Tips for Using the 1st String on E9 Pedal Steel

For E9 pedal steel, getting used to playing the 1st string sometimes requires a little extra focus or practice time. Because of where the string is located (and with the 3rd string being higher in pitch than it), to use it “sequentially” in a run or lick requires you to often have to play the 4th string, then the 1st string, then the 3rd string.

Here’s a tab that displays this – it’s a pattern in the Key of G, using the first three notes of the major scale played over a G or 1 chord. The first section of the tab is the pattern ascending, the second half is descending.

This is a pretty simple pattern, but it’s very useful for practicing and getting used to using the 1st string. Until you can play this fluidly, accurately, and at higher speeds, while being sure to block cleanly, it is worth tackling until it can be played smoothly with accurate blocking.

To practice being able to do this, think about what fingering you’d like to use for your right hand and blocking with it. Here are two suggested and common fingerings for doing this, pick one that feels the most comfortable for now and stick with it so you can build your muscle memory and blocking accuracy (practice slowly until you get it, then gradually increase speed over practice time).

Great, now let’s build on this musically, and add more playing options to see how we may use it in a lick, solo, or song. To do this, let’s stick to a pattern just like this, but add some options for playing over a 1 4 5 progression in a song. These patterns are great for short runs in a lick, fill, or solo.

Now we’re seeing/hearing a little more musical value to these patterns, and how they may be utilized in a lick, fill, solo, melody, etc. of a song. Let’s build on this by practicing and playing these patterns at the AB position for the same key of G…

If you practice these simple patterns enough (slow is usually more helpful until your blocking is accurate), you’ll start getting more comfortable with being able to block these cleanly and play them with a good tone/sound. This is a good foundation to build on for the technique of playing the 1st string. After you start getting these down, it will open up more doors. Let’s see how.

Here’s a lick that uses the major pentatonic scale and is a commonly used sound or device in country music on E9 pedal steel…

Notice how the first half of the lick is the pattern you’ve already memorized and have practiced in the earlier patterns – I’ve drawn a rectangle around this pattern so you can see how it’s identical to what you’ve already practiced. Now this lick is a lot easier to play since you’ve already tackled the majority of it using the simple 1st string patterns earlier…

If you’d like, and I’d suggest it for the benefits, you can split this lick into two patterns and practice them separately. When you do this, and then combine them for the full lick, the full lick becomes much easier to play. Let’s take a look at this…

And here’s the grand finale, combining the two patterns to play our original lick…

This can also be done with our first patterns at the Open Position (3rd fret for Key of G). If you look at the two tabs below that display these patterns, simply combine each chord’s two patterns to play a nice pentatonic lick or run that sound great over the appropriate 1, 4, & 5 chords in a progression. These make up the backbone of so many E9 pedal steel licks/playing that many players utilize creatively in their playing. Remember to practice them ascending and descending.

Now that we’re getting the hang of it, and building our playing vocabulary, let’s take a look at some useful licks and patterns that utilize the 1st string in similar ways. These are great to deepen your practice of using the 1st string and to gain more ground with it.

These licks are in the key of E to switch things up – pay attention to what position you’re in (Open or AB position) for these so you can easily apply them to whatever key you’re playing in. Go ahead and try playing/translating them to the Key of G that we were playing in earlier so you can see how they relate to everything else you’ve already played in these positions for the key of G…

Now we’re really getting some nice uses out of the 1st string. By now, you should be getting more and more comfortable using the 1st string musically and from a right hand blocking standpoint. If not, no worries! These take practice time and patience, and often practicing them slowly is the most helpful for gaining proficiency until you get them down well enough that you can speed them up and still play them accurately.

There are many other common uses of the 1st string on E9 pedal steel. These common “devices” for using the 1st string can open up doors for a lot of other playing options. Let’s look at some of these.

Minor Chords and Keys

The 1st string can be a very convenient string to use when playing over a minor chord or in a minor key. If you’re familiar with the position that uses the 7th string as the root note of a minor chord or scale, then you’ll get a lot of use out of the 1st string in this position.

Here’s the position just mentioned…

One of the best ways to utilize the 1st string in this position is for creating licks in the context of the A minor pentatonic scale or A blues scale. If you combine the 1st string simultaneously with the other single strings in a lick, it can create a gritty sound that has a lot of texture to it. Let’s see this below…

The 1st string can also be used at the open position for the relative minor chord. For example, here is another lick in Am at this position at the 8th fret. This can be played over the Am (6m) chord in the key of C (can also use it over a song in the key of A minor).

Connecting Positions

The 1st string, when combined with the 4th and 3rd strings, can also be used to connect positions on the fretboard using bar movement. Using mostly three-note patterns, you can move between positions with ease and ingenuity.

Let’s look at a descending lick in the key of A that utilizes the 1st string in this manner…

You can play this exact same type of lick in an ascending manner, just start at the 5th fret and move up to the 12th fret. You can even continue it further past the 12th fret an octave higher. This type of lick works well over most major chords, just move the bar to the specific position needed for the chord you’d like to play it over!

First Things First

There are many more ways to use the 1st string on the E9 tuning, but these ways of using it recur a lot in playing because they simply work well and sound good.

Keep in mind that picking and blocking the 1st string can naturally present a challenge, and this is normal when learning E9 pedal steel. Since you’re skipping from strings 4 or 3 up to the 1st string in many of these patterns (and descending back down), the back-and-forth string skipping that occurs with the right hand can take some practice, patience, and getting used to. We looked at this type of motion at the very beginning of the lesson in our first simple patterns – you can always continually practice these to build your 1st string chops and gain a strong foundation for longer patterns.

It’s encouraging to know that you can play, pick, and block the 1st string just as accurately and with as much speed as any of the other strings. Many great players have shown over time that you can play up to speed and with accuracy on up tempo songs using the 1st string, just as much so as with any other strings. It just takes practice, patience, and time.

You will likely find more ways to incorporate the 1st string into your playing, but in the meantime, try these uses out and remember that a significant amount of E9 playing over time has benefited from using the 1st string in these ways.

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Thanks for checking out this page, hope it is helpful and makes playing more enjoyable! If you’re interested in diving deeper into playing E9 pedal steel, check out these resources and guides…

The Chord Guide for E9 Pedal Steel (E-Book, Digital Download)

Learn the chords on the E9 neck in a way that makes playing simple and enjoyable…

• Almost Every Chord You’ll Ever Need for E9
• Intuitive and Easy to Use
• Make Use of Pedal and Lever Combinations
• Example Tabs of Chord Movements
• Easily Utilize the Nashville Number System
• Great For Any Key and Style of Music

Includes a bonus section of over a hundred pages of extra chord charts, key references, and more!

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