The Steel Guitar Forum

If a fellow wanted to write out a tab for some possible future interested parties, would using the "G" lever, that is, the lever that lowers the 6th string 1 whole step, be a safe bet that most people would have it on their guitar? If so, would it be reasonable to assume that they would have split tuning capability?
Also, would most people have the 1st and 2nd string raises on that or another lever?
Thanks
Dave Little

I see a split between those that use the 6th string whole tone lower and those that use the 7th string whole tone raise instead. Some people also have the Franklin pedal which lowers 5, 6 and 10 a whole tone and others have this pedal split out on separate levers/pedals.

As long as you let people know what your pedals and knee levers do, it's not a problem. There are so many individual variations, it's up to the reader to come up with a workaround if they don't have your exact set-up. It seems like A, B, C pedals and F lever (4 and 8 strings 1/2 tone raise)are fairly standard but after that you'll find variations. For example, the "Jeff Newman School" refers to the D lever as 4 and 8 strings 1/2 tone lower whereas the Buddy Emmons School refers to the E lever for 4 and 8 strings 1/2 tone lower.
In your example I would put a note at the top of the tab something like "NOTE: G Lever raises string 1 a full tone, string 2 a half-tone, and lowers string 6 a full tone"
If I saw BG as a split on string 6 and didn't have that capability I might have to come up with a workaround with either a half G lever or maybe a bar slant but at least I know ultimately in that situation the goal is to come up with a 1/2 tone lower.
You'll notice some guys (including Paul Franklin) use
+ for 1/2 tone raise
++ for full tone raise
- for 1/2 tone lower
-- for full tone lower
throughout their tab and never mention pedal or lever designations. That leaves it up to the reader to use whatever pedal or lever allows a ++ or + raise or -- or - lower on that particular string.
I usually try to keep tab fairly basic to appeal to the most people. If a steeler has a slicker way to play it with a slightly different set-up, go for it!

Dave, it's fair to assume that in that area of the instrument everyone has some means of producing a G, and some way to get a move between G# and F#. I like the B/G split but precisely how you get those changes doesn't really matter.

Thanks fellas