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9/12/08: Arlen Roth - Beginning Country ‘Pedal Steel’-Effect Bending


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9/12/08: Arlen Roth - Beginning Country ‘Pedal Steel’-Effect Bending

 

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This is quite an advanced technique that I’ve been perfecting over the years, and as a guitarist it’s often best to utilize these licks as a substitution for hammers, pull-offs or slides. I first started using these when I was a very young player trying to emulate the great Clarence White of The Byrds, who had, unbeknownst to me, invented a B-string pull device for his guitar that acted very much the way a pedal steel guitar pulls its strings.

 

Not knowing that this was being done by a mechanical device, I simply set forth to use my fingers for the same effect and, in my own way, invented a whole new style for guitarists. My third book, Nashville Guitar, was the first book of its kind to illustrate and teach this technique, even starting a whole new way of writing tab for bending where the number in parenthesis actually shows you the note to bend “to”.

 

Extremely important to this style is first creating a more mechanical sound to the bend, where the pitch of the bend is very stable, crisp and accurate. Since we are bending a note related to other notes that are fretted yet unbent, we learn to create more independence, where the fretted notes remain solid, while the bend is achieved.

 

This is just the beginning of many long journeys we’ll be taking into the world of string bending, so once you get these great positions under your belt you’ll be truly ready to tackle the tougher stuff. This is sure to inspire you and help build the creativity in your playing!—Arlen Roth

 

Click here for Today's lesson on gibson.com >>

 

Click here to check out the Les Paul Traditional that Arlen's playing!

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