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“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
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“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
Cool.
What tuning(s) are you using?
I recently got an ABM 6 string off eBay which is a nice steel for not a lot of money.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
Dobro tuning is great for country blues styles, and is probably more intuitive for guitar plays than 6th tunings, but getting your head around 6th tunings really opens up a ton of musical ideas.
It's interesting how you soon end up experimenting with tunings; the old adage is that there are many tunings as there are players.
I've got A6 and E13 on my double neck 8 string, and I've currently got A6 on my 6 string, although I have used C6 on a 6 string as well.
If you use that C6 with a high E then you can retune the steel to A6 without changing string gauges.
A popular variation on C6 is raising the bottom C to a C# (this is referred to as C6/A7). You lose the 6 string strummed 6 chords, but you now have a A7 chords on the bottom 4 strings (playing strings 6, 4 & 3 give a very nice 7th chord inversion) and a diminished triad, all using straight bar.
Chris Scruggs uses a C6/A7 on the front neck of his 8 string and there is some great footage on Youtube of him playing.
There are also some cool Youtube videos by Eddie Rivers using A6.
Joaquin Murphey's playing is worth checking out for single note lines.
The Cindy Cashdollar DVDs are good, although she uses C6 with a G on top.
These 6th tunings are great for Western Swing and older country styles, eg Hank Williams.
Once you get into that style, the 6th tunings make a lot of sense for solos (and backing) as you can harmonize lines in 3rds or 6ths. I think the key is listening to as much steel guitar as possible to familiarize yourself with it's sound.
I use a program called Transcribe to help me work out steel parts I like, and this has been really helpful.
If you want an tips let us know.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
I use a volume pedal and reverb.
I play in a couple of bands doing classic country and Western Swing, and I also play in a duo with a singer / acoustic guitar player playing more modern styles that the singer has written. I tend to use a lot of Memphis scale type ideas with volume swells.
Compared with virtually any other instrument there is a relative dearth of instructional material on the lap steel out there.
I'll look into steel forum.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
I've got "Exploring C6th" by Andy Volk which has some very useful info in.
I'll look out for "Lap Steel Guitar".
To be honest I've found Trabscribe to be most useful as you can slow down and loop phrases, so you can get all the nuances which are hard to get from music / tab.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay