The Steel Guitar Forum

I've been working with a technique I stumbled upon recently, the chromatic move on the 6th string. The tab is just for some context----uptempo, 16th notes. With a lot of work it is started to get smooth. I'm curious whether other people (or everybody----am I just the last to know) use this 6th (and 3rd) string move. I also practice moving the bar chromatically (--5b~4b~3b~3--) but this works nicely for me.


<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
1 2 3 4

{--3--}
1--5~5R~5------------------------------------------------|
2-------------5L-----------------------------------------|
3--------------------------------------------------------|
4----------5---------------------------------------------|
5------------------5a~5----------------------------------|
6-------------------------5b~5~3b~3----------------------|
7--------------------------------------3-----------------|
8------------------------------------------3~3L----------|
9--------------------------------------------------------|
10-------------------------------------------------3a~3---|
1 2 3 4</pre></font>


I might add that this is tabbed for standard E9. I tune my 2nd string to D so I don't need to lower it for this, and the 10th string is my 9th (U-12).<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jon Light on 19 January 2003 at 09:24 AM.]</p></FONT>

Cool lick! Is the 1st string raise a whole or half tone? If it's a half I'd just move the bar instead of a lever.

Keep'em coming!

Drew Howard

Thanks Drew. Yes, it's a half step and you are right, it could easily be done with a bar flick or, for that matter, with a finger pull. In my mind, this is sort of a throw-away descent the way John Coltane would trail off on a melodic phrase before taking a breath and picking up again. But my biggest interest is in the efficiency of the four chromatic notes with just the one whole-step bar movement instead of two half-steps.

Hey, neat lick Jon.

I've worked so much (...but of course, not enough!) on chromatic lines using strings 4 and 2 that I never even thought about that particular approach.

Thanks for sharing!

------------------
Patrick Gleespen

I do something similar to get chromatic/melodies using one smooth motion of the bar together with pedals. It gives the line a completely different feel compared to just moving the bar to get the desired notes.

<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
Example 1
A
F#--------------------------------------------------
Eb--------------------------------------------------
G#--------------------------------------------------
E --------------------------------------------------
B --8~~7~~6A~5A~5-----5-----------------------------
G#-----------------5-----5~~4~~4B~3B~3--------------
F#--------------------------------------3~~~~~~-----
E --------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .

Example 2
A
F#--------------------------------------------------
Eb--------------------------------------------------
G#--------------------------------------------------
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G#--5~~4~~4B~3B~3-----------------------------------
F#-----------------3--------3--------1~~~~~~~~------
E --------------------3~~3L----3L~1L----------------
D --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .


From that position I might continue like this for the D chord
D
F#--------------------------------------------------
Eb--------------------------------------------------
G#--------------------------------------------------
E ------------------------------(see note)----------
B --------------------------3A----3*----------------
G#--------3-----3B-------3B----3B----3B-------------
F#-----3-----3--------3-----------------3~~~~~~-----
E -/3L-------------3L-------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .

* Hold A ped down when you pick the note and release
the pedal very quick right after picking note.
</pre></font>

Bengt