Post #140772 by Tiki_Bong on Fri, Feb 11, 2005 9:30 PM

Hey! I made an error!!!

The 6th or 7th chord sound CAN be done without necessarily tuning to a 6th or 7th tuning.

I mistakenly assumed that in order to make a 6th or 7th chord "sound" with only 2 notes (like most steel guitar - partial - chords are), one needed to play the tonic (1st interval) and the 6th or 7th (depending) interval.

The tonic and 6th (or 7th) interval is a hard straight-bar form to find on most non-6th or 7th tunings.

But, and old steel playing braddah I met at the gym told me that you only need to play the 3rd interval (major or minor) and the 6th or 7th interval.

So, in effect you're leaving out the tonic or home note that defines what chord the tune is at the particular time when you're playing only the 3rd interval and the 6th or 7th.

But that's OK. The rest of the band is covering the tonic or key, so a solo instrument like the steel is free to work on the other intervals in the key.

General note: for those that don't play steel guitar (not that it matter), steel guitars are tuned in what's called "Open Tunings". That means something like this: have you ever strumed a guitar that was tuned in standard tuning?

It doesn't really sound like any type of chord you've heard does it?

That's because standard guitars are tuned, for the most part, in 4ths. Strum a series of 4th's and it doesn't sound that great.

This means that if you strum the open stings in an OPEN TUNED tuning (no fingers pressed on the frets that is), you'll hear a recognizable chord - whether you know it or not!).

Anyway, practice like you're possessed!