The Steel Guitar Forum

Forum member Alex Cucheran sent me these interesting charts of two-part harmonies on the E9th. You can download the full resolution printable PDF files here:

download THIRDS.pdf

download SIXTHS.pdf

I'll leave it to Alex to explain the charts.
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First let's look at the chords in the key of C. There are no sharps or flats.
[tab] I ii iii IV V vi vii
1 C D E F G A B
5 G A B C D E F
3 E F G A B C D
1 C D E F G A B [/tab]

There are 3 major chords; C, F and G.
There are 3 minor chords; D, E and A.
There is 1 diminished chord; B

The interval from the 1 to 3 notes is 4 half tones or frets in the major chords while the interval in the minor and diminished chords is 3 half tones. This is considered a third interval. The bottom note or 1 note is the root or chord name and is the harmony note. The top or 3 note is the melody note.

The interval from the 3 to 1 (or notes is 8 half tones in the major chords while the interval in the minor and diminished chords is 9 half tones. This is due to the flattening of the 3 note. This is considered a sixth interval. The bottom or 3 note is the harmony note while the top or 1 note is the melody note and the chord name.

To acvhieve the correct number of half tone intervals on a non-pedal steel we use forward and backward slants. On the pedal steel we use pedals and knee levers to achieve the correct number of intervals.

The pairs of strings used for 2 part harmony can be grouped into 3 groups, depending on pedals used. Strings 10+8, 8+5 and 5+4 use the D (or E) lever to get the major chord by lowering the E's. The A pedal raises the B's to get the minor chords. The C major chord is on fret 1D.

Strings 10+6, 6+5 and 5+3 use pedals A+B to get the major chords and the D lever to line up the 5th of the minor chords. C major is on 3AB.

Strings 8+6, 6+4, and 4+3 use the F lever in the one below position to get the minor chords. The B+C pedals are used with strings 6+4 to get the minor chords in the 2 below position. C major is on fret 8.

These charts are set up to play scales in a horizontal direction but can be used to find vertical moves too.

The steel is wonderful for doing harmonizing (double) leads. I managed to figure out the Allman Brother's tune "Jessica" playing both parts on the steel. In the original the guitar harmonizes with the Hanmmond B3. The phrasing is weird and typically you need a damn good rythm section to play the entire tune out in public though.

Some people have the ablility to play or sing harmoney to anything but I don't so I found a little trick that gets me in the area and I can go from there. If any remember the Connie Smith song, "If I Talk To Him" that has the twin steel kickoff. My friend wanted to record that and I listened to it and thought, I'll never be able to figure that out. Believe or not, hit it the very first time using my little trick.
What I do is if the lead part, like the above song, starts in a closed position, got down or up the neck to an open position and play the same thing. We played that in A and the lead starts at 12th fret and walks down to an open A, 5th fret. I started the harmoney at the 17th fret, open pedals and walked down to 12th fret, closed pedals. Even the little doodle-de-dos fit. Thanks Bob for that great chart also. Clears up some stuff for me.---Henry

Alex; Thanks very much for this effort. I look forward to studying and absorbing all this knowledge, and then starting to put it into practice. I love knowing the theory behing all those beautiful sounds that the PSG can make.

As I started to read your explanaion above, I got confused right away. You wrote:

" The bottom note or 1 note is the root or chord name and is the harmony note. The top or 3 note is the melody note "

Is this correct? I thought that the 1 note (the root note) would be thought of as the melody note, and the 3, would be condidered the harmony note.

Please set me straight, and help me understand correctly.

Thanks you very much; Reed

Hi Reed
It depends on whether you are playing thirds or sixths. The top note is always the melody note and the bottom is the harmony note. Therefore in thirds the melody note is the 3 note and in sixths the melody note is the 1 note.
Alex

Great chart! I'm slightly confused about the lever choices though. I'm assuming when you "say" 8D, for example, you are referring to the 8th fret with the E lever engaged. Then right next to it there will be an example showing 8E, which leads me to think I am missing a pedal. Then in another example, I see 3(EF) which makes me think I'm reading this all wrong. Could you elaborate on these points a touch?

Hi Jason:
Knee lever D lowers the E string 1/2 tone. Jeff Newman called the lever D while most now refer to it as E, and vice versa. Knee lever E lowers strings 2 and 9 a half tone.

