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Building arrangements for steel guitar, pt. 1

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Mike Neer

I’d like to present a series of posts on a topic that is essential, highly personal and yet talked about too infrequently: building arrangements for steel guitar. Building arrangements is one of the most daunting and highly rewarding undertakings in playing steel guitar.  Anyone who has ever listened to Jerry Byrd recordings, especially from Hi-Fi Guitar on, has probably had to lift their jaw off the floor once they realize what they’d just heard.  The same goes for the instrumental recordings by Lloyd Green, Jimmy Day, among many others.  Even through the glitzy orchestrations you can hear the soulfulness and ingenuity of a player like Jimmy Day. You will employ everything you know about music in the process of arranging and you will learn not only a lot about the instrument itself, but, more importantly, about yourself.  You will learn to hear internally and transfer sounds in your mind to your fingers; you will learn how to problem solve by being creative and exhaustive in the process; you will push your technique to accommodate your ideas; you will expand your palette and use colors you hadn’t thought of; and you will gain confidence in your own musicality.

Most of my life I have been an improviser; I played very loosely in all the music I played.  Rather than learning parts to songs, or learning to play complete songs (meaning instrumental arrangements), I felt better just learning to follow my instincts and trying to create perfect parts on the fly.  Of course, as a professional sideman you can’t escape having to learn specific parts to songs.  That’s the work part.  As a leader, you choose which path to travel. That’s the play part.

And I have played a lot! But for the longest time I’ve wanted to revisit that one area of my playing that was neglected: playing complete arrangements of tunes. My favorite music features piano, usually solo or in small groups, and if I could do it all over again, I would choose to learn how to play Ravel, Chopin, Debussy, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, just to hear that music flowing from my own fingers. Alas, I was seduced at an early age by rock and roll guitar! But back to steel guitar—with the steel guitar we are faced with a lot of decisions, and I think it’s the choices we make that show who we really are as musicians/arrangers and yes, artists. Without a doubt, the limitation of being relegated to playing with just a bar in your ‘fretting’ hand prepares you for the prospect of having to do some crazy stuff.  It was in listening very carefully to Sol Hoopii’s playing on a few recordings that I figured out a few of his tricks, and that led me down a path of finding my own tricks emboldened with the knowledge that tricks were even a thing and that you can and must learn how to employ these little devices in order to keep that elasticity in your playing. Players like Sol Hoopii would stay up all night just working on a single lick.  There’s always the possibility that there is a better way to play something, maybe a possibility I hadn’t even thought of yet.  It’s important in creating arrangements that I do my best to map out parts with the right timbre and that are not so awkward to play to the point it sounds like wrestling match between my picking and bar hand. These little lissues tend to pop up at the worst times, like when in front of an audience. It’s important to keep open the option for your arrangements to evolve as you spend more time with them. New techniques or ideas often add a little spice to them.

So what I would like to do is share a few of the techniques I use to arrange tunes, and what the thought process is from early on in deciding on material, approach and critical review.

When an idea for an arrangement pops in my head, it’s usually a melody that I am very familiar with, or a segment of it.  There are tunes I can think of where I know one or two sections of it and then just draw a blank.  Maple Leaf Rag was like that for me.  Actually, that masterpiece by Scott Joplin is a very good place to start this discussion.  I have the sheet music for that piece and all other Joplin rags, but wanted to give it a try from memory, just using my inner jukebox to try and remember the sounds and harmony. I recorded a short video clip of the first A section and while it was not really exact, it represented all the harmony correctly, in particular the diminished sounds. I was very excited about this random left turn into Ragtime, but really it has been in the back of my mind for many years to tackle some of the repertoire and see if I could bring another rag, or even a Sousa march to the steel guitar book. Now I had an opportunity to commit to doing it, and I was energized at the prospect.  

The first consideration for me is whether a tune moves me in some way.  I think you have to be able to listen to a piece and make a connection with it.  After all, you will be living with that piece for a considerable amount of time, including well into the future. The next thought is whether I could make an arrangement of the tune that elevates the tune in some way.  I have to believe that, even as ridiculous as it seems.  Could I elevate a Joplin masterpiece like Maple Leaf Rag?  I don’t know, but if what I am doing is getting me excited, then I have to believe I am onto something.  I trust myself in that way; I have to. I am also very honest with myself when something is not working.  Maybe I will put that aside for a time and revisit later on.  I also find it important to document how I am playing things.  Sometimes I use video to record it and other times I actually tab it out with notation, making several drafts.

With a tune like Maple Leaf, it’s so iconic that you have to adhere pretty closely to the melody, bass and chords.  Making an arrangement that captures the melody and harmony at the same time keeps it exciting enough that you can focus on it as written.  It’s even possible and preferable to play two or even three voices on the steel at the same time.  Depending on the tuning you are using and the number of strings, you can add harmony, or a bass line, or rhythm, or a trombone-esque slide or whatever.  It’s learning what you have at your disposal.  This is where you start to realize how important a role your technique will play.

Another consideration for me early in the process is the framing of the arrangement: will it be a solo arrangement, a group or duo arrangement and if so, what instrumentation? These questions help me to make choices about what is necessary to play and not. With solo arrangements, there is likelihood that I will be presenting more than just the melody—bass notes or countermelodies and harmony are frequently used, and often I will have to spend time learning to physically play two voices simultaneously and independently, like a pianist or fingerstyle guitarist. A good starting point for arranging is learning another person’s arrangement and then adding some personal flourishes or touches to it, even combining aspects of another player’s arrangement to make something of a hybrid. This can be done even by just changing the feel of the tune or even the key. I will talk more on this later.

I’ll be back to pick this topic up again in a few days with some musical examples. Thanks for reading and indulging me.  Bookmark the site or subscribe to get notifications of new posts.

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | Leave a comment

Slanting the scale (playing triads of the scale using slants)

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Mike Neer

I like to practice things by making musical exercises out of them. To practice in an unmusical way by just robotically playing through scales, etc. is non-productive. I find it helps me best retain when I immediately put the material to use.

