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Some Thoughts by Jerry Byrd - Another gem from da chief on steel guitar fads and gimmicks
The Queen's Songbook - a new collection of famous and previously unpublished songs written by Lili`uokalani. Jerry Byrd's Instruction Course - where to order this steel guitar classic "So You Want to Play Hawaiian Steel Guitar" - a lesson from Alan Akaka
Tunings for Steel Guitar - by John Ely
Tech Tips - Build a Steel! - John Tipka on steel guitar building.
'Da Book' - Lorene's great new sourcebook ©2000 by Ely Music/Pub |
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A Lesson from Jerry Byrd... Where Is It?? The "Keys" to Steel Guitar TuningA common complaint: "I'm totally lost when I change from one tuning to another. Where do I start?" Almost every song begins in the "Key" chord; if it's "A" for instance, the melody will nearly always start with one of the three basic notes of the "Key Chord" (A, C#, and E). If it is in the Key of "C", then you have C, E, and G. You must learn to recognize immediately which of those three notes is used and where it is: the string (or strings) and the fret position on the neck. It is best to decide which tuning you most prefer, and learn the note positions up and down the neck. The "Key" positions change with various tunings. Learn the Key position for each tuning you use. This is very simple: each tuning is named after the open-string chord - "A" tuning is the Key of "A" (open); "E" tunings - E (open) (E13th,C#m) the same; C-6th - C. The only exception is B-11th tuning because it contains two different chords in the open-string position: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings is an A-6th chord, and the bottom five strings (6-string instrument) is a B-9th chord. Now -- select a song that you know and can hum. (You CAN hum, can't you?) Hum the first note of the song. Find it and continue on with the melody and sing it to yourself in your mind while playing. You should select a key first -- say, for instance, it is G. Play a simple 3-string G-major chord. The first note of the song will most always be one of those three notes in your chord. Add one or two more strings - "harmony" notes, where you judge them to sound right; they MUST match the chord progression of the song. You must know chords and chord progressions, of course, or you are doomed to play everything on one string.
WEB PAGE READERS NOTE: the 4 pages of tunings that go with this article appear in the Fall '99 "HSGA Quarterly". They will not appear at this website, as they are (1) Jerry's "intellectual property" and (2) one of the "exclusives" HSGA saves for members. ED. NOTE: Do you have Jerry's free catalog? Once you've done what Jerry tells you, you may want to get Jerry's complete catalog listing available re-issued recordings, steel guitar arrangements and, naturally Jerry's masterful steel instruction course and video. The book is free, but we ask that you send Jerry a self-addressed 9x12 catalog envelope with $1.00 US postage on it; we'd like to save him the trouble and cost of mailing the catalog to you. Canada: US$1.20 postage; Overseas: US $3.40 postage. 
HSGA * HAWAIIAN
STEEL GUITAR ASSOCIATION Homepage URL: www.hsga.org (hsga@lava.net) Last updated: 07/23/02 by Gerald Ross (gbross@umich.edu) |