There are times when a harmony is found in two places. Eg: 2G or 3E on strings 1 and 2. Also 3B on strings 6 and 7 or 4F on strings 6 and 8.

Alex

Thanks, I'm still learning the E and G levers so this is a great help! I appreciate your response

VERY cool!! Kudos and thx Alex. Us old senile codgers love it when you guys break it down for us so we can see the moves and relate with the chart,it's all good bud Stormy

Thanks for your responses. I wish I would have known this stuff 40 years ago. So when I retired I studied basic music theory and learned the Nashville number system. I think the people who came up with the pedal changes were geniuses, Buddy, Jimmy Day, Lloyd Green and others. For example, play strings 8 and 5 horizontally for that classic Lloyd sound.

Alex

I like the charts very much. But since there is always some confusion as to the names of the knee levers, and what they do, could you possibly give a "legend" as to the levers, and what they do? For example, I called the lever that lowers the E's half step down, the E lever for years. Now my teacher has me calling it the D lever!
What is the G lever? Does the F lever raise the E's?

Hi Fred
Sorry for the confusion.
D lever lowers the E's (S4 + S8) 1 fret
E lever lowers S2 + S9 by 1 fret
F lever raises the E's (S4 + S8) 1 fret
H lever raises S1 + S7 by 1 fret
Alex

Thanks Alex. These actually make wonderful excercises and warm ups..

Alex Cucheran wrote:Hi Reed
It depends on whether you are playing thirds or sixths. The top note is always the melody note and the bottom is the harmony note. Therefore in thirds the melody note is the 3 note and in sixths the melody note is the 1 note.
Alex

? Though the top note isn't ALWAYS the melody when playing actual two or three part harmonies.
Is it ?

Based on sheet music written for piano the top line is single note melody notes. In the treble cleff all the harmony notes are placed below the melody notes.
Alex

Tell that to the Everly Brothers and Billy Vaughan, to name but a few..
I'm sorry but for the sake of posterity and general diligence, that's totally incorrect information.
Just consider what a vocal backing group does regarding harmonies.
I can't agree about the sheet music statement either, take for instance where the harmony is above the melody line, that can't possibly be written below on a separate line making it three staves with an 8va caveat ?
Having said that, your exercises are very informative for steel guitarists, provided they ignore the misleading statement regarding harmonies ALWAYS being written/played below the melody..

Alex, I'm awaiting with bated breath for the reference and citation details of the origination of the rule that says "The melody is ALWAYS the top note !"

Tell that to the Everly Brothers and Billy Vaughan, to name but a few..
I'm sorry but for the sake of posterity and general diligence, that's totally incorrect information.
Just consider what a vocal backing group does regarding harmonies.
I can't agree about the sheet music statement either, take for instance where the harmony is above the melody line, that can't possibly be written below on a separate line making it three staves with an 8va caveat ?
Having said that, your exercises are very informative for steel guitarists, provided they ignore the misleading statement regarding harmonies ALWAYS being written/played below the melody..

Thanks Basil for your comments. I've been "holding my tongue" on this one, ever since I wrote my first comment. I truly am not wanting to start any diagreeable argument, but I have to agree with you (Basil). The statement about the melody note is always on top is definitely wrong, and would be very misleading to many others, if they take that as "gospel".

And my further diagreement is that the "third" above is exactly the same note as the "sixth" below; it's misleading to call the note below the "sixth". It's just the third above, but simply played an octave lower. From a harmony concept viewpoint, it's still the "third" of the root/melody note, no matter what octave you play it at. For instance, if your melody/root note is C, and you want to add a "third" harmony note (which, because there's no qualifier of "minor" third, means you're adding a "major third" harmony note to the root/melody note, which means 4 half steps, or semitones, above the root/melody note) then you add an E to go along with the C. No matter what octave you play the E at, it's always going to give a musical flavor of a major third to the C note.

In building harmony, the harmony notes are always, IN CONEPTEPUAL THINKING, first considered and identified as intervals ABOVE the root/melody note. Once you have established and selected which harmony notes you want to add to the root/melody note, you can arrange the various harmony notes wherever you want them. That's what's called "inversions". I.e., C with an E, and also a G, always is a C Major Chord, whether the G is below the C, with the E on top, or, both the E and the G below the C, etc.

Again, please, I mean no offense to anyone; I just felt that this should be clarified, and Basil's comments helped me confirm that I wasn't the only one who thought this needed further explanation.