suggestions for slants on blues - open E tuning

[Ron Victoria]

I use open E tuning, E, B, E, G#, B, E, low to high. I like to do blues when jamming with my friends and sometimes tune the 4th string to D for a 7th. I'm looking to expand my sounds. Can anyone suggest a slant or reverse slant for something new?
thanks, Ron

[Stephen Cowell]

I've been working the open E pretty hard lately... I've been playing with chord slants. The two three-note slants are regular slant strings 2 3 4 and reverse slant strings 3 4 5... they're hard to hit, and not perfectly in tune. There's also the 123 dom7th slant, normal.

I get the outside two-note slant perfect by ear, then hit the middle note... it's not quite in tune, but good enough if you don't dwell there. Nice to hit the slant, then either slant back to straight for the above resolutions or slide up to a different chord, barred straight across.

You should already know the 1-3 normal and 2-4 reverse slants... this is how you do the harmonized scale in dyads. Put this together with the above three-note slants and the only thing really left is the bar-nose half-slant cheats, where you get minor chords out of 123 and 234 using the bar tip to stop the slant... this can't work with reverse, of course.

There is a dom7th chord reverse slant from 5432... it's really a cheat, but as Lee Jeffriess once told me, the trick is to make the audience think it's in tune; do it with confidence and a straight face, and don't linger!

[Ray Montee (RIP)]

When the top and bottom notes of that three note slant are in tune.......

you might try a little downward pressure on the bar on that middle string while holding the top note with the round nose of your bar. It works for me.

I'd NEVER let it be 'out of tune'.........but then, that's just me.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Find tri tones. An easy one on 2 strings, the E (4th string and 2nd string B). For blues in E put the bar at the 10th fret on the 4th string (the dom7th note in the E chord)and slant the bar back to the 9th fret on the 2nd string (the 3rd of the E chord). Now play that for the 1 chord. When it goes to the 4 chord drop that same exact shape down a half step. Now try the same thing only starting on the 1 chord at the 4th and 3rd fret. Again drop that shape down a half step and you have the 4 chord. The 5 chord is a half step up from the 1 chord.

I hope this makes sense. If it doesn't maybe somebody who is more articulate than me can explain.

[Brad Bechtel]

I find that a lot of blues-y notes can be found both two frets back and three frets up from the key you're playing in.

For example, in the key of C at the eight fret (C E G), you have a partial Cm7 (Eb G Bb) at the eleventh fret. Playing around with patterns in that area can make a nice change.

[John Billings]

Argh! Nothing tuned to E right now, but,,,
Strings 3,4, and 5 at the 12th fret are E.
Drop back 2 frets, and slant the bar so that
Strings 3 and 4 are at the 10th fret, and
string 5 is at the 9th fret.
If I'm thinkin' right, without my guitar, that's an E9th. A "Partial" E9th, no root. G#, E, B drops to F#, D, G#. Good for comping.

Don't know how in tune it will be with a roundnose bar. I use a Stevens, and I use the end of the bar for strings 3 and 4. If you think of the bar as a 2 dimensional rectangle, the corner/tip must be precisely in between those strings, and slightly higher on the neck. That way, you'll fret both strings at the correct spot, and be in tune.
Here's a bottleneck pic that demonstrates that. Different tuning, different slant, and with a bottleneck slide, but same technique. Lots of things you can do with the tip of the bar. If the roundnose doesn't work, just turn it around and use the flat end.

[Jim Pitman]

"The 3 in the bottom 7 on the top slant"
Regardless of tuning locate the duad that gives you a 3 on the bottom and a 1 on the top. BTW these comprise the first two guitar notes of the intro and interlude to the Beatle's "In MY life" for a harmonic reference.
With my G tuning, GBDGBD, this requires a forward slant five frets up from the root (bar straight across the strings location). For example to get a G chord, 3 1 duad, I place the bar so that it traverses the 3rd string, G string, at the fourth fret. I forward slant it to so it traverses the first string D string, at the 5th fret. Voila - 3 and 1 of a g chord. Now pivot the bar to get a reverse slant such that the third string is barred where it was and the 1st string is barred at the 3rd fret (reverse slant). this give you a G7 duad ie 3 on bottom and 7 on top. Now use this reverse slant in the following manner over a 1,4,5 chord progression in G: for the G chord, position this reverse slant as described. For the C chord move the reverse slant down minus one fret, for the D chord position this slant +1 fret above the original location. This can be used in a 12 bar progression for some mighty nice harmonic tension.
For you E tuned guys, I'm not sure this is practical. You need a 1 fret reverse slant across two strings separated by one string somewhere or perhaps a 7 note in your open tuning and use no slant.

[Tom Gray]

In blues it's a good thing to put your third in motion, usually from minor toward major, but not quite coming all the way up. Yes, I am talking about playing between the frets. In E pick the 2nd string at the 12th fret and the 3rd string at the 11th fret. Then move your bar back toward straight across the 12th fret, but don't quite get there. (Practice this movement picking only the 2nd string to make sure your pitch there stays steady.) Three frets higher the same movement forms a 7th chord, and then you can come all the way up to straight. Or you can get the same effect by pulling the string behind the bar.

[Mike Neer]

If you focus on string 1 and locate your b7th, you can do a 3 string forward slant to give you a dom7th chord (minus the 5th):


E7

-------10---
--------9---
--------8---
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If you find the 3rd on the 1st string, you can do a 3 fret reverse slant for a dom7th chord:

E7

--------4---
--------5---
--------6---
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If you work the nose of the bar a bit, you can get a minor triad on the op 3 strings that also serves as a 9th chord:

E9 or Bm

-------7---
-------7----
-------6----
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