Tim mentioned Sneaky Pete. Check out his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers (especially Gilded Palace of Sin). Not only is his playing superb, but he uses some great effects including some gnarly fuzz. "Christine's Tune" and "Wheels" immediately come to mind if you want shortcuts to the effects, but really I'd recommend getting the album. The cover is phenomenal as well. Cheers!
Alright - here is a fun story. in Spring 2003 I was a music intern for SNL and helped the music coordinator manage the Dixie Chicks rehearsal and live process. Basically I was the kid that got all the backing musicians lunch and made sure they had their paperwork filled out. I was a loud brash guitar player more familiar with punk, classic rock and metal and really wasn't into country so I wasn't even paying attention to the slide guitar until the first rehearsal and Lloyd maines steps on what I discovered was a SANSAMP GT on the floor and produced this GOD-Like overdriven sound. it was like the sound of a giant semi-truck downshifting and passing at the same time - so deep and guttural. It changed my life because it was that sound that carried me into pedal distortion and overdrive - where previously I just played amp distortion. here is video of another time they played Sin Wagon on that same tour - which is the song he did this trick on. ruclips.net/video/qLLg14q27vI/видео.html
Tim Marcus is so awesome. Submitted a question to the general dropbox on the milkman website when buying an amp thinking he would have some intern or shop buddy checking on those, and got a nice email back from the man himself. Truly a one-man operation, and a very humble and talented guy.
Garcia is my favorite steel player. His work on American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead, NRPS, and Teach Your Children, The Wheel (Garcia solo) are amazing. I like it with really deep Fender Twin reverb and some echo/delay.
If you like the instrument keep diving.. even Jerry would have NEVER said he was a real steel player.. I mean he was jerry so he was musical on EVERYTHING but... wow.. if you like his playing keep looking as Jerry's playing was great but with a very basic vocab.. but great.
Gotta admit- I saw the video title and thought, "This is gonna be lame". I was sooooooo wrong! Love this stuff. I never ever considered that steel guitar could be this cool. Thanks for expanding my mind a bit.
amazing! i also got into steel guitar in NY when i lived there 10+ years ago. And i also got into it from Bob Hoffnar. He was my first teacher and he helped me find and by a Rains double neck steel guitar. I bought it from Gary Carpenter directly. Still have it and love it. I mainly make ambient music with it. Susan Alcorn is an amazing experimental steel guitar player that i highly recommend checking out. As well as Bob - his music is amazing!
Thanks for making this video and promoting use of pedal steel that breaks the stereotypical mold. Pedal steel guitar is most recognizable when it is used in its traditional setting in Hawaiian or Country music, but it has so many other applications. After playing guitar for about 15 years I finally made the plunge into the world of pedal steel. I've been there for about 10 years now, and every time I sit down at the instrument I find new ways to use it in all kinds of music. Here is my rig: Sierra Timberwolf pedal steel guitar -> Lovepedal Tone Bender -> Origin Slide Rig -> Ernie Ball MVP -> TC Polytune Mini (outside of signal path) -> Hudson Electronics Broadcast -> Wampler Tumnus mini -> TC Viscous Vibe -> Keeley Memphis Sun -> TC Hall of Fame Reverb -> Supro Dual Tone (I have a footswitch for the amp's tremolo). I use an E-Bow on the steel sometimes, too. Pretty much every steel player uses a volume pedal and reverb or a delay, but I find that fuzzes, overdrives, boosts, compressors, tremolos, phasers/flangers/vibes, and synthesizers can all work well with the pedal steel. I wish there were more pedal steel players talking about how they use effects with the instrument, and I appreciate what JHS and Milkman are doing to promote pedal steel in all genres of music.
Also check out Carl Broemel (of My Morning Jacket) for an example of a guitarist who plays both six-string guitar and pedal steel. He uses a bunch of effects for both and he sounds great.
HEY JHS! 2:50 that vibe sound from the jhs pedal is soooooo thick and chewy very very nice!!!! i know this was not an add for that pedal BUT i am going to buy one!
i remember hearing the opening to the eric clapton mtv unplugged version of running on faith and it was simple but i just fell in love with that sound and have always loved it since.
Greg Leisz, Greg Leisz, and more Greg Leisz! Greg plays on several albums with Bill Frisell, Ryan Adams, Beck, John Mayer, Lucinda Williams, and Ray Lamontagne's "Gossip in The Grain."
I saw Greg Leisz play live with Jackson Browne a couple of years ago. Greg can play anything! Regular guitar, lap steel, pedal steel, Weissenborn, he can do it all!
All time favorite pedal steel song is "Squeeze" by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Just an absolute jam. That man changed my opinion of the pedal steel forever
When i started learning to play steel I used a Big Muff, FOX fuzz wah, Maestro 3 button phase shifter, moved away from all that for a long time as i became a player. Sneaky, Buddy Cage, & Rusty Young were influential. Now years later it’s an overdrive dejour, auto wah , RESO sim, and a Lexicon for all time based EFX, delays, rotary, chorus, phase, flange etc. There are some great and creative players out here today but to quote Herbie Wallace in 1985 , “ everyone wants to play like Buddy Emmons” and it’s still true. Also, I noticed the various milk containers too. Very cool
Josh, awesome episode! I’ve never been much of a steel player. But as a part time Lap Steel guy, I am big fan of fender reverb, might use a little blues driver mixed with a pedal you designed with your buddy Tim. The Milkman. On another note, I met sneaky Pete in Northern KY years ago when he was playing in a band with Garth Hudson from the “Band” on keys called Burrito Deluxe. He was a really nice guy. Interesting note he did stop action work for “The Empire Strikes Back” when he was not doing as much with music. He told me he only ever used 1 pedal steel in his whole career.
Nice one guys! Get ahold of Buddy Emmons Live in Denver if you can. It's from '76 and he goes way into effects during the show then talks about the fx pedals he's using in a Q&A afterwards. He uses delays for a rhythmic multiplying thing, an MXR harmonizer, all kinds of stuff. Still sounds futuristic 40+ years later.
