The Steel Guitar Forum

Folks,

I was reading a Steel Guitarist back issue that had a great section on C6th pockets.

Nothing for E9.

I play E9 and wonder where can I find similar diagrams? Are there common pockets in e9th?

I guess that worked for the Big E,but it sure seems like a difficult process to memorize.

Although there is NO "quick fix", when I'm lost, I rely on this.
open strings (tonic)- down 2 frets & up 3 frets w/Ped A

AB down (tonic)down 2 frets open + Eb lev & up 3 frets open +BC peds
I'm sure this is not 100%, but it's gotten me "out of trouble"
Rick

Check this out: www.aracnet.com/~lcbehm

Larry Behm

One reason that the 'connect the dots' analysis works so well for C6 is that Buddy plays single string phrases using no pedals. It's harder to represent this when pedals and levers come into play.

Think about the main positions in the key of E on E9
Open, and at the 12th fret there is a pocket of notes
On fret 3 with A and F (Rock on and off those changes and think about how to use that)
On fret 5 with the E to D# lever (and possibly the B pedal for a Dom7 chord -- or A + B for a Dom9 chord)
On fret 7 with A + B
Then the pocket for the 12th fret starts on the 10th fret. FOR EACH POSITION LOOK 2 FRETS HIGHER and 2 FRETS LOWER and use those scale tones for transitioning from one pocket of notes to another.

Think about whether you want bluesy, b7 flavor or a straight Ma7 sound -- how you treat the 7th tone is very important. Be sure to modify the pockets to include the natural or flatted 7th tone as appropriate.

Now, think about licks you know out of the no pedals, or A+B or A+F positions. Look around all those positions mentioned above for scale tones.

THEN -- find 'good notes' that lead you from one position to another. Don't quit until you find several ways to go from A+B up 5 frets to the no pedals pocket. Do the same for each. It's like a game of 'chutes and ladders'. Once you link the pockets together you SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY SINGLE STRING PHRASES ALL THE WAY UP AND DOWN THE FRETBOARD. (this is important)

REMEMBER that it is easier to play uptempo if you combine bar movement with pedal slurs and right hand picking. This is a principle of speedpicking. Using the pocket positions and linking them together is a powerful tool for learning where the good notes are on your guitar and playing with more fluidity.

Can you find books on this? Probably. But I prefer to find my own pockets. I play stuff that I find myself a whole lot more easily than when I struggle with something somebody else came up with. JUST DO IT.

Take a piece of graph paper and diagram the fretboard. Just do it for the C scale --either the major flavor -- C D E F G A B C (with the Ma7 or natural 7th) or the C7 (snobs call it mixolydian -- it includes the b7) C D E F G A Bb C . You'll need to indicate whether pedals are used for a particular fret / string. Just use the chart to learn the pockets. Then put the chart away and just play.

It isn't magic -- it isn't rocket science -- it is hard work, but it will allow you to learn where 'good notes' are located in many different positions.

Excellent post Larry, this one's going in the folder.

Larry, that is great advice and a process most players who have been playing a while, have gone through. The suggestion of graph paper is also a good one and one that will work perfectly. I took a little different approach and drew out a blank fret board in MS Excel. I printed it out pasted it to poster board and wrote in the notes for the key of "C". I used numbers instead of letters for the notes and the pockets became instantly obvious to me. I of course, only did it to the 13th fret because it repeats. You can also color code the pockets using highlighters to make it clearer. Because it is the size of a fret board it can be slipped under the strings. And even moved for other keys. I still have the file for the asking, to any forum members who want it. DS

I've essentially been doing the same thing, only on the graph paper in my head--no kiddin' I got a virtual chalkboard up there. Maybe I'd better explain that--I developed the ability to mentally draw and manipulate objects in 3 dimensions -- to some extent anyway -- in college. It ticked me off that people said that blind people couldn't cut it without special help, and so I set out to prove them wrong--Man am I easy.

Anyway, I've kind of mentally graphed out the major scale over twelve frets (the key) on all major string grips in terms of the Solfege. I'm finding it helpful to know the scale in terms of the good old "DO, RE, ME's". Larry's right, it is alot of work, but I know it will pay off--it already is--that twelve fret span is starting to get alot smaller and less confusing every day.

The biggest advantage I'm finding using the Solfege approach is that I can readily find multiple ways to play the same phrase--using different pathways through the scale. And, also, If I can sing a tune in terms of the Solfege, then I can readily find those notes on the steel.

Now, as a regular part of practice, I noodle around in the major scale finding new ways to play familiar melodies --it helps reinforce the "map". Now, if I could just get a handle on the volume pedal.

hi dick,
Id love to see that chart if you're willing to share!
thanks,
steve

Hi Dick,

I would like a copy as well .

Thanks
Shane

Once again steeler friends, this is a BLANK Keyboard Exel file that will allow you to pencil in all of the notes of a certain key. I used "C" on mine, just as Mr. Halton did, using the Do Ra Me method to find them. By doing this yourself, you gain buy having to figure out where the notes are and by having a finished product to use. I don't have a finished one in an Exel file.

If you still want this file "Blank Keyboard MS Exel File", please email me, I will attach the file and send it back. It will be my pleasure to do so. Dick Sexton

With all due respect, I think that Larry Bell's excellent point of "doing it yourself" applies here. Please don't take that wrong--what is meant is that if you do it yourself, then you have the energy of discovery which gives the new found information meaning to you , and makes it alot more useful, than information that someone else has discovered, and then given to you. Sure, get the graph paper from Dick, but fill it in yourself and what you discover in the process will become the foundation for countless other discoveries--and it'll be yours. That's my only point--hope you take it in the spirit in which it was intended.

Tab, charts, transcribed songs and solos are all a help in understanding how others navigated the same basic structure, and may provide a few 'aha' moments.

But the individual path we each build in study and application of the basic tools is really what differentiates style, taste, and approach. Individual differences in the pursuit even change how our synapses connect and process. Beautiful magic, there.

When I started out, I was frustrated by the changes I "didn't have" on my ShoBud maverick, and working through Winnie Winston's book I found myself using slants, bar moves, finger pulls, to get the changes I couldn't. I can still see those early influences today in my approach, even though I now have a guitar with all the changes I desire.

Many of those explorations have led me to find favorite "pockets" on the E9 tuning that I surely would not have found through rote copying of tab or arrangements. I was not interested or motivated by music theory at a young age, but have become a champion for study and application after seeing what it's done for my own playing, especially in areas like improvisation and "pockets" for same.

Or, what Larry and Phil said...