melody only ?

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

how many of you only play the melody ? the reason i am asking is, i ordered Jeff Newmans " just play the melody"
i should get it anytime now and was kinda wondering what i should expect to gain from it

thanks fellas
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Mullen SD-10 /nashville 400
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Guitars that i have owned in order are :
Mullen SD-10,Simmons SD-10,Mullen SD-10,Zum stage one,Carter starter,
Sho-Bud Mavrick

Jim Eaton · From: Santa Susana, Ca

A better understanding of the relationship between vertical and horizontal scale forms, both single note and harmonized. You'll probably find some very nice stuff using the 7th, 9th and 2nd strings also.
JE:-)>
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David Doggett · Posted 12 Feb 2007 7:23 pm

It is easiest to just follow the progression with chords and easy licks that fit in. Find you're on the wrong chord? Just mash the pedals and slide around until you arrive at the right chord, so it sounds like you meant it as a lick. To play the melody, you have to learn to anticipate where you are going, and you have to be very precise - no guessing and correcting with a lick. It is much more difficult. At first you can only play melodies you have memorized ahead of time. If you keep trying, eventually you begin to be able to play melodies you never tried before (not really there yet myself, but I can tell I'm getting better). Audiences love to hear a melody played with feeling, moreso than non-melody pyrotechnics.

When you can consistently play unpracticed melodies from scratch, you have mastered the instrument. Jazz musicians have a name for it when you are singing and playing the same thing, note for note, but I forget the term. Oddly enough, this skill not only helps to play actual melodies, but it makes you much better at playing harmony, countermelodies, leads and fills, because you are actually anticipating and playing what you intend to play, rather than just playing the cliche licks you already know and trying to make them fit.

I guess you can over do melody playing. If a beginner only learned to play melodies, that would not be so good. Because with steel, you are mostly expected to play harmony, leads and fills. So you need to learn that too. But playing melodies is some of the best practice you can do. It is great advice. But I don't see how instruction material can help with it much, unless you are a rank beginner. It's something you just do, and you have to learn to do it yourself.

Terry Farmer · From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

These days I am referring to, are probably before most of the forum members were steel players. However in the "old days"' we adhered to the exact melody of the song. After talking to a fiddle player who advised The Moon to play around the melody, it was a lot of fun, Moon developed his current style of playing around the melody, which is what most of us do now, Jody.

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

well from the sound of it ....i gotta whole lotta work ahead
_________________
proud parent of a sailor

Mullen SD-10 /nashville 400
gotta love a Mullen!!!

Guitars that i have owned in order are :
Mullen SD-10,Simmons SD-10,Mullen SD-10,Zum stage one,Carter starter,
Sho-Bud Mavrick

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

Hi Calvin, If I am playing a song as an instrumentl, the first time thru I stay as close to the melody as I can. Then I stray from the melody til the last time around and bsck on the melody. If there is a vocalist, if the song has a "signature" lick, I play that lick, then do my own thing(around the melody). Best regards, Jody.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Calvin, it is very important to be be able to hear the melody in your head and transfer it to your Instrument. A Musician should be able to play Melody lines and ad lib...

Ok, this one may hurt..

Many times we hear folks say, Oh, I would rather ad lib..

which probably means they "CANNOT" play Melody Lines...

It takes a good deal of patience and practice to sit and work out the melody lines as this requires a very good understanding of your Instrument rather than noodling around common licks that you may know and use often.

Try working with strings 5 and 8 with each of the associated knee levers along with the A Pedal. Theres more melody lines on those two strings than Kelloggs has Flakes...Both strings including the natural have 3 notes available using the E Levers for string 8 and the A Pedal / Bb lever for string 5. Players without a Bb lever need not worry, they can get the same change by backing up 1 fret and using the E raise lever for string 8. it's not magic..well..maybe it is...

here's a short clip of what I am talking about..this clip shows both the Bb lever phrase and the same phrase played again backing up 1 fret using the E Raise lever for string 8.

the tune is Claptons Wonderful Tonight

www.tprior.com/wt1_web.mp3

from my latest project with a focus on strings 5 and 8..
------------------------------------------------------------
Dave above wrote;

Audiences love to hear a melody played with feeling, more so than non-melody pyrotechnics.

------------------------------------------------------------

I believe Dave is totally correct. I would replace the word Feeling with Attitude..although both are interchangeable.

Our Drummer calls what Matt ( Tele) and I do when we are Pickin away "Jibber Jabber"... I think he's right Sad

good luck

tp

Dick Sexton · From: Greenville, Ohio

Real pretty, Tony--
Let us know when it's finished and can be gotten. Got to have a copy of that.

