Lifting the bar on pedal steel?

Jim Williams · From: Meridian, Mississippi, USA - Home of Peavey!

I notice that Jeff Newman's material and some other older books I've seen say never remove the bar from the strings while playing. Is that advice still the rule of thumb or do most folks tend to sometimes lift the bar? I come from playing lap steel to the pedal and I'm pretty used to lifting the bar at times.
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GFI SM10 3/4, 1937 Gibson EH-150, 2 - Rondo SX Lap Steels and a Guyatone 6 String C6. Peavey 400 and a Roland 40 Amps. Behringer Reverb Pedal.

John Roche · From: England

Bad habit,hard to undo if you been doing it for some time.

Jack Aldrich · From: Washington, USA

Unless you're playing Cajun steel, lap or pedal, or Dobro, you should NEVER lift the bar. It took a whole summer with Alan Aaka to get me to quit lifting the bar on non-pedal steel. On pedal steel, I was given a huge, heavy steel that I couldn't lift to disabuse me of the habit.
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Jim Williams · From: Meridian, Mississippi, USA - Home of Peavey!

Thanks for the responses, I'll have to work on that habit I guess.
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GFI SM10 3/4, 1937 Gibson EH-150, 2 - Rondo SX Lap Steels and a Guyatone 6 String C6. Peavey 400 and a Roland 40 Amps. Behringer Reverb Pedal.

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Not to lift the bar off the strings, is a good rule of thumb ... which means I constantly break it on PSG. Very Happy

To me it is all about producing the right or intended sounds, and avoiding production of wrong or unwanted sounds. Whatever helps in achieving that, is, in my opinion, right, no matter what rules of thumb or any other rules say.

During silent moves and in preparation for starting my playing, I frequently hover the bar a "hair-width" above the strings with the barhand firmly on the strings. Lifting the bar this little doesn't produce a sound, and neither does lowering it onto the strings.
Besides, lowering the bar just right in sync with the picking, can be used to produce certain sounds that are not easy to achieve in other ways.

So, if it works it is right, and if it doesn't work it is wrong. To me everything related to playing the PSG can be determined that way.

Jim Williams · From: Meridian, Mississippi, USA - Home of Peavey!

That's the type thing I was talking about Georg, just enough to avoid string noise when traveling a large number of frets.
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GFI SM10 3/4, 1937 Gibson EH-150, 2 - Rondo SX Lap Steels and a Guyatone 6 String C6. Peavey 400 and a Roland 40 Amps. Behringer Reverb Pedal.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Steelers who don't lift the bar from the strings when traveling up and down the fretboard contributes to the instrument's "whiny" reputation.
Also, I lift the bar from the strings to mute the strings with my left hand.
Just cause Jeff Newman said it doesn't mean it's chiseled in stone.

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

See "Mooney, Ralph."

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Still trying to play Raisin' the Dickens and Remington Ride while not lifting the bar.
There are reasons they tell beginners not to lift the bar. Then once you get the hang of getting these things to make ONLY the noises you want them to, there become advantages and uses for doing the exact things you were told not to back when just looking at the strings funny would make the strings scrape, ring and rattle.
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Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

Lifting the bar is a substitute for right hand blocking. It's another way to stop the ringing of the strings.

If you don't want to learn to block with your right hand, then by default you'll probably end up as a "bar lifter".

If you really want to get the hang of blocking, then you need to stop lifting the bar.

Ideally you should learn all techniques, and then use whatever is appropriate at the moment to get the sound you are seeking. So practice for awhile each day with each technique.

My bias; I am primarily a palm blocking and rarely lift the bar.
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Ron Pruter · From: Arizona, USA

I'm a proud bar lifter, well I only do it when I want to get some cool open string low notes in a run, but I never lift further up the neck. But what ever it takes. Just don't drop the bar. RP
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Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I do it a bit, but not as a type of blocking. If I'm playing a song where I have to do fills in between vocal lines, I might lift it and move to the next position that I need to play the next lick. And of course, I lift it at times that I am not playing. Prevents accidental noises.
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I lift it sometimes...because I can, and because it reduces wear on the strings and the bar. I think Jeff may have suggested not doing it because he had some students that had a problem doing it properly.

Gary Preston · From: Columbus, Ohio, USA

Only on some songs and licks . But most of the time im on the strings with the bar .

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Tim McCasland talked about this on his "Pedal Steel Guitar" video. He said never lift the bar off the strings because the licks don't sound too good when the bar is lifted off the strings-He encourages players to leave the bar on the strings at all times while playing. I don't lift my bar a lot, but I've tried it a few times, so it's best to leave the bar on the strings

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Jeff said to not use bar lift for blocking. He did however advocate dragging the bar off a string and the finger behind it blocking the note as a result.
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Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

It's pretty obvious that the bar must be lifted (or pulled back) to play hammer-ons and pull-offs, but other than that I don't often lift the bar when playing pedal steel. Some other bar lifting tricks... Speedy West's bar chatter up the fretboard, Alvino and Speedy's bar slams.
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Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Hi everybody, I'm Dave and I'm a bar lifter.

As a lifelong pick blocker, I admire the folks who have achieved perfect palm blocking but there are things they cannot do without breaking "the rules" and some of those things appeal to me greatly, so I continue to seek ways of making the music I want to hear.

The two major issues with lifting the tone bar are (1) the noises that may be introduced via "bar-slap" and (2) the propensity for the left hand to not apply adequate pressure to produce optimum tone when it is hopping around. Those of us who use the bar to create percussive effects, scale lift-offs and hammer-ons, or even to rescue failed right-hand blocking schemes are faced with these challenges constantly.

As for what is "right" and "wrong" one can sit around and theorize all day long about what one "should" do, but it's making do with what one has at the moment that gets the job done, so as I work daily to improve how I use both hands, it remains a constant question of what helps and what hinders my musicality an not one of who approved my methods.

Ulrich Sinn · From: California, USA

To turn the question around:

why should the bar be kept down all the time?

I just watched the Chuck Campbell video: he is certainly agnostic to a lot of do's and don'ts.

I also remember Al Vescovo: he played a lot of his music on the tip of the bar.

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