slants in new country?

Steve Howard · Post by **Steve Howard** » 29 Jun 2006 4:48 am

I'm still pretty new at playing steel (1 1/2 years) but I just had this assumption since in the current age of steel guitar we have all these nifty pedals and levers that slants weren't really used. Just thought they were used when you didn't have the luxury of the bends.

But yesterday I was exploring new ideas and heard a Keith Urban instrumental (Rollercoaster) and the steel break only seemed to work with a bar slant between the G# and the B.

Is this an anomaly for new country stuff or do you often find a lot of slants still being used out there. This was my first real exposure to it. Just one more complexity I guess I'm going to have to make some sense out of.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 29 Jun 2006 4:53 am

Steve, slants are very very common, still a fundemental in playing.

t

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 29 Jun 2006 7:08 am

I never use slants on my pedal steel. But I do on dobro and lap steel.

------------------
Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10

www.16tracks.com

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 29 Jun 2006 6:27 pm

I use slants occasionally on my pedal steel for a slightly different effect on the lick --- and it looks real cool (so long as you the bar doesn't fly out your hand and across the danceroom floor!)

Gareth Carthew · Post by **Gareth Carthew** » 1 Jul 2006 6:37 am

lol!

I'll second that. It does look good.

I've not started using slants yet. I've only been playing sporadically since Christmas (too many other instruments on the go at the same time - it's not good! lol)
but it's certainly something that I want to get used to. Any technique that can increase the possiblities in playing has got to be worth learning!

John Lockney · Post by **John Lockney** » 2 Jul 2006 5:55 am

Check out the forward and reverse slants Bobbee Seymour uses in the "Magnum" video.
http://www.steelguitar.net/ (scroll down)

I am also a novice but, it seems slants are not just for looks but an essential technique for a "sweet" sound.

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 2 Jul 2006 6:45 am

Steve, he could be half pedaling, or simply have a change that you don't,,, or it could be a slant. What's the song? JP

Steve Howard · Post by **Steve Howard** » 3 Jul 2006 2:57 am

Hey Jim,

It is a song of Keith Urban's first solo album (when he used to actually do some chickin picken). It is an instrumental called Rollercoaster. Great tune with a GREAT steel break. Very nice descending lick I was working with.

If you have some slant chops, could I borrow those from you like you let me borrow your Nashville 112?

Gareth Carthew · Post by **Gareth Carthew** » 3 Jul 2006 8:55 am

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's done for looks.

If someone is learning a technique such as slants to "look good" then something is wrong. It's all about what sounds right.

The fact that the technique looks a bit clever is simply a happy bonus.

~Edit~
I've just watched the "Magnum" video.
I like Bobbe's string bending tequnique!
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gareth Carthew on 03 July 2006 at 09:59 AM.]</p></FONT>

Joseph Meditz · Post by **Joseph Meditz** » 5 Jul 2006 8:01 am

I bought a _pedal_ steel 6 months ago in part to avoid slants thinking them too hard. But after just a few weeks I tried playing them and found, _IF_ done well, they to sound better than pedals. In some cases the trajectory of the notes using slants is different than the same thing played by pressing pedals. Also, with a slant you can play a just interval without having to retune the axe, etc.

Of course I don't play slants well. But the irony is the very thing I tried to avoid is the very thing I now find appealing. Furthermore, regarding pedals, I have come to appreciate that there is quite a bit of feel and technique in pressing the pedals down smoothly. Why? To make it sound like a slant!

Joe

John Lockney · Post by **John Lockney** » 13 Jul 2006 4:35 pm

I found "Rollercoaster" at iTunes. Are you referring to the steel break at 1:39 ? I don't hear any slants or half-pedals but could be wrong.

And, the reason I would think that slants are important is that I am lucky enough to live in an area where Buddy Charleton has taught a lot of students and they have told me so. In fact, the amp I bought from one of his friends still has a sticker on the front which says "THINK BAR SLANTS."

Slants might not be common or important in "new country" but, they could be.