Pedal Steel Basics/practice Routines

[Aaron Brownwood]

Hi there. I'm a 38 year old steel player in San Diego, CA. I have played on and off for 12 years but this past year, decided to devote my life to the steel.

I've been practicing daily for over a year now, mostly relying on instructional information by Joe Wright, Jeff Newman, Mickey Adams, and Aaron at Steel Picking.

I began to make a single sheet for myself to refer to every time I practice. I spend about 30-45 minutes on one of five topics at a time. I've found that I can play almost anything by running through these topics. I wanted to share in case others found it helpful. This is how my brain categorizes anything steel at the moment. Any input is very much appreciated!

I've not explained anything in this outline, it's very brief, but I have made descriptions of each of these topics if anyone is interested I'd be happy to share more via phone or email. But I think if you're familiar with steel tab and instructional information, you'll see I've just copied mostly how Joe Wright denotes the information. Email me at steelguitarlessons@gmail.com.

STEEL GUITAR BASICS

A. SCALES
1. Major Pentatonic
2. Major (Ionian)
3. Dominant (Mixolydian)
4. Minor Pentatonic
5. Natural Minor (Aeolian)
6. Minor Dominant (Dorian)

B. GRIPS
1. 0-0
2. 1-0
3. 0-1
4. 1-1
5. 2-0
6. 2-1

C. ROLLS
1. T-I-M
2. I-M-T
3. M-T-I
4. M-I-T
5. I-T-M
6. T-M-I

D. MOVES
1. 1—move-2-3
2. 1-2—move-3
3. 1-2-3—move

E. CHORD POSITIONS
1. Open
2. AF
3. AB
4. Open Back Two
5. Open Up Two
6. AB Minus Two

[Bruce Bjork]

Excellent, not sure I understand the grips or moves exercise.

[Bill McCloskey]

I understand the grips part:

Grip 0-0 means that for whatever string you are on, you play the next two strings. 0 means, no gaps between strings. So if I am on string 10: the first zero means I play the 9th string. The second zero means I play the 8th string . 10, 9, 8. No gaps. as opposed to:

1-1. This means for what ever note you are on, skp the next string and play your second note then skip another string and play your third. The number of strings is one more than the number code. so for this example, if we were on string 10, you'd skip 1 string and play the 8th string and then skip 1 more and play the 6th string. 10-8-6 is 1-1.

1-0 would be stringa 10, 8, 7... etc

[Aaron Brownwood]

Excellent, not sure I understand the grips or moves exercise.

The grips was explained by Bill. The moves exercise takes the triplets, thumb index middle, and adds a move, either a slide or a pedal/lever, between picking.

[Bruce Bjork]

Thanks guys, I’ll be adding this to my practice routine.

[George Biner]

Excellent stuff. David Wright is an amazing player with a Texas sense of humor.

"E. CHORD POSITIONS
1. Open
2. AF
3. AB
4. Open Back Two
5. Open Up Two
6. AB Minus Two "

I know all of these except "open up two" -- what can I get done in that position?

Also, this is all centered around major key playing -- there's a whole 'nother world in the minor keys.

[Aaron Brownwood]

Thanks for the replies and interest. Thanks for pointing out that this is indeed major key focused. Could you point to key chord positions for those? My experience with minor keys has been limited to blues and I get by great with the minor pentatonic.

For the Open Up Two Fret options, you can have a 1 Major triad, a 1 Major 6 chord, a 1 Major 7 chord, a 1 Major 9 chord.

It's a 1-0 Grip from String 9, AB pedals both engaged. You have the same Major triad as down two frets at string 8 (in root position too, very solid triad). Plus you have the 7 and 9 tones on strings 5 and 4. This gives you a 1 major 7 with string 5 added, and a 1 major 9 with strings 5 and 4 added. Also a Major 6 without A pedal.

You can play the 1 Major 7 or 9 as a broken chord, first playing the top notes then bottom notes, or vice versa.

If you just want to play a three note partial chord, you can skip string 9 as it is the root, and/or skip string 6 as it is the Fifth.

This leaves you with a great major 9 chord, Open Up Two Frets, A and B pedals engaged, on strings 7 5 and 4 in a band context.

[Tucker Jackson]

Could you point to key chord positions for those?

