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Topic: Blues Tips on Steel Guitar |
Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 7:20 am |
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Hello forum, I'm new to the steel guitar. i want to buy an 8 string lap guitar to start with and I'm interested in the early country but also the Blues. Does anyone have info to share about playing the blues? - ie. good tunings to use, certain guitars to look at for picking one out, artists to listen to for Blues styles, dfferent styles of playing the blues, and anything else? THANK YOU!!
-rach |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 7:42 am
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For old time country blues.....Jimmy Rogers (The Singing Brakeman) would be a good start.....
Also, Babe Kyro Lemon Turner....known as "Black Ace" is also a great example of vintage blues.....
for tunings.....D is a good tuning.....from L>H....D A D F# A D |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 7:45 am
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| If you are looking to play electric blues, I would recommend 6 strings rather than 8 and I'd pick either D or E tuning. |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 8:15 am
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I'd second the recommendation of checking out the various sacred steel performers. Other well known lap steel blues players are Freddie Roulette (both as a solo performer and with Earl Hooker) and Sonny Rhodes.
Here's a very good article on the blues scale in C6th tuning written by Andy Volk.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Tom Gray
From:
Decatur, GA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 8:28 am
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The basic blues bottleneck licks translate well to a steel. Listen to the classic players to learn the basic vocabulary and then take it from there. Elmore James and Muddy Waters are great for starters. Blind Willie Johnson and Fred McDowell will take you in another direction. The old players mostly used D/E or G tuning.
_________________
www.tomgraymusic.com |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 2:21 pm
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Eight stringers are great for Blues! I use an "extended" bottleneck G tuning
1.-?--?
2.-G--1
3.-D--5
4.-B--3
5.-G--1
6.-D--5
7.-G--1
8.-D--5
You can put whatever you like on the first string, an F, an E, etc. What this tuning gives you is sorta two tunings in one. Strings 8 through 3, are standard bottleneck G tuning, with the added high root, G, on string #2. But you also have the "equivalent of E or D tuning on strings 7 through 2. The between string intervals are the same as E or D tuning. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 2:35 pm
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John,
Do you have any examples of your playing blues with this tuning? Love to hear it.
Personally, it would drive me crazy not to have my root on the bottom string.
Listening to the sacred steelers, as has been suggested, is worth every second you invest. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 2:46 pm
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| No recordings. Sorry. You'll get used to not having the root on the bottom, because you have the root of the 5 chord there, and it's great to play some licks on the 7th fret, or wherever, and be able to play the 5 chord root open. Really gives a much "thicker" sound to your playing. I play a lot of "dead thumb" style. Bass notes with the thumb. Kinda "Da Da Da, Da Da Da Da. Danny Gatton's "Funky Momma" lies quite nicely with this tuning, and is a great platform for jamming. So does his "Pretty Blue." Workin' on "Sky King" now. |
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Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2010 10:22 am
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| awesome, thank you for all the info/imput!!! i'm excited for all that i have to go find and listen to!!! can't wait! |
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Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2010 3:11 pm another blues Q ???
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I've been looking around all over the internet trying to figure out what kind of lap steel i should buy. I definitely want an 8 string and maybe even a double neck...we'll see what I can find. Anyways, are there brands out there that have better intonations for the blues styles? I looove the wooden look of the george boards but know nothing about their sound. thanks,
rach |
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seldomfed
From:
Colorado
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 4:16 pm
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check out Freddie Roulette, and Spencer Bohren!
open D is my pref.
find an old Supro, or Oahu 6 string steel - the ones with the string-thru pickups, those are great for blues. Or the new Peavey lap perhaps? You can get 8 string later.
Get a nice tube amp, or the Roland Cube 80 and you be rockin!
Besides that, quit your job, get divorced and start drinking heavily
, get some good drugs and the blues will flow 
_________________
Chris Kennison
Rhythm Cats - steel, guitar, banjo, dobro
Gold Canyon, AZ
www.rhythmcatsshow.com
www.seldomfed.com |
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Val Drummond
From:
Maryland
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 5:10 pm
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| Quote: |
Eight stringers are great for Blues! I use an "extended" bottleneck G tuning
1.-?--?
2.-G--1
3.-D--5
4.-B--3
5.-G--1
6.-D--5
7.-G--1
8.-D--5 |
John,
Do you change your string gauges on strings 5,7, and 6,8, or do you prefer using the same string gauges for the lower G's and D's? |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 6:07 pm
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| I'm still experimenting with the string gauges. I also have a '67 S-10, 6 and 2 that is in this tuning. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 6:22 pm
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DELETED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 27 Feb 2011 1:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 6:25 pm
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| MlA's threads are highly recommended! Even though he's somewhat abrasive! |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 7:23 pm
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Abrasive enough to just bump "the Heavyweights" up to the top so nobody has to hunt for it.
