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Topic: Unison Strings on Sacred Steel? |
Jerry Clardy
From:
El Paso, Texas, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 3:35 pm |
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| How are the unison strings used on the Sacred Steel tunings? They seem to be the tonic note in the middle tuning with one string raising and the other lowering. What's the concept? |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 3:40 pm
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The basic idea is that you can strum the strings for major and minor chord rhythm parts, then split the E strings (one raises, the other lowers) for more complex chords or lead work.
------------------
 Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6) |
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Jerry Clardy
From:
El Paso, Texas, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 3:42 pm
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| Bobby - Is this a strum with the thumbpick across several strings or is it a pluck with the thumb and finger picks? What is the normal technique for this? Do you have any sound bites for examples? [This message was edited by Jerry Clardy on 20 August 2004 at 04:45 PM.] |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 3:46 pm
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I'm neither student nor practitioner and you will get much more intelligent answers than I've got.
But I had a real brief chat with Robert R after a local performance a couple of years ago and his one piece of advice, after I commented on how much I dug his rhythm chopping chops, was to tune the mid F# string down to E to get it out of the way of strummed & chopped chords. Well, I'm not interested in going all out sacred steel tuning or playing and I'm not looking to lose my F#, even if it's on a lever, so I reversed it and lower the F# to E on a lever. The intent was to get it out of the way of strummed hits but I have found great country use for it as well.
I may be entirely missing the point of those unison E's but that is the way I see it. If I'm wrong I look forward to learning what it's about. |
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Jerry Clardy
From:
El Paso, Texas, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 3:51 pm
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| Also, I saw RR's 13 string tuning on the Sierra website before it went down. Is it available somewhere else? The ones on the Forum are 8 string and 14 string tunings, I believe. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 4:01 pm
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This is an older 12 string tuning that RR used.
PEDALS KNEE LEVERS
E7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 LKL LKV LKR RKL RKR
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F#
E D
G# A G
E F F#
D C# Eb C#
B C# Bb
G# A# A G
E F F#
E D Eb F
B C# C# Bb
G# A G
E F# F# F
--------------------------------------------------------------
I have absolutely no idea what he does with 13. |
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Jerry Clardy
From:
El Paso, Texas, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Aug 2004 4:07 pm
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Are there any albums or CDs around that give examples of the use of this tuning?
Better yet, are there any instructional materials out there like videos, etc?[This message was edited by Jerry Clardy on 20 August 2004 at 05:28 PM.] |
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