Ralph Mooney's G# to G pedal?

[Keith Hilton]

Ralph Mooney lowers his first string G# to a G on a pedal. I am interested in what other pedals he uses with the pedal that lowers the first string? I know Ralph uses two feet on his pedals. I also know that lowering the G# creates a minor cord on Ralph's strings 3,4 and 5. Ralph does not have the first two chromatic strings like a normal Nashville E9th.

[J Fletcher]

Hi Keith
I think of that change, G# to G, as the 7th with the A and B pedals down. Like in "Swingin' Doors" by Haggard. Wouldn't work on most steels, but I don't think Ralph Mooney's A and B pedals raise both B's and G#'s. Only one raise per pedal, I seem to recall. So he can raise his low G#, and lower his high G#. No doubt you know this. Lot's of other uses I'm sure...Jerry

[Adam Sorber]

Keith,
I found this a while back- it looks like Ralph gave this to GFI when he had his new guitar built. Someone said that this is Ralph's Handwriting.

[Ethan Shaw]

during the Waylon era, he used this change a lot where he would use it like a blues musician, "bending" from minor to major 3rd.

[Keith Hilton]

I finally got it. With the Mooney pedal lowering my 3rd string from G# to G, and also raising my 6th string from G# to A-----I pedal in and out of the pedal that raises my strings 5 and 10 from B to C#. You have to do kind of a raking of the strings. I have heard Mooney do that and it isn't easy on straight Nashville E9th. Right now I am not used to using both feet on the pedals, and that is what it takes. Boy what a NASTY sound. I once heard Mooney say, "I don't play pretty, I play nasty". I will have to agree to that, except on the Wynn Stewart stuff. Personally the Mooney playing I really liked was on the real early Buck Owens and Merl Haggard stuff. That was some Nasty stuff that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Also-- It is pretty obvious Ralph Mooney had a great right hand.

[Adam Sorber]

I agree Keith! Also after doing some more research tonight, It is obvious that ralph's top neck was an open G tuning- as he played that neck on the Dukes of Hazzard Theme in many live videos.

[Ray Uhl]

If Ralph plays "Nasty", then get me as down and dirty as possible.

[Jerry Hayes]

I use the high G# to G lower a lot when going from the I to the IV chord for a bluesy feel. Say you're in G and want to go to C, at the third fret instead of using the A & B pedals just use the A pedal and lower the G# to G at the same time. You'll hear what I'm talking about.

Another nice use of the high G# lower is once again at the 3rd fret G position, go up to the 7th fret and play strings 3, 5, 4, 3 in that order with the 3rd string lowered. Let everything ring together and while the last note is ringing slide down to the 5th fret. Do the same thing again with the 3rd string still lowered. Then while the last note is ringing, slide back to the 3rd fret while letting off of the 3rd string lower so it's back to it's original pitch before you reach the 3rd fret.....JH in Va.

[Paul Mozen]

Right jerry,
You have to use it with the pedals down. I've been fooling around with just raising the 1st F# to G with my finger. Very cool, cut my finger though....

[Dylan Ritter]

Trying to emulate that sound, and ignorant of that G# lower until this thread, I recently started playing the bleusy chord in the A/F position, picking, in sequence, 4F, 6, 5~5A. I just assmuned that's what was going on and it sounds pretty good anyway

[Chance Wilson]

Do you play a modern E9? I like to have Moon licks on tap and I play Day so my pedals are CBAB but on the 4th pedal it lowers string 3 1/2 instead of raising it 1/2. This simple intuitive change unlocks a lot of old California vibe while keeping a standard modern tuning and when improvising, 99% of the time typical AB licks work whether you're rocking your foot to A or G.

[John Hyland]

I’ve been thinking about adding a fourth pedal ( because I can) and this could be a good option.