You may find this section useful for using the hollowneck or other acoustic steel guitar as a songwriting tool or accompanyment to vocal or other melodic instrument.

Any singer currently using a regular acoustic guitar to write songs may well benefit from at least dabbling in the Steel Guitar method, converting a regular steel-string guitar by using a nut-riser.

As well as it being capable of the usual guitar chord/arpeggio accompanyment, it can easily be used to augment the vocal melody line, by picking out a phrase or harmony counterpoint etc.

Working out where chords can be found on the fretboard just got a whole lot easier
thanks to the absolutely excellent "Chord Locator"
on John Ely's Hawaiian Steel Guitar Web.

click the logo to go there

Now all you need to do to work out your own arrangement for ANY song
it find out how the chords go ( either online or from a regular songbook )
and then decide how to adapt it for Steel Guitar
by using the "Chord Locator"!!!

This online application is simple to use & adaptable for ANY tuning.
It's really BEYOND USEFUL for any student of the Steel Guitar,
whether you're adapting existing songs or writing your own.

Thanks John!!!

 

 

Open D Chords primer by Crocau & Chris

Open D... It is our favourite tuning, and one of the most common tunings for slide guitar.

When you place the bar straight across all 6 strings, you get a major chord. (No kidding !)

With open-D ( or E ) tuning, you get the root occurring on the 1st, 4th & 6th strings.
Use a fretboard map to help memorize note positions to find chords easily all over the neck.
Remember that these will all be major chords...

Fretboard Map for Open-D tuning

For example, a full-bar at fret 5 is your G Major chord.
Play all 6 strings at fret 7 for an A Major.
Those 2 positions coupled with your open strings' "look Ma, no hands" chord gives you:
D, G & A... which are your basic I, IV & V chords for a 12-bar-blues progression in the key of D,
which goes D,D,D,D,G,G,D,D,G,A,D,G
( play each for a count of 4 ).

For chord progressions which contain minor chords, you can fake a minor chord by simply muting the 3rd string.
It won't sound really minor, but it won't interfere with your chord progression & the minor sound will often be implied by something else in the arrangement, be it vocal melody, another instrument, or even the listener's expectation of how the tune goes.

You don't have to play every note of the chords, be subtle.
Many chords can be "implied" by muting selective strings during a progression.
"Minor-sounding" or more complex partial chords can be explored by using open strings along with the bar.

If you bar only the lowest 4 strings, you get a major chord plus your high A & D.
This can sound particularly sweet, as in Rob Anderlik's "Joe's Tune".

Bar and play only the 3 bottom strings, and you get a Power Chord, really useful if you don't want to sound major or minor.
Of course you can add 1 or more open strings to this, for added chord implication complication!

Chords with minor thirds and sevenths can be tricky...

Try the "useful chords" diagram below to get an idea.