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!