Making Pedal-Steel Sounds

• There are two ways to make convincing pedal-steel sounds on an electric guitar: Use a string bender or make the bends yourself.
  
  

B-Bending

• Some consider a string bender, an apparatus attached to a guitar to mechanically bend the B and occasionally the G string, to be a cheat at worst or a shortcut at best, but it takes skill and practice to master string-bender licks and work them into your style--and they do produce very convincing pedal-steel sounds. Just ask Clarence White, Marty Stuart, Will Ray, and the many others who use them.
  
  A string bender such as a Parsons-White, Glaser, Bigsby Palm Pedal or a Hipshot should be set to bend one whole step higher on the B string and either one-half step or a whole step higher on the G string (if it comes with a G-bender), depending on your style and keys you prefer.
  
  Calibrate your bender so it hits the proper pitch at the apex of its travel. Hit an Asus4 chord to test your tuning. Use the bender to bend the B string to C#. The chord should sound sweet and true. If not, adjust the bender until the chord rings cleanly.
  
  Play a scale using your bent notes. On a guitar equipped with a G- and B-bender, a descending scale on the first string, third fret can be played G-F#-E-C(bent to D)-(bent down to)C-B-G(bent to A)-(bent down to)G. Work this scale up and down until you can play it smoothly. A scale played this way has an authentic pedal-steel sound.
  
  

Resolving Chords With Benders

• String-benders are often used to resolve chords. On the A chord mentioned above, a G-bender can be used with the B-bender in a pedal-steelesque double bend. Fret the E and use the benders on open G and B strings to play the remaining two notes of the triad. Another pedal-steel move is to play a C or G chord with your G-bender engaged, and then release the bender to resolve the chord.
  
  

Manual Bending

• Manual bending strives for the same effect as mechanical bending, only without the machinery. This requires a sense of pitch for single-string bends, as well as the ability to hold one finger steady and hold the pitch with one note while bending and changing pitch with another finger. For double-string, two-finger bends, it requires the ability to bend strings in two different directions with varying amounts of pressure and pull or push.
  
  As "Guitar Player" magazine noted in May 1985, "The pedal-steel bend involves multi-string bending licks in which the bent note is sounded simultaneously with other non-bent notes; these combinations can effect (or imply) chord resolutions or chord changes." That's what you're up against with manual bending: bending one or more strings to resolve or change chords or parts of chords.
  
  The chords most often bent into in steel-guitar bends are major chords from seventh chords, major chords from ninths, and ninths and sixths from major chords.
  
  Take the first example -- a major chord from a seventh. Resolving a seventh requires a two-fret bend. You can try holding a full A7 or D7 form and bending the note with your first finger, but you'll have better luck with a partial chord--a C/F# or an A/C--where you can really dig in and bend the note up with two or three fingers. Use as many fingers as you can spare to make these big bends, bend up, and use the index finger to push lower strings out of the way while making the bend.
  
  (This also works in reverse. You can prebend, hit a major chord, and release the bend down into a seventh.)
  
  To play single notes, break the chords into arpeggios and play the bends as they fall in the arpeggio.
  
  

Multiple-String Bends

• In the September 1985 "Guitar Player," ace bender Arlen Roth said he uses two-note half-step bends with "a third, anchored note that acts as an equalizer. When the two notes are bent, they usually hit a chord with this third note. This gives the ear something to 'shoot for.' " Roth uses the bends with the F, D, and A chord forms, starting the bent notes a half-step down and then bending into the chord.
  
  Multiple-string bends use one finger per string, with less pressure exerted on the lighter string. Sometimes the strings are bent in opposite directions; experiment and use what works best for you. Either fingerpick the combinations or use pick and fingers. These bends are combined with slides to create a bluesy steel sound.