Love this! As a pedal steel player (who also plays Williams guitars and Milkman amps:) Tim has been my go to guy for advice when buying my steel and pairing it with just the right amp and fix. He mentioned Greg Leisz who is my steel idol. That guy has played with Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne but then his steel play is all over newer records, my favorite was Bon Ivers self titled album. Steel all over it. Another steel hero of mine will always be Eric Heywood, he toured with Ray Lamontagne and I got the pleasure of listening to him and Greg live. 2 steels. Amazing!
I have always loved the pedal steel - I really dug 'Dark side of the bitcoin' - Tim really nailed that Gilmour sound and style. That dude has some serious talent!
As a keyboard player, I was trying to focus to see which ones are in the background. I also dabble in lap steel with an old copper colored Harmony with a weird looking stainless steel nut that is circular and notched for the strings
True, pedal steel has been on a bunch of top 40 and classic rock since the 70's, not just country. Interesting ideas with the pedals in this video. I could see a pedal steel, bass and drum trio playing in the prog/jam band scene.
That was a great jam. I played it for my kids 8-18. Damn I’m getting old as fuck!? It matters none, the kids liked it too. There’s hope for the future - rock on.
I see your milk jug of choice is Anderson-Erickson; I live in Iowa and the home town of Anderson Erickson Dairy ....so Bravo to you!!! As a pedal steel guitar player, I use reverb(BossRV-6), chorus(Boss), delay(Roland DE7), a resonator simulator pedal, and a Harmonist(Boss) but not very often. Attached to the guitar is a Goodrich Steel Driver which is an impedance matching box that also has a killer distortion in it. Thanks for doing something for us steel players!!!!!!!!
My best memory of hearing a pedal steel guitar out of country was in ATV Off-road Fury 3 with Robert Randolph and the Family Band in the track Squeeze.
*Ya'll McCartney*! This is some fantastic programming (once again), guys! Love the milk container cameos in every frame. I love the old Slim Whitman catalog for pedal steel X yodeling = WIN
Peter Gilmour & Steve Howe had some fantastic lap/pedal steel guitar stuff during the early parts of Pink Floyd & Yes. Also, "Y'all McCartney" was brilliant. Would definitely jam that on Spotify.
Man, steel guitar. Love it. My grandpa modded them back in the day. Gave me one before he passed but it was stolen a couple years ago! The mel9 is insane! Sounds so ballad-ish. And the unicorn on a steel! Sounded so good. Fresh sounds coming out of the pedal steel would make my grandpa smile.
I'm a lap steel player-pedals I use are a compressor for sustain mostly, a reverb/delay pedal and also a Volume pedal for pedal-steel-like swells (this can be a lot fun especially within a band setting-it gets you a poor man’s pedal-steel sound- it really works once you get the hang of it). I like Jerry Garcia's playing on his solo LP "Garcia" for it 's simplicity- specifically the track "the Wheel".
I've always loved the Pedal Steel and tried emulate it when playing slide. But there's nothing like the real thing and Tim is the real thing. My favorite effect for the pedal steel, all of them, for real. In the right hands they all work. There is a Trailer Park Boys Chrismas episode that features the pedal steel, And It so captivating, I'll find out who it is and edit my post. Thanks Josh and Tim for such a cool segment
For amazing fuzz/distortion, I use an old Danelectro T-bone starved at 4volts. This works great on my pedal steel. Also use a Belle Epoch, Oceans 11, Dano Back Talk, Phase 90 script, and a mighty Tychobrahe Pedalflanger. Pedal Steel has very clear note separation and long sustain, too much gain gets ugly.
"Hot Milk" by far the best track! I'm sure after being posted up for a year you're probably not going to see this but one of my favorite "modern" albums with a pedal steel is "Plays One Sound and Others" by the band Knife in the Water.
The sound on “Dark Side” reminds me of Buddy Cage’s sound on Meet Me in the Morning, which I always assumed was his steel through a Rat. Must have been a fuzz of some sort.
Hey Josh .. I have been into slide & pedal steel since Dark side of the Moon & Lowell George .. Robert Randolph .. of course .. jerry Donahue ? plays with Vince Gill & Alison Krauss union station .. Brad Paisley said about Alison if he ever gets to Heaven he expects the angels to sing like her .. so true .. But you know somepeople think everything happens for a reason .. I'm not so sure but I try to find the positive when I can .. so when I got a skin condition that meant I couldnt play gtr & I started getting arthritis .. I learned to play keyboards & started working on my slide .. a good pedal steel is beyond my budget for now .. but this is why I have been ragging on you about making a decent wah & volume pedal .. & why so far in the Jhs range it would be the Milkman b4 the Ryan Adams .. for me .. Although I see now that your new bigger colorsound thingy that is like a big mixing desk one channel .. D.i. & again would take me half a years pension to get two .. But I do love real controls & not menus etc .. Anyhow Y'all McCartney .. lol .. but I just loved that vintage guitar you played at the start.. Dark tobacco burst .. looked like an Epiphone ? .. thats my style .. B4 I go if you haven't heard of " Larkin Poe " .. give them a listen .. two sisters from the bluegrass circuit .. seriously good blues & slide Americana .. & not hard on the eyes to look at either .. lol .. The story goes they jumped up to sing along with Elvis Costello .. not knowing he was famous & the next thing they were on tour with his Band .. Bye Y'all .. from the Deep woods of ye olde Englande ..
Double dip as the old guys in AA use to say. Got home finished listening in my truck . Ironic Sneaky Pete + the same solo I mentioned was mentioned. Ok so you know what (Edit-we) to I want, I don't have a b bender tele but did briefly. Invent it the BG bender pedal for guitar . Like a wah wah but way smaller with a small sweep for B + G bends or any string I guess could bend .I know you can do it + I want the - 1st one.
Can’t talk about steel guitar without talking about Speedy West! I highly recommend his stuff with Jimmy Bryant. Also Nels Cline has been know to play some out there lap steel.
