The Steel Guitar Forum

hello im new to the forum. IVe been playing 6 string for about 15 years and just started playing steel about a year ago. I love it, such a beautful sound, one of the best inventions of mankind.

Anyway i was wondering if alot of you all raise the first string to a g# i have a sho bud pro 2 custom that raises it to a g and it seems like i could get alot more use out of it raising it to a g# if thats possible on my guitar

A lot of people raise it the full tone as you propose. Myself, I found that I was missing the old half-tone change that I was used to, so I don't. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I am in the minority these days though. If you go that route, you will be in good company.

I do. If you're after the modern comercial country licks, ala Paul Franklin, is rather necessary. Some will say it's overused.

I first discovered a need for it in an early Dixie Chicks song (Lloyd Maines on steel).

Keith Urban's "But for the Grace of God" has a good example of it's use.

Maybe not really necessary, you can get the same sound with your KL and pulling the first string behind the bar for the extra semi-tone.

I got the same sound by raising to G and pulling the first string behind the bar for the extra semi-tone, as Joey mentioned. Now, I raise 1 and 2 together, 1 a whole tone and 2 a half, as many others.

If you put that change on your guitar, try using a .012 in that slot. I think a lot of string sets come with a .013 for the 1st string.

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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Hey Bob,
That F# half tone raise is all over the NRPS records of ol'!
Check out the intro to Lonesome LA Cowboy for example (uh... I think it's LA Cowboy! .
Thanks Buddy Cage!...(that's where I heard it first).

I raise both 1st & 7th F# to G# on the same KL and have no trouble "bumping" it to get the 1/2 tone when I want it.
JE:-)>

<SMALL>"try using a .012"</SMALL>

Good point, Lee! I do that. Just forgot to mention it.

btw,
The Dixie Chicks tune I refered to is "Tonight the Heartache's On Me."

I would imagine that more and more players are opting for the F# to G# change on the first string. As one poster said, some are raising the 7th string from an F# to a G# with it. Still others are raising the 2nd string from a D# to an E with it.

It is interesting to note that as the years go by more and more strings are being raised AND lowered than what some thought would ever happen. Buddy Emmons said on this forum that Jimmy Crawford has raised AND lowered every string to its mechanical limit at one time or another.

I believe this will be standard one day. There are several reasons for this. One is the reason PF came up with the F# to G# change. Music simply calls for it. It is like the A and B pedal. They simply accomplish what music has done for centuries. Going from a minor 3rd to the next major 3rd (in key) strings 5 and 6, is just part of music.

Raising the 1st string a whole tone is no different. As are all the changes on E9th to date. And most are NOT simply to get licks. Rather, they achieve voicings that emblish our instrument to its ultimate.

As I told one player when he criticized the whole tone change on the 1st string saying,

"Ya jes don need it. You already have a G# on the 3rd string!!"

"Yes you do, so when are you going to remove the E to Eb lever since there is a D# on the 2nd string. Or remove lowering the 2nd string to a C#, since there is a C# on the 5th string with pedal A."

No, folks it is music; and when one is playing on a given string (or strings), music often calls for a change in one or more of these notes that we simply do not have on our beloved PSG. Here is a prime example:

1. Music is going from a V chord to a V7 chord.

2. You are picking strings 4, 5 and 6. Or 5, 6 and 8.

3. A common move in music is to play a passing chord between major transitions. IE, 3 minor between a V and a V7 chord.

4. We can get this chord by lowering the E's to Eb.

5. We NEED then to lower the E's another half tone to a D. Giving us the V7 chord.

I know of NO PSG copedent that lowers the 4th string a whole tone on E9th. Yet musically it is a needed change. Now you can cheat by playing only strings 4 and 6 and after lowering the E's, slide down one fret and engage the B pedal.

It can also be done by half pedaling the A pedal with the B pedal if you want to use 4, 5 and 6. But half pedaling that way has never been positive enough for me.

My point is, ONE day it will be standard on most PSG's. In other words, it will be standard for EVERY string to be raised and lowered at least a half, whole and a tone and a half.

Don't scoff. Who would ever believe we would lower 5, 6 and 10 a whole tone. Yet when PF put it on, 20,000 steel players beat a path to get it on their guitar.

And so it goes. And where it stops, nobody knows.

God bless PF, JC, BE and all of you.

carl

Good info, Carl! You have a way with words.

I just have to comment on:

<SMALL>"You already have a G# on the 3rd string!!"</SMALL>

That's a reason I like the change. The UNISON interval sounds good, in a bluesy way. You play a minor second (sounds VERY dissident) and engage the KL so it bends up to a UNISON. Dissidence and Resolution.

For you 6 string standard guitarists, think of the blues lick where you play the 1st string open, and pick the 2nd string at the fourth fret, immediately bending it up to the pitch of the first string.

(in notes that's an E and Eb to Es)

Thank you all for the information. what a great learning tool

Yeah Pete, that may be one of the reasons the change is like an old familiar friend to me. I do see the utility of the whole-tone raise though, and my EMCI is currently set up that way.