
Intermediate
Intermediate
- Develop an understanding of how to approach chord tones with bends.
- Learn to think and phrase like a pedal-steel player.
- Create old-school, honky-tonk lines with a twist.
Let’s face it folks, pedal-steel is a pillar of the country music sound. It’s one of my favorite instruments—not just in country, but all music genres. The ability to play complex chords, the range of the instrument, the way you can manipulate bends (with knee levers and pedals), and the lyrical quality and tone add so much to the country sound. The textures and chord voicings can really beef up a rhythmic part, but also can make you cry in your beer with a single-note line that includes so much articulation and manipulation it can make your head spin. We are going to mainly focus on a one element that really makes the pedal-steel guitar special and very difficult to emulate on guitar: bending notes.
Most guitar players typically will bend with their ring finger. In some of these examples you will be bending with your index and middle as well—in a very foreign fashion. Think of it like lifting weights and adding more independence to each individual finger. It’s not easy and will take time if you’re not used to this technique. Keep in mind, you do not need any bender built into your guitar. Your fingers will do all the work. I also didn’t include any licks using a volume pedal although you could incorporate one if you desire
Now let’s break down these licks!
The first two examples will give you a good idea of how to start thinking like a pedal-steel player. Ex. 1 is a simple A major scale (A–B–C#–D–E–F#–G#) but certain notes are bent instead of fretted. Note the half-step bend on the 3 (bend that with your middle finger) and the full-step bend on the 7th fret of the 2nd string, as well as the half-step bend to get back to the A. Mastering playing in tune is vital to having that pedal-steel effect on guitar. I would also let the first note played in this example ring until you’ve reached the 2nd string. This will give the line a cascading effect. Listen to the audio example and try to match the phrasing and articulation of the line. For all examples a healthy dose of reverb helps notes “sing” more.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2 is a descending line that starts with a pre-bend. You will see this technique a lot. It’s a key component in getting the sound. Ring finger does all the bends on this lick.
Ex. 2
While there is only one bend in this example, you’ll need to hold the bend on the 12th fret of the 3rd string while moving your pinky from the 13th fret down to the 12th fret on the 1st string. This is a pretty standard type of steel lick that I always use in my playing. It works great over a C chord.
Ex. 3
The tricky part about Ex. 4 is connecting the two separate bends. You do this by releasing the bend at the 11th fret on the 3rd string and sliding down to the 9th fret then bending up again. It should be seamless and immediate to get the phrasing correct. All bends are done with your ring finger. This is just a great lick to play over an E chord.
Ex. 4
In Ex. 5 we add an element of chicken picking with a “cluck” or dead note before the first three bends. We work down the neck with a series of pre-bent double-stops. It’s a standard but effective pedal-steel technique, but it’s tricky. The first bend in measure 1 bends the 1st string up a half-step while the 2nd string goes up a whole-step. It sounds complicated, but because of the differing string gauges, it actually works pretty naturally. Just go for it. The next double-stop bend requires both the 3rd and 2nd strings to go up a whole-step. Attitude is more important than intonation, so do it with no fear. For the final Gsus2 to G bend, barre your pinky on the top two strings and use your middle finger to bend up a whole-step.
Ex. 5
Ex. 6 works well if you’d like pedal-steel bends over minor chords. This lick uses some open strings, which creates a nice tension that emphasizes the 9 (B) against the Am chord. As you work your way down the neck, you’ll need to bend with the middle finger on the 7th fret of the 3rd string. More notes in this lick but well worth the work.
Ex. 6
Ex. 7 is another pre-bend lick that uses unison notes, which is common for steel players. In this turnaround lick, use your in index to bend down on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string. You could think of this as an end of a tune lick so using rubato or a free feel is cool.
Ex. 7
Here (Ex. 8) we move into a repetitive lick with a triple-stop slide at the end barred with the index finger. Notice we start in a simple D minor shape. Adding a bend gives it lots of texture and once bent, the chord functions nicely as a G7. The middle finger is busy on this lick, bending up a whole-step on the 14th fret of the 3rd string.
