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Post by Beckanon on Aug 28, 2005 13:28:47 GMT -7
Way cool. I'm borrowing my father-in-law's Supro lap steel. Man, this thing has a great pickup in it and sounds HUGE through the Rt66. Great sustain, of course being a slide instrument, but the clean/gritty tone suits this instrument so well. You can sit somewhere between country/swampy blues with the Rt.66 volume turned up to around 12-1 oclock. The real kicker is when I turn on my fuzz face. damn...very harmonically rich, loud, hairy slide tones. Don't even need a compressor as the amp and this pickup do it nicely on their own. It's a pretty addicting sound, and I'm still just learning the instrument (in open G for the most part). I'm having a lot of fun and I'm gonna try to learn it well enough to take with me on certain gigs where there is enough stage room (the lap steel has legs...more coolness.) I shouldn't be surprised, but the Rt.66 is really a nice slide intrument amp.
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Post by billyguitar on Aug 28, 2005 14:41:04 GMT -7
I like to tune my lap steels from high to low: e, c sharp, b , g sharp, e, c sharp, b and keep that cycle as low as you have strings. This tuning will give you good 6 th chords, a passing dominant 7th, major 7th and a good minor chord. Perfect for Sleepwalk, Misty and western swing sounding blues. If you want to hear that tuning in action go to my band's website and listen to 24 Hours. I'm using an 8 string Supro into a Reverend Hellhound. Unfortunately I didn't have my Maz 38 sr at that time. I also sing the tune. www.luckysoandsos.com
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Post by Beckanon on Aug 28, 2005 14:50:47 GMT -7
Excellent tip! I'll start messing with that tuning...7ths are always hip. My band right now plays a mix of soul, R&B, blues and some jump/swing. That's a great tune and I love the guitar tones you have on that cut!
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Post by billyguitar on Aug 30, 2005 5:16:04 GMT -7
Here's how my tuning works. Put the bar at the 12th fret and you have E6 chord. Slide the bar down two frets, just playing the higher strings and you have a dominant 7th to use in passing to set up the IV chord (A). Place the bar at the 7th fret (B position) and you have a great sounding Major 7th chord. For an E minor chord move the bar up four frets (a minor 3rd) from your root chord (E 6) and you get a very nice minor chord. With these other chords you have to imagine the root of the chord. The only thing this tuning doesn't do very well is Elmore James kind of blues riffs. It can be done, you just have to skip some strings. One of the things I like about this tuning is that the bar is in positions that correspond to regular guitar tuning so you don't have to transpose all the time like you would with a G tuning. Try these gauges from high to low: high E = .015, C sharp = .017, B = .020, G sharp = .022, E = .030, C sharp = .034, B = .038, G sharp = .046, E = .058. For a six string just go as low as I've listed. For 7, 8 or 10 strings just keep going lower. I played this tuning on 6 strings just fine. Invest in a decent bar. Dunlops are the cheapest and they work okay for most people. A Dobro bar also works fine. Regular guitar slides don't work very well. One other trick to learn is the palm harmonic. Place your bar somewhere, then exactly 12 frets up touch the strings with the side of your palm as you pick a string or chord. That's how you play that high whistling riff on Sleepwalk. A volume pedal is almost essential for full control. I invented this tuning out of desperation because the open E and G chord tunings were too limited. Actually, I'm sure I didn't invent it but I had to work it out for myself because at the time I didn't know of any info about steels. Now there are books that list all kinds of tunings but this is the one for me. There are lots of good lap steels and steels with legs like yours and mine. Supros, Richenbacker, most Fenders (some I don't like), Gibson, National, Alamo, Alkire, Gretsch, Silvertone, Harmony, Epiphone, etc.......... There also some very nice new ones. If I'm looking at a lap steel I try the palm harmonic Sleepwalk line. If it'll make it all the way I know it'll sustain okay. If it won't sustain the whole line I move on. I have an early 1960s Fender Studio 8 and I used to have an Alamo Embassy that wouldn't do it. I traded off the Alamo and don't use that Fender even though it has good tone otherwise. Have fun!
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