MLA
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone." |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 8:37 pm
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MLA is a good man who suffers no fools. And he knows his stuff--a living, breathing encyclopedia!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 22 Mar 2010 9:01 pm Re: another blues Q ???
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| Rachel Gaines wrote: |
I've been looking around all over the internet trying to figure out what kind of lap steel i should buy. I definitely want an 8 string and maybe even a double neck...we'll see what I can find. Anyways, are there brands out there that have better intonations for the blues styles? I looove the wooden look of the george boards but know nothing about their sound. thanks,
rach |
For a very decent inexpensive 8 string lap steel I would highly recommend the Joe Morrell line sold by Morrell Music in Tennessee. These are hand-made in America and the MJMP-8 models have been selling for about $300. The maple body is very resonant- I'll play it a lot at night without an amplifier and I don't even notice that after awhile. The body is 1 5/8" thick all of the way up to the headstock. About the only thing that I did not like about it was the cheap plastic nut, but I had Dom Franco here make me up 2 steel nuts(these guitars are so good that you can't just buy one!  )
Check out the videos at the Morrell Music of John Heinrich playing their lap steels (the JMLSM looks very tempting at $450):
http://www.morrellmusic.com/
OK, I do tend to be a bit obsessive compulsive but I really love these MJMP-8N's  . I have one tuned to E13th (High) for that old C&W sound and the other tuned to A6/C6. I really like the A6 tuning a lot, although I have been using it just for a few days. If you search this forum you can find out what tunings the other players are using.
BTW for 6 stringers I have found the E7 tuning recommended by b0b to work really well for blues and rock. The top 4 strings are like the Open E tuning but the two strings on the bottom are B and D (instead of E and B). Having that D in there gives you a lot of harmonic options not available with Open E. I suspect that Open E (and D) were used so much in the thirties because the unamplified lap and Spanish guitars needed that I-V-I in the bass to give some power to their blues songs. Nowadays with amplifiers and overdrive pedals I think that the E on the bottom really isn't necessary.
Good luck!
Steve Ahola
www.blueguitar.org |
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Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2010 1:11 pm
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awesome, thanks for all the help. i got me a double neck six string Supro to get started on and i guess i'll go for the c6 and E7 tunings unless somebody posts another tip otherwise. thanks everyone!
-rach |
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Matt Berg
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 24 Mar 2010 7:11 am
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| Rachel Gaines wrote: |
awesome, thanks for all the help. i got me a double neck six string Supro to get started on and i guess i'll go for the c6 and E7 tunings unless somebody posts another tip otherwise. thanks everyone!
-rach |
All of the above are great suggestions, one other Texas Bluesician you need to check out is Hop Wilson.
You did good. I have a doubleneck Supro, and it's awesome. Because I am easily befuddled, I tune E6 (rather than C6) and E7 to make it easier to move between the necks.
Whatever you do, make sure you can find your R 3 5 triad on both necks easily--it's moved over one string in my setup, but think of that as your home base.
Also, I use this somewhat offbeat tuning for the E7:
(lo to hi) B E G# B E D
where the D is a step below the E.
Works for me. I like to have the 7th out of the way where I don't sound it by accident....
Another Supro tip, if your two necks don't have roughly the same output, sometimes the magnets may have been inserted out of phase. Easily remedied by flipping one.
What bar are you using? That has a huge effect on your playing. I switch between a Nick Manoloff and a Pearse-Shubb, but pedal steel bullet bars have their fans too, especially if you want to tackle reverse slants.
Lastly, what putrid color did you get? |
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Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Mar 2010 11:37 am
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| great thanks for the info. what is the R 3 5 chord? i'm assuming 3 and 5 are the 3rd and 5th but what's the R stand for? my bar is a dunlop and it's a lighter one. you think i should try a different one? and the color i got is an off white. cream i guess with black frets. it's pretty classic looking i'll post a pic soon. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 24 Mar 2010 11:40 am
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| R stands for root. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 24 Mar 2010 11:44 am
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| Quote: |
| i guess i'll go for the c6 and E7 tunings unless somebody posts another tip otherwise |
I'll suggest good old D or E tuning (D is the same as E except everything is moved up two steps. )
Bottom to top: D A D F# A D
This is just a great tuning for blues, rock, folk, travis style, power chords. Love it. |
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Rachel Gaines
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Mar 2010 12:19 pm
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| yeah you're right about that. i tuned to D and it goes along with so much! i'm gonna go for D and an E tuning i think. |
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