Advice Please- Getting Country Steel Guitar Sound

[obrienp]

Hi Folks,

Need some ideas on getting that country steel/pedal steel guitar sound out of my National with hotplate playing live. To explain: I just rejoined an Americana band as lead guitarist. We are primarily acoustic, so I am using a Taylor for most things and my National (with Highlander) for slide, all going through an AER compact 60, with DI out to front of house/ our P.A. depending on venue. This is fine for most things but one Lucinda Williams song we are covering is crying out for that pedal steel sound.

Bringing another guitar along is out of the question: we are already falling over the gear in most of the cramped spaces we play in, so I am going to have to get this out of my National and the AER. Another constraint is that it has got to be in open G (Spanish) because the next 2 numbers in the set list require it and we don’t want to stop for retuning.

So far I have tried using the National on my lap with a tone bar and a lot of reverb but it didn’t sound very authentic, to say the least. I am guessing I am going to get closer to the sound I am looking for by using the tele pickup in the hotplate. I have been experimenting with this and an old multieffects pedal. Using compression, slow attack modulation, a lot of spring reverb, Fender Deluxe amp simulation and the expression pedal as a volume control to try to get some swell on the attack. It’s sort of getting close but could be a lot better.

Any advice would be gratefully received both on how to get the tone and on technique to get those steel guitar licks from open G, or is this mission impossible?

Slide on,
Pat

[washboardchris]

How strong are your hands.I have done that sort of thing on a telecaster with fairly light strings but it involves some quite drastic bends(there is a book by Arlen Roth on the subject) you could get some steal like bends playing lap style by bending behind the bar

[joephoto]

I like the sound of pedal steel but can't seem to get anything that requires precise finger picking. One lick I like say over an A chord I'll try to tab here.

e ---------5--------------5
B ----5/(6)\-5---3---------
G ------------------4~~6---
        ^     ^           ^
bend up release slide

I bend the 5th fret 3rd string pick 5th fret 1st string release slide the 3rd string from the 4th fret to the 6th and hit the e string on the 5th fret. Sounds kind of steely to me.

[obrienp]

Thanks Chris and Joephoto for the suggestions. Good tips. Looks like I am going to have to develop some strength in my weedy fingers to get those string bends with 15s!

I may well borrow your lick Joephoto.

Cheers, Pat

[washboardchris]

If you are playing with a slide ,try tuning your guitar to G6 (4th string up a tone)you gett a very old time country sound.Think Don Helms with Hank Williams

[lacerta]

Lap style with a tone bar, you can pull the strings behind the tonebar with your ring finger. It's probably the nearest thing to the pedal steel levers you can do in a regular guitar.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Pat

You are getting some good suggestions. It really is in the playing, not the sound. This is not a sound that can be sketched or faked, you actually have to learn to play in a way that gets that sound.

My advice is to pull the B string behind the slide, which is a technique I often use with lap steel, but not with regular bottleneck, because you need to pull the B up a semitone and a whole tone. It is not difficult on a raised action lap guitar because your finger hooks around the B string.

The other technique is a tuning thing; tune the G string to F# and this will give you a selection of tunings.

Playing on strings 2, 3, 4 - you get a 6th tuning, which open is D6, so G6 is at the 5th fret. So in G the 3 chords are at frets 5, 10, 12.

Playing all the strings you get a major 7th tuning.

Playing on strings 1, 3, 4, 6, you get a D tuning

Playing on strings 1, 2, 5, you get a G tuning.

The 6th is the most country sounding. There is also the 6th tuning that Chris has mentioned.

Shine On
Michael

[Deleted]

Here's Sam Mitchell playing a Dobro in E6.More Hawaiian than country but you get the idea.

[Deleted]

Maybe get a fishman aura??
TT

[leeophonic]

Also consider a set of mediums 13-56 to help with the string bends.

Lee

[obrienp]

Fantastic suggestions everybody! Looks like getting this right is going to take some work and learning. I like the idea of the alternative tunings that only involve altering one string. Thank you all for the suggestions and guidance.

Slide on,
Pat

[Deleted]

Same here obp. Open E/E minor/E6/E7 and DADGAD (dropped a tone) all available by retuning one string. Great when playing about with my Weisse  oops,acoustic Hawaiian.

[joephoto]

I just saw this guy on youtube showing different styles he plays and steel is only a short part of it but maybe it will give you some ideas.

[ken1953clark]

Something like this...?

[obrienp]

Brilliant! That’s what I aspire to but very far away from it at the moment. :-(