Ex. 8
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed some of these licks. They aren’t easy but they add some cool textures, tension, and resolution to your guitar lines. Make sure to really try to nail the part as close to the recording as you can. It’s taken me years of practice and thousands of gigs to really have some of these ideas and licks under my fingers. This is just a small microcosm of the possibilities of these kinds of licks. Let them inspire you to try to write your own or fit them into a tune you already play.
I like incorporating pedal-steel bends into my playing because it makes me think about different musical elements. Experiment with half- and whole-step bends, as well as pre-bends, and learn to phrase more like a pedal-steel player. It’s fun and challenging and will add tons of color and options when creating musical lines.
- Cosmic Country: A Bad Case of the Bends - Premier Guitar ›
- Orange Guitar: “Little” Steel Guitar Voicings - Premier Guitar ›
- Twang 101: Pedal Steel Bends 101 - Premier Guitar ›
- Pedal to the Metal: A Short History of the Pedal Steel Guitar ... ›
- Chromatic Twang - Premier Guitar ›
Our columnist’s bass, built by Anders Mattisson.
Would your instrumental preconceptions hold up if you don a blindfold and take them for a test drive?
I used to think that stereotypes and preconceived notions about what is right and wrong when it comes to bass were things that other people dealt with—not me. I was past all that. Unfazed by opinion, immune to classification. Or so I thought, tucked away in my jazz-hermit-like existence.
That belief was shattered the day Ian Martin Allison handed me a Fender Coronado while I was blindfolded in his basement. (Don’t ask—it’s a long story and an even longer YouTube video if you have time to kill.) For years, I had been a single-cut, 5-string, high-C-string player. That was my world. So, you can imagine my shock when I connected almost instantly with something that felt like it was orbiting a different solar system.
Less than 5 minutes with the instrument, and it was all over. The bass stayed in Ian’s basement. (I did not.) I returned home to Los Angeles, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I kept playing my beloved semi-chambered single-cut 5-string, but I sent its builder, Anders Mattisson, a message about my recent discovery. I asked if there was any way we could create something with the essence of a Coronado while still suiting my playing and my music.
That’s when everything I thought I knew about bass—and the personal boundaries I had set for myself—came crashing down.
When we started talking about building a bass with a fully chambered body, much like the Coronado, I was adamant about two things: It needed to have active electronics, and I would never play a headless bass.
Fast-forward three months to the winterNAMM show in California. Anders arrived for dinner at my house, along with a group of incredible bass players, includingHenrik Linder. I was literally in a chef’s apron, trying to get course after course of food on the table, when Henrik said, “Hey, let’s bring the new bass in.”
He came down the stairs carrying something that looked suspiciously like a guitar case—not a bass case. I figured there had been some kind of mistake or maybe even a prank. When I finally got a break from the chaos in the kitchen, I sat down with the new bass for the first time. And, of course, it was both headless and passive.
I should mention that even though I had made my requests clear—no headless bass, active electronics—I had also told Anders that I trusted him completely. And I’m so glad I did. He disintegrated my assumptions about what a bass “has to” or “should” be, and in doing so, changed my life as a musician in an instant. The weight reduction from the fully chambered body made it essential for the instrument to be headless to maintain perfect balance. And the passive nature of the pickups gave me the most honest representation of my sound that I’ve ever heard in over 30 years of playing bass.
I’m 46 years old. It took me this long to let go of certain fundamental beliefs about my instrument and allow them to evolve naturally, without interference. Updating my understanding of what works for me as a bass player required perspective, whereas some of my most deeply held beliefs about the instrument were based on perception. I don’t want to disregard my experiences or instincts, but I do want to make sure I’m always open to the bigger picture—to other people’s insights and expertise.
Trusting my bass builder’s vision opened musical doors that would have otherwise stayed bolted shut for years to come. The more I improve my awareness of where the line between perception and perspective falls, the more I can apply it to all aspects of my world of bass.
Maybe this month, it’s playing an instrument I never would have previously considered. Next month, it might be incorporating MIDI into my pedalboard, or transcribing bass lines from spaghetti Westerns.
No matter what challenges or evolutions I take on in my music and bass playing, I want to remain open—open to change, open to new ideas, and open to being proven wrong. Because sometimes, the instrument you never thought you’d play ends up being the one that changes everything.