This little exercise runs through the major triads of the G major scale using triads built on every degree of the scale, all either I, IV or V—the tonic, subdominant and dominant. By mostly keeping the notes confined to the same strings, we can achieve a continuity that allows smooth transitions and easier picking. This works really well for emulating the sound of pedal steel.

Check out the video and tab below. This is what I would consider to be Intermediate/Advanced, or Ninja Jr. The material itself is basic, but the slants are unorthodox (personally, I haven’t seen anyone using these before) and the picking very specific. I am using a long scale Clinesmith Instruments “Joaquin” model tuned to C13 with an E first string, but only the first 5 strings are used, so this is playable on a 6 string instrument.

There are some slants that are not really playable unless in the upper range of the instrument, usually fret 7 and above. These slants span 3 and even 4 frets (as in bar 4). Good luck with this and don’t give up. As always, I recommend using a bullet bar, and 3″ is probably a safe length, depending on your string spacing. For wider spacing you may need a slightly longer bar. Also, don’t forget to adjust your tuning by flattening the E and A strings ever so slightly. This helps to keep the slants a little more in tune. Note: I tried a funky little thing using the V7 and IV7, which is just a little out of tune, but it was a new discovery so I’ll take it!

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | Leave a comment

Bud’s Bounce

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Mike Neer

Back in 2011, I did a little arrangement of Bud’s Bounce for non-pedal steel in E9 tuning (E B G# F# D B G# E). This is a great tuning and it also works well for 6 string (just leave off the low G# and E).

The performance requires a rather cool and mildly difficult string pull of two strings in one–you are pulling string 2 up a whole step and string 3 up a 1/2 step. It sounds more difficult than it is but it’s important to have the right gauge of strings on your guitar in order to get the pitches right every time. This can take some experimentation.

When I recorded the track below, I had recently burned my left hand on my lawn mower and had a huge blister, which made the pulling more difficult. I suffered through and you can hear that because the pitches are not perfect. Nonetheless, I let it stand. I think I have come a long way as a player since, but I don’t think I have played this one since then.

Anyway, check it out. I hope you enjoy it. Listen below and then scroll down to download tab.

Download pdf of Bud’s Bounce tab/notation below.

Bud’s BounceDownload
Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | 1 Comment

Announcement re SteelInstruction.com

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Mike Neer

I’ve recently decided to remove all of the tab/video lessons from my site as I plan to revamp my instructional material to reflect a more fully developed and representative approach to lap steel guitar from my personal perspective. While studying the playing of the greats has proved invaluable to my development as a steel guitarist, it was through the process of transcribing itself that I was able to see the road maps of the fretboard unfold before my eyes and the deeper task of problem solving to find the best position for certain parts really escalated my level of analysis to a point where I could begin to do it in real time in my own playing. I highly recommend every musician, not just the lap steel player, to engage in this activity. Without it, you are missing a big piece of your development as a musician. The ear is the most crucial and invaluable tool we have. Strengthen it.

There is a part of steel playing that one has to get used to, and that is the specter of the past that always seems to hover around you. No matter how far you stray from tradition, there is something there that either pulls at you or serves as a reminder that it is difficult to move completely beyond it. Listeners, particularly steel players, have an attachment to the instrument’s past. There will always be comparisons to what it is “supposed” to sound like, how it should be played, etc. These things can get in your head if you let them. I have great respect for Susan Alcorn, who has no doubt suffered these slings and arrows but has emerged from it as a strong, fully developed and unique voice. She has always been an influence to me, especially as I first started played seriously, showing me what is possible.

Admittedly, I have had some struggles with this. Is it my own doing? I sometimes allow myself to give in to my own nostalgia and sometimes I wonder if maybe I that’s where I really belong. But I have to follow my own heart and what I hear in music, which is what we should all do. Part of the growth of learning an instrument and developing a voice is also a mental process. Only we can know when we are getting closer to it.

Thanks for reading. –Mike

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | Leave a comment

Bix Beiderbecke’s “In A Mist” duet for steel guitar

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Mike Neer




Over the period of about a week in 2019, I started arranging Bix’s iconic composition ’In A Mist’ for steel guitar duet.  I had purchased the sheet music about 15 years prior with the hopes of one day getting to it on guitar but was always so daunting.  I first heard the piece on Ry Cooder’s Jazz Lp, which coincidentally also introduced me to another of my favorite pieces and artists, Jelly Roll Morton’s ‘The Pearls’.  I just decided to roll up my sleeves on In A Mist and see if I could turn it into a reasonable duet arrangement for steel guitar.  I think I succeeded, although I never quite finished the arrangement.  I’m hoping to get inspired again to continue to arrange and then record an acceptable version.

This is one of the most ambitious undertakings I’ve ever been involved in.  To say it is difficult is an understatement, but somehow it works.  The combination of the slightly differently tuned steels really work hand in hand, and where one tuning is not quite capable of making a part happen, the other seems to pick up the slack.  Sometimes the two guitars switch parts in the most unusual places, seamlessly completing the puzzle.

I’m offering up for study the first 80 measures of what I have completed.  I think that much of what is on these pages is a pretty food reflection of how I see the steel guitar, in particular the C6 tuning.  There is a good deal of problem solving involved in trying to make difficult passages sound easier than they are.  If I have a little time, I will try to describe some of the thinking that went into certain parts.  Maybe after I have finished the entire score.

Ciao for now.




Posted in Fresh baked thoughts Lessons and Tips | Tagged bix beiderbecke c6 tuning duet impressionism in a mist jazz | Leave a comment

Interview with Mike Neer by Andy Volk

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Mike Neer

[In 2018, I was approached to do an interview with Andy Volk, author of ‘Lap Steel Guitar’ and numerous other steel guitar books [Volk Media Books website] for a guitar publication. We had a pleasant conversation and Andy went on to write this piece which, unfortunately, never made it to publication. Andy was kind enough to share it with me, so I am proud to share it with you. Thanks, Andy!]

MIKE NEER INTERVIEW FOR ***********
By Andy Volk

The sound of the steel guitar is deeply ingrained across a broad spectrum of American music. The first commercial electric instruments were non-pedal steel guitars (or lap steels), yet it still remains something of a cult instrument. Perhaps that’s because its learning curve is so steep.

