The Steel Guitar Forum

I am trouble building these chords. A chart I am playing has D Fmaj 7th written, but I am finding the notes the same as a D maj 7th on my 6 string. the other is F minor 7th, but I am interested how to find these for all notes, mainly in the lower strings so I can get a full sound for the piece I am playing.

Thanks for any help. I learn so much from these pages.

Richard, do you raise your 7th string a whole tone? If so, you can get a Maj 7th chord by engaging the AB pedals and raising the 7th string a whole tone. That will work on a low grips, using combos within 10, 8, 7, 6, and 5. The minor 7th is simply found by using the 7th string (not raised or lowered) with the AB pedals engaged. There are many more ways, but these are probably the most common for the lower strings. The most popular way to get a Maj 7th on the higher strings is simply adding string 2 to a regular, no-pedals grip. Throw in string 1 to make it a 9th.

All this is assuming you're talking about the E9 neck.

Richard,
I may not be clear on what you are asking?
Dmaj7 = 1-3-5-7 = D-F#-A-C#
Fmaj7 = 1-3-5-7 = F-A-C-E
Fmin7 = 1-b3-5-b7 = F-Ab-C-Eb
Mike

Yes, you are correct in what you are thinking

Dmaj7 = D F# A C#

The one I use most is string 9 (D) , 7 (F#), and 5 with the A pedal (C#). The Dmaj7 would be at the open or 12th fret. Of course, you only get 3 of the 4 notes of the chord (missing the 5th - A) unless you add the B pedal and can use 4 finger picks. I find I don't miss the 5th tone. Some very pretty stuff with the A pedal here.

Thanks for the info on raising the 7th string to G#. I do that and never thought of adding it to A & B For a maj 7th.

D maj 7th = Bm 9th. However the root of the chord is usually dropped and in that case D maj 7th = F#min. When I transcribe music from E9 recordings, I mostly hear the Major 7th played as a Minor and the Minor 7 played as a Major.
Dmaj7=F#m, Fmaj7=Am and Fm7=Ab major and etc..
On the basic E9 it would look like this.

Richard, do you raise your 1st string whole and 2nd string half? If so, for an even more dramatic Major 7th, use AB pedals and do a wide strum on 6,5,4,3,2,1 while raising strings 1 and 2.

Here is one of my favorite endings from one of Stuart's transcriptions featuring the Major7 using the 5, 7 and 9th strings and the A pedal

Bo, what is that notation with the arrows curving up to the "1" digits on string 5? I've never seen it before and it doesn't seem to correspond to anything in the notes above.

John

It's just showing that the A pedal is pulling the 5th string up 1 full step from B to C#, A to B, etc. You don't see it much in pedal steel tab, but it's a common notation for standard guitar tab.

Bo Legg wrote:Here is one of my favorite endings from one of Stuart's transcriptions featuring the Major7 using the 5, 7 and 9th strings and the A pedal.

Bo & Stuart,
Very nice.
Thank you,
Mike