The Steel Guitar Forum

After getting my steel "up and running", I've spent more time trying to learn to play it. This effort has led to a soreness or weakness in my left achilles tendon, or muscles in that region.

I think it's due to my twisting motion as I depress the B pedal and roll onto the A. I use the Day setup.

Has anyone else had and solved this issue?

I know it is "bad technique" and many might say "don't practice bad technique" BUT

you can move your whole foot over, rather than rolling your ankle
when I play the A pedal alone, my foot tends to depress the B pedal unintentionally (I'm set up ABC, not Day)
the proper technique would be to train my ankle to roll further, but either my feet are too wide or I'm too lazy, so I sometimes move my foot over to play the A pedal with the right side of my foot (left side hangs over edge)
if the alternative is to sound bad, or to experience pain, you might consider "cheating" ... I figuire that no one is watching and I want to enjoy my playing time, so I'll be "bad"
on a Day set up, you might shift over to play the A with the left side of your foot, if the right side won't depress a forth pedal...?
(when I shift from AB to BC, I lift my whole foot, so why not practice that move too...?)
anyway, just a thought to save you pain...

I can get sore too if I haven't played for a few days. It gets better after a while.
The more I play the less sore I get.

When I first started, I had severe and chronic pain in my left ankle. I started a post here: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... le&start=0 . There have been other posts on this subject as well.

From my (painful) experience, I can tell you the answer is ergonomics. If there is nothing physically wrong with you, then you are sitting wrong or your steel is not set up correctly for your body.

For me, all it took was to buy an adjustable seat and raise it about 2 inches. Playing the steel was now completely comfortable and the chronic pain faded fairly quickly.

If there is a pedal steel teacher in your area, he might be able to help you figure out what you are doing wrong.

Your choice of shoes can make a big difference too.

As Dennis suggests, take a lesson from an experienced teacher.... not about licks or songs, just technique. When I started way back in the pre computer days, I was playing a guitar that was poorly set up and way too short for me. To compensate, I developed some real bad habits that caused a lot of discomfort. I was totally in the dark, no teachers, no Winnie Winston book, no steel players anywhere nearby. I finally met a couple of guys in Nashville that helped, plus a lesson or two and all of the problems cleared up.