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Topic: How do you approach playing a melody? |
Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 11 Jul 2010 1:09 am |
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It occurs to me there are at least 3 ways of playing a melody on a lap steel.
1. Simple (Beginner method) playing on one string moving the bar up and down a lot.
2. Playing melody with some harmony by moving the bar following the chord changes up and down the neck also using higher and lower strings to locate the notes.
3. Staying within 2-4 frets playing the melody and harmony using scales with minimal bar movement.
And of course any combination of the above methods.
The steel is such an expressive instrument, and sometimes I want those long single string slides, and other times I stay in a box of two frets, (especially on fast tunes)
lately I have been working on improvising Jazz standards, and for these It seems to work best for me to follow the chord changes, and Jazz up the melody a bit with licks and slides and double stops and slants.
I just love this instrument, with all it's challenges and limitations, playing non-pedal is the most rewarding musical experience of my life.
Dom Franco 
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3 |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 11 Jul 2010 4:00 am
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| Dom, I'm on a similar path and concur with your sentiments on love of the challenges and limitations. It creates a new music I'll never reach the end of. |
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Rob Anderlik
From:
Chicago, IL
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Posted 11 Jul 2010 4:39 am
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When I am learning a new melody I sometimes find it helpful to sing the melody first and then try and duplicate that phrasing with my guitar (I play dobro and Weissenborn)
I find that using my voice as a reference sometimes leads me to simplify my phrasing (which is usually a good thing, since you can always add embellishments later). |
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 11 Jul 2010 7:48 am
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| Dom Franco wrote: |
| It seems to work best for me to follow the chord changes, and Jazz up the melody a bit with licks and slides and double stops and slants |
Sums it up for me right there. Nail the melody first and add harmonic content according to the chord changes. 
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If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
-Albert Einstein |
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