How to Use Volume Pedal for a Pedal Steel Guitar

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, my name is Bill Bassett and I'm here to tell you about how to play the pedal steel guitar. As I press the second pedal down, I change the G sharp to an A. As I press the third pedal down, I change the B to a C sharp and I have an A major chord. Pressing both down at the same time. Now the volume pedal is also used to make swells, and not only when somebody in the audience says turn it down, you can back off. If you're playing something a little more dramatic, you can bring it in. You can play a note and basically wait until it starts to decay and then you could bring the volume up so you get a really long sustain with only picking it once. It's used to mute notes that you hit by accident. It's a very important part of the overall sound of the steel guitar. Somehow, the swells that you use and just the expression that you can get from the volume becomes very, very important to the overall. It's much apart of the musical expression as picking the notes and the other techniques."