[Paul Leoni]

I almost see lap *.*6th and pedal E9th as two barely related disciplines. I suppose 13th lap is sort of a sequey.

[Greg Gefell]

As others have said - A and B pedals and E raises and lowers is as stripped down as I'd ever go. At that point you can play more like a straight steel player but with access to 4 different tunings on the fly. Actually its more like 9 different tunings with all the combinations. The only changes you couldn't combine would be the E raises and lowers.