The Steel Guitar Forum

I'd like to add a little more sophistication to my playing.

One of the gigs that I enjoy is being a part of a 'house band' that backs 4 or 5 different singers. Steel, fiddle, lead guitar, upright bass and small drum kit.

We never know in advance what the various singers are going to do - songs, keys, tempos, etc. They usually just turn to us and tell us - and the tunes are almost always simple 1/4/5 progressions.

In a 3 hour, off-the-cuff show, I run out of licks outside of playing the melody of the song. I'd like to bring more variation and make better use of the tonal options that the steel can bring.

I'd appreciate knowing how you bring Augmented and Diminished chords into your playing.

Any tips / tricks would be most welcome.

Thanks!

Sometimes a 7th chord can be confused for a Diminished chord.
Both can be made by engaging the F knee lever.
I also like to throw in a 9th chord every once in a while.
It can add some spice to your playing.
Erv

Use an augmented chord to get from the I to IV and V to I. Use a diminished to get from IV back to I.

Key of G, Basic I-IV-I-V-I
[G / G+] [C / C#°] [G / G6] [D / D+] G

You can also substitute the v7 for I and ii7 for V.
[Dm7 / G+] [C / C#°] [G / G#°] [Am7 / D+] G

There are tons of other things you can do with I-IV-V, involving tritone substitutions and altered dominant chords, but it is easy to get inappropriate. As Hank Williams is attributed for quipping, “He educated himself right out of a job”.

One more, all diminished subs.

[Dm7 / D°] [C / C#°] [G6 / G#°] [Am7 / A°] G

Remember diminished 7th chords are built on minor 3rds and can be be played every 3 frets up or down the neck. Dim7 chords are basically Dom7 chords with a b9 thrown in. Aug chords are built on major 3rds and can be played every 4 frets.

“He educated himself right out of a job”.

Think of these chords as cayenne pepper. A little goes a very long way.

Jeff Newman told me "you play those when your passing through on your way to someplace else on the neck". JE:-)>

Jim Eaton wrote:Jeff Newman told me "you play those when your passing through on your way to someplace else on the neck". JE:-)>

Are you certain it wasn't "you play those when you're passing through Nashville on your way back to someplace else you lived?"

Probably best not to think of all the places where these substitutions can be made. Instead, go after one or two specific ways of using them. Here are a couple.

Try augmenting the 5 chord on beat 3 & 4, just before it goes back to the 1 chord. Ballads are a good place to try this first because you can really hear the tension of the 5 chord grow til it finally goes to the 1 again. Half A pedal, and ABF are a couple ways of getting an augmented chord.

#4 diminished. Try sneaking a diminished chord in between the 4 and 5 chords. So... 4 chord, #4 diminished, 5. This one is used a lot.

Enharmonic substitutions like these usually sound best when there's some type of melodic voice leading going on. You want to lead the listeners ear into (and out of) it, rather than just dropping it out of the sky.

Mike perlowin is spot on with this analogy of cayenne pepper. A little goes a long way.

Here is one I like to use, sparingly.

Band is in the 1 chord about to wind up to the 4 then 5 and resolve to 1 for the end of the tune.

Many times when moving from 1 to 4 we might go I, I7 then IV

Instead try I, 2bdim7, IV

And once in the 2bdim, it creates the next inversion when slide up 3 frets

Simple Example in key of E

root position open group 865 E chord
Then grab 9865 and raise lever (string 4&8 1/2 tone), at fret 3 which is fdim7, slide up to fret 6 if you want for the next inversion
Then release lever and grab 865 at fret 5 for the A chord

One of many many ways to play it.

One Easy song example “ wild side of life” going into the tag after the last chorus. Hank Thompson used this, very effective.

Best to all

Bill

...thank you...your comments are exactly what I was after...

I agree with the cayenne pepper analogy...too much of any ingredient alters the taste.

We're all locked-down here - now there's time to play around with these ideas.

Thanks again.

Yes, they’re just exercises to get the ideas under your fingers. Using them in songs (especially Hank Williams tunes...) is a matter of taste.

From the chord you are currently playing, modify at least one of the notes there so it is either a halfstep below or above one of the notes in the next chord. Easiest to understand when using chords/voicings w 3 notes.

I to IV or E to A in the key of E

Open strings 8 6 5 to ( 8 6 5 w half A pedal ) to 8 6 5 w A+B

Open strings 8 6 5 to ( 8 6 5 lowered to Bb) to 10 8 6 w A+B

open string 8 6 5 to ( 9 6 4raised to F) to 9 6 4 w B pedal and 9 lowered to C#

Also try use interval w only 2 strings a with both notes beeing a halfstep above or below the next chord. So if you are going to a A chord it means either two of the notes from Ab to A or A# to A.
You will soon figure that the C# of the A chord is one of the notes you want to slide into

B.Erlanden

Here are simple ways to add augmented and diminished chords into standard songs.

Augmented: when the chord will move up a 4th, like 1 to 4. Or 5 back to 1 chord.

1. Play a pedals down major chord, then raise your E string 1/2 tone. This gives you the Augmented 5th of the chord, and will resolve nicely upward to the next chord.
(G chord at fret 10,:then raise your Es, resolve to C at fret 11)
2. Play a major or dominant chord in A/F position(3 frets above open), then add your B pedal to augment the 5th of the chord on Strings 6 and 3. Resolve to next chord.
(G chord at fret 6, add the B pedal, resolve to any C chord)

These two examples have the same pedals for the Augmented chord. This is no coincidence, since Augmented chords repeat themselves every 4 frets(major 3rd interval)

Diminished: a half step above your arrival chord.

