C6 Double footing: Right foot VP to P8 tips and tricks requested

[Bill McCloskey]

I’ve been spending more time with C6 lately and am working through Jeff Newman’s complete C6 lessons starting with Music to C6 By. Newman suggests using the Right Foot for Pedal 8 licks, as indicated in the tab, and also incorporates Pedal 5 & 7 combinations.

Of course this means setting the volume, removing your foot from the volume pedal, pressing a pedal and then getting the foot BACK on the VP smoothly with no fluctuations in volume.

I find this easier said than done. And it wasn’t easy to say. I’d love any suggestions, techniques, tricks or tips you guys use, including VP recommendations to give me more confidence other than the “way to get to Carnegie Hall”?

[Slim Heilpern]

I'm still working on this myself, but one thing that's made it easier for me is the stiffness adjustment on the Telonics VP. Getting that right has made it a lot easier for me. In my case, I only use my right foot on my right-most pedal (on my U12 that's pedal 7) when I also need my left foot on something other than pedal 6 (as I can comfortably hit 6 & 7 with my left foot).

- Slim

[Bill McCloskey]

Great suggestion. I’ll have to look into a Telonics VP.

[scott murray]

I do so much double footing on C6 that I rarely use the volume pedal at all. just set the volume and slide the pedal completely out of the way.

there was another thread about this fairly recently

[Bill McCloskey]

Thanks Scott, I’ll look it up

[Ian Rae]

What Scott says rings true. E9 playing can be very pedal-intensive, C6 less so.
On my uni I avoid double-footing by having the important bit of P8 on a vertical. P6 is on RKR, so 5 & 7 are together and a combination like 578 is very natural to do.

[Michael Haselman]

I was having the same issue with Buddy's Basic C6 course. He doesn't address this in the course but with lots of 5 7 pedal licks there's no other way to do it. I know Buddy used both feet a lot because I saw him doing it!

[Mike Fried]

I know some players move the P8 changes over to P4 to avoid common double-footing. I also know some players move the P7 changes to a knee lever for the same reason. Personally, I'm not expert enough on C6 to know what tradeoffs these require, if any.

[rick andrews]

Years ago, I put pedal 6 on a knee on my 12 string B6 and never looked back. I have a D10 ordered and will do the same on It. This will address most of the difficulties discussed here.

[Erv Niehaus]

Years ago, I went to hear Ernest Tubb and his band.
Buddy Charlton was the steel player.
He worked both feet on the pedals like he was doing a dance.
Wonderful player.

[Pat Chong]

Although this reply is not specific to C6, it is pertaining to the volume pedal part.

I have added a psg pedal that I work with my right foot. I have a volume pedal that does not have a firmness adjust, so when I took my foot off of it, it would move to a lower volume setting.

I worked around that by putting some extra washers in the hinge between the body and the pedal. It firmed up the action, and the pedal stays in place when I take my foot off of it. That is something to try if it is needed. .......Pat

[Bill McCloskey]

Erv, I was listening to Buddy Charlton a few minutes ago. I just bought the Ernest Tubb Live LP featuring Buddy and his playing is great. I’m on a real Charlton kick at the moment.

[Erv Niehaus]

Yes, Buddy Charlton ranks right up there with the best.

[scott murray]

is this the album Bill?
https://youtu.be/zQVtNKRtteQ

[Bill McCloskey]

No, it was called “on the road”. Great album. And buddy does an amazing version of steel guitar rag with Leon.

[J D Sauser]

I've moved the P6 change (9th string rooted Dom7th) to RKL and thus now have P5 (10th string rooted Dom9th) and P7 (7th string rooted Maj9th) next to each other AND can now also add the "P6" change to both... no more "double clutching".

I disagree with Jeff Newman's idea to replace P4 with the P8 change... the idea was the chronology of going from P5 to that P8 change in a ii-V-I sequence... but they don't do much TOGETHER while P7 paired with P8 DO. When additionally you can add the P6 change (I now got on a lever) to P7 with P8 it becomes even more useful and replicates on the high strings things only possible on string groups behind.

C6th evolved form non-pedal to guitars which had mostly PEDALS and knee levers only broke thru later after the pedal arrangement was pretty much "standardized"... and then everybody coming to PSG later just picked up the setup most had used successfully before.

Likewise, I think that if a D on the bottom (instead of that C) had been on earlier setups, it would be "The" standard today.
With a D on the bottom the root system of this tuning becomes complete C, it's relative minor A and F the relative 4th to C, then again D the relative minor of F and behind it one can imagine again the IV to that F -> Bb and you got 4 positions plus an overlapping one a whole tone from C in the bass register (you DON'T need the Bb... just know that D is the Maj 3rd, F the 5th, A the Maj7th and C the 9th -same array you have off the 9th string rooted Major7th postion just 2 frets above your 7th string Maj 6th position). Now one can play thru the chords full register and thru the changes on any 3 frets!

... JD.

[Douglas Schuch]

I took a similar approach to what some others are suggesting - except that instead of putting pedal 6 on a knee lever, I put pedal 5 on a knee lever. For me, it is on LKR (center cluster of levers for C6). This was based on the advice of Lane Gray (although he prefers it on the right knee).

I find I can handle 4 pedals OK, but the 5 pedals of the traditional C6 just made my clumsy footwork go sour fast! So I am down to 4 pedals for each neck, and double-footing is never a concern. Again, my clumsy feet would never manage getting off the volume pedal, onto pedal 7 or 8, and back without regular misses.

[Andrew Frost]

Bill, next time you're playing or working on something, anything really, you can practice just moving your foot off and on the volume pedal.
That part of it is half the battle.
Play some simple stuff and just get used moving that right foot around a bit without the pressure of actually doing anything musical per se with that foot.
Even when you're playing on the front neck...
Get a feel for taking that foot off the vp and getting it back on without disrupting anything.
Then work on the pedal stuff separately and eventually put it together.