The Steel Guitar Forum

Ernie Polock just taught me a really neat way to modulate from one chord to another.----When you are playing the last stanza of the song and you are about go to the 5 chord, go insted to the 5 chord of THE NEW KEY (for the number of beats left in the stanza) then slide to the new one chord. Try it, it's a beauty on a slow dreamy song.

Buck
Another little trick is to go to the pedal down position of the modulated chord and do a no pedal for two beats then a 1/2 A pedal for two beats & pedals down on the 1 count
Kind of a Hughey lick
Rick

Thanks Rick, I'll try that one.

Rick's lick is a good one. Musically what he is doing is going from a Eaug7 say in open position with the A ped.1/2(C) to Amaj6. (5+ to tonic}with A & B down...You can also get the same setup with A&B and EtoFknee on the 7th fret for Eaug, then release pedals and slide to 5th fret, A maj, no pedals...if you let go of F knee first then slide to fret 6 then to 5. nice.

He (Rick) is demonstrating one way of doing exactly what Buck very well indicated: going to the V of the new targeted key, and on the way to the new key (new I), as this a movement of a fourth, he places a quick augmented with the half-A-pedal (or down one fret with A&B-pedals and the E-to-F-raise-lever, does the same if your not comfortable doing half-A's) like we do so many times when going from a I to a IV.

It's a V-->I of the new key.

In pop, jazz swing and even classical music this (keychanges/modulations) happens all the time, even though the song is not written or understood as being more than one key, but once one gets his ears to whatch out and locate potential "key changes", one will find that the song becomes easyer to hear and learn (E. g. Body and Soul has 3 keychanges...).

... J-D.