I play my Sho-Bud pedal steel through a Keeley/JHS Steak N Eggs all the time. Pretty much every guitar needs to be played through that pedal though... My two big tricks on pedal steel are chorus and reverb (or slapback delay). Again, I think all guitars can benefit from a bit of those two a lot of the time, but a pedal steel is so sonically complex that giving it some extra breathing room is really nice. But here’s the trick - go digital! A TC Electronic Gravy is a killer digital chorus, I love the Tri-Chorus sound. I don’t really like a modulated delay or reverb with pedal steel, so I go with my trusty Dan-Echo (the greatest delay pedal ever, I don’t care what anyone says) and Keeley Aura Reverb. I have never really noticed digital artifacts, but I love the clean headroom of digital effects for pedal steel. If you want saturation in your pedal steel signal, that’s awesome, but I don’t really like my non-drive effects clipping my pedal steel signal, there’s just too much dynamics and harmonics that get lost and smushy. One last thing - fuzz. Just throw any fuzz in your line and see what works. If I wanna get weird, I’ll use a Keeley Sfocato, and the Keeley Psi is really gnarly on pedal steel, especially with the tone down and gain up, it gets all muffled and weird. I really like my Lovepedal (or it could be Hermida Audio?) Dover Drive with the gain up for pedal steel.
Josh! Love the episode on pedal steel! I play the instrument myself. My favorite pedals: the sarno freeloader variable load/buffer. The pigtronix philosophers tone micro and the tighty Whitey for parallel compression (they are tied for top spot, ATM). For dirt I stack a sarno earth drive and a Durham mucho boosto both set very low. Delay is an MXR carbon copy bright. Reverb is a hardwire digital reverb (digitech). I’d like to hear your thoughts on pigtronix pedals. I love the philosopher’s tone germanium on guitar, and their key master is pretty amazing. Also, I’ve loved every Durham pedal I’ve tried. Take care!
This blew my mind, especially the "Y'all McCarteny" with the EH Mel pedal. If you like steel guitar, check out Friends of Dean Martinez - lots of great steel guitar but not a country/western song anywhere.
Fabulous lovely... The Mel 9 and wah were super. I recommended The Stranglers the other day but check out BJ Cole on pedal steel on the song You'll always reap what you sow... from the album Dreamtime...
That "Ya'll McCartney" section I swear sounded like it could be something off the Flaming Lips album "The Soft Bulletin" (I think that's the album name). Either way - its very close to the sound. I think the similar sound is right there on the first track of that album. Really cool to see these demonstrations. The sounds of pedal steel, lap steel and then just slide period have to be my favorite guitar and guitar-esque sounds. I'm an off and on country fan, but I listen to all genres of music and I think pedal steel guitar (or the other variants) can make music of any genre more expressive or heart-tuggingly beautiful. Good stuff. :-)
I’ve been wanting a pedal steel for years, they are just so expensive, plus I’ve heard that you don’t just learn to play pedal steel, you learn how to work on them as well due to all the mechanical parts that tend to wear out/fall off and what have you. Despite all of that, I would recommend any young person that wants to be a working session player, take up pedal steel immediately, being from Nashville, I know that there is a need for more good reliable pedal steel players. Great content as always Josh, I’m gonna add pedal steel to my Reverb feed now. Thanks for that, 😆
Matt Harrison there’s also a big difference between pedal steel players and guitarists who play pedal steel (I’m a humble member of the latter group). Pedal steel players think differently than guitarists. One significant mental hurdle moving to steel is that there is no standard setup. There are some general starting points, but every player has their own tunings and knee lever/pedal setups. And every real player is constantly evolving their setups.
Josh, as usual you offer the most intelligent, fun, inspiring content on music and effects! I loved the univibe and wah tones the best. I play psg and this opened my eyes and ears. Thank you.
Pedal steel + chugging chocolate milk from the jug = ARE WE RELATED?!?!? There's a bunch of Afro-Beat stuff that has some funky pedal steel in it. I can't remember the exact artists, but the "Afro-Beat Airways" compilation has some gems on it, IIRC.
Anyone who thinks pedal steel is only for country needs to hear Robert Randolph play Voodoo Chile on his. If that doesn't change your mind, nothing will!!
My PSG playing has been heavily influenced by Poco’ early stuff. Rusty’s steel work was overwhelming and I thought “Wow, a pedal steel in a rock band!” But when I first saw them in November of 1970 at the Filmore West, Rusty was smokin’ on the steel, but what I often heard was a Hammond B3. “How the heck does he do that?” Yes there was a Showman powered 122 stacked up behind him with the Twin and another Showman cab, but it wasn’t just the sound of an instrument through a Leslie….. it was something more. By 1972 I could stand it no more. I bought an MSA Semi-Classic 4+2 S10 and a bar, and then spent about eight months listening to Poco records and trying to get it to do something musical. Had no amp, just a flat pick, and I’d stick my ear down near it as I finally figured out that 3,4,5,6 would give me a major chord, and that A and B would change that to the IV chord, etc. (Where was the Forum and the Internet when I needed them?). 1974 and ’75 found me hooked up with the Christian country-rock band “Hallelujah!” for two US tours. A guitar-driven band doing original Poco-ish and Eagles-like tunes, we had no keys. It was then that I took a stab at the B3 thing with a Maestro Phase Shifter and a wah pedal (I had seen Rusty use a wah to emulate the drawbars on a B3). Also got inside the phase shifter and tweaked on a couple of little trim-pots that gave the pitch-shift a bit more depth and more of the doppler effect sound. Years went by, I cut my hair, got a real job and the steel gathered dust until it was eventually sold. Fast forward to 2018 and I was going to sell off the sound company, semi-retire and get back into playing music before I got too old (to make my fingers move). Realizing that guitar players are a dime-a-dozen, my best chance to get into a band was on pedal steel. The wheels began to churn upstairs and a month before I even got another steel, I had designed an FX rack to do just what I wanted. A hefty order from Sweetwater arrived about a week before I even made the trip to Jim Palenscar’s Steel Guitars of North County. Came home with a super clean MCI Arlington S10 3+5 (black of course) and sure enough, it started coming back to me. Now for the fun part…. Wanting to be able to get the B3 thing on demand as well as use the steel in more traditional ways, I planned out my FX with two full-time parallel paths. Both the “steel” path and the “B3” path would be simultaneously fed by the steel, and then an A/B switch would select which was output to the amp and house. This let me switch real-time between the two in a song such as Poco’s Good Feelin’ to Know. As for the “voice” of a B3, I settled on two components besides the steel itself. The first was an Electro-Harmonix B9 pedal, generally set on the “Fat and Full” setting with the Key Click and Modulation turned off. This provides the overtone-rich sound of an organ. It also uses compression to emulate the sustain of an organ. The second thing was to simulate the drawbars of a B3. Rusty had used a wah pedal effectively, so that’s where I started. I realized after a while (at least in the classic rock type material I was doing) that it would change from mellow to bright, but being a band-pass filter, it omitted all the other frequencies that it wasn’t passing. In other words, when I would go from mellow to bright, all the bottom would drop out. Now I know on the real B3 you can have any combination of low, middle and high registers by pulling the stops, but I was simply looking for a change from lows and mids only, to full range, so I wired up another VPJR to act as a “tone” circuit (mellow/full-range). Now a Leslie effect has been discussed to death already, but I settled on the Neo Ventillator II with an Ashby half-moon speed switch. I attached the half-moon with Velcro on the psg’s rear apron near my right hand so I can change speeds while holding a chord, and my right foot is free to “pull the stops” with the tone pedal. A friend of mine has a B3 and a 122 so I had him help me tweak the controls on the Vent until it sounds really darn good. Some odds and ends….. There is also the matter of not doing “steel things” while trying to sound like a B3: no left hand vibrato, no bending with pedals or sliding the bar, no need to keep right foot on the volume pedal as the EHX B9 does the sustaining. Also thinking more percussive like on a keyboard helps. I’m only able to do some simple single-note things besides the full chords / pads, but to think like a keyboard player or learn some parts note for note. Building my FX rack was a ton of fun (almost as much fun as using it). I had a 6-space rack available so I started by putting wheels on one lid (now officially the “bottom”). I built in the Strymon power supplies as well as a cooling fan for those summertime outdoor gigs, and there was room below the FX pedal “deck” to store the pre-cabled volume and tone pedals as well as a sandwich or two. The PSG goes directly to a Korg Pitch Black tuner, then a JHS buffer/splitter that feeds the two chains. The “normal steel” FX chain includes an EHX Mel9, an Ibanez mini Tube Screamer, an MXR Phase 95, then a TC Electronics Hall of Fame 2 ‘verb. The “B3” chain starts with the EHX B9 then the Neo Vent into a TC Electronics Hall of Fame mini. The Boss AB-2 switch silently selects which chain goes to an internal Radial DI for an XLR out as well as the ¼” to the amp (currently a Fender Rumble 200 1-15). The Boss switch only accepted batteries, so I retrofitted a 9v power jack with resistor so as to not have to deal with battery. I’m using a stereo 25K volume pedal that places one circuit between the buffer and the steel chain, and the other half (and the “tone” pedal) between the B9 and the Neo Vent. This is so as to control the “organ” volume post “organ voice” (B9 and wah), but before the “Leslie”. All in all, I’m very pleased with my setup. Everyone has their own way of doing things , but it’s quick and easy for me to get the FX I need during a show. As Jerry said…. “what a long strange trip it’s been”.
I have to admit, the Metal Zone sounds great on a Pedal Steel.
Guess he put his pedal *through* the metal, huh.
6:26 "The Metal Zone is a shocker... sometimes" pure grace Josh ❤
Tim mentioned Sneaky Pete. Check out his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers (especially Gilded Palace of Sin). Not only is his playing superb, but he uses some great effects including some gnarly fuzz. "Christine's Tune" and "Wheels" immediately come to mind if you want shortcuts to the effects, but really I'd recommend getting the album. The cover is phenomenal as well. Cheers!
Link to the album on YT: ruclips.net/video/P7_3ak3OmkM/видео.html
The solo,by Sneaky pete on Jackson Brownes version of "Take it easy" is mind bending w/ phaser...
Burrito brothers essentially used Sneaky Pete’s playing as the lead guitar.
1) It's nice to see someone using a Metal Zone non-ironically. 2) Anderson Ericson whole milk kicks ass!
think hes talking about "It might be a one shot deal" on Waka/Jawaka. Such an amazing solo. Took me awhile to figure out I coudn't play it on a guitar
Josh just drinking a half gallon of chocolate milk.
Milkman, baby!
yum
haha!
To be kind - era swans has a lot of really great atmospheric pedal steel parts on them. That's where I first learned about the instrument tbh
Alright - here is a fun story. in Spring 2003 I was a music intern for SNL and helped the music coordinator manage the Dixie Chicks rehearsal and live process. Basically I was the kid that got all the backing musicians lunch and made sure they had their paperwork filled out. I was a loud brash guitar player more familiar with punk, classic rock and metal and really wasn't into country so I wasn't even paying attention to the slide guitar until the first rehearsal and Lloyd maines steps on what I discovered was a SANSAMP GT on the floor and produced this GOD-Like overdriven sound. it was like the sound of a giant semi-truck downshifting and passing at the same time - so deep and guttural. It changed my life because it was that sound that carried me into pedal distortion and overdrive - where previously I just played amp distortion. here is video of another time they played Sin Wagon on that same tour - which is the song he did this trick on. ruclips.net/video/qLLg14q27vI/видео.html
Tim Marcus is so awesome. Submitted a question to the general dropbox on the milkman website when buying an amp thinking he would have some intern or shop buddy checking on those, and got a nice email back from the man himself. Truly a one-man operation, and a very humble and talented guy.
Garcia is my favorite steel player. His work on American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead, NRPS, and Teach Your Children, The Wheel (Garcia solo) are amazing. I like it with really deep Fender Twin reverb and some echo/delay.
I used to be a king, laughing, eep hour etc
If you like the instrument keep diving.. even Jerry would have NEVER said he was a real steel player.. I mean he was jerry so he was musical on EVERYTHING but... wow.. if you like his playing keep looking as Jerry's playing was great but with a very basic vocab.. but great.
Gotta admit- I saw the video title and thought, "This is gonna be lame". I was sooooooo wrong! Love this stuff. I never ever considered that steel guitar could be this cool. Thanks for expanding my mind a bit.
Thanks for watching!!!