The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah, meticulously recreated from his own pedal, offers fixed-wah tones with a custom inductor for a unique sound.
The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah taps into the vibrant, melodic character of one of rock ’n’ roll’s most gifted songwriters. Few guitar players have been able to combine a keen musical instinct with a profound grasp of how to bring a composition together like Mick Ronson. Laden with expressive resonance, his arrangements layered deliberately chosen tones and textures to build exquisite melodies and powerful riffs. The Cry Baby Wah, set in a fixed position to serve as a filter, was key to the tone-shaping vision that Ronson used to transform the face of popular music through his work with David Bowie and many others as both an artist and a producer.
We wanted to make that incredible Cry Baby Wah sound available to all players, and legendary producer Bob Rock—a friend and collaborator of Ronson’s—was there to help. He generously loaned us Ronson’s own Cry Baby Wah pedal, an early Italian-made model whose vintage components imbue it with a truly singular sound. Ronson recorded many tracks with this pedal, and Rock would go on to use it when recording numerous other artists. With matched specs, tightened tolerances, and a custom inductor, our engineers have recreated this truly special sound.
“You place the wah, and leave it there, and that's the tone,” Rock says. “It's all over every record he ever made, and I’ve used it on every record since I got it. Dunlop’s engineers spent the time and sent me the prototypes, and we nailed that sound.”
Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah highlights:
- Tailor-made for Ronson’s signature fixed-wah tones• Carefully spec’d from his own wah pedal
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The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah is available now at $249.99 street from your favorite retailer.
For more information, please visit jimdunlop.com.
Slayer announces a one-night-only show just added to the band’s handful of headline concerts set for this summer. Marking the band’s only U.S. East Coast performance in 2025, Slayer will headline Hershey, PA’s 30,000-seat Hersheypark Stadium on Saturday, September 20, 2025.
The concert will be hosted by WWE Superstar Damian Priest, a well-known “metalhead” and a long-time Slayer fan. Priest's signature “finisher” is Slayer’s “South of Heaven,”and Slayer’s Kerry King provided guitar for Priest’s “Rise For The Night” Theme.
This exclusive concert brings together a multi-generation, powerhouse line up:
Slayer
Knocked Loose
Suicidal Tendencies
Power Trip
Cavalera (performing Chaos A.D. - exclusive)
Exodus (performing Bonded by Blood)
All confirmed Slayer 2025 concert dates are as follows:
JULY
3 Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Line-Up: Slayer, with Special Guests Amon Amarth , Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker
5 Villa Park, Birmingham, UK • Black Sabbath • Back to the Beginning
6 Finsbury Park, London
Line Up: Slayer, with Special Guests Amon Amarth , Anthrax, Mastodon, Anthrax, and Neckbreakker
11 Quebec Festival d'été de Québec City, Quebec
Direct Support: Mastodon
SEPTEMBER
18 Louder Than Life @ Highland Festival Grounds, Louisville, KY
20 Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA
Some names you’ve heard, others maybe not. But they all have a unique voice on the instrument.
Intermediate
Intermediate
• Open your ears to new influences.
• Understand how to create interlocking rhythm parts.
• Develop a new appreciate for the rhythmic complexity of Wayne Krantz, the effortless bebop of Biréli Lagrène, and the driving force that is David Williams.
The guitar has been a major factor in so many styles of music over the last 70 years, and any experienced musician can tell you that playing any one of those styles with authenticity takes countless hours of dedication. As we learn the instrument, we seek out music that we find inspiring to help guide us toward our voice. The legends we all know in the guitar pantheon have inspired millions of players. In my musical journey over the years, I’ve always been thrilled to discover unique musicians who never attained the same recognition as their more famous counterparts. With so much music at our disposal these days, I thought this group of guitarists deserved a little more spotlight. The inspiration and knowledge they have provided me were paramount in my development, and I wouldn’t be the player I am without them.
