Word: pitches
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...guitar in name only, the steel guitar is played seated, on one's lap or on detachable legs, with the hands resting on top. The right hand picks the strings, while the left holds a stainless steel bar that you slide up and down the neck to change the pitch. But the lap steel was limited; since the instrument is fretted with a straight bar, it lacks the flexibility that fingers provide on the neck of a normal guitar. In order to be able to play comfortably in a wide range of keys, it was necessary to add more necks...
...Americans, as we know, are a tinkering breed, and in the early '50s a fellow named Bud Isaacs got the idea of hooking up a pedal that would pull a single string to a preset pitch while the instrument was being played, making the movement of the note part of the style. The first recording to feature this was 1953's "Slowly," by Webb Pierce, with Isaacs on steel, and the cat was out of the bag. More pedals were added, and then knee levers, which provided new ways to raise or lower the pitch of the strings...
...piece of work it is: As I sit at my pedal steel, my left foot controls three pedals that each raise different pairings of strings, making new chords out of the various open chords available. On either side of my knees are levers that either raise or lower the pitch of other strings; by picking different clusters of strings and using various combinations of pedals and levers, one can play a virtually unlimited number of chord variations. My guitar has one neck, in the E ninth tuning that is the standard for country-style playing. Some of the more advanced...
...Bush then made his p.r. pitch for the Katherine Harris view. "Not for Vice President Gore or me, but for America this process must have a point of conclusion. America and the world must know who will be the next president," he said. "This is precisely why the laws of the state of Florida have deadlines for certification of the election vote. One of them came last night, and tonight, Florida's chief election official and the state's election canvassing commission have reaffirmed it as their responsibilities require...
...Bush then made his PR pitch for the Katherine Harris view. "Not for Vice President Gore or me, but for America this process must have a point of conclusion. America and the world must know who will be the next president," he said. "This is precisely why the laws of the state of Florida have deadlines for certification of the election vote. One of them came last night, and tonight, Florida's chief election official and the state's election canvassing commission have reaffirmed it as their responsibilities require...