File:Operation of A and B pedals.jpg

English: The pedals of a pedal steel guitar are pressed with the feet to bend the pitch of strings. The first three pedals are typically assigned to the E9 neck and are labeled A, B, and C. In the Emmons setup, the first pedal is designated as the A pedal and the second is designated as the B pedal. The third pedal is the C pedal. This is in contrast to the Day setup where the first pedal is the C pedal and the third is the A pedal, ie the order of the pedals are reversed. Pressing the A and B pedals bends a major chord to its relative subdominant chord. This particular chord change, particularly bending a I chord to a IV chord or a V chord to a I chord, is very characteristic of the Nashville E9 pedal steel sound that has been a major part of the sound country music since the 1950s. This change is the same on the Emmons and Day setup where the functions of the pedals are the same and it is only the order of the pedals that differs.