Bill McCloskey
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 7:18 am |
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As I set out to learn the neck on my 8 string Clinesmith, I thought it might benefit others to share my discoveries along the way.
My tuning is A C# E G A C E D. And because I'm interested in exploring lap steel as a jazz instrument, I'm trying to take a systematic approach to learning the neck.
If you are like me, you look for chords on the spot of the neck where as much of the chord lays out in a straight line and that becomes your default spot on the neck to play that chord. Especially when I was playing dobro, this was the case, with its simpler tuning.
I'm learning All the Things You Are, and initially I did that: found the spot on the neck where I could play the chord as a block chord. But now, I'm heading into deeper water:
I start with the Fm7 chord the tune begins and begin to learn the notes of the chord up and down the neck on a single string. I learn the notes on the adjacent string and play both up and down the neck and side to side on those two strings. Then I incorporate the 3rd string and so on. Soon the chord is not approached from one point on the neck but from multiple approaches, each with its own unique flavor.
Being free to play the chord anywhere on the neck gives you an arsenal of new colors; the speed, attack, and timbre of the chord is different at different points on the neck. Fm7 doesn't become one chord, but multiple expressions of the chord. It really frees you to create some interesting music. |
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