pedal_steel raze if this instrument were a face, it would be the scrunched up trying not to cry face, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes haunted and lonesome and cavernous, or made to seem that way by its surroundings, and the face wouldn't need to say a word, wouldn't even have to breathe on you to make itself understood, because you'd know everything it wanted to say just by watching it hold back something so ready to be released. 210827 ... tender square i love the buttered warmth of pedal steel and how it can be used to brighten or shade a given song, it's so versatile. hearing how you incorporated it into tracks on yots was so satisfying. 210828 ... raze alas, i've been slumming it all along with a lap steel (serendipitous_lending). i think i'd be lost with all those pedals! but that funky old thing has become a great friend i never knew i needed. (and thank you for the kind words.) 210828 ... tender square wait—there’s a difference between a pedal_steel and a lap steel? (asking for a friend) 210828 ... raze i thought they were the same thing too for the longest time, but it turns out the pedal steel is a much more complicated and intimidating beast. it's usually got two necks, it's supported by a few legs, and you have to sit down behind it to play it. it's sort of like a table with strings. then there are all these pedals you have to manipulate to execute the bends that create those distinctive weepy twangy sounds. the lap steel is a lot cruder, with just one set of strings, and it sits on your lap (which is perfect for me, because i already play guitar that way). there aren't any pedals to create bends, so i try to work around that by using a weird tuning that lets me weave in and out of major and minor shapes. i only saw a pedal steel in the flesh once. i wasn't quite brave enough to sit down and try it. it sure was pretty, though. 210828 what's it to you? who go blather from