I have been experimenting with the pedal steel voice on my PSR-S910, and I uploaded a little solo to Blue Christmas and posted it here: http://www.reverbnation.com/larrylevin. Hope you like it. BTW, this is done in arranger mode, meaning I'm tracking chords, fills, and pitch bend with my left hand.

[This message has been edited by Beakybird (edited 12-15-2010).]

[This message has been edited by Beakybird (edited 12-15-2010).]

Here's a link that works:

Larry Levin - Reverbnation

Larry, as someone who love the expressive sound of the pedal steel, I've always been intrigued about how to best emulate this on the arranger, especially realizing the limitations of a keyboard vs playing an actual pedal steel (bar/strings/pedals). Considering this fact, I'm impressed by what you were able to achieve on your S910.

Please share how you setup your keyboard and the specific playing technique(s) you used. Was this pedal steel performance played while in auto accompaniment mode while triggering the chords with the left hand?

Assuming you used your keyboard's pitch bend wheel: how, when & where do you bend the notes/chords, and by how much (1/2 step, full step, etc). How do you share the left hand duty of triggering chords while simultaneously(?) triggering the pitch bend wheel?

I've heard that utilizing a volume pedal an important element to achieving a more realistic pedal steel emulation on a keyboard. Did you use that? Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

Very impressive, Larry...Scott is right about using a volume pedal as well...adds a nice touch.

Nice work,

Ian

Larry, Sounds great, I've recently become a fan of the pedal steel after getting the S910.........

I'll have to get a volume pedal and play around with that.

I was playing in auto-accompaniment mode. I have the pitch bend set for full step. To make it easier to trigger chords while using the pitch bend wheel, I would use one finger or two finger chords as much as is convenient. You can trigger a Gm chord by playing F# and G together.

I know that there are advantages and disadvantages to playing a pedal steel on a keyboard. You can only bend a fixed number of steps. On the other hand, you can make more complex chords with a keyboard.

I found the regular pedal steel voice better for my needs than the S.A. PedalSteel that bends only the bottom note.

I made a couple of little mistakes. Usually, when I record myself, I jinx myself a little.

I'm glad that you liked it.

Fantastic!

Thanks Larry,

Gary

Wow, Larry, I am totally impressed with this. I have been trying to do this on the Roland E80 but just can't seem to get there ...........YET.
Thanks for sharing,
Bebop

Yeah, you had an extra period in your link.

The pedal steel sounds pretty darn good.

Here's a PSG tip... use 6th chords. Bend down a half step and then up again. Try it out - sounds like a PSG, right?

Glenn