Bar slanting primer

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I've been working on what was originally going to be a live streaming workshop, but will now likely be a recorded workshop. This is all about one of the most fundamental aspects of playing nonpedal steel: bar slanting. Inside of a tuning such as C6, there are multitudes of possibilities to create a representation of almost any harmony you can think of. I've been showing a few videos of chord melody playing lately, which is one of the uses for it. But there are countless other ways to put them to use, whether in melody playing, orchestrating behind a vocalist, or simply playing a tune's chords.

My goal is to present a series of exercises that take a player through many of the most common progressions, using chord voicings that emphasize voice leading, which is an essential part orchestration and choral writing, emphasizing the individual voices of a chord and their movement from one chord to the next. This is really fun stuff. I first got hip to it when I was in high school studying music theory and having to write out parts for voices or horns. It is invaluable to have this knowledge as a musician, and really great to have as a steel player.

Some people get a little intimidated by the thought of using reverse slants, but I am not sure why. I find them easier to manage than forward slants to be honest. All that is needed is a handle on a few basic techniques, one being how you use the thumb to push the tail of the bar and another being how you manage the nose of the bar. My technique of holding the bar is such that my index finger falls to the side of the bar--I find this more conducive to slanting.

Here is an example of myself just playing through a turnaround, or a ii-V-I-vi progression. It is pretty basic but outlines the chords well with just 3 note voicings that flow smoothly from one to the next. I suppose i should have made the playing a little less staccato, but I was kind of comping chords like a piano left hand rather than thinking about sustaining the chords. Next exercise I will do that.

Anyway, here is a short video clip.
https://youtu.be/S4tHdPvXehQ?si=7-BBiuaTSsOXUhIv

I’ve also been using a diagram like this to communicate the movement. Is this clear to you?

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David M Brown · From: California, USA

I'm curious how you get some of those slant chords in tune, particularly the ones where you cannot use the round tip of the bar to adjust the pressure?

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Hi David. First I would say that I practice this stuff a ton, so I know how to fudge things a bit in order to get as close as possible to being in tune. But the truth is, many of the slants, if analyzed, would NOT be in tune. I am cool with that, my thought process being that as long as the consonant chords (majors and minors) are very close, then the dissonant chords (diminished, dominants) have a little margin for error--after all, they are tension chords. But even then, some voicings are more revealing than others. Sometimes it comes down to the placement of the bar, like maybe the nose of the bar is a little closer or further from the notes I am playing. I work on those things, but when I am playing, I'm mostly on autopilot.

I have also noticed that each guitar I have responds differently to the slants. String spacing, scale are all an issue. I mostly use long scale guitars, but I have a few short scale instruments too. I am kind of agnostic about the whole long vs short scale argument--there are things I can do on the long scale regarding slants that I can't do on the short scale, and vice versa. It's best to just know your guitar and do the best you can, the operative word being do. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

I have thought a lot about tuning--like does sweetening a tuning contribute to slants being more in tune? But ultimately, I'm not that intense about tuning to have any real routine like that.

I like to think I just know how to get away with crimes against the science of music. Laughing

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Mike Auman · From: North Texas, USA

Mike, to answer your question, your diagram scheme is clear and helpful, with the open circles showing which strings are targeted. That makes it easy to see when you're doing a three-string slant, with two of them on the same fret, which is tricky to depict otherwise. And your overlaid diagrams nicely show slide movement.
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Peter Krebs · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I concur. The bar-shaped slant overlay is a great visual representation and communicates the ideas clearly! It also is really helpful in visualizing the physical movement of the bar when working through changes. Nice job and thank you!
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Roland Sturm · From: Santa Monica, CA

I am puzzled by the Cm in the 2nd and 4th diagram, it looks like that would need to have the bullet tip at the other end? But this encourages me on the reverse slants, I never was able to do the split strings (2 notes on the same fret) with it, even though I'm confortable with dom7 and diminished with a forward slant. Maybe I just should have tried harder.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Rolf, it works to play the Cm chord in that position, but it is important to remember that the goal is to have constant movement, so while the triad may not be perfectly in tune, the voices are moving to other voices and don’t usually sustain. I have 4 other ways to play the same Cm triad, so if I need a solid chord to sustain, that will go into my decision making for which position to use. But most importantly, I keep a lot of alternate position so that I am able to keep a continuous flow on certain string sets.

This is also a case where if you tune your E string slightly flat, that particular shape will be more in tune. I don’t talk much about that because I am not a subscriber to ET or JI either way, I just use what sounds best to me.
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

I also want to add that as important as it is to get your bar hand together for slanting, your picking hand has to be accurate and clean, and blocking under control.

The C6 tuning is a pretty miraculous structure if you break it down like this:
C6 contains all 3 inversions of the tonic major and all 3 inversions of its relative minor. Think about it! (Can’t find a mind blown emoji). But you have to be able to play those triads cleanly and decisively. A lot of “6th bombs” (I think Doug Beaumier’s term) will be dropped if you’re not accurate. It’s frustrating but absolutely necessary work to practice playing those triads individually as an exercise (Iwill post something I get students to practice).

Knowing that there are only 4 types of triads—major, minor, diminished and augmented—all one has to do is change one note of a triad to turn it into another. Once I got a solid foundation in chord construction, everything opened up to me. Now I am applying all that information.
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David M Brown · From: California, USA

Frank Nims · From: Illinois, USA

Very helpful diagrams.

Peter Krebs · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Hey, Mike. Curious if you spent time playing two-note slants or if you’ve always gravitated towards 3-notes? I was listening to Don Helms on some early Ray Price records the other day and, maybe I’m mistaken, but it sure sounds like he’s playing 2-note slant fills and solos(?). Anyways, right or wrong, lightbulbs went off for me in terms of seeing chord changes more compactly and also being able to get a really satisfying “early” sound (I mostly play early jazz/country). Curious if you think slants ‘evolved’ from 2-notes to three at some point?
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

Peter, mastery of two note slants is essential. C6 is wonderful because you have three ways of playing 6ths (1/4, 2/5, 3/6) and four ways of playing 3rds (1/2, 2/3, 4/5, 5/6) built right into the tuning. A 6th is just an inversion of a 3rd. Easy to remember a major third inverts to a minor 6th, and a minor 3rd inverts to a major 6th. That is step one for slanting. It has to be second nature.

3-note slanting is something I do because I like the added added colors--it just tells the story of the harmony more clearly. But mostly it allows me to put the melody note on top and harmonize underneath it, like guitar chord melody playing. Sometimes you end up what amounts to not really a chord per se, but individual voices. A lot of this is inspired by my love of orchestration and arranging--really what I am all about in the end. A few times I've thought maybe I didn't make the right decision going down the steel guitar route because it is not necessarily the easiest and best vehicle for that, lap steel even less so than pedal steel. But where there is a will there's a way. That's what this is all about.

Master the essentials, like two-note harmonies all over the neck through every scale and any possible chord changes. Once you have that down, you're going to want more.
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Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

This is terrific, groundbreaking tutelage, Mike. The C6th tuning is a very deep well. Thank you for sharing these visuals!

Edward Tuffte would be excited (the godfather of visual information design: https://www.edwardtufte.com)
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Jim Smerk · From: Ohio, USA

I am a "slant baby" and can understand your diagram......playing it is a different animal, but I CAN understand it!! Cool

Bruce Roger · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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