Pete Drake copedent

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 6 Feb 2014 12:36 am

Does anyone have Petes setup during the 60's &70's era. I bet Paul F. Might.

Charles Kurck · Post by **Charles Kurck** » 6 Feb 2014 5:12 am

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 5 Sep 2015 5:31 pm

I'm still digging into this. Pete had a pedal he called his "Tammy Wynette Pedal" I can hear the sound in my head but can't figure it out. He also had a pedal that did the same thing that using the "A" pedal and Es to F lever together does. Paul Franklin, Larry Sasser?

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 5 Sep 2015 6:13 pm

If you pressed 2,3 and 4 in the above Drake copedant you would get the G chord at the 5th fret very similar to the G chord obtained at the 6th fret with the A pedal and E to F knee lever. Although you end up with the same changes sliding between the two G positions, I think Pete's method has a more textured sound than using the E to F lever.

From an old Joey Ace post:

Thread here:

http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/007456.html

I've recently been involved in some discussions concerning the origin of the E9 Knee Lever that raises the E strings.
Some say that Pete Drake originated it. I recall a conversation with Lloyd Green where he explained he was the first.

To clairfy the history of this pedal, I requested that Lloyd tell the story here.

Here it is:

quote:
"Here is, once again, the story of how I discovered the E to F knee lever.
One morning in August, 1967 I received a call from David Jackson at Sho-Bud. He excitedly told me to get down there as quickly as possible, that Pete Drake had dreamed (literally) a new pedal change the night before and they had just installed it. It was a must have pedal change!

I was there in a few hours and David showed me the change which he had already put on a "house" steel. Now, here was Pete's dream pedal.

Assume you are in the key of G. You press the A & B pedals then a new knee lever would pull the E string (4th) a whole tone and the B string (5th) a half tone. Actually, you have now pulled the 5th string a full

1 1/2 tones in addition to the whole tone pull of the 4th string. This made the pedal really stiff. If you have done this, and slide to the 5th fret....you have a G chord (strings 3, 4, 5 & 6).

I immediately realized I could do the same change by merely raising the E's to F and using only my A pedal, and sliding one fret higher. David was disbelieving until I proved it to him. Before I left Sho-Bud that morning I had my new pedal, Pete had his and David Jackson was a believer.

Within a few days Pete had cut a song with Tammy Wynette, "I Don't Wanna Play House" using his new pedal, and the very next day, August 29, 1967 I recorded D-I-V-O-R-C-E with Tammy with my new pedal. Both songs went to #1 in the charts, Pete's in 1967, mine in May, 1968.

I suppose the E to F became the pedal of choice since it is a much simpler and more logical way to play major chord triad 3rds above the starting key. In any event, Pete was still using his pedal a few years later in 1972 when he recorded with Don Gibson on Hickory Records, "Woman (Sensuous Woman)". Hell, that one went to #1, too!

Had I not sensed the easier way to achieve this change I'm certain we would all today have Pete's pedal change instead. But the word spread rapidly about this new pedal I was using and within days most of the steel players in Nashville were coming by my sessions to see what this thing did. After D-I-V-O-R-C-E became a big hit the pedal became part of the language for most steel players around the world and was integrated into the E9th configuration.

This is a very condensed version of the events that occurred but are truthful and accurate.

Regards,

Lloyd Green

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 5 Sep 2015 6:41 pm

I understand that pressing 2,3&4 would do it. But it's pretty difficult to physically do that. Lloyd had told me this story too.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 5 Sep 2015 7:45 pm

Then it's pedal 3 and LKL. Gives you the same notes as pedals 2,3 and 4!

LKL duplicates pedal 1&2 on the upper strings.

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 15 Sep 2015 10:16 pm

I did more research into Pete's "Tammy pedal". It was actually a fourth pedal So the chart looked as such. Later several changes were made including P3 raising 4 whole tone and 5 one and a half tone.
It's my understanding that this is the setup he used on "I Don't Want To Play House"
This would also be the pedal that Lloyd Green would derive the Es to F lever.
[tab]
P1. P2. P3. P4. P5 P6 RKL
F# +G
Eb -D
G# +A +A
E. ++F# ++F# -Eb
B ++C# ++C# +++D
G# +A ++A
F# +G
E -Eb
D
B ++C# [/tab]

Greg Milton · Post by **Greg Milton** » 16 Sep 2015 3:00 am

Hi Johnny,

Great stuff!

Just wondering where/how you found this out? What about his 'Johnny Rodriguez' pedal? Any leads on that one?

http://www.petedrake.net/media/

Greg

Greg Milton · Post by **Greg Milton** » 23 Sep 2015 1:08 am

Bump in the hope Johnny Cox sees my question!

