BACHhannle Party

[Tristan Shepherd]

Howdy Fellow Travelers:

Tristan here, I am an E9 pedal steel player from Brooklyn.

I'm working on some transcriptions of Bach's cello suites, starting from the top with the prelude from BWV 1007.

I plan on working on a few bars a day and posting alternative ways of playing the same parts in different positions.

I hope other people are inspired to contribute with their own transcriptions and interpretations as well!

If you need to find the score, it is widely available, check IMSLP.org for free scores

the Prelude is in G major, and i've chosen to transpose it to Eb Major (plus an octave of course) to allow for the full compass of the piece!

Here are the compasses of the two instruments, you'll notice the lowest note on the pedal steel is a major 7th above the lowest note on the cello.

c2-a3 - cello
b2-f#4 - pedal steel

[Tristan Shepherd]

Here's a quick crack at the first bar, two ways : Nota Bene, I'm using a software I just downloaded today so the music notation for the pedal steel is using the accidendals from G major, and I haven't figured out how to notate pedals yet, so those 6th and 2nd fret notations on the tab are the A and B pedals, respectively.


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[Guy Cundell]

What software are you using, Tristan? If it is Sibelius, PM me and I can give you some tips. If it is Finale or Dorico, not so much.

[Tristan Shepherd]

Hey Thanks Guy!

I'm not so concerned about software really, I would really like to just start a thread about how we as steel players can interpret these notes from Bach. I'll get a hold on MuseScore (which is what I used to generate that) or just use pen and paper, if that is better.....

What i'm really interested in is....the various ways to play this piece!

the 2nd iteration coming from the 9th string (the D string) was really interesting to me.

[Tristan Shepherd]

I'm tring to imagine a verison that slides up from the first note (the tonic here) up into the outline of the chord, to read like the bow crossing in the original.