Like learning the violin, in learning to play steel guitar well, you have to pass through hell on your way to heaven. It takes a lot of practice to deal with intonation on a fretless instrument. Add in blocking, making sure you control which notes sound and which are muted, and you have a bit of a hill to climb. The rewards is that on the other side, you have that sound – that superb, voice-like, liquid sound where notes and chords ring out and meld in such beautiful and exciting musical colors. That’s why more and more guitarists are adding lap steel to their skill set.

Mike Neer is one of their leading inspirations. New Jersey-based Neer is one of the players creating a significant buzz in the steel guitar community and beyond for his musicality and technical control of the instrument. His 2016 CD “Steelonious” reimagined the music of Thelonious Monk as a non-pedal-steel-centric universe where jazz was filtered through Hawaiian, lounge, blues, Western Swing and New Orleans R&B. music. Neer’s long history playing R&B and jazz guitar infuses his steel playing with some surprising twists and turns. ****** sat down with Mike to talk about his journey with the lap steel.

AV
What was the first music that caught your ear?

MN
I listened to a lot of AM radio. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder – soul music– Stevie Wonder tunes like “My Cherie Amor” was the first music I can recall really latching onto.

AV
How did you move from listener to player, and then to professional musician?

MN
My grandfather was a professional musician on saxophone going back to the 40s and 50s. His son, my uncle, played accordion, keyboards and guitar. So, from a pretty early age I had an interest in playing music. I got my first guitar at probably about six years old. The first paying gig I ever got was for the local high school dances. I was probably 13 or 14 years old at the time and maybe a little precocious.

We played a lot of R&B and even some disco. All the time I was in high school, I was playing in bands with my uncle and grown men, making TV appearances and things like that so it was a pretty quick jump. My father wasn’t too thrilled with the whole notion of me being out late at night playing nightclubs at fifteen but it was cool while it lasted.

AV
Where did you first hear a steel guitar?

MN
Early on, I was attracted to steel guitar but I had no idea what it was that was making that sound. I wasn’t much into Country music at all but I heard the instrument on some pop tunes. I had a pretty vast record collection, and I’d see it listed in the credits on records. I didn’t find out what it was till much later on. The thing that really hooked me once and for all was hearing Gabby Pahinui on a Ry Cooder record called Chicken Skin Music and David Lindley. I just became attracted to what I felt was the real emotional weight of the instrument. It just had another degree of emotional weight that you didn’t hear with a fretted guitar. I see it as the ultimate musical instrument.

AV
What was your gateway into playing steel guitar?

MN
I got a pedal steel and thought I’d give that a shot. I didn’t know that there were any pedal steel guitar players in this area (NY/NJ). It felt really difficult. I felt I was coming at it from the wrong direction, so I decided to focus more on lap steel. I heard about this band called The Moonlighters who were playing music I was interested in at the time, so I decided to get a guitar and see if I could become a sub for that band and that’s exactly what happened. I emailed and the leader who said, “Let’s get together – like, now!” They didn’t have anybody at the time and I got the gig. It was literally a situation where I was learning on the bandstand. I had a great 1929 [National] Tricone that I bought online. I was playing it in the Sol Hoʻopiʻi C# minor tuning. (6th to 1st string: E,B,E,G#,C#,E).

AV
Over the years, you’ve delved into the technique of your favorite steel players on an almost forensic level. What did you learn from studying Sol’s music?

MN
Humor has always been something that’s important to me in music and I heard that in Sol’s playing. He was kind of an acrobatic player out of necessity, because in order to make certain things happen on the instrument, you kind of have to be acrobatic about it. He would use open strings as passing tones. That was one of the really big eye openers for me. When I began to dissect all his stuff, I began to discover how he played it all.

AV
You recently acquired a vintage Rickenbacher Bakelite guitar that was Sol’s personal instrument. How did this guitar come your way and is the Sol Ho’opi’i “mojo” still in there?

MN
Ian Ufton (Canadian steel guitarist) posted online that he was thinking of selling it or giving it away. I guess it could have been anybody. I don’t think he really knew me from anyone else. We were doing a Skype call and after we talked, he got a tear in his eye and said, “I’ve decided to give it to you”, which is when I got a tear in my eye. He had been given it with the promise that he would play it and he did. Whether it still has the Mojo in it, I haven’t discovered yet but it definitely has the sound.

AV
What are the obstacles and challenges for guitar players who want to learn to play lap steel?

MN
There are certain sacrifices you have to make in learning to play an instrument. I don’t know anybody who was just born with the ability to play. It takes a lot of hard work. I have devoted a lot of energy to it and made the decision to just play steel; I couldn’t see going back and forth [from guitar to steel] anymore. I didn’t want to just pick up the steel guitar to play a couple of songs. I wanted it to be an instrument that, at will, I could play anything that I wanted to play. In order to do that, I needed to put the guitar aside.

I think one of the hardest things to do is to put aside, to some degree, what you already know and learn how to approach the instrument. If you were suddenly left to play guitar with just one finger, you might have to rethink the way that you look at harmony. You have to keep thinking: reduction. That process took me a lot of years to realize. You think you’re making progress and you’re nailing all this really cool stuff but it sounds like you’re really struggling to make it happen. With steel guitar, it should have a sense of ease to it.

One of the things that I figured I needed to do was to simplify it; look at harmony in a new way in terms of upper extensions and triads and to start building from there. I think there’s a little bit of progression going on [in my playing] now. I can feel it. I feel pretty excited about it, actually.

AV
When you come to the steel guitar from standard guitar, one of the first things you have to deal with is that there are a number of different tunings in common use.

MN
If you’re a guitar player, you’re always baffled about which way to go with tunings. I know that I wasted time with tunings. People are always trying to figure out what tuning to use. My advice is to just go with a tried and true tuning and get as much mileage out of that as you can and, eventually, you’ll make your own tweaks to it. My main tuning is the Jules Ah See [late Hawaiian master steeler] C13th tuning (8th to 1st string): C,Bb,C,E,G,A,C,E.

