Im a Pedal freak

[jamie_liszt]

Hey

I have gotten into a habbit of always using pedal, is this good or bad, i know it depends on the piece, im learning Bach Partita No 2 C minor (i-first part) to play at an eisteddfod, But i find myself always going towards the pedal, im working on the first page, should this piece need pedal on the first page.?

Dont want to get off the topic so is this bad, coz i feel like im missing something when im not using the pedal,  i drag my foot away but i just feel uncomfortable. Maybe I dont trust my hands to play legato enough.

Is this normal or is this because i have become attached to it from using it so much and relying on it all the time. should i start using the pedal less ? and i feel sometimes it just doesnt sound right unless i use pedal, but then i may use to much. idk!

[rimv2]

I have gotten into a habbit of always using pedal ...im learning Bach Partita No 2 C minor

Bach freaks are plotting your demise at this very moment

[mig]

Well, as I see it, Bach should be pedalled. But you can't depend on it, you shouldn't do legato just by it. If you're able to do it without pedal, it's ok to use it. 

[japandude]

haha im a pedal freak too! i totally understand your situation.

BUT, you should definitely minimize your use of pedal in the bach. it kills the polyphonic structure and what not.  in bach, you have to hear every single freakin voice-- that makes bach really hard and complicated.  so, therefore, you cannot cover up the sounds with the pedal. 

just to add, in general, when you use the pedal you have to hear yourself and be careful not to make the sound blurry. pedal is only for special effects, not to impede with the melody line.

good luck.

[mikey6]

if you use the pedal as a colour for more resonant chords or notes, i see no problem in that.

[cfortunato]

The pedal can become a crutchy, and it sounds to me like it is becoming one for you.

I use the pedal far more than most people - I learned early on that it gave pop music in particular a great deal more fullness, and better enabled a single musician to give the "feel" of a whole band. 

But I NEVER practice with it, until the piece is largely learned.  It let's you get away with too much inaccuracy, and creates bad habits.  Not using the pedal improves finger technique.

[cjp_piano]

I agree with what everyone is saying, that you should be careful not to use too much pedal and not to depend on it.

My advice would be: learn Bach with no pedal at all (even when you think you will NEED it in certain places)

Actually, I think you (everyone) should learn ALL pieces with no pedal.  I also have relied too much on the pedal, and once I started learning pieces with no pedal at all, it had a HUGE impact on my technical development.  This is primarily due to the fact that everything is more exposed and it becomes easier to detect problems with fingering, phrasing, articulation, and many other things really. 

Also, your fingering will be more confident because the action feels slightly lighter with the pedal down because your foot is holding the dampers up instead of your fingers.

But especially for Bach, completely learn it with no pedal.  You said sometimes it doesn't sound right unless you use the pedal?  Then that means you are playing it wrong!  It should sound good with just your fingers.  Then add pedal, and you will find that you do not need it as much as you thought; just to add more depth to chords and helping you connect some slow passages maybe.  But if it's fast Bach, I can't think of how to use pedal at all.