A Guitarist's Guide to Pedal Steel
It's not just for country anymore....
by Mike Bieber
November 13, 2000
Not long ago, at one of New York City's biggest and best vintage guitar stores, a pedal steel guitar sat unnoticed, tucked away in a corner far from the antique Nocasters and pre-war Martins. A child no older than five is drawn toward the odd-looking beast and screams, "What's this?!" His father, a recognized downtown guitar icon, says, "That's a pedal steel guitar. It's very hard to play, but the people who play it are very smart and they find lots of work."
That pedal steel guitar was sold two days later ... to me. I coughed up 1,300 bills not only because -- as a guitarist in a highly competitive "scene" -- I am in need of lots of work. It was time to act on an impulse I've harbored for years: a passion for heart-wrenching legato strains, ethereal lushness, and chords that seem to hover like pillow clouds.
Within a month I got a call from some roots rock band out in Brooklyn looking for a pedal steel picker. These days, guitarists must fight tooth and nail for paying gigs, so they owe it to themselves to double, triple, even quadruple on a variety of instruments lest they be tagged a one-trick pony -- and end up in the glue factory.
The pedal steel does a whole lot more than country music. It's also a wild, wooly, untamable beast. But after a month of solid practice you'll be playing "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" like a champ ... or perhaps some sultry chords with a sloppy Brooklyn roots rock band.
Why Now?
'There are all these amazing, ethereal sounds that you can get from pedal steel.' -- Whiskeytown's Mike Daly
The pedal steel guitar has kicked off the cowboy hat -- at least partially -- and infiltrated a variety of genres. "It's just exploded," confirms New York City-based steeler Bob Hoffner. "You hear it in so many unlikely contexts now, and it sounds great." Consider that recently, the pedal steel has appeared among such unlikely "cow pokes" as Depeche Mode, Fiona Apple, Beck, Sheryl Crow ... the list goes on. It has also surfaced in the trance global underground, complementing trip-hop grooves, electro beats, and lush soundscapes.
"It's a much broader musical instrument than [the way it's heard] coming out of Nashville," says pedal steeler/retailer Bobbe Seymour. Seymour credits the instrument's transcendence with an attitude shift among record company A&R reps, record producers, and recording artists. "People have realized that it can actually work in any kind of music."
The modern pedal steel owes much to Hawaiian laptop styles. Pictured here, a Sierra 8-string model. |
Much credit for the pedal steel's newfound presence goes to roots rock bands like Whiskeytown, Wilco, Son Volt, and Freakwater, to name just a few. "There are all these amazing, ethereal sounds that you can get from pedal steel," confirms Mike Daly, Whiskeytown's pedal steel guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. "I've used it in a lot of different situations and sessions. I like to add effects for trippy weird stuff -- like Leslie cabinets." Daly, as a working musician, also makes a strong case for being a versatile pro who can offer a variety of services. "Before I started playing, I would be knocked out every time I heard someone playing pedal steel. I picked it up because I love the instrument and, personally, I was branching out sound-wise."
Next Page: Making Sense of Steel; Why You've Never Seen a Pedal Steel in Guitar Center....
Mike Bieber is a journalist, musician, and aspiring pedal steel guitarist living in New York City. His work has appeared in SonicNet, Musician, Guitar World, and elsewhere.
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