Monty Laffoon · Post by **Monty Laffoon** » 23 Sep 2015 5:19 am

When I first Started Playing Steel,I was playing a Miller Steel it had the E going to the F Sharp on the Knee Lever till later when I met up With Jeff Newman and he check out My Steel and he said you got to Have a F Kneel lever.It was like a New World for me,So many things you can do With that Kneel Lever.

Johnny Cox · Post by **Johnny Cox** » 23 Sep 2015 12:10 pm

Greg, the Johnny R. stuff was just B&C.

Duane Dunard · Post by **Duane Dunard** » 23 Sep 2015 2:23 pm

Johnny, I will give you this book if you don't have it. Just send me your mailing address. DD

Ron Pruter · Post by **Ron Pruter** » 28 Sep 2015 4:20 pm

Greg,

A great interview by Ranger Doug.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 28 Sep 2015 5:37 pm

many of us read that interview back in the 70s but there is still some relevance today.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 28 Sep 2015 10:20 pm

Didn't Pete have a "secret" lever? Like, he'd hit that "secret" lever, and 100 dollar bills would fall out of the undercarriage?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 29 Sep 2015 7:45 am

which of course leads to the old story of another top player riding pete and asking, 'can you do this?'
speaking of some hot lick, and pete says, 'no, but can you do this?', and pulls a huge wad of bills out of his pocket!

Tom Quinn · Post by **Tom Quinn** » 29 Sep 2015 4:25 pm

Yeah, that...

Harry Dove · Post by **Harry Dove** » 31 Mar 2016 11:37 am

I know this post is a little old but it was linked from another post.

Duane, I was at the Sho-Bud shop in 1973 and was talking about Pete's copedent. I believe I was talking to Shot, but I'm not sure. When he said he didn't know what Pete's copedent was, I said I have your book which has it listed. He told me at that time the book had been printed years earlier and was quite outdated. So I wouldn't put much faith in the book.

Did anyone ever get the answer?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 31 Mar 2016 3:17 pm

I think that Sho~Bud Book came out in '63 or '64. It was considered by most to be "old news" when I bought my copy in '66. $:\$

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 6 Jan 2019 5:33 am

Johnny,

That hand written chart is really wrong and incomplete....And in general, the tuning book was not accurate about many of the players it lists. Everyone should take its information as being mostly incomplete. Remember when it was compiled, those were the experimental days. Players were sometimes changing around pedals monthly - dropping some changes immediately..Kind of like trying to hit a moving target.....

Pete's 3rd pedal is the "Pleading" pedal...his 2nd and 3rd pedal were used a lot for that sound during those Carl and Pearl Butler, Red Sovine, George Hamilton, well basically the Starday era...

His 2nd pedal does not raise the 5th string B to C#...he never had the standard C pedal...He would use both feet on 1, 2, and 3 to get that sound when he chose to which was very little....And we can't get the "Pleading" sound on the standard A B & C pedals....

His 4th pedal always raised the G#'s to A and the B to D which is his "Tammy" pedal... You can't play what he did on the record without rocking his 3rd and 4th pedals.

Pete also had the standard #9 / Boo wah pedal which you can hear him use a lot on the Ringo Starr jam from the LP he produced on Ringo...Again his C6th copedent is wrong on that hand written chart... They just had it lowering 9 and 10 but he also raised the 7th a 1/2 tone on the same pedal.

PF

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 6 Jan 2019 5:34 am

Sorry Johnny,
I thought this was a new post...duh!
PF

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Jan 2019 7:15 am

Lloyd Green wrote:...I suppose the E to F became the pedal of choice since it is a much simpler and more logical way to play major chord triad 3rds above the starting key. In any event, Pete was still using his pedal a few years later in 1972 when he recorded with Don Gibson on Hickory Records, "Woman (Sensuous Woman)". Hell, that one went to #1, too!

Had I not sensed the easier way to achieve this change I'm certain we would all today have Pete's pedal change instead.

I don't want to seem like I'm disagreeing with one of the true masters of the instrument, but I'd like to think that someone else would have come up with that change...sooner or later. Though I'd ponder that 99.9% of all steelers just recycle changes that they've heard other players use, there are a few who probably still experiment based just on "what if I did this?"

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 7 Jan 2019 11:40 am

This is a very cool thread.
Thanks to everyone for the info and history.
E9 on C6. Love the sounds. Very distinct.

Eight Weeks in a Barroom - Ramblin' Red Bailey
https://youtu.be/gDqU_ozWon4

This sounds like C6 to my ear.
Any hints as too the player on this recording?

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