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Pedal steel emulations on a three stringed instrument
I usea volume pedal quite a lot when I play slide on my electric balalajka. And of course I've stumbled across things that sound sorta pedal steelish. So I've worked on it a bit and here's what I do now:
Over a minor 7th chord I'll play the 3rd and the 7th. Over a dominant chord I'll play the 4th and the 7th, which means that a Dm7 and a G7 get the same treatment (F and C in both cases). Over a major 7th chord I'll again play the 3rd and the 7th. Half-diminished chords are treated the same way as other minor chords since I don't play the 5th in either case. Major 6th chords would be the 3rd and the 6th.
I can play the 3rd and the 7th over a dominant chord but I can't do it with any kind of good sounding vibrato, at least not yet, since it is a forwardly slanted position for me. I tune the instrument in 5ths. A backwards stant (meaning that the tip of the slide is pointing backwards) can be done with a nice vibrato quite easily.
All of this done with volume swells and it does sound quite a bit like a pedal steel from time to time.
If you can't hear the others you're too loud, if you can't hear yourself you've gone deaf
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