Biréli Lagrène’s Bombastic Bop
Standards was the first jazz guitar record I really listened to, and his playing on this entire album is devastating. There is so much groove, joy, and ferocity in every note. The way he lays ideas out on the fretboard made a lot of sense to me, his rhythms were intentional and clear, and it was surprisingly easy to dig into as a rock guitarist at the time. He has an extensive catalog of jazz, gypsy jazz, and fusion records with some of the best in the world, and he’s also a killer bass player who can sing just like Frank Sinatra! Ex. 1 is over the first eight measures of “Stella by Starlight.” I stole so much vocabulary from this solo that I can still play bits from memory 20 years later. Lagrène’s treatment of two-measure chunks to play his ideas was significantly helpful. Whether it was an engaging rhythmic phrase, constant eighth-notes, or just cramming in as much as he could, I stopped worrying so much about catching every chord change after I learned this one.
Ex. 1
Stella by Starlight
Old-School Swing!
George Barnes is a unique jazz guitarist who was a contemporary of Charlie Christian, Johnny Smith, and Django. A significant part of his early work was writing and arranging for radio and television, for NBC, and he also wrote the very first electric guitar method book in 1942. A friend in Austin gave me two CDs of his: a collection of his playing from the Plantation Party radio show and an overview of his octet recordings. The octet recordings sound like unhinged cartoon music with guitar and orchestral instruments and are highly enjoyable. Ex. 2 is a line I lifted from a recording of him playing “Ain’t Misbehavin.” It was one of the hippest endings I have ever heard on a jazz tune, and although I can’t find the recording anywhere, I still use it all the time. I love the intention in George Barnes’ playing. Swinging and mischievous, he always sounds like he was having fun.
Ex. 2
The George Barnes Sextet - Lover, Come Back to Me
“Thrilling” Rhythm Solos
David Williams is one of the greatest rhythm players of all time. He is responsible for most of the memorable guitar moments on Michael Jackson’s records, and all his parts have an infectious nature. He is the primary reason I got interested in rhythm guitar, and he is still an inspiration on that front. One of my favorite examples of his playing is the breakdown in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (where Vincent Price does the rap). His signature thunderous right-hand approach to single-note rhythm parts is in full effect, and the natural accents between the two rhythm parts are infectious on their own but weave perfectly together. Ex. 3 is my interpretation of two interlocking parts in this style. He’s said in interviews that his concept as a player was to develop “rhythm solos” that could stand out front in a song, and this is a perfect example of that.
Ex. 3
Thriller
(Better than) Average Riffs
Though Hamish Stuart is most known for being an original member of the Average White Band, the singer/guitarist/composer/producer also did extensive work with heavyweights such as George Benson, Paul McCartney, Chaka Khan, and Aretha Franklin. Though AWB was still working until 1983, Hamish was doing sessions with various artists as a sideman in the early ’80s, including this excerpt from “Move Me No Mountain” off Chaka Khan’s Naughty from 1980 (Ex. 4). I’ve always loved the interplay between these two parts, range-wise and rhythmically. The lower pick line hits some unusual 16th-note placements, and the higher dyads have a churn to them that is amazing. Both parts together feel different rhythmically from anything I have ever heard but sound so cool and unique.
Ex. 4
Chaka Khan - Move Me No Mountain
Wayne Krantz
Wayne Krantz is one of those guys that hit me like a lightning bolt. Upon hearing him, I felt like I had “permission” to play more with the fingers of my right hand, use jagged and intentional rhythms, and above all, to play more naturally. Wayne has always played like himself. His control over rhythm and articulation alone is legendary, not to mention the vast body of unique work he has created. Ex. 5 is an excerpt from the only solo I ever learned of his, from “Infinity Split” off 1999’s Greenwich Mean. I love this solo because it is incredibly engaging rhythmically and melodically, but almost 100 percent inside the harmony. This solo taught me more about rhythmic placement and articulation than anything.
Ex. 5
Wayne Krantz - Infinity Split
Though I could only grab a certain percentage of these guys’ “vocabulary,” learning these parts over the years helped me find my sound. The result was an attempt to emulate some of their musicality in my way, rather than outright imitating them. Anything you hear that grabs your interest is probably worth sitting down and figuring out. While we might not mention the guitarists above alongside Hendrix or Van Halen, they have all done their part to put a brick in the cathedral, furthering music, and the instrument.