The Steel Guitar Forum

Curious how those who work with a guitar player approach steel/guitar harmonies ala the old Western Swing/Vintage Country styles? We try to incorporate that into our original material. To date my experience has been the "trial and error" method by ear to get something to sound good--which can be tedious. I don't hear those harmonies as simply playing just say a 3rd apart. Tips?
Thanks!

I was in a few bands where we did the steel/electric guitar harmony thing. I loved that sound!
It went out of style around the mid 1970's. But we played some Western Swing, Ernest Tubb songs and Buck Owens & the Buckaroo covers.

The way it worked best for us was for me to play a two part harmony lick and have the guitar player fill in the third note. (sometimes it came easy, sometimes hunt and peck)

It helped that I could usually sing the missing note so the guitarist could find it by ear.

Dom

Is this the style you are talking about? I love this sound and this video is a great demonstration!

http://youtu.be/dAdrsVSHQmo

I'm guessing you mean something like this (solo starts at 0:57).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Y2WI1YmEU

You need a good ear to pick out the harmony lines and some music theory probably wouldn't hurt either (luckily, the guitar player I work with is hot on theory). I also use computer software to slow down songs without changing pitch to help hear what is going on.

Once you have worked out what the individual lines are, you need to work out which instrument is most suited to which line. Some runs are much easier on steel than others. You may find that the melody and harmony roles switch around so you might start a phrase playing the lead line and end it playing the harmony. You will also find that a lot of the lines sound very strange or just plain wrong on their own but when you play them together the magic happens.

Once you've worked it out, start practicing it very slowly so you can be sure it's working, preferably with another instrument playing some chords behind you as, again, some of this stuff doesn't sound right with just the lead instruments. Most importantly, once you have nailed it, record it somehow either by writing it down or making a sound recording (each part individually and both together). If you don't, you'll find yourself doing exactly the same thing again next time. Schedule a rehearsal/working out session with just the two of you - the rest of the band really don't want to hear you struggling to work this out, I promise you.

I also believe the dancing is very important, as demonstrated by Bob in this clip. Of course, the bit where the guitar player gets poked with a fiddle bow (1:12) is vital to the performance as I'm sure you realised. If you can't get the harmonies right, as long as all this stuff is nailed, you can't go wrong

One more thing I just remembered... The guitarist would have to pay special attention to how and when I bent and slid the notes as opposed to plucking stings and staccato licks.

It is not enough to just play the cool chords, you must match the attack, release, portamento and style of the other player. Sometimes I had to simplify the run, or change my picking approach to match the guitars sound.

Also the instruments should blend together well, (the guitarist should not use distortion, but play clean) unless you are playing "Steely Dan" or "Allman Brothers" then you should fuzz up your steel.
Dom

I'm guessing you mean something like this (solo starts at 0:57).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Y2WI1YmEU

Yes, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about--often used at the heads/tails/solos in songs. Of course there's Milk Cow--solo at 4:12--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYYs4aSLHnc
And this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxDD-XPr28g

Good stuff here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukhT5-4C364

Una mas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQL09HSS3EY

Thanks all!