How to Emulate Pedal Steel with Slide Guitar in Open E Tuning

If you want to expand the sounds you can get on slide guitar in open e tuning, then check out this tutorial on emulating pedal steel. Pedal Steel is a really cool instrument and can be extremely difficult to learn, carry around, and they are quite expensive.

So what if you want to get that type of sound on slide guitar?

Well I can’t say that you will sound just like a pedal steel, but you’ll be able to fake it good enough to add some variety to your slide guitar playing. In my opinion, this will help you to land more gigs, open up more recording opportunities, and will help develop your slide guitar playing by trying to comp some steel licks.

Listen, anything you can do to add to your knowledge of music will help your guitar playing. By listening to other instruments like steel, saxophone, harmonica, and piano, your playing will take on new creative qualities that you would have missed out on if you were just listening to blues guitar all the time.

Jimi Hendrix listened to all types of music, and you can hear it in his songs. He was very fond of classical music, and I think it comes across in the landscapes he built in such songs as “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)” as well as many others.

I myself listen to Chopin, Debussy, and Beethoven quite frequently. Listening to those classical melodies will really put some great music in your head which will in turn translate to your fingertips.

To achieve this pedal steel emulation on slide guitar, I found these things extremely helpful.

1. A Volume pedal –  I used a Dunlop High Gain Volume Pedal.  If you use this pedal please check out the mod to allow total silence from the pedal.  Although I recorded the video below without doing the mod.  Mod for Dunlop Pedal
2. Reverb – I believe a good spring reverb that comes in a tube amp will give you the best tone.  The reverb in my Vibrolux has such a nice lush sound.  Although a Twin Reverb will probably give you a more clean sound than the vibrolux due to the no breakup in the Twin.  Both are cool though!
3. Treble Pickup – I used the treble pickup on the SG for the video below.  It will give you more of a twang sound due to the brightness of the pickup.  If you have a tele, I assume that would give you even more of a twang sound.
4. Compressor –  I didn’t use a compressor on the video below, but I added it in when I mixed the track in Pro Tools.  In Pro Tools I used the URS CSP.  If you choose to use a compressor, be careful to not kill the sound.  I would try to set it as minimal as possible.  I have only tried this compressor a few times, but I’m looking into picking it up soon.  It has a great sound and won’t make your guitar sound plastic.  This is the Keeley Compressor.  http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=8

In the video below I play some really simple steel type melodies in open e tuning.  Often on a tune like this, less is more.  I’m using the C Major Scale to create and improvise steel type licks.  If you’re not familiar with the major scale, check out my Major Scale Slide Guitar DVD to learn about using the major scale in open e tuning.  Check it out here.

So try to add some steel type licks to your slide guitar playing and I can guarantee it will help you on your journey of mastering slide guitar.  Maybe you already do this.  If you have some more suggestions on getting this type of sound, please feel free to let others know by leaving a comment.