Steel Sidekick for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

John Sohn · Post by **John Sohn** » 21 Feb 2014 7:35 pm

Steel Sidekick is now available for free on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It is an interactive scale and chord finder for pedal steel guitar. It supports E9, C6 and 12-string universal tunings.

More information can be found here:
http://www.steelsidekick.com

This is the first release so let me know if you run into any issues.

Richard Keller · Post by **Richard Keller** » 21 Feb 2014 9:25 pm

Good job John. It is a nice app. I have been wanting an app to help me learn the note positions on the pedal steel. This does a good job of showing both chords and scales. I like how you can show the notes or the intervals.
The only problem I found was when playing some notes with pedals down they were in the wrong octave. But overall it is a helpful tool and I will be keeping it.

Ed Brooks · Post by **Ed Brooks** » 23 Feb 2014 10:42 am

Hi John,

Just installed it and I really dig it. It is a fantastic tool for learning while you're not actually sitting at your steel. Thanks so much for making it

Cheers

Ed

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 23 Feb 2014 5:01 pm

And what about Android?

John Sohn · Post by **John Sohn** » 23 Feb 2014 7:53 pm

Thanks for the feedback. I hope to have better audio samples to match the notes in a future release. I have no plans to port this to Android in the short term but I would like to get it there eventually.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 24 Feb 2014 7:46 am

Nice. Thank you for this. A comment: I think the Emmons C6th should have the D on the first string.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 24 Feb 2014 9:59 am

I still use the G on the first string, on C6th. I know several in our steel club that also use the G.

Herby Wallace used the G and never changed to D.

Is there any flexibility in a copedent. e.g. I raise the 7th string a half tone on the E9th and lower the 2nd string a half tone on the C6th, on the same knee lever that I lower 2nd and 9th on E9th.

I've installed it on my iPhone5

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 24 Feb 2014 7:46 pm

Both versions of the C6th tuning are valid. My point is that to attach Buddy Emmons name to the C6th tuning , well, I think it should have the D on top, as I believe he has had this D on the rear neck for several decades. Am I wrong?

With the G on top, just call it something else, like "basic C6th" or just "C6th". But when you call it "Emmons C6th", most of us would be expecting a D on top.

John Sohn · Post by **John Sohn** » 24 Feb 2014 8:31 pm

Tunings are all based on these links:

Emmons
http://www.buddyemmons.com/ttchart.htm

GFI
http://www.gfimusicalproducts.com/Table ... Tables.htm

Stage One
http://stageonesteelguitars.com/setup_chart

Carter
http://www.steelguitar.com/manuals/CSOWNERSMANUAL.pdf

Anything that does not match these is considered an issue that needs to be fixed. I am personally still learning E9 and have not even started to think about any of the other tunings so I am really not familiar with them. I do plan to have user adjustable tuning. I even started it but scaled back to get the first release on the store. It has taken me a lot time just to get to this point since it has been an evening and weekend project. This was my first project for iOS.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 24 Feb 2014 9:42 pm

John, I stand corrected. If buddyemmons.com has it listed with a G on top, then yes keep it that way. I take back my comment. I'm suprised and embarresed. ha!

Love the app by the way.

Gary Preston · Post by **Gary Preston** » 25 Feb 2014 8:04 am

Mr. John . You kept me up dated as you were building this app and i must say you did great my friend . It is much easier to known where the notes are and where to find them with this app . This will be very helpful to a lot of players trying to get to know the fret board and understand their steel guitar better . It is hard to '' become one '' with your instrument but i think this will help a lot of folks . Great job buddie . G.P. Oh by the way you need to tell us when you and the bride wants to go to Rice Bowl .

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 25 Feb 2014 3:02 pm

In the 34 years I've been playing pedal steel, Buddy has always had a D on top, as do the majority of C6th players I would say... I look forward to trying out the App.
A good feature to have would be the ability to change the open note - as in C6th 1st string, to whatever you have on your personal setup (suggestion)

Rick Contino · Post by **Rick Contino** » 25 Feb 2014 7:06 pm

Hey John,

This app looks cool... Is there any way to make it a available on iOS 6?

John Sohn · Post by **John Sohn** » 26 Feb 2014 6:57 pm

Thanks Gary, I really appreciated your input while developing this app. I would also like to thank Marvin Born and Duncan Sexton, they also helped.

This app could run on iOS6 but I do not have any iOS6 devices to test on. I did not feel comfortable certifying the app and putting it in the Store for iOS6 without having a real device to do final testing on.

For adjustable tunings I am going to see how well this app does now that it is on the store. If the download count looks pretty good I may finish up the adjustable tuning feature.

BTW, speaking of tunings... I found the 12-string universal tuning pretty interesting when developing this app.

Rick Contino · Post by **Rick Contino** » 26 Feb 2014 7:04 pm

Darn! Looks like my IPod 4th gen is getting phased out.

Gil Berry · Post by **Gil Berry** » 26 Feb 2014 9:39 pm

Very nice. You could probably (in a future release) add 7, 9, 11, and 13 chords, maybe some others. I have two comments though - first it's easy to tell if the knees are actuated but not so easy for the pedals - at least on my copy they show a highlight when actuated but the highlight disappears as soon as the icon is released while the pedal remains actuated until hit a second time? Maybe a different color for engaged/not engaged? The second comment - why show two octaves? Makes the app look "busy" and everyone should know if they want a chord between the 12th and 24th frets they could find it an octave lower on the chart then just add 12 frets to the fret shown.

Finally, would it be possible to provide an "open" code so that one could enter the copedents, knee and pedal changes on THEIR guitar (even though you probably have the most common changes covered with this release).

All in all, a really handy tool and you are to be commended for this effort of benefit to all of us in love with the pedal steel guitar.

Gil Berry · Post by **Gil Berry** » 26 Feb 2014 9:44 pm

Oh, neglected to mention - am running your app on iOS 6 ipad.

Rick Contino · Post by **Rick Contino** » 27 Feb 2014 6:56 am

Gill,

The App Store wouldn't even let me download it unless I had iOS 7. How did you get around that?

Gil Berry · Post by **Gil Berry** » 27 Feb 2014 6:32 pm

Beats me Rick... I just downloaded and it worked. Maybe I have ios 7 and didn't even know it??

Dustin Rigsby · Post by **Dustin Rigsby** » 2 Mar 2014 7:52 pm

John,it's a real fine app. A good learning tool !

Jim Means · Post by **Jim Means** » 3 Mar 2014 12:17 pm

I tried to download to my iOS 5.1.1 iPod and it told me the app required iOS 7. It gave me the same message on my iPad running iOS 6.1.3. I haven't upgraded my iPad to iOS 7 because it is so buggy. Good luck with the app, John. It really looks useful.

Jim in Missouri

PS: John, I just checked on the App Store and in the compatibility area it says Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Obviously it will run on a lower iOS since you are using it on yours. You might contact the app store.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Steel Sidekick for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Steel Sidekick for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Will not download to iOS 5 or iOS 6