Here are some common minor chord positions, starting from the open (no-pedals) major chord:

2 frets back with BC pedals (or AB to make it a minor7)
4 frets back with E strings lowered
3 frets up with the A pedal

Example:
Am

The A-Major chord is at Fret 5 (the open version)

A-minor chords:
Fret 3 with BC
Fret 1 with E's-lowered
Fret 8 A-pedal

Note: you might find it easier to think of the E-lowered fret position as being:
"1 up from the pedals-down major chord"
rather than
"4 down from open"

[Ken Morgan]

I’m an extreme newby to all the pedals pulls and such…however I’m making real, daily improvements by grasping how the pedals can either slide into or out of 4 and 5 chords…

I’ve been a 4 and 6 stringer forever, so understanding theory is not an issue. Inversions and substitutions knowledge are really coming in handy.

[Tucker Jackson]

Good on you, Ken. You're getting it.

If you know where to get major and minor chords, you can then go to the next logical step and put them into a couple of pockets on the neck. Pockets are a good way to "think" of chords when actually playing a song since the framework -- the mechanical moves with the bar and pedals/knees-- works the same in every key.

Below are two important chord pockets where you can get the 6 most-used chords in a simple song within a small section of the fretboard. The 1, 4, and 5 are often Major chords, the 2, 3, and 6 are often minor chords -- and it makes life easier that it works the same way regardless of key.

1) Open Pocket
This example is based off of the open chord position. I call it the open pocket. We're in the Key of G in this example, so Fret 3 is 'home fret':

I Major = no-pedals G-chord (3rd fret) = G
ii minor = BC pedals = Am
iii minor = E-lower knee = Bm
IV Major = AB pedals = C
V Major = AB (slide up to 5th fret) = D
vi minor = A-Pedal (slide back to 3rd fret) =Em

Note: this framework tries to keep the bar in the 3rd fret for most of it... but practically speaking, for the ii-minor, I often slide the bar back 2 frets and lower the E-strings. Same chord, different inversion (voicing). I call this position the "twin" to the other inversion, since they are only two frets apart. Anytime you have BC, you can always slide back two frets and lower your E's instead (or vice versa). Choose whichever of the "twins" lays better for the passage you're playing.

To move to the key of A, play all the same mechanical moves as above, just find a new 'home' fret for the key of A (in Fret 5). So learn the mechanical moves once and it all works in any other key.

2) Pedals-down Pocket
Here is the same set of chords, but sitting within the pedals-down pocket (i.e., it's based off of the fret where you find the pedals-down version of a G chord in Fret 10):

I Major = AB pedals-down (10th fret)= G
ii minor = A-pedal (8th fret) = Am
iii minor = A-pedal (10th) = Bm
IV Major = no-pedals (8th) = C
V Major = no-pedals (10th) = D
vi minor = E-lower knee (8th) - or use it’s "twin," BC pedal (stay 10th fret)= Em


Note: you obviously have to move the bar a lot more in this pedals-down pocket than in the open pocket, but it's just 2 frets, up-and-down as you walk through the progression.

+++
There's a LOT of mileage you can get out of sliding between pockets. For example, say you are playing a chord progression that goes from the 1 to the 2m (G to Am). Say you were playing the G in fret 3... you have several options for the Am. It might sound interesting to do a big slide up to Fret 8 (within the other pocket) and then slowly step on the A-pedal to get that 2m chord.

Using just the chord positions listed above, you always have at least two options for every chord. One useful tool is movement between positions of the same chord (like, say, 2 beats in one position, then move to another position for 2 beats). Example: G in the 3rd fret, do a big slide up to Fret 10 and slowly step on AB. You're playing the same chord throughout the measure... just different voicings. Boom! You're an artiste.

[Aaron Brownwood]

Thanks Tucker. Ill add the AB plus one to my list of chord locations, I wonder what that chord would be in a major context if there is one.

I also may have misunderstood, but the person who said these were in a major context I believe meant that the approach was starting in a major key to find minor chords that work in a major key. I was hoping for a new reference how to play in minor keys, with the 1 chord being minor.

I honestly don't know if there's an entirely different way to visualize scales coming from a purely minor context on the steel. This instrument blows my mind every 15 minutes. Thanks for the discussions and additions everyone.