Same thought process here Ted.
check out a band called "pink floyd"
Seeing Josh playing bass is so special
amazing! i also got into steel guitar in NY when i lived there 10+ years ago. And i also got into it from Bob Hoffnar. He was my first teacher and he helped me find and by a Rains double neck steel guitar. I bought it from Gary Carpenter directly. Still have it and love it. I mainly make ambient music with it. Susan Alcorn is an amazing experimental steel guitar player that i highly recommend checking out. As well as Bob - his music is amazing!
and obviously Daniel Lanois is a genius. He's last album is all steel and slide.
Great Video guys!!!
Thanks for making this video and promoting use of pedal steel that breaks the stereotypical mold. Pedal steel guitar is most recognizable when it is used in its traditional setting in Hawaiian or Country music, but it has so many other applications. After playing guitar for about 15 years I finally made the plunge into the world of pedal steel. I've been there for about 10 years now, and every time I sit down at the instrument I find new ways to use it in all kinds of music. Here is my rig: Sierra Timberwolf pedal steel guitar -> Lovepedal Tone Bender -> Origin Slide Rig -> Ernie Ball MVP -> TC Polytune Mini (outside of signal path) -> Hudson Electronics Broadcast -> Wampler Tumnus mini -> TC Viscous Vibe -> Keeley Memphis Sun -> TC Hall of Fame Reverb -> Supro Dual Tone (I have a footswitch for the amp's tremolo). I use an E-Bow on the steel sometimes, too. Pretty much every steel player uses a volume pedal and reverb or a delay, but I find that fuzzes, overdrives, boosts, compressors, tremolos, phasers/flangers/vibes, and synthesizers can all work well with the pedal steel. I wish there were more pedal steel players talking about how they use effects with the instrument, and I appreciate what JHS and Milkman are doing to promote pedal steel in all genres of music.
Also check out Carl Broemel (of My Morning Jacket) for an example of a guitarist who plays both six-string guitar and pedal steel. He uses a bunch of effects for both and he sounds great.
4:10 same here and now I know why we seem to have a similar approach to the instrument
HEY JHS! 2:50 that vibe sound from the jhs pedal is soooooo thick and chewy very very nice!!!! i know this was not an add for that pedal BUT i am going to buy one!
Nice! Thanks!!
That was fun! I love Pretzel Logic. I've also recently discovered Larkin Poe who play blues with Megan Lowell on lap steel with a lot of pedals!
i remember hearing the opening to the eric clapton mtv unplugged version of running on faith and it was simple but i just fell in love with that sound and have always loved it since.
This is the first time I am that captivated by Josh's playing. Great rhythm section!
Greg Leisz, Greg Leisz, and more Greg Leisz! Greg plays on several albums with Bill Frisell, Ryan Adams, Beck, John Mayer, Lucinda Williams, and Ray Lamontagne's "Gossip in The Grain."
I saw Greg Leisz play live with Jackson Browne a couple of years ago. Greg can play anything! Regular guitar, lap steel, pedal steel, Weissenborn, he can do it all!
All time favorite pedal steel song is "Squeeze" by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Just an absolute jam. That man changed my opinion of the pedal steel forever
When i started learning to play steel I used a Big Muff, FOX fuzz wah, Maestro 3 button phase shifter, moved away from all that for a long time as i became a player. Sneaky, Buddy Cage, & Rusty Young were influential. Now years later it’s an overdrive dejour, auto wah , RESO sim, and a Lexicon for all time based EFX, delays, rotary, chorus, phase, flange etc.
There are some great and creative players out here today but to quote Herbie Wallace in 1985 , “ everyone wants to play like Buddy Emmons” and it’s still true.
Also, I noticed the various milk containers too. Very cool
Josh, awesome episode! I’ve never been much of a steel player. But as a part time Lap Steel guy, I am big fan of fender reverb, might use a little blues driver mixed with a pedal you designed with your buddy Tim. The Milkman.
On another note, I met sneaky Pete in Northern KY years ago when he was playing in a band with Garth Hudson from the “Band” on keys called Burrito Deluxe. He was a really nice guy. Interesting note he did stop action work for “The Empire Strikes Back” when he was not doing as much with music. He told me he only ever used 1 pedal steel in his whole career.
great performans, great to see and hear you play!!!!
Nice one guys! Get ahold of Buddy Emmons Live in Denver if you can. It's from '76 and he goes way into effects during the show then talks about the fx pedals he's using in a Q&A afterwards. He uses delays for a rhythmic multiplying thing, an MXR harmonizer, all kinds of stuff. Still sounds futuristic 40+ years later.
Hi Brett!
Love this! As a pedal steel player (who also plays Williams guitars and Milkman amps:) Tim has been my go to guy for advice when buying my steel and pairing it with just the right amp and fix.
He mentioned Greg Leisz who is my steel idol. That guy has played with Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne but then his steel play is all over newer records, my favorite was Bon Ivers self titled album. Steel all over it. Another steel hero of mine will always be Eric Heywood, he toured with Ray Lamontagne and I got the pleasure of listening to him and Greg live. 2 steels. Amazing!
I have always loved the pedal steel - I really dug 'Dark side of the bitcoin' - Tim really nailed that Gilmour sound and style. That dude has some serious talent!
As a keyboard player, I was trying to focus to see which ones are in the background. I also dabble in lap steel with an old copper colored Harmony with a weird looking stainless steel nut that is circular and notched for the strings
True, pedal steel has been on a bunch of top 40 and classic rock since the 70's, not just country. Interesting ideas with the pedals in this video. I could see a pedal steel, bass and drum trio playing in the prog/jam band scene.
Actually does anyone know of a band like that? I'd like to check them out.
I can’t get over how full it makes the band it’s like he is the Edge of slide. Very cool. I need some chocolate milk now
UNIVOX BASS SPOTTED - and the super fuzz woot!!
this is awesome... Cheers from Brazil !
That was a great jam. I played it for my kids 8-18. Damn I’m getting old as fuck!? It matters none, the kids liked it too. There’s hope for the future - rock on.
I see your milk jug of choice is Anderson-Erickson; I live in Iowa and the home town of Anderson Erickson Dairy ....so Bravo to you!!! As a pedal steel guitar player, I use reverb(BossRV-6), chorus(Boss), delay(Roland DE7), a resonator simulator pedal, and a Harmonist(Boss) but not very often. Attached to the guitar is a Goodrich Steel Driver which is an impedance matching box that also has a killer distortion in it. Thanks for doing something for us steel players!!!!!!!!
