Someone on the Steel Guitar Forum posted a link to this great solo by Buddy Emmons on John Hartford’s “Gentle On My Mind.” I’d never heard it before, but it knocked me out, so I sat down with it and transcribed it before bed. Took me an hour or so–it’s mostly just eighth notes, which makes it a little easier.

Anyway, it is a C6 pedal steel performance, but I transcribed it for C6 with a re-entrant D 1st string, which is what I believe is Buddy’s tuning, so it is D E C A G E C A F C (high to low). There is nothing played below the 8th string and I couldn’t detect any pedals, although they may be there, I just don’t know what they do. The few notes on the 1st string could easily be moved to the E string, so if you are playing C6 (E high) you can pull it off (a little harder, though).

Here is the solo:

Gentle On My Mind solo

And here is the transcription: