The Steel Guitar Forum

could someone educate me about how and when to use volume pedals if playing on a lap steel....or do you just use the volume control knob.....
not sure what is correct....any help appreciated..
ch

not a matter of correct or not.
more a matter of choice.
before I had a volume pedal I used my pinky for volume swells.
I like the effect where I pluck the string w/o volume then right away bring up the volume.
doing this repeatedly someone told me it is called violining.
makes sense.
after I got an Ernie Ball volume pedal (which I like a lot) I used that for the same technique, plus a few others.
one nice thing is I can shut down the signal right there, unplug and grab a different guitar and replug w/o that amp popping.

you will find many suggestions for which type of volume pedal.

I use my volume pedal a lot - but then I don't play traditional Hawaiian or country style lap steel, I'm more influenced by the athmospheric sound Bill Elm from Friends of Dean Martinez produces with his lap steel - and a volume pedal is a very useful tool there, for fading in chord pads, or single tones, getting violin/brass like sounds, driving the amp/overdrive pedal more or less, etc.

Rules of Engagement on Volume Pedal Control
aka Do's and Don'ts of Volume Pedal Control.

Do use a Volume Pedal Control on Country/Western

Do not use Volume Pedal Control on old Western Swing

Do not use Volume Pedal Control on Hawaiian music. Alright on Paradise Isle it is permissible.

Aloha,
Don

Rules, schmules. Ifit works for you, do it. If not, don't. Bleh.

thanks to all for your help..........
great stuff...
ch

Carroll, one of the main uses of a VP is to extend a sustained note or chord by gradually giving it the gas as the strings decay. That's why it's good to give yourself some headroom by setting the amp louder than you actually play and backing off the VP about halfway for normal playing volume.





RA
Big Steel

I'm with you Rick. That's the way JB did it. I'm comfortable either way. My pedal is an old DeArmond, built like a bridge!
BC

I use a volume pedal when playing console steel or (obviously) pedal steel, but find it very uncomfortable and unnatural to use one with a steel in my lap.

Hey Mike,

I'm with you. I prefer playing lap style, but I can't do the VP unless it's a console.

Sometimes if I sit up higher than usual I can get it to work, but then I have trouble with the guitar sliding down to my knees.

Steve

Yeah, I agree with you guys - I play with the guitar on my lap, not a console, and using the volume pedal (and I prefer using it with my left foot...) isn't that easy - I have a piece of wood the same height as the volume pedal, to put my foot on, and that's more comfortable; I did consider using a stand for my lap steel, but with those tiny stages I've been playing on, quite often there wouldn't have been enough space for one: