Pedal Steel Guitars

[Drengur Grar]

I have been really wanting to get into playing pedal steel guitar. Any recommendations as to brands, equipment, etc. that I would need? What kind of prices do they go for and any good instructional tools out there?

[lukedavo]

All I know is that playing it is way more difficult than it looks. I had a buddy who is a really good slide player, could not figure it out, and gave up. I don't know too much about the gear, but heres a quick little idea of how it works....


I realize I'm stating the obvious here, but hey thats what I'm good at.

[dagosto]

Yeah, pedal steal is very challengeing. It is kind of like an orchestral harp in that the pedals give you different tunings of the strings. I say lap steel is the way to go both because it's less complex and less expensive.

[Professor Riffs]

Originally Posted by dagosto

Yeah, pedal steal is very challengeing. It is kind of like an orchestral harp in that the pedals give you different tunings of the strings. I say lap steel is the way to go both because it's less complex and less expensive.

But doesn't sound nearly as awesome. Pedal steel has got to be one of the coolest sounding instruments ever.

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by Professor Riffs

But doesn't sound nearly as awesome. Pedal steel has got to be one of the coolest sounding instruments ever.

You could make a lap steel sound like a pedal steel. You just couldn't change the tuning on the fly.

[smopo24]

apollo sunshine (a fantastic country/indie/pop/folk band who have a great live show) travel around with slide guitar, and play it like pros. sam (their multi-instrumentalist who handles the slide) makes it look so easy. he has a setup similar to the one in the pics in ldavidso's post.