Bought my first JHS pedal last week. Thanks to your videos. Morning Glory.
Awesome! Thanks, and hope you love it!
awesome sounds!
Zappa-One Shot Deal. Thanks for reminding me of that, I haven’t heard it for 30 years!
Favorite episode to date!
David Gilmour on One of These Days: some of my favorite steel guitar. Oh my yes. Also a bunch of the tracks on I, Flathead by Ry Cooder.
My best memory of hearing a pedal steel guitar out of country was in ATV Off-road Fury 3 with Robert Randolph and the Family Band in the track Squeeze.
OMG totally!!!!!
Great game
*Ya'll McCartney*! This is some fantastic programming (once again), guys! Love the milk container cameos in every frame.
I love the old Slim Whitman catalog for pedal steel X yodeling = WIN
Shout out for the Anderson Erickson whole milk!!!! That’s my life. I live in Des Moines, IA and that is hands down the best dairy in the nation!
When you show up to you’re country gig with a metal zone on the pedal steel
Peter Gilmour & Steve Howe had some fantastic lap/pedal steel guitar stuff during the early parts of Pink Floyd & Yes.
Also, "Y'all McCartney" was brilliant. Would definitely jam that on Spotify.
Peter's brother David wasn't too bad either.
Mario Driessen SAVAGE.
Wow. I just realized a massive typo. That should've been David Gilmour. I guess I get several points for 0 double checking >_>
All the jams were killer!
Man, steel guitar. Love it. My grandpa modded them back in the day. Gave me one before he passed but it was stolen a couple years ago! The mel9 is insane! Sounds so ballad-ish. And the unicorn on a steel! Sounded so good. Fresh sounds coming out of the pedal steel would make my grandpa smile.
Oh no! That's terrible, man :(
JHS Pedals I’ll get another one eventually and get back on the seat and have some fun with pedals now too. Awesome topic to tackle for your vlog!
Way to be! I love that you're so positive :)
Russ Freeman did some cool pedal steel work with Rippingtons....
Great episode.
Hugely underrated episode.
John Neff in his time with Drive By Truckers. Incredible slide player.
I'm a lap steel player-pedals I use are a compressor for sustain mostly, a reverb/delay pedal and also a Volume pedal for pedal-steel-like swells (this can be a lot fun especially within a band setting-it gets you a poor man’s pedal-steel sound- it really works once you get the hang of it). I like Jerry Garcia's playing on his solo LP "Garcia" for it 's simplicity- specifically the track "the Wheel".
Robert Randolph and the Family Band blew me away, too. As good as Tim Marcus' plays, the song titles may steal the show.
My favourite track with pedalsteel is probably 3‘s and 7‘s by Queens of the Stone Age.
That lead riff is so glorious!
I've always loved the Pedal Steel and tried emulate it when playing slide.
But there's nothing like the real thing and Tim is the real thing.
My favorite effect for the pedal steel, all of them, for real. In the right hands they all work.
There is a Trailer Park Boys Chrismas episode that features the pedal steel,
And It so captivating, I'll find out who it is and edit my post.
Thanks Josh and Tim for such a cool segment
Trailer Park Boys pedal steel players name is John Johncampbelljohn
For amazing fuzz/distortion, I use an old Danelectro T-bone starved at 4volts. This works great on my pedal steel. Also use a Belle Epoch, Oceans 11, Dano Back Talk, Phase 90 script, and a mighty Tychobrahe Pedalflanger. Pedal Steel has very clear note separation and long sustain, too much gain gets ugly.
I love my Milkman pedal amp 🥛 Tim is the man. Great episode nice playing lads!
"Hot Milk" by far the best track! I'm sure after being posted up for a year you're probably not going to see this but one of my favorite "modern" albums with a pedal steel is "Plays One Sound and Others" by the band Knife in the Water.
Coolest episode yet Josh!!!!
love the steel guitar on Queens of the Stone Age records, tasty and adding so much texture. Troy Van Leeuwen and Dave Catching in the early days.
I like Jerry Garcia pedal steel playing on Crosby, Stills and Nash’s song “Teach your Children”. Thanks
Thats the classic! I am sure many people first heard about pedal steel from hearing that song
The sound on “Dark Side” reminds me of Buddy Cage’s sound on Meet Me in the Morning, which I always assumed was his steel through a Rat. Must have been a fuzz of some sort.
dark side of the moon do you mean
Breathe in the air
Hey Josh .. I have been into slide & pedal steel since Dark side of the Moon & Lowell George .. Robert Randolph .. of course .. jerry Donahue ? plays with Vince Gill & Alison Krauss union station .. Brad Paisley said about Alison if he ever gets to Heaven he expects the angels to sing like her .. so true .. But you know somepeople think everything happens for a reason .. I'm not so sure but I try to find the positive when I can .. so when I got a skin condition that meant I couldnt play gtr & I started getting arthritis .. I learned to play keyboards & started working on my slide .. a good pedal steel is beyond my budget for now .. but this is why I have been ragging on you about making a decent wah & volume pedal .. & why so far in the Jhs range it would be the Milkman b4 the Ryan Adams .. for me .. Although I see now that your new bigger colorsound thingy that is like a big mixing desk one channel .. D.i. & again would take me half a years pension to get two .. But I do love real controls & not menus etc .. Anyhow Y'all McCartney .. lol .. but I just loved that vintage guitar you played at the start.. Dark tobacco burst .. looked like an Epiphone ? .. thats my style .. B4 I go if you haven't heard of " Larkin Poe " .. give them a listen .. two sisters from the bluegrass circuit .. seriously good blues & slide Americana .. & not hard on the eyes to look at either .. lol .. The story goes they jumped up to sing along with Elvis Costello .. not knowing he was famous & the next thing they were on tour with his Band .. Bye Y'all .. from the Deep woods of ye olde Englande ..
