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Topic: Practicing slants |
Jim Kaznosky
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 6:33 am |
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I'm a new player working my way through C6 tunings. Doe anyone have any advice on good ways to work on slants? I'm trying to incorporate these into my regular practice schedule.
Thanks in advance.
Jim |
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D Schubert
From:
Columbia, MO, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 6:55 am
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Do-re-mi harmonized scales. If you're tuned ACEGACEG, straight bar and backward slants on the 2nd and 5th strings. Straight bar and forward slants on the 3rd and 6th strings.
Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do
Straight-slant-slide-switch-slide-switch-slide-switch |
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Jim Kaznosky
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 10:35 am
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| Thank you. What do you mean by "Straight-slant-slide-switch-slide-switch-slide-switch?" |
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Rob Fenton
From:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 10:41 am
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| The formula D Schubert presented works with either of the 2 sets of strings mentioned. By "switch" it seems to mean to go back to a straight bar position. |
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Rob Fenton
From:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 10:42 am
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| ...and then the next switch is to the slant position... |
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D Schubert
From:
Columbia, MO, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 11:44 am
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Yes, its' a kind of shorthand I was taught years ago, for ascending harmonized major scales on six-string guitar. Works on Dobro, lap steel, or even E9 pedal steel for the right pair of strings.
do - straight bar
re - slanted bar
mi - slide the slanted bar
fa - back to straight bar
sol - slide the straight bar
la - slanted bar
ti - slide the slanted bar
do - back to straight bar, an octave above where you began |
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Jim Kaznosky
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 12:05 pm
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| Thank you both for the explanation. Very helpful way of looking at slants. |
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Mike A Holland
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 1:01 pm
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Hi Jim, If you are new to steel guitar it is worth checking out the best technique for performing slants. It took me a few years to actually find the correct way to do this. This was gold for me when I found it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLxIU8u2gko |
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Jim Kaznosky
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 1:13 pm
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Thank you, Mike. Probably too much info, but the reason why I am pursuing steel is due to a fingertip "liberation" on my fretting hand about 6 weeks ago. Practicing the forward and reverse slants on the knee is simple but ingenious and will allow me a way to figure out what I can and can't do with my new crop top and ways to compensate, without wasting practice time.
By the way, I dig your videos. Nice playing. |
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 4 Feb 2022 11:52 pm
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Good advice from Gene Wooten about slants. Go for them like you're never going to miss. Developing that attitude is essential. He would start a song with a two fret slant. Also overslanting is much preferred to underslanting. If you overslant, at least you pass thru the correct pitch and the ear is more likely to accept it. If you underslant, you have no chance of ever hitting the right pitch.
_________________
LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
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David DeLoach
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2022 4:15 am
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After getting not-horrible at the hand mechanics of slanting (especially reverse slants), I've found playing along with recordings or backing tracks really helps with zeroing in intonation.
Hang in there! When I started using slants, I sounded like a dying cat. Like everything else in music, eventually you will get it after enough practice.
_________________
https://www.MasterGuitarists.com/ |
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Lloyd Graves
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2022 9:31 am
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Practicing scales with a drone is really helpful for practicing intonation. After going up and down a few times, I like to try skipping around the scale a bit.
Here is a website with drones and a metronome, so you can try to change in time: https://theonlinemetronome.com/piano-drone
I think that you can only turn it off by refreshing the page . Good luck. |
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Jim Kaznosky
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2022 5:44 am
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Thank you all. This is very helplful.
- Learn the scales.
- Play along with playalongs, recordings or drones
- Mean it
That video Mike linked is really helpful, especially with regards to utilizing the pointer finger. |
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Charlie Hansen
From:
Halifax, NS Canada and Various Southern Towns.
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Posted 6 Feb 2022 11:01 am
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| Lloyd Graves wrote: |
Practicing scales with a drone is really helpful for practicing intonation. After going up and down a few times, I like to try skipping around the scale a bit.
Here is a website with drones and a metronome, so you can try to change in time: https://theonlinemetronome.com/piano-drone
I think that you can only turn it off by refreshing the page . Good luck. |
You can turn it off by striking the key the second time.
_________________
I don't know much but what I know I know very well.
Carter S-10 3X5, Peavey Nashville 112, plus Regal dobro and too many other instruments to mention.
Bluegrass Island CFCY FM 95.1 Charlottetown, PE, Canada, on the web at cfcy.fm.
A Touch Of Texas CIOE FM 97.5 Sackville, NS, Canada,
on the web at cioe975.ca. |
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Andrew Frost
From:
Toronto, Ontario
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Posted 9 Feb 2022 8:49 am
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It can be useful and enjoyable to focus on one slant move at a time.
Pick one forward or reverse slant in one location and really refine it. Try moving into it from a consistent starting point.
Another trick for any slant is to do the physical motion of the slant but only pick one string at first. Do this until that one string is moving accurately in tune.
Then do the other string(s) with the same approach.
This allows you to iron out the moving parts, and it trains your ear at the same time to hear the harmony shifting. When you put it together, fine tuning will be more manageable.
Something I practice a lot is 'matching double stops'. Choose a two note slant to focus on, and then find the same notes somewhere else on the fretboard. The trick is to move between the two different dyads in steady time. Each time, you have to get the position right and this helps with intonation and control. For example, your slant interval might have B on the bottom and G on top, so find those two notes in the same interval and register somewhere else, on different strings, and slowly move between them, taking note of any pitchiness. Aim for consistency of tone and intonation. Using a metronome and drone, as others have suggested, is very helpful too. |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 11 Feb 2022 12:04 am
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PRO TIP:
Use a Tuner when performing EVERYTHING on a lap steel.
Every slant and voicing until your hands and ears become trained. Refine your tuning to what sounds smooth with other instruments and refine your playing. This takes YEARS. Enjoy the ride but it can be done.
If anyone can do it let it be YOU
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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