AV
When people first take up lap steel, there’s a tendency to make a lot of the inherent sliding capability of the instrument. I notice that in your playing, you’re very controlled about when you hit a note or chord or slide in and out of it.

MN
Once you’re on the path to discover your own voice, you find the sounds that you like. Sometimes we listen to other players and hear something we want to avoid. So I really did make a conscious effort to not be a very “slidey” player. I listened and decided that I didn’t really like sliding too much unless it was for an exaggerated effect.

I use less of the gliss effect than some other players because I thought it took away from the right-hand articulation. I wanted to make the melodic lines more articulate. That was the goal. Now that I’ve gotten to the point where I can control that more, I’m bringing more of the sound of sliding into my playing and hopefully, I’ll sound like I have control over that as well.


AV

You’ve deservedly gotten a fair amount of attention for your record “Steelonious” which places the steel guitar into an unexpected place: the music of Thelonious Monk. Monk’s tunes are often treated very reverently by jazz musicians but you’ve brought a sense of fun to this music incorporating references to surf, pop, New Orleans second line, BB King-style blues, Hawaiian, lounge and Bob Wills-style Western swing.

MN
People hold Monk’s music pretty sacred, but it’s actually been a springboard for people to go off and treat it in a kind of avant-garde way. In conversations I’ve had with people who were not jazz musicians, they confided to me that they really didn’t dig Monk’s music. I felt it was important to present Monk’s compositions in a way that people could really see a different side of it, that there was more to it than dissonance or that oddball quality that some suspect Monk of having.

I viewed his music as beautiful and kind of a history of jazz, from the beginning up through his time. So I wanted to present the music to people who may not have otherwise been indoctrinated to it. I chose to use the steel guitar to sort of meet it halfway by also paying tribute to some of the steel guitar styles that I admired when I was learning to play the instrument.

AV
Throughout the CD, I can hear references to some of the signature moves of a number of well-known steel players – and maybe a little Jeff Beck?

MN
(Laughs). Always. I think Jeff Beck would probably tell you steel guitar players influenced him too.
You’ll definitely hear touches of all the players that were important to me: Curly Chalker’s vibrato; there a couple times where I’m trying to get Speedy West’s emotion that I felt when listening to his music. There’s some also Buddy Emmons-type licks in there, borrowing from here and there, filtered through me. I’m paying tribute to the steel player and Monk. But I wanted to avoid the record sounding like it was stuck in the past, not like a period piece; looking backward, but moving forward.

AV
How did you approach arranging Monk’s music with the steel guitar in mind?

MN
The material was there as far as being great compositions, that’s where it all starts. You can do what you want with it because the essence of Monk’s music is so great. If I felt I had to work too hard to make something happen or it just didn’t sound natural I didn’t use it. I do have alternate arrangements of the tunes and a lot of times I go on gigs and we play them completely differently. That’s the beauty of this music.

AV
Have you had any pushback from the jazz community about incorporating the steel guitar in this music?

MN
Surprisingly, just the opposite. I’ve been in situations where I’ve been around jazz musicians who were elderly cats who told me how they remember watching Speedy West on TV in the late 40s. – we’re talking about African American jazz musicians who, going that far back, talk about how they idolized Speedy West. It was really interesting to me that these older jazz cats recognized the steel guitar. I’m grateful that people in the jazz community are open to the steel guitar making its way into the music.

AV
You play an aluminum, 8-string Clinesmith non-pedal steel guitar. What appealed to you about Todd Clinesmith’s guitars?

MN
My first experience with the Rickenbacher Bakelite guitars was that I felt like the instrument was very easy to play, very comfortable and of course, it sounded great. That instrument was always my standard for a what a steel guitar should be. Then, of course, Bigsby steel guitars were the stuff of dreams. All the great players played them in their heyday and they looked so amazing.

So when Todd started making his guitars, I just had to have one. I got one of the early console steel guitars which I thought was beautiful and I loved. Times can get tough and I had to part with it. It was a really dark period where I thought maybe I’d stop playing steel guitar ‘cause I wasn’t getting anywhere with it. Todd sent me one of his lap steels, I started playing it and everything changed for me. I had a guitar that sounded and looked the way I wanted and felt the way I wanted it to feel; made of metal, made of wood, and great craftsmanship.

Later on, he decided to make these all-metal [aluminum] guitars and when I got one of these from him it was just absolute perfection. I was on a gig the other night and I was playing Jitterbug Waltz and I just couldn’t believe the bell-like clarity coming out of that guitar. It was remarkable. The articulation and clarity with these guitars is really in a league of its own. I’ve never had anything that gives me the sound the way I want to hear it the way the Clinesmith does.

AV
What’s your next project?

MN
I’m working on a CD of Horace Silver songs. This one will go in a more R&B and straight-ahead jazz direction. The idea with Steelonious initially was to just do it and see where it goes, just do something different, but I think I stumbled onto something that I’m going to continue with for a while – that whole concept. I think it’s got some legs.

Posted in Conversation with.... Fresh baked thoughts | 2 Comments

Mike Neer live webinar 12/7 “Triadic Mechanics”

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Mike Neer

On Saturday, December 7 at 1:00 pm, Mike will be conducting a webinar that will focus on his concept of Triadic Mechanics.  If it sounds intense and deep, it is!  However, it is designed for all levels of player and is only as complex as you need it to be.

You will learn how to use the concept to improvise in a way that takes you out of the usual go-to position playing and expands your ability to play in all positions with strong melodic and harmonic content.  The potential is limitless.

The webinar will be viewable on any PC or mobile device with no extra software downloads necessary. You will also have the ability to re-watch the webinar.

Upon registration, your space will be reserved and 24-48 hours prior to the webinar you will receive your unique link.  You will also receive a Triadic Mechanics printable 30+ page pdf.