Calvin,
Studing harmonized scales can unlock a lot of the melody secrets and train your ear. I have found that I don't have to have ever heard the song, If I can get into it, stock intro #27, then hear the singers hook and bridge, I'm off and running. Faster is harder and I am still working on playing around the melody lines, but I think it is real easy for a very good steel picker (not me) to get over the heads of his audiance quickly. I also think most audiances (small venue) understand the melody lines in their most simple form and relate to that. The smiles and compliments say they do. On the other hand, fast and hot is where I would like to be. Sure like listening to a very fast run by someone I admire, but then again I play a little steel, and know how hard it is to get to that level of play, most audiances, probably don't have a clue. So, HARMONIZED SCALES with a pedal or two and as my pal Bill says, make that table top stringy thingy cry. fwiw, DS

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Many players say they'd rather just play the melody. That's okay, but licks are an important part of playing too. Put quite simply, you have to do both to be pro steeler. Some players are better at "playing it straight", but have a hard time doing anything original, while others have a better imagination and excel at improvising new licks (NOT merely copying the "stock" ones already done, ad nauseum).

Even Lloyd, who's more of a strictly melody player than just about anyone else, can always come up with a new "lick" when he has to. To be really good, you need both skills.

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

After many years of playing both steel and lead guitar I've found that melody playing seems to be a lost art. Back in the early sixties when I started my pro career I found that most musicians I worked with could easily play a melody or if I was playing the melody, could play a harmony. I've found that with a lot of younger players these days a situation will arise where I think it might be nice to twin a line or two and I'll say "play the melody the next time through and I'll twin it with you" and a bunch of 'em can't do it. It seems like there are too many "lick" players out there nowadays. So all in all, if you can't play the melody of a song then you don't have any business playing anything else...............JH in Va.
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

The best solos are melodic, whether they stick to the melody of the song or not. One of my favorite instrumentalists is Chet Baker. Chet had a knock for finding alternate melodies that were every bit as musical as the original.

I have 3 approaches to soloing:

Play the melody of the song, embellishing it with a bit of personal style.
Play an alternate melody of my own.
Jam on the chord progression.

Sometimes #3 morphs into #2 as I become more familiar with a song.
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Jody Cameron · From: Angleton, TX,, USA

I love the Chet Baker stuff too, b0b...his "Live in Paris" album illustrates the alternative melody technique really well.

JC

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Playing the melody is one thing, on a note for note basis...

Playing the melody by "string bending/sliding" from note to note or from interval to interval is what brings out the creativity requirements (and the need to know the fretboard...).

Can't say I'm there yet but get closer every day....

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

i got Jeffs course today and have been looking it over, it

seems to me that this lays a solid foundation for all the rest
i would not recommend it as a startng point for a rank beginer but from what i have seen, it should be studied fairly early in a students study...i am really looking forward to working with it

Tony , that was some mighty fine playing, i really enjoyed it
_________________
proud parent of a sailor

Mullen SD-10 /nashville 400
gotta love a Mullen!!!

Guitars that i have owned in order are :
Mullen SD-10,Simmons SD-10,Mullen SD-10,Zum stage one,Carter starter,
Sho-Bud Mavrick

Matthew Prouty · From: Warsaw, Poland

Jerry I agree with you. Our lead guitarist cannot play a melody nor rhythm!

Its a lost art, but maybe it will be found.

m.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I agree that playing melody is important - but improvisation, to me, is about creating, on the spot, variational melodies that fit the context of the song. Sometimes it seems appropriate to just hear the written melody, but at other times, I like to hear it stretched out. Exactly how and how much to stretch is a matter of experience and taste. But I don't see how one can reasonably learn to improvise if one can't play melodies at all. A certain amount of pattern licks and embellishments are great and add fun to the music, but I get bored if that's all there is.

Of course, the harder the music, the harder to know how to weave an appropriate melody around it. I tend to listen to the "great" jazz players, who really do this well. Lots of their ideas are adaptable to other styles, I think. Yeah, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith, and so many others.

Ernie Pollock · From: Mt Savage, Md USA

man, you should expect to gain everything from learning to play the melody. Lloyd Green said about the same thing in the article in the old steel guitar magazine, thats what its all about.
Melody is my life

Ernie Pollock Laughing

http://www.hereintown.net/~shobud75/stock.htm

Andy Jones · From: Mississippi

Calvin,I believe the melody is most important.You hear a lot of players ripping off all kind of wild licks and playing over most folks heads.It is important to ad lib some things into a tune,for no one plays everything the same,and they shouldn't.Playing just the melody note for note would be pretty boring for me.On the other hand,If you play the tune and your audience can't tell what it is,then,IMHO,you ain't done much.

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