[Tucker Jackson]

Thanks Tucker. Ill add the AB plus one to my list of chord locations, I wonder what that chord would be in a major context if there is one.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you are referring to here: AB plus one. If I discussed that, I didn't mean to.

One thing that works on certain songs in a minor key is to mentally translate it to the 'relative major' key. That's moving the root note up 3 frets (i.e. Am would move the root A note up 3 frets to C major).

Then use the major-key chord pockets I listed above. So the song is playing 1m, but you're thinking "6m."

However, if you think that way, the 5 chord of the song -- often a dominant 7th -- would be your 3 chord (minor), so you would have to tweak the "common" position and play the 7th chord (like playing the F-lever by itself instead of A-pedal).

[Aaron Brownwood]

Rephrased this
Note: you might find it easier to think of the E-lowered fret position as being:
"1 up from the pedals-down major chord"
rather than
"4 down from open"[/quote]

[Tucker Jackson]

Oh, I see what you're referring to.

For others who aren't tracking this, we're just finding where a minor chord is by starting with a landmark we may already know better -- like maybe the position where the pedals-down major chord is. Versus using the open major chord fret as the landmark.

So if you are looking for a Cm position, mentally go to where the pedals-down C Major chord is (Fret 3, AB), then go up one fret and lower E-strings instead to convert it from major to minor.

When you're thinking about the context of minor chords, I strongly recommend not thinking of them as free floating things, but as part of the pockets I laid out in a post above. That's how you'll be thinking of them when playing a song. For a tune in a major key, minor chords will usually be serving a typical function: a 2, 3, or 6 chord, so we can lean on the same types of "mechanical moves" to find them, regardless of the key.

Here's a good example of converting that major to a minor chord. Let's say the chord progression goes 1 to 4 to 4m.
You'll recognize that sound right away. In terms of how this lays in the pockets I listed earlier, that 4m breaks the rule since 4's are usually major-- going to a minor is why it sounds interesting: it's using a note that's not part of the major scale that the song is based on. But it's easy to negotiate:

You could play the open chord position for the 1, then AB for the 4 chord, then up one fret (release AB) and lower-the E's.

[Bruce Bjork]

Probably one of the best posts to come down the pike in awhile. I have only five years in on PS and played with an active country band for the last two years which really upped my game, now it’s time to focus on “focused practice”.

[Daniel Bailey]

Probably one of the best posts to come down the pike in awhile. I have only five years in on PS and played with an active country band for the last two years which really upped my game, now it’s time to focus on “focused practice”.

I couldn't agree more. Even though I learned the music theory concepts when learning piano, it really helps for us beginners to hear the simple explanations on PSG.

[Aaron Brownwood]

Thanks Daniel and Bruce for chiming in. I'm just starting my focused practice this month and I'm already finding I'm learning what took weeks in a matter of 30 minutes. I just need to remind myself there's only a short list of stuff to focus on, and from there Pandora's box is opened up in the best way possible. The new connections are mind-blowing I can see finally why people get so addicted to this instrument. It never disappoints in new possibilities.

[Donny Hinson]

Remember to also devote time to just playing songs and doing good backup. I've known players who could dazzle you with scales and chords, but never learned how to play entire melodies or do good backup work. Playing with taste and feeling goes a long way!

[George Biner]

Well, I'm certainly no expert, but here are the main E9 minor positions I know of:

2 below open BC -- good for scales

2 above AB, E lever (lowers E's, some call it D lever) -- I've found playing minor scales is tougher here

3 above open A - good for scales

Of course, any major scale can be played as a minor scale and vice versa
e.g. C major = A minor, C minor = Eb major

The major chord positions can also be used as minor by modifying one note:
"Open" position: lower string 6 one half step via the RKL (if you have that change, a lot of guitars don't)
"AF" position: release F lever
"AB" position: release the A pedal halfway


"Don't dance, it distracts me." -- David Wright

[Sonny Jenkins]

Relates to what Donny said,,,Jeff Newman had a seminar that included what he termed as "Super Song",,,about 12-15 to my recollection of chord progressions that included major/minor scale tones,,,,very good for practicing actual progressions as opposed to just scales. If I can find the sheet of progressions I will try to post it,,,of course there was also a backing track for it.