Follow this link to register: Webinar registration

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | 2 Comments

Comping chords with C13 tuning (Jules Ah See tuning) – Rhythm Changes

Posted on April 13, 2019 by Mike Neer




One of the distinct beauties and advantages of the Jules Ah See C13 tuning, which I use almost exclusively, is the availability of options for playing chord changes in a jazz guitar style. To clarify a bit further, comping chords in Jazz very often involves chord voicings which are abbreviated by leaving out several unnecessary chord tones, but using just enough to imply the intended harmony. In this approach we begin to understand the similarities between many of the chords we’re playing and often substitute one for another, enabling us to stay in position and avoid having to jump up and down the neck for each chord change.

The low C string (string 8) was brilliantly added to the tuning and really establishes a great uniqueness in its ability to deal with bass notes, which are most often avoided on steel guitar–but then again, so is chord comping, so we’re really exploring fresh territory here. In musical situations including a bass player, we would be wise to avoid using too many bass notes and walking bass patterns. But getting these changes under your bar will prove very useful in other situations, such as duos.

What I have notated and tabbed below is essentially the chord changes to the composition I Got Rhythm by George and Ira Gershwin (frequently called ‘Rhythm Changes’ by Jazz musicians). This, along with the Blues are two of the essential song formats for Jazz and knowledge and mastery of them is crucial. In the example I have provided, you will see that there are many chord changes that fall outside of the song’s usual substituted harmony, which is essentially (A) I vi ii V7, I vi ii V7, I I7 IV #IVdim V7 I, (B) III7 VI7 II7 V7, and then repeat (A) section. In my example, the first A section is straightforward, the second A section touches on a few substitutions from Coltrane changes, and the third A section uses a substitution often employed by Thelonious Monk: a descending cycle of chromatic dominant 7th chords beginning on the bVI (Gb).

Give this a go if you can. The rhythm is based on Red Garland’s comping rhythm, which was taught to me by Mike Stern and is one of the most valuable things I’ve ever learned from anyone. The tuning is (from high to low): E, C, A, G, E, C, Bb, C

Most of these chords are very easy to play in this tuning. An important task is getting good accuracy with the right hand, which comes with lots of practice, but it does come, I promise. Another important element is slanting. In this example you’ll see many unusual slants, such as the min9 chords in measures 6 and 8, but they can be played and played in tune. I do notice that it is a little easier to play many of these slant voicings in tune on my steels with tighter string spacing, but I can still manage on my other guitars with wider spacing. The fact that these chords do not ring out is also an important key to the sound. The sound should just be nice, clear stabs that are in tune. See the video below for an example.




Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | Tagged C13 Jules Ah See lap steel Rhythm Changes | Leave a comment

Joe Pass Modern Blues #1

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Mike Neer




This is an etude written by Joe Pass in his Joe Pass Guitar Style book (orange cover) over the changes of a Bird Blues (Charlie Parker blues reharmonization) that I altered slightly. This reharmonization is the same as that found in Blues For Alice or Confirmation. As Joe was known to do, he created his etude in straight eighth notes with a solid outlining of the changes.

This is arranged for straight C6 tuning with an A down on the bottom, but could easily be transposed to A6 by playing everything up 3 frets and down one string. If you’ve seen my book Steelin’ Scales and Modes, you will be familiar with the way I approach laying out lines for the non-pedal steel guitar in C6 tuning. Much of what you see in this tab reflects that approach.

Here is a quick video of me playing (not perfectly) the etude.




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Billie’s Bounce by Charlie Parker

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Mike Neer

 

For this latest installment, I have tabbed the tune Billie’s Bounce by Charlie Parker for C6 lap steel guitar.  This is a great place to start to get a feel for how you can lay a melody out for good bebop articulation.  In this particular arrangement, I have stuck very close to the original melody, but the way it is laid out on the fretboard leaves open the possibilities of some nice triplet embellishments in the form of rakes, especially in measure 8.

Give it try and let me know how you like it.  I’ve compiled a book called Bebop Lap Steel Guitar which arranges a number of bebop heads in this way, from easy to difficult.

Also, as an added bonus, I’ve attached the magnificent guitar solo by George Benson from his recording of Billie’s Bounce and his LP Blue Benson.


Blue Benson

 

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Playing complex (jazzy) lines on lap steel and how to approach them

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Mike Neer

 

If you have an interest in playing jazzy lines in almost any context, then it is important to realize that there is going to be a lot of bar movement and the need for coordination with the picking hand.  Many of the lines that you hear in jazz utilize chromatic notes and scales such as the melodic minor, harmonic minor, augmented and diminished (octatonic) scales.  Approaching these types of lines and scales on a lap steel is extremely challenging.  I have written two books which were meant as guides to opening up new approaches to playing these types of scales and lines, Bebop Lap Steel Guitar, which uses bebop heads to introduce new strategies for approaching these lines in C6 tuning as well as some simple but informative scale patterns, and Steelin’ Scales and Modes, which introduces a simple system of looking at scales in four note groups called tetrachords.  Both books were written from my perspective and are largely the way I look at playing steel guitar in this context.  I believe these books to be worthy of your attention.

There are definitely a lot of players who have no interest in this sort of thing and don’t believe the instrument was made to be played this way.  To them I say, do your thing, man, I’ll do mine.  Or maybe there are naysayers who have attempted to play jazz on lap steel but find that the music suffers from the challenge of playing fast lines.  This is somewhat true–it is extremely challenging to do and there is a steep learning curve.  While the lap steel may seem novel in a setting with jazz musicians, you are still expected to be able to hang on some level, and that means having your chops and your ideas together.  Nothing is going to make that happen except for some serious, dedicated practice.  I spend a lot of time these days simply playing heads and lines along with a metronome.  I start off slowly, trying to look at little blocks of the line and figuring out the most sensible place to play each part of the line.  I may change the way a play a little four or five note sequence several times before I arrive at the most efficient and effective way to play it.  A lot of it has to do with what follows or comes before–the whole line has to be able to flow together, and the fingers and bar need to find their positions smoothly.  Any inability to do that smoothly results in either dodgy pitch, fumbling fingers, and a loss of rhythmic continuity.

