About the Pedal Steel Guitar
The pedal steel guitar is an expressive, soulful instrument, with dreamy slides and lush chords. Popularized by legendary players like Buddy Emmons, Lloyd Green, and Paul Franklin, the pedal steel sound is a defining feature of classic and modern country music. You’ll hear it on records by George Jones, Dolly Parton, and even modern artists like Kacey Musgraves.
But pedal steel isn’t just for country—it shows up in ambient music, rock, indie folk, and even jazz. Bands like Pink Floyd, The Byrds, and Wilco have all used pedal steel to add texture and emotion to their sound. Originally evolving from Hawaiian lap steel guitars, the pedal steel features foot pedals and knee levers that let players bend strings mid-note for incredibly nuanced playing.
Before Starting Pedal Steel
Pedal steel is a magical instrument, but that sound takes more preparation than a traditional guitar! A pedal steel setup requires:
- A specific type of seat
- A volume pedal
- An amp
- At least 3 foot pedals and 4 knee levers
- Patience to learn how it all works together
We recommend pedal steel for older students, or those with previous guitar or music theory experience. While beginners are welcome, it's a mechanically complex instrument, and we want to make sure you're set up for success.
If you don't have your own pedal steel yet, that's okay! You can still try a trial session to get a feel for it before going any further—but if you decide to continue, you'll definitely need your own pedal steel at home to be able to practice, and they can be pricey, depending on where you get it. Our pedal steel teacher, Robby Harris, can offer advice on purchasing or renting your first instrument.
Why Pedal Steel Lessons Are Longer (and Pricier)
Most of our lessons are 45 minutes per week, but pedal steel's the exception.
Since it takes longer to get everything ready to play (and it's more work to transport it to/from the school), our pedal steel lessons are 1 hour 15 minutes long, allowing more time to perfect your setup, tune up, and still get a full, focused lesson.
Our pedal steel trial lesson is also 1 hour 15 minutes, and costs $65, giving us time to really assess your goals, introduce the instrument, help with any gear setup questions, and show you what makes pedal steel so special.
If you decide to continue, our pedal steel lessons are $360/month for weekly 1 hour 15 minute sessions. That's more than our other instruments, but the price reflects the extra time and attention this beautiful and unique instrument requires.
How to Book a Pedal Steel Trial
Since the longer pedal steel lessons don't fit in our regular schedule openings, they can't be booked online—but we'll work with you to try to find a spot in Robby's schedule, most likely at the very beginning or end of his day. This means pedal steel lessons will probably be before 2pm, or after 8:30pm.
Text us and let's see what we can work out!
