E9 Pedal Steel: The Three Main Positions

When playing E9 pedal steel, you’ll likely notice that a majority of the licks, melodies, etc. that you learn are located at certain positions on the fretboard. This is no coincidence, they are likely found at one of the E9 pedal steel’s “main positions”.

Learning how to play fluidly at these main positions is one of the fastest and most rewarding ways to begin mastering the E9 neck. Once you become “fluent” at each of these positions, then when you connect them together you are covering most of the fretboard in your playing.

But how do you take advantage of the opportunities presented at these main positions? And what are the main positions exactly?

Let’s take a deeper look at utilizing the main positions on E9 pedal steel…

The Main Attraction

The E9 pedal steel’s main positions are commonly used because they offer a lot: at each position many of the scales, chords, licks, melodies, etc. can easily be found and played.

This is because the position has a lot of pedal and knee lever combinations that can be utilized with little to no bar movement. Since we use pedals and levers quite often for this tuning, this makes these areas on the fretboard full of opportunity.

Not only do the pedals and levers at these main positions provide that “classic” pedal steel sound where the pedal movements are heard by the listener, but they are also very intuitive to use.

For example, if you’re looking for an effective tool to use in your work area, it is usually much easier to find and utilize it if it is located/organized with many of the same types of tools.

If every chord in a song can be easily found at a position, this will give you a lot of playing momentum and options for the song (check out “The Chord Guide for E9 Pedal Steel” which shows you how to play every chord at these positions). This also aligns well with the Nashville Number System, and can really help make playing easier by noticing the relative patterns on the fretboard.

Overall, the main positions on the E9 neck provide playing foundations that are great for building on.

The Names

Each main position can be identified by the pedals/levers that are commonly used to play the chords that the key is in. Here are the main positions, along with their respective names:

Open Position: Forms many of the major chords that the key is in, without engaging any pedals/levers.

AB Position: Forms many of the major chords the key is in when the A & B pedals are engaged.

E Lower Position: Also forms major chords the key is in when the E knee lever is engaged (lowers the E notes a half step).

Let’s look at these on the fretboard, for the key of D Major…

The Three Main Positions for E9 Pedal Steel

Striking a Chord

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of utilizing the main positions is how many chords can be found at each position just by switching through pedal/lever combinations (most of these chords use the same string groupings).

For example, in the key of C at the open position (8th fret) you can move from the C major chord to the Am chord simply by pressing the A pedal (and using the main string groupings). If you engage the A & B pedals you’ll have the F chord. Let’s look at this in a tab…

E9 Pedal Steel: The Three Main Positions

The neat thing about chords in these positions is how easy it is to memorize the chords for any key using the Nashville Number System. Let’s look at some more tabs that show how to play the previous chords from our last tab at the other positions.

Scaling Things Up

Finding and utilizing scales on the E9 fretboard also becomes easier when you make use of the main positions. The major scale is an incredibly useful scale in general, and learning it at the main positions will go a long way.

The main positions make playing this scale easy – little to no bar movement is needed, and you can use the pedals and levers to make playing it efficient. Here’s the major scale at the three main positions.

Another useful scale, the major pentatonic scale can easily be found at these positions. By taking out the 4th note, and the 7th note, of the major scale, you create the major pentatonic scale. Here are the major pentatonic scales for the key of C at the same positions…

The minor pentatonic scale is also a useful scale to know at these positions. Here it is for the A minor scale (which is the relative minor scale for the key of C) at these same positions…

Keep in mind that the major scale also contains modes or other scales within it that can be useful for playing over certain chords and progressions. They are the same notes in the major scale, but just starting on different notes of the scale. You can view tabs of these for the E9 tuning here.

Connecting the Positions

The three main positions are spaced enough on the fretboard that when you begin connecting them, you’ll begin utilizing most of the fretboard. This gives you mobility, playing freedom, and gives you more musical options.

The Open position is always 5 frets to the right of the AB position. Also, the E lower position is always 5 frets to the right of the Open position. And perhaps the easiest to remember: the E lower position is conveniently located just two frets back from the AB position. These two positions work together nicely.

To connect the AB position and the Open position, learning this pocket will do the trick for a lot of your playing. Same goes with the area on the fretboard between the Open position and the E lower position: here’s the pocket to learn.

The AF Combination

Some of you may be wondering why the AF pedal/lever combination isn’t being considered a main position in context. This combination is really useful for a lot of playing, and also can connect areas of the fretboard.

But usually the AF combination is most helpful for chord movement along the fretboard, as the position itself doesn’t have as many scale and chord options that are intuitive to utilize. In many ways, the E lower combination is the same, or an extension of the AF combination, but with different chord grips and more options.

Take a look at this diagram, which displays this nicely…

AF and E Lower Similarities Chart Pedal Steel

Tieing It All Together

So what does all this mean in the grand scheme of things? Well, if during your practicing you focus on becoming proficient in your playing at each of these three positions, then you’ll begin mastering the fretboard and improve a lot in your playing.

One efficient way to do this is to simply practice chords (and chord progressions), scales, licks, and melodies at each position when you practice. You could split up your practicing into three sessions: one for each position. Then, you could split up each session into each component (chords, scales, licks, & melodies).

This ensures that you’re continually growing/improving on the necessary components that help with mastering E9 playing. Furthermore, breaking these things down gives you realistic and achievable ways to further your playing without practicing aimlessly. You’ll be chewing one bite at a time.

So next time you sit down at the E9 pedal steel, ask yourself “How well do I know each of these positions”? If you start building a foundation at each of these positions, and continue building up from there, you’ll be amazed at how much your E9 playing can improve.

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…