I have recently been undertaking some of the most challenging music I’ve ever played, and that is the music of Lennie Tristano and the musicians who are strongly associated with him (Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, Sal Mosca, Jimmy Halperin, Connie Crothers, Ted Brown).  The music is not really new for me, but actually delving into playing this challenging music on lap steel is.  Lennie and company often wrote new melodies or lines over the chord changes and forms of standards.  This was something Lennie did with his students and some of those tunes have become very popular among musicians.  Perhaps the most challenging piece I’ve arranged for steel guitar as of this time is the tune “Wow” written by Lennie over his reharmonized changes for the tune You Can Depend On Me.  The melody is progressive, not quite bebop, but not exactly not bop, and the lines are long.  However, the bridge is where the title Wow came from.  It is all doubled up into sixteenth notes and in harmony among the tenor and alto, and the line flows effortlessly over the bar line.  My first reaction about playing this tune was that it was impossible, but I wanted to give it a crack anyway.  I worked hard at getting through the A and B section of the tunes, and could just about play them in tempo with the recording, which I think is somewhere around 160-170 bpm.  Then came the bridge–wow, indeed.  I struggle to play the bridge beyond 100-110 bpm, though the first few bars of it come a little easier for me.

I’d like to share with you my tab for the tune Wow and if you are so inclined, you might be able to see how I approach playing some of this tricky stuff.  The one goal is to always make it sound good, and not to sound like I am struggling to play it.  That may come in time, or maybe not.  But I do believe that with the tab you see here, I have put forth my best possible effort to make it playable and I will continue to practice it daily with a metronome until I am comfortable enough to play the arrangement of it that I hear in my head.

Have a look.  I’ve excluded the chord changes on the chart and I am have only included the upper harmony part on the bridge.  Also, I did not include any right hand picking designations, as this is something I am still working on, and well, you should figure it out for yourself.  There are also a number of slides that I intentionally left out of the tab, but I use a fair share of them.

First, here is the tune:

 

 

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Building chops–right (picking) hand rhythm

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Mike Neer


Musicians tend to listen to music with a more scrutinizing ear, analyzing each facet of the music and evaluating it on subjective criteria on levels that most ordinary listeners would not understand or even care about. There are also times to put that scrutiny away and simply just absorb the music and emotions and colors it generates. Still, it should always be the goal of the musician to be in command of his instrument in order to express things clearly and articulately. This is made possible by having good ‘chops’, or facility, to carry out these ideas.

Many get the impression that having good chops is about playing fast or technically virtuosic; however, it can also mean excellence in executing ideas, even if these are simple ideas. It’s about having all the tools to get the job done. In this post I really want to focus on the rhythmic execution of phrases and melodies and how important it is to the success of a piece of music.

The successful phrasing of a melodic line or even just a motif is strongly dependent on the rhythmic accuracy of it. Connection with the pulse of the music and absolute control of the rhythm is crucial to the music. Even though the role of each musical instrument is different in musical performances, it is of the highest importance that each instrument is in service of the rhythm of the piece, and lap steel guitar, unfortunately, is not exempt from this. Lap steel players, just like guitarists, drummers and pianists, must have control of rhythm, accents and dynamics of their playing.

I want this post to focus on the picking hand, but it takes the coordinated efforts of the picking and the bar hand to make it a success. In phase 1, we’ll just focus on picking. We can do this by working on picking exercises on open strings using no bar, though it is not something that I like to do at length because I like to make actual music when I practice. In this case, we want to emphasize our ability to pick accurately, so we’ll keep it simple in phase 1. For the purposes of making ourselves more self-aware, it’s recommended to record ourselves practicing often and to learn to listen to ourselves in an honest and critical way. This is how we make improvements and develop a better relationship with music.

When it comes to rhythmic execution, we can look at how we use our picking fingers to play certain rhythmic patterns–for even rhythms, such as quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes, the simplest approach is to use two fingers, usually T (thumb) and 2 (middle), but also T and 1. We’ll keep it simple. For odd groupings, such as factors of 3 (triplets), it’s good to use T, 1 and 2. This is how we are going to proceed.

If you have a metronome (recommended) or a metronome app (I like Tempo for iphone or Time Guru), set it to a tempo of 80 bpm (Andantino). Each click will be a quarter note. Pick in an alternating pattern, T-2, T-2, T-2. T-2, T-2 for approximately one minute. If you’ve recorded yourself, listen back to the recording. Ask yourself if you were dead on all the way through. Now, try it again. Listen again to the recording.

When you feel that you are comfortable with the rhythm and your picking is flawless, change the setting on the metronome to 40 bpm. We are going to consider each click now to be a half note, and we want to play quarter notes, so what that means is that we will play two notes for every click–one on the click and one in between clicks. It’s essentially the exact thing you played before. Record yourself for 30 seconds. Listen. Repeat. It is a little more difficult, isn’t it? We are internalizing the rhythm and we are gaining control of our picking.

Let’s try one more exercise. Reset the metronome to 60 bpm. We are going to play triplets now–specifically eighth note triplets, which means if the pulse is a quarter note, we pick three notes for every quarter note: one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, etc. or one-trip-let, two-trip-let–all played evenly. Let’s play the pattern T-2-1 (thumb-middle-index)–this is the most effective way of playing triplets. Record yourself for a minute or so. Listen back. Repeat.

This is the most basic approach to getting it together–phase 1. Next time, we’ll begin focusing on using the bar and combining glissando (slides) and picked notes using the scale and also using accents. You’ll find it challenging and rewarding, I promise. And there will be written music and tab to accompany it.

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Tone Is In The Pinky

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Mike Neer

I just bought an EHX 95000 multitrack looper a few weeks ago, and while I don’t utilize a lot of its functions, I just love that it’s like a multitrack recorder that is always on if I come up with a good idea or want to practice over certain changes or grooves. I typically play bass lines with the side of my pinky, so that’s where this came from. It’s got a nice growl to it. Tone is in the pinky indeed!

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A simple string pulling exercise that will change your life!

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Mike Neer


If you play C6 tuning with an E first string, you know how difficult it can be to play harmony in 3rds on strings 1 and 2 (E and C). This is especially true if you play a longer scale neck, like I do.

