First and most important slants to learn in C6?

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 21 Sep 2007 11:13 am

I've read that the real power of C6 (CEGACE variation) is in the slants.

Would you guys recommend the most useful slants that I should start with and in which context to use them?

Thanks in advance.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Sep 2007 11:35 am

http://www.horseshoemagnets.com/_sgg/m8_1.htm

Scroll all the way down ...

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 21 Sep 2007 12:34 pm

I know how to read tab, but some of these don't make sense. How do you have the bar at the 2nd fret of the 3rd string and at the 3rd fret of the 1st and 2nd string?

That first line under "(lo to hi) ... C# E G A C E" is confusing as hell.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 21 Sep 2007 12:49 pm

I think the first image shown was not designed to be a chord chart, but rather a map of where the notes in the C major scale lay out on that tuning.
Denny Turner's Chords & Scales on Non-pedal Steel Guitar is deep and wide, covering not just slants but modes and just about everything else you'll need to learn for C6th tuning.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Sep 2007 12:57 pm

At the top of the whole page you will see ...

The "First Block" in each tunin' is the "Number System" layout of the fretboard.

The blocks that follow are "Tab" in a certain Key ... that shows the most common "slants" used to harmonize a melody line.

I believe that explains the:

That first line under "(lo to hi) ... C# E G A C E" is confusing as hell.

That first section is the "Number System" for the Key the tuning is named for ...

Some folks don't use it ... I find it very important in understanding the mechanics of music.

As for ...

How do you have the bar at the 2nd fret of the 3rd string and at the 3rd fret of the 1st and 2nd string?

That is what is called a "Split Slant" ...

The bullet nose of the bar is placed "between" the first and second string ... at the 3rd fret ...

And via a forward slant ... the shaft of the bar stops the third string at the 2nd fret.

These augmented "split slants" ... the diminished "split slants" ... the ninth "split slants" ... and the seventh "split slants" are some of the "mainstays" of this tuning.

Combined with the "reverse Slants" ... these "split slants" and the chords available because of their existence on the neck ... really "make" the C6 (or C6/A7) tuning.

Sorry you found my presentation so confusing ... I do strive to be clear in all my explanations.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 21 Sep 2007 1:05 pm

Ok, I guess I never really thought about the split slant. I'll have to try it. Can't really picture how to do it right now.

Thanks for the info!

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Sep 2007 1:15 pm

James Mayer wrote:Can't really picture how to do it right now.

Like this ...

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 21 Sep 2007 1:54 pm

Rick, awesome. Makes perfect sense. I have a bullet nose on my SP2.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 21 Sep 2007 2:16 pm

Nice shot of the slant and the abalone fret markers with that polished aluminum neck are to die for!

Keith Wells · Post by **Keith Wells** » 21 Sep 2007 3:12 pm

James,
I highly recommend the "Slant Bar Practice" tabs posted on Rick's site. Most of them are for C6/A7 tuning, but all you have to do is raise the 6th string a half step to C#.

Besides being great practice for slants, these passages are quite beautiful musically in their own right.

Included are mp3s to help you get the sound right.

Rick: Thanks so much for putting these on your sight. They have really helped my playing.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 22 Sep 2007 3:51 am

Thanks Keith ... I had a "series" here (well, on the old forum) .. "Slant of the Week" ...

Just like about everything else on my site ... they're compilations of stuff posted here over the years ... or actual notes I had made myself when I was trying to figure all this stuff out ... pre-internet.

Tim Whitlock wrote:Nice shot of the slant and the abalone fret markers with that polished aluminum neck are to die for!

Ah Ha ... you noticed

Y'all will see more of those "Joliet Jewels" in a couple weeks ..

Jesse Pearson · Post by **Jesse Pearson** » 22 Sep 2007 7:23 am

Hi Rick, how's it going. Haven't been to your site in a while, love the new stuff. The steel theory charts are very easy to understand, nice job. Thanks...Take care

p.s. Craig Pryor has been coming out to our main city park (Balboa Park) this summer and has been sounding really good on his A6 tuning playing Hawaiian tunes with recorded backup. His steel has been reflecting off of the buildings on the main pradoe where people walk by the museums. You'd dig it! And we have giant bamboo plants all over the place, ha ha...

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 22 Sep 2007 10:01 am

Craig is a regular over on the HSGA Forum ... and I've wondered if you two have run across each other ...