The Steel Guitar Forum

Another forum member mentioned the increasing difficulty in rocking to the A pedal without moving LKL.

Well, I'm only 33 and this is one part of PSG that really frustrates me! Granted, I am only just beginning, but I can't do the "A-B" rock
without activating LKL!. (E9 tuning, by the way.) It has gotten to the point where I have tied LKL up under the guitar so that it is completely out of the way. My lesson book so far only specifies the usage of one knee lever (LKR) to flatten the E to an Eb and hints that having a knee lever to flatten the Eb (string2) to a D is important as well.(I have this set up as RKR). So it looks like I can get through a lot of my lessons without the LKL.

So, do I continue like this and only "untie" my LKL when I have made significant progress without it? Because, I can't do ANYTHING with
the LKL in there. Suggestions? Is there a sensible progression through learning the E9 tuning?

It's good to be playing again.
Omar Zia

------------------
Omar Zia

Try sitting more to the right of your guitar.
Move as far as you can away from the LKL so that your left leg is going at an angle back towards your a and b pedals..so that in fact will make your knee further from the LKL.
Ricky

Another possibility is to try to adjust the KL so that it doesn't engage right away, i.e., there would be some slack, so that even if your leg hits it a bit, it won't start pulling the string until you really push it deliberately. You might even set it so that, at rest, it points a little bit away from you, instead of straight down.

But first do whatever Ricky says. Sit whereever he wants you to.

Your navel (or in my case, gut) should be at least in front of the 13th fret, and sometimes the 15th. That should give you some romme to move around. Also, on al 3 of my axes, you can adjust those levers so they'll angle in or out from dead center some.

JB

------------------
Fulawka D-10 9&5
Fessenden D-10 8&8
Mullen Royal Precision D-10 8 & 5
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/index.html

also consider bending your ankle as opposed to swinging your whole leg to the left as you press the A pedal.

an exercise for this is to sit in a chair away from the steel with your left hand on your left knee; lift your heel vertically about 1" leaving your toes on the floor,then roll onto the outer edge of your foot WITHOUT MOVING YOUR KNEE HORIZONTALLY... repeat, rolling to the inside of your foot.

Developing this flexibility may seem unnatural at first but is critical to devloping the "isolation" of movements necessary to play well... Joe Wright has whole courses dedicated to the physical aspects of playing pedal steel- I believe the quote is "if you can't make the move you cant play the part"

if indeed there is some physical reason (an old injury, arthiritis, etc..)your ankle will not perform this motion, then I apologise.

also "first do whatever Ricky says. Sit whereever he wants you to" is good advice

I've found that low-top shoes help. The boots I've been wearing in the winter held my ankle too stiff.

As I posted a week or so ago, I'm in the process of installing LKL and LKR on my Sho-Bud Pro-I. The primary change I wanted was the E->F raise on 4 and 8. I got the parts this week and installed them last evening. Fortunately, I had the luxury of placing the lever brackets where they fit me best. I sat facing the steel at the 12th fret, rocked my left foot on pedal A only, keeping my leg as motionless as possible, then marked the point where my knee extended. That's where I mounted LKL. It hangs just behind pedal B. Then I mounted LKR seven inches to the right. In initial playing/testing, I still bump LKL a bit, but I think I'll be able to minimize that with practice and ankle exercise.

I don't know, but I suspect the position of knee levers is particular to the instrument, and varies from one manufacturer or model to the next. I haven't had any luck finding a "standard" layout pattern that specifies locations in inches, mm, etc. Perhaps yours are farther to the right than most. If adjusting them as suggested above doesn't help, a last resort might be to move them an inch or two to the right. Would that even help?

--Rob


------------------
Sho-Bud Pro-I, '62 Fender Vibrolux

Omar, I agree with the suggestions above to try to adjust the lever away from your left knee. Also, consider the adjustments on the A and B pedals. If there is too much pedal travel, or if the A pedal is too low when it hits bottom, or if the B pedal is too high, all of these can make it hard to mash the A pedal alone without hitting the F lever or the B pedal. On most guitars all of these things are adjustable.

As a last resort, consider moving the entire F lever assembly over where it is attached to the body. On some pedal steels that is not too difficult. Of course this latter change may require a new pull rod length, so you may have to make a new one or order one from the manufacturer.

Some ankle turning helps, but it should be possible to set up the guitar to rock onto the A pedal without activating the F lever even with no ankle flexion. These instruments are adjustable and customizable, don't accept the previous owner's or the factory adjustments if they don't fit you.

You need to get familiar with the F & A pedal combination. It is indispensible! The same for the B & E combination. It's what makes the "pedal" steel!

The ability to "rock" the A and B pedals is indeed a coveted talent. I know of no top player who has not mastered this.

When I say rock, I mean without moving the knee. Joe Wright's excercises should work for most; IF you are still young.

This may NOT work as one ages. I can attest to that without any hesitation. More and more as the years go by (all too swiftly), it is becoming harder and harder for me to do.

"Youth is truly wasted on the young" has never been more poignant. "Ve shud be bornt oldt und grow yung!!"

Enjoy every single second of your youth folks, because in the "twnkling of an eye" it will be over.

carl

This suggestion will undoubtedly be controversial and bring out the smelly feet jokes, but here goes.

Take off your shoes, and even your socks, that's what I do. You can really control the speed and emotion of your pedal work with this approach, and maximize your flexibility.

Would you play a 6 string guitar with gloves on?

Reduce the travel of your pedals.

This is an un-orthodox suggestion... by all means first try all of the advice above. If you still find that NONE of it works for you, you MIGHT consider moving the E to F change to the right knee and put some less frequently used change on LKL. I have both my E string changes on the right, raise on RKL and lower on RKR (after trying about every combination) and am perfectly happy with it since the left leg is now independent for the pedal work. It may take some practice to keep the volume pedal steady when you engage those right knee levers, but that can be done.

Good luck, Joe H.

Thank You. I got under the guitar and adjusted LKL so that it would engage more left of center. Actually, the kneebar, the way it was, was hanging slightly to the right and would engage just right of center. This adjustment has moved LKL far enough out of the way that to hit A with ankle rocking is now merely painful as opposed to impossible! In addition I am now sitting where you suggested. In the process of actually WORKING under the guitar I fixed most of my tuning problems. I might get them all by the end of the weekend. My main gripe is that the stops directly on my knee bars are a bit soft and where LKL brings #4 to a F is an intermediate change on that string, so it doesn't hit a tuning stop but relies on the accurate stopping of the bar itself, the spring tension etc. I'm not sure what can be done about that short of new hardware, but maybe I'll take it to Herb and see what he thinks.

Thanks again!

------------------
Omar Zia