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Topic: Hey, Would You Pull My Finger? (Difficult Bar Slants) |
Mat Rhodes
From:
Lexington, KY, USA
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Posted 18 Jul 2010 8:08 pm |
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I've been unable to find any posts on this technique, so my keywords may be wrong.
Sometimes when I do a reverse or forward slant involving 3 or more strings, I find it necessary to use the middle and ring fingers behind the bar to sharpen a string (i.e. pull it towards me) or the intonation sounds "off". Using the bottom numbers as fret markers, I usually need to do this with sample grips like the following:
4
4
5
or
4
5
5
or
6
5
5
It's kind of challenging, so I'm wondering if I'm doing it right or if there's a better way. Does anyone use this technique or have a name for it that I can use to search in the archives?
Last edited by Mat Rhodes on 20 Jul 2010 9:24 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Rick Winfield
From:
Pickin' beneath the Palmettos
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Posted 19 Jul 2010 2:52 am six to b seven
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on C6, I always use my ring finger to pull the 6 to b7, giving me a full b7 chord.(1,3,5,b7)I pull towards me and up. There are others, this being my favorite
Rick |
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Matt Berg
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 19 Jul 2010 5:08 am Re: six to b seven
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| Rick Winfield wrote: |
on C6, I always use my ring finger to pull the 6 to b7, giving me a full b7 chord.(1,3,5,b7)I pull towards me and up. There are others, this being my favorite
Rick |
Yeah or susses on the 3rd or 5th of the chord are nice too.
But the original post refers to those hinky slants that wouldn't ever be in tune with a straight bar no matter how perfectly they're executed, so it makes sense that the player would need to adjust for intonation. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Dean Gray
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 24 Jul 2010 12:48 am
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Hey Matt, Stacey Phillips does exactly what you are describing, i.e. using a finger pull to temper a "sour" note in a 3 string slant. He does this all over the neck, on a dobro with fairly heavy gauge strings!
He describes his approach in his book "The Complete Dobro Player". It's an amazing resource, worth checking out. He includes a lot of musical examples on the included CD, as well as chord charts. It is mostly geared to dobro high G tuning, but it is easy to apply his approach to other tunings.
Also check out any of the youtube videos of Billy Robinson, he plays incredible stuff using slants and finger pulls.
You're right in saying this stuff is pretty challenging, but it sounds great when you spend some time on it. I "graduated" to PSG a year or so ago, after several years on dobro and non pedal steel, but have since stopped taking the PSG to gigs anymore. I find it much more satisfying, and just more musical, to make the sounds I like to hear on an 8 string non pedal steel.
It's especially rewarding when pedal steel players come up and ask how you are getting "those" sounds out of a lap steel!
Good luck in your search.
_________________
If it’s on the ground it can’t fall down. |
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Mat Rhodes
From:
Lexington, KY, USA
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Posted 25 Jul 2010 7:43 am
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Thanks guys! Seeing someone else do it "correctly" is inspiring. It opens up a whole wealth of possibilities.
Dean, I've been playing C6 PSG for over 15 years and am sick of carrying it around as well. Plus I simply can't get the Hawaiian tone I need from it. I guess you could say I'm "demoting" myself in a sense, but Niesing put a new spin on it. If one could master the ring and middle finger tension simultaneously, look out. |
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