New to Lap Steel... questions

[Jon Loder]

I'm new to the forum and relatively new to C6. I've been playing guitar for a few years as a church-musician. Nothing pro.

I must say that I'm impressed with the theory behind C6 tuning. For I-IV-V progressions with an occasional II or VI, This is great. Every one of those chords can be accessed within two frets in some form. It's great for church accompaniment.

What I don't get is the melody scales. I've searched the web for some good examples for patterns. I keep coming up with the same one.


Is there a reason that this is such a common pattern? What is the logic behind it? It seems like a lot of movement for melody lines.

[Ricky Newman]

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the wonderful world of C6th lap steel!

Those patterns are a great entry point because they present the scale as two tetrachords. Once you get accustomed to that simple four-note pattern and that 7 fret jump, you've learned all your major scales! Now, notice how the second half of Eb is the first half of Bb, the second half of Bb is the same as the first half of F, and so on. With a printed image of the "circle of fifths," you'll have a great shortcut to really understanding the whole fretboard.

If it's more scale patterns you're seeking, I can't recommend John Ely's website too highly:

http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/scalelocator/basic.php

Happy Picking!

[Jon Loder]

Thanks, Ricky.

That's a lot to digest. I'll play around with some familiar songs and try to get the feel of it. From what you said, there is a benefit to getting used to that pattern.

The "calculator" on that site is impressive.

Thanks for the response.

[Denny Turner]

Yes indeed, welcome to C6, Jon; ...the barn door to the cosmos on non-pedal steel, for just about any genre between west of Jerusalem and east of Manila.

------------

For non-pedal Steel Guitar; C6 tuning (low to hi) C E G A C E:

The links below start simple, in direct answer to your questions, then step by step lead to the big enchilada of scale / chord neck navigation:

Take your time; There is no rush; Getting to the big enchilada is surprisingly quick with reasonable wood-shedding, and progressing through the big enchilada takes much less time than it initially appears:

CMaj7 scale & harmony chart:
http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/ionian1.html

CMaj7 scale & harmony tab and staff:
http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/c6maj7scale.html

Useful CMaj7 passge, with harmony; Tab:
http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/maj7lick1.html

C6 chords & scales positions chart & lesson links:
http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/092901_5.html

Steel Guitar C6 neck navigation text lesson:
http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/modes7steel.html

SGF discussion about this approach to neck navigation:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/003549.html
Annotated for different experience levels here:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/002238.html

------------

Notice that all of the boxes / patterns in the above links, are for the root note C. Any of the patterns can be moved up and down the neck to position any root note in the pattern's correct spot; And the whole template of boxes / patterns will remain intact and be in a new position for the new root note.

Notice in Ricky Newman's posting: Johh Ely's C6 / CMaj7 charts engine; John's positions require bar slanting all over the place to get harmonies. But not so using the 3-fret scale / chord boxes I am referencing, which affords straight-bar / in-the-box scales and harmonies for each scale / chord quality.

Surfing youtube for videos of famous steelers, you can notice how many of them root their playing in the 3-fret-span Dom7 and Maj7 boxes, moving back and forth between those two boxes via out of the box lines like John Ely's chart engine presents. ------- You can also notice that for minor keys, chords and scales, those famous Steelers will be rooting their playing in appropriate-quality minor boxes. Steelers will also find out-of-the box spots where they can get a particular chord or passage voicing they desire, like the out-of-box movement in the "Useful Passage" link provided above.