The reverse slants required to achieve a minor third interval can be daunting, cumbersome, not easily pitched, and have a distinct whine or ‘meow’, which is in essence almost like a sitar effect where a longer than necessary part of the bar is making contact with a string.

In the short video, you can hear the effectiveness of subtle string pulling to make a more seamless transition than with reverse slants on the adjacent strings 1 and 2 (E and C). This is a trick I use to get a pedal steel-esque sound sometimes when I need to. A volume pedal comes in really handy, too.

This type of exercise needs to be learned in every key using every scale. That seems like a big demand, but it really isn’t if you dedicate a few minutes per day to doing it. It becomes second nature in time.

I don’t want to get too deep into explaining the process, but do your best to make every pull sound in tune and learn to feel the difference in string tension as you move further up the neck.

CDAE5DF8-49CE-4C94-A3B0-B8FD752FCFDB

This tab for the top 2 strings in C6 tuning for an F Major scale, which is what I used in the video. The ‘p’ next to a number indicates a 1/2 step pull.

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A scale exercise you can use

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Mike Neer

In this exercise we are appoaching scale tones from above and below, using a scale tone from above and a chromatic note a half step below. In the example below, we are in the key of E Major. You can use this over a tonic E chord, or a B7 chord and any number of chords built in the key of E.

It’s important to learn these types of scale exercises in every key and to develop a frame of reference as to where to find it on the neck. My frame of reference is that the 7th and 3rd degrees of the scale are surrounded by half steps. All other scale degrees are surrounded by a whole step above and half step below.

By the way, this exercise can be played on any two adjacent strings a minor 3rd apart, in any tuning. Get to work!

Note: the first actual note of the scale here is the D#, which is being preceded by the scale tone above, E.

FE22F686-3A54-401B-AADA-F490545950B5

This is a very common pattern utilized by countless improvisers, very notably Django Reinhardt.

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C6 tuning is perfect for “breadboarding”

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Mike Neer

Originally Posted on April 15, 2011 by Mike Neer

C6 is the perfect tuning for breadboarding, no doubt about it. For those of you who don’t know the term “breadboarding,” it has to do with electronic circuits and how experimenters will use a breadboard as a construction base to create prototypes of circuits. Simply moving wires and jumpers around with solderless connections makes the experimentation much easier. In a past life I spent a lot of time with electronics….

For purposes of this discussion, I will be referring to this version of C6, from low to hi: G A C E G A C E. If you are looking to step outside of the box a bit and play some things that are a bit out of the ordinary for steel guitar, tweaking the C6 can play an important role in helping you achieve the chord qualities you are looking for. The most obvious tweak would be tuning the lowest C (in my tuning, string 6) to C#. This gives you the C6/A7 tuning which, in my opinion is necessary for playing Jazz and even any kind of chord solo work. The importance of the dominant chord in that tuning can’t be stressed enough. Also, contained within the span of strings 4, 5 and 6 is a diminished triad. Crucial.

Another common tweak is to tune string 7 (A) up to Bb for a C13. This eliminates the root for our minor chords, which I feel is pretty important note to have for playing Jazz standards and even some Rock tunes. There are some arrangements I play, though, that are based around this tuning, particularly Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Yellow Roses.

What if we tweak both the C string and the A string up a half step? I got this little tuning from Billy Hew Len (although he did it with the A6 tuning) and I quickly recognized it as a tuning used by the great Joaquin Murphey. Joaquin used a C6 tuning with a high G string later on, and he would also raise his C and A strings 1/2 step. A good example of this sound can be found on Spade Cooley‘s Dance-A-Rama record. You can hear an example of this tuning (my version with a high E) on this recording of Coconut Grove. It makes use of a lot of altered dominant chords.

There are other places we can tweak the tuning, too: my favorite is to re-tune string 8. I have several variations on it and all of them give me different results. The most common for me is to tune string 8 to F, especially for playing chord melodies. I approach it a little like John Scofield does when he is playing solo–he stabs at individual chord tones just to establish the harmony in the listener’s ears while he plays a melody or improvises on top of it. Sometimes that chord tone will only last for an eighth note. String 8 also serves me well for playing more modern Jazz, such as Herbie Hancock and Eddie Harris, by tuning it down to D. There I have what we call slash chords (a triad over a different bass note), particularly the 11th chord flavor, ie. C/D (C triad over D bass note). A great, nebulous sound.

There are other very useful ways of changing the value of a C6 tuning by changing 1 or 2 strings. For those of you familiar with Speedy West, he occasionally used a tuning (although on a pedal steel) which was called F#9. Essentially what it is is an E6 tuning (low to hi B C# E G# B C# E G#), with the B strings tuned down to A#. If you look at the C6 tuning that I use (with the E string on top), it is the same structure as the E6 tuning down a major third. So, in this case we simply lower our G to F# and voila!: we have D9 tuning.

I am currently beginning another book–this time on creating block chord arrangements or chord melodies. I will be using my C6 tuning for the basis of the entire book, but I will also be sharing some of my secret tweaks. I am really looking forward to the challenge of teaching this!

In the meantime, I hope you continue to explore and have fun and always remember that lurking somewhere inside of you is you! Let’s give him every opportunity to find his voice on the steel guitar. Always play with the curiosity of a child.

All for now.




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Straight, No Chaser

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Mike Neer

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted any new ideas or content on this blog. I have been meaning to do more, but music has been the sole outlet of my creativity and spare time in the last year or more, which is a good thing! But I’ve got so many things on my mind I want to write about. First of all, thank you for making Steelonious such a success! If you haven’t heard it yet, check it out. The CD has been so well received and there is a lot of steel guitar on it.

