|
|
Article: Aubrey Ghent's steel.(Teach-in: Sacred steel: helpful hints & suggestions from instrumental masters)
- Article from:
- Sing Out!
- Article date:
- March 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Sing Out Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Most steel guitarists that I have heard play in the Sacred Steel style utilize E major tuning from the bottom, something like: E-B-E-G#-B-E). Aubrey Ghent is one of the few who use a version of the G major tuning that is popular with Dobro players (from the bottom, something like: G-B-D-G-B-D). On "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," from his CD Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus (Arhoolie #463), Ghent is tuned up to "concert" A-flat, and this piece sounds in the key of F#. The equivalent in G tuning is the key of F which I have used.
He uses a Stevens bar (not the more typical electric steelers "bullet"-shaped fretter) and occasionally rotates the volume control knob ...