re: #61 celticdragon

I do not play a pedal harp, but what they do is adjust string tension to allow you to play in different keys, thus making the harp a fully chromatic instrument.

Cross strung harps are another solution to the chromatic problem, and African American harper Ben Brown has done a fantastic job of resurrecting this nearly forgotten instrument.

I play a lever harp, and that means you must use a mechanical lever that changes or sharpens the pitch on a string. This is fine for folk/Celtic music, but can be difficult for classical pieces that may require multiple level flips throughout a performance.

Interesting. So, one would set the levers or a certain tuning at the beginning of a piece, as opposed to a pedal steel which allow for changing the pitch of individual strings within a note cluster on the fly for chording?

Most guitarists look at the pedal steel as a frighteningly abstract instrument. I look at those harps and get the same feeling - it looks like it would take a long time to get a handle on how to play it.

(I say this as someone who has played pedal steel or nearly 15 years and am only now cratching the surface of the instrument’s possibilities.)