With this posting, I wanted to share a little something from Steelonious, which I released in 2016. In case you’re not familiar with it, it was a program of Thelonious Monk melodies arranged as Instrumental/Pop/Jazz tunes in varying contexts, all reflecting the steel guitar–its history and its possibilities. Basically, I connected the dots of things I love. In this particular arrangement, I used techniques I learned from studying the playing of Sol Hoopii and also a lot of 60s pedal steel guitar. The choice of groove reflects my passion for New Orleans music, and I borrowed some chord changes from a Bruce Hornsby/Christian McBride/Jack DeJohnette version of this tune that kills me. The original song form is a 12 Bar Blues, which on occasion is how we perform it. But what I really wanted was to get some of that funky country type picking in this tune, especially the solo. I’ve always been a fan of the music of Little Feat and maybe that is reflected here.

One of the things I discovered about Sol Hoopii’s playing years ago was his use of open strings as passing tones. Sometimes they are chromatic, sometimes just scale tones, but they lend a rhythmic articulation in times when the line really begs for it. Dobro players are no doubt aware of this technique. But I’ve found that one the most difficult aspects of playing steel guitar is to play chromatic lines that are more than just two or three notes–the articulation really tends to be a crap shoot and sometimes you need it to be clean and popping. So, I’ve adapted this technique into my playing and this arrangement of Straight, No Chaser is one of my most successful uses of it.

I changed the key of the tune from Bb to A to accommodate the idea, then I just worked on it and worked on it until it developed into something cohesive and right. It is really not difficult to play, but takes a lot of practice to play it consistently. There is a lot of pick blocking going on, which I just tend to do unconsciously now. The tuning here is C6 and 6 string C6 will work just fine, as you really only use strings 2 through 5 (C-E).


STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

If you haven’t heard my version from Steelonious, it is available for purchase here at Bandcamp as a single track: Bandcamp
The track is also available at Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby. CD Baby

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts Lessons and Tips | Tagged c6 tuning jazz mike neer Steelonious straight no chaser thelonious monk | Leave a comment

Sol Hoopii and “Hula Blues”

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Mike Neer


Here is a little video which demonstrates how I believe Sol Hoopii played this tune, specifically on his earlier acoustic recordings in the A Major tuning.
One of the devices that Sol used most frequently is open strings–in this case, in bars 3 and 4 of the head, Sol utilizes a slide to G# on string 4, followed by open string 3 (A), for a nice bluesy lick. Have a look for yourself.

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Share-A-Lick for C6

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Mike Neer




In the spirit of Share-A-Lick, here are a few little things to spice up your playing.

Minor 3rds on adjacent pairs (D

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Shaping Fingerpicks to Suit Your Playing Style

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Mike Neer

It is often a topic of conversation among newer players of the difficulties in getting used to wearing fingerpicks. For some players, it is nearly impossible to get comfortable with these new appendages. For me, it was a little different.

When I started becoming serious about playing, I was playing a National tricone. It was a matter of necessity for me to use picks, and because I was playing in an acoustic group with the instruments mic’d, I preferred a stiffer pick (.025 mm). When I switched over to playing electric steel, I no longer felt comfortable with that heavy gauge pick, and experimented with the lighter .013, .015 and .018 gauges. The .013 appealed to me, so I shaped the picks to follow the natural shape of my finger tips. This resulted in some very nice tone–very rich. The problem, I discovered much later, was that in order for me to pick the strings, I needed to get my fingers down deeper to the strings. This hindered my ability to play fast, clean lines, and my fingers would mistakenly hit the wrong strings often. I couldn’t live with this, because regardless of how hard I worked at it, I couldn’t overcome the sloppiness.

Recently, in continuing my lifelong quest of improving my picking hand, I have discovered some things that have proven significant towards this end. I have begun using slightly heavier picks (.018) and I have shaped them so that they extend approximately 1/4″ from the tips of my fingers, and this extension is decidedly straighter than the previous “curled with the finger” shape.

What this has allowed me to do is to execute rolls and other intricate picking patterns with greater ease, and to allow me to use a technique of locking my hands in a way that everything above the metacarpal bones is firmly locked in place, allowing greater control of the fingers. This is something that I have experimented with and concluded that it really does work.

There is no one way to wear picks, but it is advisable to always consider where you are in your playing path and how simple changes in things like picks can have a significant impact on your playing and sound. I will admit, I thought my tone suffered a bit when I made the change, but I have learned to compensate by using thicker gauge picks and by picking with a little more velocity.

There are some things about playing steel guitar that, unless you have the privilege of being near seasoned players and getting their insights, you are on your own to discover. For me, it always seemed as if achieving great right hand technique was an uphill battle. The inconsistency is frustrating and, while continual practice will yield positive results, I always seemed to hit a wall. In trying to create longer lines, I realized that I would need to refine my technique and, surprisingly, one of the greatest sources for inspiration appeared in a piano book. I will make no bones about saying that I think of my steel as a “lap piano” at times–this term is attributed to George Van Eps–and I want my passages to have the same clarity, lightness and dexterity as a pianist. George Kochevitsky’s book, The Art of Piano Playing, just really opened my mind to taking control of the situation. As he illustrates, for a century or more after the arrival of the piano forte, players still did not have the technique necessary to get the most from it–they were still relying on the finger technique from the days of harpsichord.

I have to say, I do enjoy playing without picks, but I can’t execute much of what I play without them. I will also add that I have ordered a set of Alaska Piks and I’m looking forward to giving those a try. Will report back on that….

Posted in Fresh baked thoughts | Tagged fingerpicks | 4 Comments

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  • Building arrangements for steel guitar, pt. 1 December 16, 2022
  • Slanting the scale (playing triads of the scale using slants) September 16, 2022
  • Bud’s Bounce May 15, 2020
  • Announcement re SteelInstruction.com May 12, 2020
  • Bix Beiderbecke’s “In A Mist” duet for steel guitar March 26, 2020
  • Interview with Mike Neer by Andy Volk February 21, 2020
  • Mike Neer live webinar 12/7 “Triadic Mechanics” November 20, 2019
  • Comping chords with C13 tuning (Jules Ah See tuning) – Rhythm Changes April 13, 2019
  • Joe Pass Modern Blues #1 March 30, 2019
  • Billie’s Bounce by Charlie Parker January 29, 2019
  • Playing complex (jazzy) lines on lap steel and how to approach them January 21, 2019
  • Building chops–right (picking) hand rhythm October 27, 2018

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