You can also use the pedals to achieve a similar effect.
#Emmons steel guitar knee lever images full#
If you continue pushing the knee lever to its full range, then the note will be altered even more in pitch. Some knee levers are designed so that a player may stop halfway in the full movement of the pedal to voice a note. This is especially common on the E9 neck. In many styles of music the pitch changes are used audibly for certain effects.įor example, they can be used for counterpoint movement, and string bending that is commonly heard in classic country playing. However, if you employ the pedals or levers while the notes are not played, you can create the pitch changes for other musical uses. If the picked notes are sustained while the pitches are changed then the movement will be audible. When you change the pitches of strings, you can choose whether or not you want the bending of the strings to be heard by blocking the strings with your right hand. Sometimes a pedal or lever will move the pitch by 3 half steps or more. The pedals and knee levers usually raise or lower the pitches by half steps or whole steps. Some may have more or less, and vertical knee levers can also be found on some. Many pedal steels, whether they are single necks or double necks, have four knee levers on the guitar. For example, a player can engage two foot pedals and one knee lever at the same time to create a lot of simultaneous raises and lowers. Knee levers are great to use in conjunction with pedals too, as this gives you more possibilities for voicing chords or notes. These are similar in function to the foot pedals, but are operated by the knees instead. Utilizing Knee LeversĪ player engages the knee levers by moving their leg and knee left or right against the lever until it stops. Universal tunings, which essentially combine the two tunings into a single neck, often have five or six foot pedals. For instance, the first four pedals will often change notes on the E9 neck, while the last four affect the C6 neck. A single neck commonly has three or four foot pedals, while double necks often have eight.ĭouble neck pedal steels with eight pedals often have the pedals split between the necks. The amount of pedals on a pedal steel is usually determined by how many necks the guitar has. The pedals are also used to easily voice sixth intervals and third intervals in a lot of music.
Pedal steel has a unique ability to create smooth glissandos with the pedals, and you can move between chords without having to reiterate the attack of the notes. By using them you can change chords, notes, and even the overall tuning by the pedals alone. The pedals are utilized for many musical applications. This technique is commonly used with the E9 tuning, and is very characteristic of traditional pedal steel sounds. You can usually push down two pedals simultaneously, or one at a time.Īlso, you can engage one pedal and then engage another simultaneously by rocking your left foot to depress the second pedal.
Using the PedalsĪ player pushes down on pedals with their left foot usually, affecting the tension of a string mechanically. They mechanically act like a guitar player’s fingers when they bend notes up or down.įor pedal steel, the left hand uses a bar to “fret” notes, and the pedals and knee levers can change the notes of the strings whenever desired. The GFI SM’s are good steels, I started on one.The pedals and knee levers can either raise or lower the pitch of strings on a pedal steel.
If you don’t know EXACTLY what you’re doing working on one it can turn into a nightmare and will never play correctly or stay in tune, however a push/pull that’s set up well by someone who knows how will stay in tune practically forever and play great. I would personally chose the push/pull just for the tone, however I would highly recommend having the additional knees installed by someone extremely knowledgeable regarding push/pulls.
If I was between this Emmons and a GFI student model 3x3 (also used, about $200 cheaper), what would you recommend?
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