Double dip as the old guys in AA use to say. Got home finished listening in my truck . Ironic Sneaky Pete + the same solo I mentioned was mentioned. Ok so you know what (Edit-we) to I want, I don't have a b bender tele but did briefly. Invent it the BG bender pedal for guitar . Like a wah wah but way smaller with a small sweep for B + G bends or any string I guess could bend .I know you can do it + I want the - 1st one.
Check out Four Giants of Swing with Joe Venuti, Jethro Burns, Curly Chalker on steel, and Eldon Shamblin.
Nice jamming - something you don't see a lot of on this channel. Tim's a great pedal steel player, too.
Can’t talk about steel guitar without talking about Speedy West! I highly recommend his stuff with Jimmy Bryant. Also Nels Cline has been know to play some out there lap steel.
One of the best videos yet! I really enjoy the diversity you explore with your channel. 👊🏼
Daniel Lanois is a master at pedal steel, listen to his album Belladonna, just magnificient.
I play my Sho-Bud pedal steel through a Keeley/JHS Steak N Eggs all the time. Pretty much every guitar needs to be played through that pedal though...
My two big tricks on pedal steel are chorus and reverb (or slapback delay). Again, I think all guitars can benefit from a bit of those two a lot of the time, but a pedal steel is so sonically complex that giving it some extra breathing room is really nice. But here’s the trick - go digital! A TC Electronic Gravy is a killer digital chorus, I love the Tri-Chorus sound. I don’t really like a modulated delay or reverb with pedal steel, so I go with my trusty Dan-Echo (the greatest delay pedal ever, I don’t care what anyone says) and Keeley Aura Reverb. I have never really noticed digital artifacts, but I love the clean headroom of digital effects for pedal steel. If you want saturation in your pedal steel signal, that’s awesome, but I don’t really like my non-drive effects clipping my pedal steel signal, there’s just too much dynamics and harmonics that get lost and smushy.
One last thing - fuzz. Just throw any fuzz in your line and see what works. If I wanna get weird, I’ll use a Keeley Sfocato, and the Keeley Psi is really gnarly on pedal steel, especially with the tone down and gain up, it gets all muffled and weird. I really like my Lovepedal (or it could be Hermida Audio?) Dover Drive with the gain up for pedal steel.
Second David Gilmour. The pedal steel on 'Great Gig in the Sky' makes the song. And another vote for Daniel Lanois. (great producer also)
Milkman amps are now the first thing I think of when lap steel comes up. Perfect
Josh! Love the episode on pedal steel! I play the instrument myself. My favorite pedals: the sarno freeloader variable load/buffer. The pigtronix philosophers tone micro and the tighty Whitey for parallel compression (they are tied for top spot, ATM). For dirt I stack a sarno earth drive and a Durham mucho boosto both set very low. Delay is an MXR carbon copy bright. Reverb is a hardwire digital reverb (digitech).
I’d like to hear your thoughts on pigtronix pedals. I love the philosopher’s tone germanium on guitar, and their key master is pretty amazing. Also, I’ve loved every Durham pedal I’ve tried. Take care!
I forgot to mention how much I've loved the crazy lap steel work of Queens of the Stone Age. Loved all the pieces you guys played.
that Ibanez delay looks awesome...I love those old, massive pedals even though they're impractical as far as the space they take up.
I love running steel through the warped vinyl.
Love us some pedal steel. Great vid, nailed it.
Josh, I am a Sacred Steel Guitar player in Huntsville, AL...I must say I appreciate the exposure...Dwight
Great steel guitar on CAKE tracks too. Greg Vincent is his name. "Mexico" comes to mind.
what a cool episode :) love the humble little crumar synth in the background :)
This was amazing!!
A couple of non-country steel guitar instrumentals that you can find on RUclips: 'Hold it' by Thumbs Carllile and 'Panic' by Lloyd Green
This blew my mind, especially the "Y'all McCarteny" with the EH Mel pedal. If you like steel guitar, check out Friends of Dean Martinez - lots of great steel guitar but not a country/western song anywhere.
Milk was a GOOD choice.
M.Ward "Paul's song" has a really great pedal steel solo in it.
Yeah thats Paul Brainard from Portland, OR - very inspiring steel guitar playing
@@milkmansound does he still do session work?
Grateful Dead- Workingman’s Dead is a fantastic album with a good bit of steel guitar. CSN&Y- SO Far is another good album with steel guitar.
Great talents, all!
Anything with Speedy West, especially if Jimmy Bryant is on the record. :-)
so nuts! I've wanted to get into steel guitar for months now.
Do it!
Fabulous lovely... The Mel 9 and wah were super. I recommended The Stranglers the other day but check out BJ Cole on pedal steel on the song You'll always reap what you sow... from the album Dreamtime...
That "Ya'll McCartney" section I swear sounded like it could be something off the Flaming Lips album "The Soft Bulletin" (I think that's the album name). Either way - its very close to the sound. I think the similar sound is right there on the first track of that album. Really cool to see these demonstrations. The sounds of pedal steel, lap steel and then just slide period have to be my favorite guitar and guitar-esque sounds. I'm an off and on country fan, but I listen to all genres of music and I think pedal steel guitar (or the other variants) can make music of any genre more expressive or heart-tuggingly beautiful. Good stuff. :-)
I’ve been wanting a pedal steel for years, they are just so expensive, plus I’ve heard that you don’t just learn to play pedal steel, you learn how to work on them as well due to all the mechanical parts that tend to wear out/fall off and what have you. Despite all of that, I would recommend any young person that wants to be a working session player, take up pedal steel immediately, being from Nashville, I know that there is a need for more good reliable pedal steel players. Great content as always Josh, I’m gonna add pedal steel to my Reverb feed now. Thanks for that, 😆
Matt Harrison there’s also a big difference between pedal steel players and guitarists who play pedal steel (I’m a humble member of the latter group). Pedal steel players think differently than guitarists. One significant mental hurdle moving to steel is that there is no standard setup. There are some general starting points, but every player has their own tunings and knee lever/pedal setups. And every real player is constantly evolving their setups.
Susan Alcorn is an amazing steel player, country roots but very forward thinking jazz/improv/etc...
I'm gonna need at least one of those as well. Thanks!
Josh, as usual you offer the most intelligent, fun, inspiring content on music and effects! I loved the univibe and wah tones the best. I play psg and this opened my eyes and ears. Thank you.