Play your dominant chord in open position as strings 9-6-5. Add the A pedal to taste. (This gives you a Dominant13, which contains the diminished notes)
Then resolve down a half step to the arrival chord.
Diminished chords repeat themselves every 3 frets(minor 3rd interval) so these chords can be played up and down the neck every 3 frets.
(Ab13 at fret 4, to G at fret 3)

Here is a video of Mike Johnson so artfully using a diminished sequence in Making Believe.
Go to 1:58 on the video and he is moving from C to G, with an Ab13 between.

https://youtu.be/dEnnh5WH5lM

Hope this helps!
John

Fred Treece wrote:Yes, they’re just exercises to get the ideas under your fingers. Using them in songs (especially Hank Williams tunes...) is a matter of taste.

Like this one, Fred?
in So lonesome I Could Cry, Mr.Russel goes into a short augmented after the midnight (4th) on the word train.
Lots of chords added to the original!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSvlpM2twMk

I like to dress up the old Hank Williams songs myself.
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Sometimes a 7th chord can be confused for a Diminished chord.
Both can be made by engaging the F knee lever.
I also like to throw in a 9th chord every once in a while.
It can add some spice to your playing.
Erv

Triad on the leading tone (7th degree of the major scale) is a diminished triad.
If the bass player is playing the dominant (5th degree), then the bass and steel are making a complete dominant 7th chord (5 7 2 4)

A complete dominant 9th has 5 7 2 4 6 or 5 7 2 4 b6 (minor 9th).
If you're playing three notes on the steel, take your pick:
2 4 6 (this is the ii chord, a minor triad)
If the bass player is playing the 7, you have a "half-diminished" chord, which is really a dominant 9th without the root. I really like this sound.

You get the same effect with the B pedal and F lever, giving you (at the correct fret, of course) the 4 6 and 7, or the 3rd, 7th and 9th of the V9 chord. The bass can play the 5, in which case you have a dominant 9th with 5th omitted, or the 7, for another "half-diminished".

That same diminished triad (7 2 4), moved up 3 tones (tritone), 4 b6 7, with the 2 in the bass, makes a diminished 7th chord, which usually acts as a dominant minor 9th without root, but the resolution reveals the "meaning" of the chord, either dominant or other, like passing chords.

All of this stuff can also be used for I to IV progressions -- just think of the tonic as dominant of the subdominant.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

Thank you all...a big help!

Joachim Kettner wrote:Like this one, Fred?in So lonesome I Could Cry, Mr.Russel goes into a short augmented after the midnight (4th) on the word train.
Lots of chords added to the original!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSvlpM2twMk

Joachim, that is the best version ever, even if Hank would have fired Leon for being over-educated 👨🏻‍🎓

It has been interesting watching this thread expand. It seems everyone has their own way of understanding and explaining a relatively simple theoretical concept.

Maybe ask one of the singers to do "I Can Help", by Billy Swan.
It has a prominent Augmented chord at the end of each verse.

Alan Shank wrote:
Triad on the leading tone (7th degree of the major scale) is a diminished triad.
If the bass player is playing the dominant (5th degree), then the bass and steel are making a complete dominant 7th chord (5 7 2 4)

A complete dominant 9th has 5 7 2 4 6 or 5 7 2 4 b6 (minor 9th).
If you're playing three notes on the steel, take your pick:
2 4 6 (this is the ii chord, a minor triad)

(snip)
Here's a way to think about this stuff; use your C6!
Key of C
mash your boo-wah pedal and play strings 4-10 at the 10th fret
You get a sweet G7 chord in root position. It's not too muddy, because there's a 5th between the 10th and 9th-string notes. It's (from the bottom) G D G B D F G

Now (two feet required) push your pedal that raises 4 and 8 a whole tone. You still have your G in the bass, but the other Gs are now As, so you have a complete dominant 9th chord. G D A B D F A
Now, if you skip the 10th string, you have a dominant 9th without root, which is called a "half-diminished" chord. Classical harmony books call this the "incomplete dominant 9th" or "half-diminished 7th".

Now, instead of the 4&8 +2 raise, use whatever pedal or lever raises them 1/2 tone. Now, with the 10th string, you get a complete dominant minor 9th chord: G D Ab B D F Ab. (TablEdit spells this as G#, but that's clearly incorrect; it's a chromatically lowered 6th degree, with tendency to resolve downward.) It's a "ponderous" chord.

Now, if you skip the 10th string, you have a diminished 7th chord D Ab B D F Ab. It's a lot easier to play one of these with the two "home" pedals, 5 and 6 on most guitars, but looking at it this way reveals where these things come from, i.e. dominant harmony.

Once you get rid of that root, you get the advantage of having all equal intervals, which means all the inversions sound the same and the modulatory possibilities are endless. Each of the notes can be taken as the leading tone, so that chord can be resolved to Eb (major or minor), A (spelled with G#), C or F# (spell F as E#).

There are lots of non-dominant uses of diminished 7ths, too, of course.
I'm having lots of fun on the C6 side these days. I transposed Jeff Newman's E9/B6 Universal course into C using TablEdit, plus I have his C6 video course and some cool stuff from Forum member Herb Steiner.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Carter D-10