Patrick Brenner's Steel Guitar Notation System

Notation Legend

Here is a quick reference notation legend. This does not contain all the intricate nuances of sheet music notation, but rather provides you with a quick view of how I transcribe sheet music for steel guitar.

The basic idea is that the fret number and the pedals/levers used are in the boxes under the staff. The string numbers are written above the boxes.

Steel Guitar Notation

In the example above, [13ab] means put the tone bar at fret 13 and push the [a] and [b] pedals together before striking the strings indicated above the box.
Further to the right, [6ab-o] means put the bar at fret 6 and push the [a] and [b] pedals, strike strings 568 and then pull the [ab] pedals off, to the open [o] position at fret 6.

If you'd like more detailed instruction on how to read my system of steel guitar notation you can jump ahead and click here: STEEL GUITAR NOTATION

Here is what the example above looks like without all the explanation marks.

Steel Guitar Notation

For some of the exercises here, I will include the fingering above the staff or near the notes.

t for Thumb.
i for Index.
m for Middle.
r for Ring.

Even though I include fingering marks in some of the sheet music, if you take a few lessons with me, there will be no doubt which finger to use. There is definitely a system involved and the standard notation gives you clues on which finger to use.

To sign up for lessons send me an email at patrick@steelguitaracademy.com

Or visit this link: PRIVATE STEEL GUITAR LESSONS

If you need help reading notation in general, you can jump ahead by clicking here: NOTATION

Tablature, Diagrams, and Copedents

Tab

Tablature is a simplified music notation system. Steel Guitar sheet music started using this system in the 1920's, though classical notation remained the dominant system used in steel guitar sheet music until the 1960's. Guitar and some other stringed instruments have used this system as well, at least since the 1960's. Here's what it looks like:

General Tablature

The lines represent the strings. The top one being string number 1 (the one furthest from the player). The numbers on the lines represent the fret where the tone bar rests when that string is plucked. The letters underneath indicate any pedals or levers used (pedal and lever names are discussed in more depth in the COPEDENTS section of this site). Sometimes the letters are placed next to the string numbers as well.

As you can see, there is no indication in tablature on how to play the rhythm of the piece. Also, suppose your tuning setup does not match the tuning setup of the tablature. It would be harder to transcribe tab to your tuning than it would be if you had the notes themselves. Personally, I think tab is a bit cumbersome for the PSG given the 10 or more strings. Counting all those lines can be a task while trying to read fast passages. Plus PSG tab takes a lot of space on the page and offers very little information, despite the abundant white space added to the page.

Diagrams

Sometimes diagrams are used to explain musical ideas. These are usually used to show scale or chord patterns. Diagrams show the fret board with markings on it indicating where the notes are. Diagrams usually don't show rhythm or music as it moves through time, but rather show where a set of notes would be located on the instrument.

Here are two diagrams showing some possible locations of the C major scale notes on the PSG neck:

General Diagram

The numbers over the top are the fret numbers. The spaces between the lines are the strings. The note names are written in the spaces at their proper frets.

Copedents

The copedent is the steel guitarist's way of saying "this is how I tune my instrument." It's a diagram showing where the pedals and levers are and what action they take on the strings. The copedent was addressed in greater detail in the last section: COPEDENT. But here is the general overview of the copedent diagram:

Copedent Explained

So, in the example above the [a] pedal raises strings 5 and 10 up from B to C# in the open position (no bar used). And the [e] lever lowers strings 4 and 8 up from E to D# in the open position (no bar used). You can also see from the diagram that the [a] pedal is found on pedal 2 and the [e] lever is found on the LR lever.

Frypanline

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COPEDENT

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NOTATION