Pedal steel + chugging chocolate milk from the jug = ARE WE RELATED?!?!? There's a bunch of Afro-Beat stuff that has some funky pedal steel in it. I can't remember the exact artists, but the "Afro-Beat Airways" compilation has some gems on it, IIRC.
Just out of curiosity were you thinking of King Sunny Ade?
Anyone who thinks pedal steel is only for country needs to hear Robert Randolph play Voodoo Chile on his. If that doesn't change your mind, nothing will!!
Link to said performance: ruclips.net/video/gt5BVuIv4t8/видео.html
My PSG playing has been heavily influenced by Poco’ early stuff. Rusty’s steel work was overwhelming and I thought “Wow, a pedal steel in a rock band!” But when I first saw them in November of 1970 at the Filmore West, Rusty was smokin’ on the steel, but what I often heard was a Hammond B3. “How the heck does he do that?” Yes there was a Showman powered 122 stacked up behind him with the Twin and another Showman cab, but it wasn’t just the sound of an instrument through a Leslie….. it was something more.
By 1972 I could stand it no more. I bought an MSA Semi-Classic 4+2 S10 and a bar, and then spent about eight months listening to Poco records and trying to get it to do something musical. Had no amp, just a flat pick, and I’d stick my ear down near it as I finally figured out that 3,4,5,6 would give me a major chord, and that A and B would change that to the IV chord, etc. (Where was the Forum and the Internet when I needed them?). 1974 and ’75 found me hooked up with the Christian country-rock band “Hallelujah!” for two US tours. A guitar-driven band doing original Poco-ish and Eagles-like tunes, we had no keys. It was then that I took a stab at the B3 thing with a Maestro Phase Shifter and a wah pedal (I had seen Rusty use a wah to emulate the drawbars on a B3). Also got inside the phase shifter and tweaked on a couple of little trim-pots that gave the pitch-shift a bit more depth and more of the doppler effect sound.
Years went by, I cut my hair, got a real job and the steel gathered dust until it was eventually sold. Fast forward to 2018 and I was going to sell off the sound company, semi-retire and get back into playing music before I got too old (to make my fingers move). Realizing that guitar players are a dime-a-dozen, my best chance to get into a band was on pedal steel. The wheels began to churn upstairs and a month before I even got another steel, I had designed an FX rack to do just what I wanted. A hefty order from Sweetwater arrived about a week before I even made the trip to Jim Palenscar’s Steel Guitars of North County. Came home with a super clean MCI Arlington S10 3+5 (black of course) and sure enough, it started coming back to me. Now for the fun part….
Wanting to be able to get the B3 thing on demand as well as use the steel in more traditional ways, I planned out my FX with two full-time parallel paths. Both the “steel” path and the “B3” path would be simultaneously fed by the steel, and then an A/B switch would select which was output to the amp and house. This let me switch real-time between the two in a song such as Poco’s Good Feelin’ to Know.
As for the “voice” of a B3, I settled on two components besides the steel itself. The first was an Electro-Harmonix B9 pedal, generally set on the “Fat and Full” setting with the Key Click and Modulation turned off. This provides the overtone-rich sound of an organ. It also uses compression to emulate the sustain of an organ. The second thing was to simulate the drawbars of a B3. Rusty had used a wah pedal effectively, so that’s where I started. I realized after a while (at least in the classic rock type material I was doing) that it would change from mellow to bright, but being a band-pass filter, it omitted all the other frequencies that it wasn’t passing. In other words, when I would go from mellow to bright, all the bottom would drop out. Now I know on the real B3 you can have any combination of low, middle and high registers by pulling the stops, but I was simply looking for a change from lows and mids only, to full range, so I wired up another VPJR to act as a “tone” circuit (mellow/full-range).
Now a Leslie effect has been discussed to death already, but I settled on the Neo Ventillator II with an Ashby half-moon speed switch. I attached the half-moon with Velcro on the psg’s rear apron near my right hand so I can change speeds while holding a chord, and my right foot is free to “pull the stops” with the tone pedal. A friend of mine has a B3 and a 122 so I had him help me tweak the controls on the Vent until it sounds really darn good.
Some odds and ends….. There is also the matter of not doing “steel things” while trying to sound like a B3: no left hand vibrato, no bending with pedals or sliding the bar, no need to keep right foot on the volume pedal as the EHX B9 does the sustaining. Also thinking more percussive like on a keyboard helps. I’m only able to do some simple single-note things besides the full chords / pads, but to think like a keyboard player or learn some parts note for note.
Building my FX rack was a ton of fun (almost as much fun as using it). I had a 6-space rack available so I started by putting wheels on one lid (now officially the “bottom”). I built in the Strymon power supplies as well as a cooling fan for those summertime outdoor gigs, and there was room below the FX pedal “deck” to store the pre-cabled volume and tone pedals as well as a sandwich or two. The PSG goes directly to a Korg Pitch Black tuner, then a JHS buffer/splitter that feeds the two chains. The “normal steel” FX chain includes an EHX Mel9, an Ibanez mini Tube Screamer, an MXR Phase 95, then a TC Electronics Hall of Fame 2 ‘verb. The “B3” chain starts with the EHX B9 then the Neo Vent into a TC Electronics Hall of Fame mini. The Boss AB-2 switch silently selects which chain goes to an internal Radial DI for an XLR out as well as the ¼” to the amp (currently a Fender Rumble 200 1-15). The Boss switch only accepted batteries, so I retrofitted a 9v power jack with resistor so as to not have to deal with battery. I’m using a stereo 25K volume pedal that places one circuit between the buffer and the steel chain, and the other half (and the “tone” pedal) between the B9 and the Neo Vent. This is so as to control the “organ” volume post “organ voice” (B9 and wah), but before the “Leslie”.
All in all, I’m very pleased with my setup. Everyone has their own way of doing things , but it’s quick and easy for me to get the FX I need during a show. As Jerry said…. “what a long strange trip it’s been”.
It took me a lot longer than it should have to get why there was a carton of milk there.
lol
I play pedal steel, the only effects I use are reverb and delay, and very occasionally I'll break out the B3 Organ Machine, which works well for steel
what a great time to be alive