The Steel Guitar Forum

I was listening to an interview with Jacob Collier where he said his quarantine project is learning how to play the pedal steel. The guy is a real deal musical genius who has been making a significant difference already. I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

Uh oh!

I'd love to hear him weigh in on a tuning thread.

I heard this too! Jacob is such an amazing musician on so many instruments, I am interested to see what he could bring to the steel (and what the steel can bring to him).

Wow, interesting! He's incredible.

Wow,
That is going to be something a bit
Special ,lets hope he gets into the steel.
I cant wait to see what jacobs
Gift,s makes of the steel,and all it
Compromises...
Sam.

In the interview he just mentioned the pedalsteel towards the end. He said something about its ability to bend the notes in different directions to move from chord to chord.

He's the only singer I know of whose sense of microtonal pitch is so subtle and refined, he can sing in different temperaments and modulate between them as if they were different keys for musical color. Plus he plays about 6 instruments brilliantly including a sort of vocal harmonizer derived from his own voice and sung/played in real time on a keyboard. A gifted and funky sumbitch. Stone. Cold. Genius.

https://youtu.be/JgturagD0hA

https://youtu.be/Xd54l8gfi7M

Can't wait!

I can’t wait either!
It’s easy to see why he’s intrigued with the pedal steel. It’s probably the one instrument that can truly emulate the shifting tonal centers and the micro tonal melismatic counterpoint of the greatest jazz vocal groups....in real time! Take 6 and 4 Freshmen here we come!

Maybe Jacob will be the guy who answers the temper tuning question once and for all?
🤔

Bob Hoffnar... do you have a link for that interview?

Jacob Collier may very well be the future of music. Odds are, if his sound becomes popular, the traditional western musical scale will be thought of as restrictive. His microtonal expressions are so fresh and new. I am excited for his endeavors in the Steel Guitar. Maybe he will have pedals that change a note by a quarter tone, for example.

Jacob is a Musical Athlete ... Incredible

What I like is it's not always about crazy over the top harmonic chops. Sometimes he goes for pure emotional genius via Harmony...

https://youtu.be/4PIMR_oGRcU

Rick Schmidt wrote:What I like is it's not always about crazy over the top harmonic chops. Sometimes he goes for pure emotional genius via Harmony...

https://youtu.be/4PIMR_oGRcU

Indeed, that is gorgeous. I can't think of any other musician who's covered so much musical ground at such a high level in such a short time.

Incidentally, the other guy I'd like to see get his hands on a pedal steel is Rory Hoffman.

- Slim

Slim Heilpern wrote:Incidentally, the other guy I'd like to see
get his hands on a pedal steel is Rory Hoffman.
- Slim

Rory has had a pedal steel for some
years. It is an Ernie Ball.
It is a right-handed steel and Rory
is left-handed. You likely know that
Rory plays other right-handed fretted
instruments by simply 'flipping' them
'head for toe' . . Not quite that easy
with a pedal steel.
Rory hasn't played on it in recent years
and it stays at his home in South Dakota.
~Rw

Russ Wever wrote:

Slim Heilpern wrote:Incidentally, the other guy I'd like to see
get his hands on a pedal steel is Rory Hoffman.
- Slim

Rory has had a pedal steel for some
years. It is an Ernie Ball.
It is a right-handed steel and Rory
is left-handed. You likely know that
Rory plays other right-handed fretted
instruments by simply 'flipping' them
'head for toe' . . Not quite that easy
with a pedal steel.
Rory hasn't played on it in recent years
and it stays at his home in South Dakota.
~Rw

Oh well, I guess I'll have to be satisfied with all those other instruments he plays so well (and in his own unique way) -- another musical genius.

- Slim

Jacob Collier is a musical genius - no doubt... I suspect he will have a mountain to climb getting pedal steel technique to the point where he's able to make music on it at the same level he does everything else. Other non-steel guitar greats have attempted learning pedal steel and fallen short. But man I hope Jacob nails it!

I'm with T.C. Many have been intrigued and learned steel to the point where they realized how much they don't know...With everything else Jacob does, I don't see him getting the technique down to become a top player. However, I'm sure he'll be able to make some good music.

Interview link on NPR:
https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/n ... 07040&dl=1

Now. That said, I had commented on one of Jacob’s videos about two weeks prior that I’d love for him to try pedal steel, especially given his unique depth of harmonic and microtonal knowledge, and utterly spazzed out hearing this interview!

I think I might have been the guy who brought PSG to his attention...

Interview transcript:

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/15/90271366 ... esse-vol-3