The Steel Guitar Forum

Have I missed this resurgence of non-pedal Steel plying. It seems that a lot of very talented Steel players have taken up or reverted to playing non-pedal Steels. Case in point: Bobby Black. I see more and more inquiries about 13th tunings and a lot of forumites building non-pedal Guitars (Single, Double, and Triple Necks. With the Economy and Job Market so uncertain there probably is a lot of Newbies that might not be able to afford Pedal Steels. It's also a shorter learning time where you can start playing with a group and have some fun. IMHO the top Pedal players are just a little short of being geniuses and the bar to compete or play like them is exceedingly high. Also, I think some of the older players could be switching over to save their "Backs".

Billy - I quit playing PSG years ago and my back has been much happier (as are some other body parts). I also enjoy focusing on the "top of the guitar" more. It just seems more free to me. With the PSG, I felt like I was straped into some kind of contraption and it felt confining at times. But *nothing* sounds like the PSG. No way to replace that sound.

I was shopping at the local hardware store yesterday and the most amazing non pedal steel instrumentals were being played over the store PA system... I am not very familiar with the top stylists on non pedal but I will go back and ask the owner who it was..
While I did not recognise the tunes or the player...it was very jazzy and extremely well done. any ideas? Maybe J Byrd?

I have been playing way more lap and console steel than pedal steel lately. Its mainly about the music and gigs in my case. For so much of early honky tonk and early jazz the pedal steel just doesn't work as well. I find playing console steel to be much more difficult than pedal steel. I'm getting my ass kicked in my non pedal gigs these days.

Bo Borland wrote:I was shopping at the local hardware store yesterday and the most amazing non pedal steel instrumentals were being played over the store PA system... I am not very familiar with the top stylists on non pedal but I will go back and ask the owner who it was..
While I did not recognise the tunes or the player...it was very jazzy and extremely well done. any ideas? Maybe J Byrd?

Try Tom Morrell and the Timewarp Tophands. Jazz, Western Swing and Hollywood Cowboy stuff. Sublime, Brilliant, Genius, I run out of superlatives.....

I sure like to see it come back to the basics.

I just saw Asleep At The Wheel here in Wolfeboro, NH last thursday--FANTASTIC!!!. Eddie Rivers sounded great on the non-pedal Fender triple-neck, obviously a 6th tuning.
The non-pedal lends itself perfectly to the western swing type of music, and I think a lot of the early stuff--Hank Williams, Patsy Kline--was done w/o pedals, but I don't know how far you'd get trying to do Haggard, Jones ETC.

Don't miss Asleep At The Wheel If there anywhere near you!

I used to use a Stringmaster for a whole set with a band that did some old Hank Williams stuff and some western swing tunes. Like Bob I find the non pedal is a harder instrument to play to find the chords I'm used to playing on the PSG. It just takes time but if I get in another band that I need a non pedal guitar for I think it would be a Fender Custom instead of the Stringmaster. Big John Bechtel showed me more stuff on a non pedal than I'll ever learn including a split kind of tuning that was (I think) C6/A? or something like it, I forget now.

Whenever I sit down with a non-pedal steel, it's a case of de-ja vu.
I learned to play this type of guitar 50+ years ago.
1st a single neck, Oahu acoustic; then a single neck, Gibson electric; then a triple neck Fender and then "graduated" up to a Sho~Bud pedal steel.

There's a lot of music to be found in those "Hawaiian" guitars.

When playing non-pedal steel you have to use a lot of subsitute chords, slants, and just part of chords.
Noel Boggs was a prime example of this style. Also when playing with a Group or Band they have to reckognize that you might not be able to hit a complete Diminish or Augmented chord or that you might use some sixths, minors, and major 7th's in place of. They need to follow you and not play a clashing chord.

I had played non-pedal steel for about 8 or 9 years before the pedals came inti play. I still sneak over onto the C6 neck and do a little non-pedal pickin'. Jody.

I went backwards from the old timers and learned pedal steel first then dobro and lap steel. in the last 3 or 4 years or so I've gotten into the 8 string straight steel and got myself a Remington triple 8. I've been mostly on the PSG lately, but I'm doing a great gig tomorrow with a real fine Western Swing band and I'll have the Remington up and going. This band is The Jangles and they have a lead singer who punches out good solid rhythm on an archtop. They've got a guitar picker by the name of Roger Ferguson who flat out blazes on guitar, mandolin, and he's plays some fiddle. They usually have Paul Anastasio on fiddle, but I'm taking his place for this gig. Notice I said taking his place, not filling his shoes. A Stand-up bass and drummer on snare only rounds 'em out. I just hang on and try not to embarass myself.
Got to get to brushin' up on the table guitar here.