The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello,I am anew member.I've played a little lap style every now and then.Finally I couldn't resist anymore and made myself an 8string lap steel.
I am a fingerstyle guitarist and my right hand needs to get used to extra strings.I am teaching it by playing some alternative bass stuff.
This made me think about other solo-playing possibilitys.(I mean unaccompanied playing,not soloing.)Does anybody play chord/melody-style?Walking bass?Would it be too hard?

Moi/hej!

I write songs, both with vocals and instrumentals, that I perform solo on the lap steel (6-string, mainly acoustic). I have only been playing lap steel for two and a half years, my approach is sort of minimalistic (but melodic), but if you're curious you can hear some of my simplistic tunes on my myspace page (link in my signature). I really enjoy the challenge to find solutions within a given tuning - the limitations often lead to surprising discoveries and it's lots of fun!

Fred

Is that you playing "Diarabi", Fred? I watched that video last year and remember thinking that was the coolest arrangement of a song I've ever heard. Seriously.

Kyle Dosskey wrote:Is that you playing "Diarabi", Fred? I watched that video last year and remember thinking that was the coolest arrangement of a song I've ever heard. Seriously.

If you mean this one, yes. Thanks a lot - I'm glad you liked it! It is a very beautiful song (by Boubacar Traoré) that I find very moving.

Fred

I play six string fingersyle on lap steel but with the typical three picks. When I play standard guitar I use all five fingers and no picks.

I'm not an expert but on standard guitar I can play a walking bass line along with a melody but with lap steel I've only been able to play alternating bass on one fret at a time with the 4th-6th strings. The reason is because on a standard guitar I can fret with multiple fingers but on the lap I'm limited to what you can do with the bar. I've seen advanced players do some tricky stuff but still can't do what you can with a standard guitar... doesn't have the vibe of a steel though.

Fred what is the tuning you use on "Diarabi" and your other youtube stuff? Is it G-minor D-G-D-G-Bb-D?

Kyle Dosskey wrote:Fred what is the tuning you use on "Diarabi" and your other youtube stuff? Is it G-minor D-G-D-G-Bb-D?

Correct. About 90% of my youtube stuff is in this tuning, some open D format too, and an odd tuning (EG#BD#G#B) and Bmaj7 (BF#BEbBbB) in the clip about Oahu guitars.

Fred

Fred,isn't "E,G#,B,D#,G#,B" just Emaj7?

Tarmo Heikkinen wrote:Fred,isn't "E,G#,B,D#,G#,B" just Emaj7?

Yep! But I don't think it's one of the common tunings. It's basically "Dobro tuning" (GBDGBD) transposed to E and with the high E dropped to the major 7th - D#. It's quite handy from a solo (unaccompanied) playing point of view, as it gives you both a major and a minor chord in a straight bar position. This of course goes for the common C6th tuning too, but in this Emaj7 tuning you have the root notes of the major and minor chords (E and G#, respectively) on the bottom strings, which is handy when playing unaccompanied. In fact, I think I should revisit that tuning!

Fred

Tarmo,
I do fingerstyle on several tunings including this
one: E--C#--B--G#--F#--E--B--E HIGH TO LOW
Here is a link to just one of my Solos
http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3f3j8
I can also do the walking bass on this tuning..it
is just a matter of arranging it.
If you do these things on standard guitar you
can move most of it to steel guitar as I have done
but it does take some time and work.
I teach it by Internet to several people
and if you wish more info on how I do that
please give me a shout.
roythomson at eastlink dot ca

Roy

Very nice playing Roy! And Fred too.
I understand what you're doing Roy, I'm just not able to do it myself. It's fun to arrange voicings in different tunings.