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Topic: Other Uses for the B to Bb Vertical Knee Lever |
Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2010 5:39 pm |
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I have had the B to Bb vertical knee lever on my Extended E9th 12-string for about seven months now, and I use it for all the usual things, such as to turn the chord you get with the A+B pedals into a minor. It also gets a great seventh chord with the F lever (Bb7 in open position), especially on strings 8, 9, 10, and 11, but also on strings 3, 4, 5, and 6. There is a nice minor on strings 1, 2, and 5 using the B to Bb lower (Eb minor in open position), and there are useful partial seventh chords (strings 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10; F#7 in open position) and partial thirteenth chords (add the B pedal and pluck strings 3, 4, and 5; C13 in open position).
But I find I use it most to "modify" chords, by which I mean decorating a chord with a note that is in the scale but not normally in the chord. (A "modified" chord is of course a chord with its own precise name, but usually the modification is just a passing tone in the melody and the modified chord is not used as a stand-alone chord, so I find the term "modified chord" to be more useful than the technical music school name.)
Anyway. The chord you guys call A+F (the A pedal plus the E to F raise, a C# triad in open position) makes a great dominant seventh if you toggle off the A pedal. Then you can superimpose some neat melodic lines on top of that seventh chord by using the B to Bb lower.
I also modify the minor chord you get with the E to Eb lower (G#m triad in open position) although this only works with the ii and vi chords in any major key and takes you out of the scale if you use it to modify the iii chord.
And the major triad you get on strings 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12 with no pedals or knees can be modified by the B to Bb lower as well provided that the chord is being used as a IV chord (and not a I or a V) in that key.
Fun fun fun, no?
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2010 7:50 pm
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You've obviously been putting a lot of thought and experimentation into this, Barry.
My kind of thread, thanks. |
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Fred Glave
From:
McHenry, Illinois, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2010 12:58 pm
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Barry, there is a lot more to do with that lever than most players talk about. I suspect that using the LKV lever with the LKR/LKL is tough for some people to do well. I know I have some problems with it.
_________________
Zum Encore, Zum Stage One, Fender 2000, Harlan Bros., Multi-Kord, |
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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2010 5:26 pm
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I too have a lot of trouble engaging two knee levers accurately with one knee at the same time, and have not yet even tried it on stage. Luckily, I have the knee levers that raise and lower the E strings on my right knee. My left knee, besides the vertical B to Bb lever, has a knee lever that raises the G#s to A, and one that lowers the second and ninth strings. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do several of the things I was writing about -- sorry -- I had forgotten about that particular complicating factor.
Pedal steel would be simpler to learn and to communicate about, although perhaps less interesting, if we all had the same copedant, no?
_________________
I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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Bengt Erlandsen
From:
Brekstad, NORWAY
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Posted 27 Jan 2010 2:38 am
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B-Bb is fun to use 
I like the move A -> A7 -> D9(no root) like this:
Play Strings 5 4 3
open at 5th fret
E's-F at 6th fret
E's-F at 7th fret
E's-F at 8th fret
B-Bb at 8th fret (release E's-F while lowering B-B)
Bengt |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Ian Kerr
From:
Queensland, Australia
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Posted 27 Jan 2010 2:31 pm
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The B to Bb lower on strings 5 and 10 also gives a whole tone scale (though not entirely sequential ) across all the strings except string 2( though you can include this one if you lower the D# to D )
So this could be useful in playing the whole tone scale over augmented chords.e.g.for C7 aug resolving to F you could choose notes from frets 0, 2,4,6,8,10.Or it could be E7 aug resolving to A.Lots of options. |
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