how do you play this slant??

Francisco Castillo · From: Easter Island, Chile

--------
--14----
--13----
--------
--12----
--------

can't make it sound in tune, how do you play this slant??

thanks !!

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

First, make sure your guitar is in tune and play each note of the slant individually to really get the correct pitches into your ear. Then, depending on your string spacing, there are two tricks to try ...

#1 add some downward pressure on your bar. Just enough to bring the slant in tune

#2 if it's the kind of song where you don't need vibrato on that chord, you can pull string #3 behind the bar so that it is slightly sharper and in tune with the rest of the slant.

If neither works, vibrato helps and in context, no listener is likely to say "Hey - that slant was out of tune!" One thing I've noticed over the years is that correctly intoned slants take a little more rotation than you might initially expect to reach that sweet spot.
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Joshua Clements · From: Tifton, Georgia.

For me, the scale of the guitar makes a big difference in how well a slant is intoned. Are you playing on a short scale or long?

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Slant correctly to get strings 2 and 3 in tune (frets 14 and 13). The bar on the 5th string will be at fret 11. Pull the 5th string up to pitch with the fingers of your left hand behind the bar.

It's difficult, but that's really the only way to do it. That's why the pedal steel was invented.
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Guy Cundell · From: More idle ramblings from South Australia

I've just posted an arrangement of Django's Castle that uses this exact slant in bar 17. Context is what saves it, I think. (I hope.)

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Francisco Castillo · From: Easter Island, Chile

Thanks guys. Andy. Bob.

Looks like Bobs solution could be the best for me. I'll try those slants.
Thanks a lot.

L. Bogue Sandberg · From: Chassell, Michigan, USA

Francisco, also try bOb's technique using the round nose on your original pattern. Try something like:

E-----------------------
C-----15----14-----12--
A-----14----14-----12--
G-----------------------
E-----13----13-----12--
C-----------------------

which gives a Gaug7, G7, C6 progression for the end of a verse in the key of C. I use this "cheap trick" a lot on western swing tunes.

Francisco Castillo · From: Easter Island, Chile

Andy,
tried both
i did "sharp" a note applying pressure in the lower frets with my right hand. nice trick. thanks a lot

it changes a little but i think i can't get it in tune just by pure pressure, gotta work more on this.

BOB
solved my problem, thanks a lot.

Bill Sinclair · From: Waynesboro, PA, USA

Thanks for posting the question Francisco, this has been a very informative thread for me as well. I have been using the slant that bOb identified as G7 for a while now but I couldn't figure out why those diminished chords sounded so right in a straight-ahead swing tune. It didn't occur to me that I was playing a 7th chord without the root. Embarassed

Makes a lot more sense to me now. I stink at Sudoku too. Razz

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

That's funny, Bill. I've always thought of it as a 7th chord. I didn't recognize it as a diminished chord until two days ago when I spelled out the notes in response to this thread! Laughing

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