I just need a single lick.

I'm just looking for a pedal steel chime or whine lick that will ring out over one measure of Em. It can have a couple of little lead-up notes to it, but just something that I can sustain for a couple seconds. Any ideas would be excellent. I just can't find anything that just locks in over Em.

G string 9th fret, and hi E string open. Play 'em both at the same time, and bend the G string up a tone and then release it so it's back to the fretted note at the 9th fret.

Will I be getting any royalties?

You forgot to mention what style of music you're playing.

This here is the "Pink Pather/James Bond" Chord -- Emi9(maj7)
(If I wrote it right, that's a F# on the B string (7th fret))

||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|-X-|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-X-|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-X-|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-X-|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|


You can play either/both open E strings. It hangs nicely in the air when you arpeggiate it, and if you choose your moment, it's got a certain irony about it.

Edit: I'm lovin' it. Here is the James Bond theme, in tab:

http://www.guitaretab.com/m/misc-television/12460.html

(Just for laughs.)

I love that chord.

Neal, I just came up with a cool one...but I can't let you have it unless you make a very ggod case for it. It would have to fit perfectly before I would turn it loose....and then there are those songwriter's royalties that broken joe mentions. LOL
WHat kind of music are you playing? What are the chords prior to and following the Em?
Tempo? Mood? To my ear, Joe's referencing the 9th in the chord is a good place to start working on a lick like this. The 2nd or 9th bends into the 3rd/10th and down to the 1st/8th so well that you might want to start your search there.
AS Confucious said....give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you have fed him forever.

Sorry, its a country track I'm playing in.

The chords leading up to it is just that cliche G, to a G/F# to Em walkdown. The Em plays for about a measure but I'm just looking for the lick to kind of ring and finish out the measure, since there is no vocal line to really follow

The chords leading up to it is just that cliche G, to a G/F# to Em walkdown. The Em plays for about a measure but I'm just looking for the lick to kind of ring and finish out the measure, since there is no vocal line to really follow

and...after that measure of Em????

it comes back to a D.

I used to play an open lick based off the G chord (D shape) that gave a kinda cascading effect. Sorry, I don't have a gtr with me right now. But off the top of my head it's something like this. If you play around w it you might find what yer looking for.

||--7-----0------------------------
||-----8--------0------------------
||---------- 7-----0---------------
||--------------------7------------
||---------------------------------
||---------------------------------

Ok...enough theory from me...and some practical suggestions...

A LOT depends on the context and there are a lot of options...something what maybe you are looking for that I like and use a lot would be something like this beauty...

All natural harmonics...let them all ring!

--------------------12-|----------------------------
--------------12-------|-7----------------------------
---------12------7-----|-7----------------------------
----12------7----------|-7----------------------------
-------7---------------|-7---------------------------
--7--------------------|----------------------------

Em............................D

You can play this thing (and various variations of it), like those cascading ideas very fast It can sound great coming out of a cascading lick such as is posted above post.

I'm not sure though if this is the kind of thing you had in mind, or if you were looking for a more "steel" like bendy lick...country is not my specialty...hahaha

Neil, do you play harmonics from fretted notes? That is, 12 frets above the fretted note you use the index finger of the picking hand to 'touch' the string and pick behind that with the little finger of the picking hand. this is a Chet Atkins trick I picked up form Guitar Player back in the '70's. Atkins technique 'pinted' the index finger at the harmonic pint with the picking hand flattened a bit and the fingers bent at right angles to get that pincky down to a good picking attitude. With this method, you can pull harmonics from any note on the board.
IF you already do this, then you are halfway there. IF not, practice it a bit. IT is essentially the same thing as hitting the harmonics at the 'natural' points, but one has to use the picking hand for both the touch and the pick portion of the technique.
Once you have this, then fret the 2nd fret on the 3rd string. This is the 9th to the Em.
Hit that harmonic. In order to hit that harmonic, you will be 'touching' the 14th fret, right? That done, you can bend that note up to the B(3rd or 10th to the chord's scale) and/or release it to the G.
NOw, you can hit the harmoinc of the open 4th string..touching at the 12th fret. Hammer on the E...you get the idea.
The key of the song would lead me to what I did with this. IF D is the key, I would go toward that D string open in some manner. IF the song is in G, that would lead me to another voicing.
I hope this helps in some way. Using this technique, you could simply form the Em minor chord in that first position and hit these harmoinics...letting them ring. For instance, if you are returning to the key of D I chord, hit the harmonics from the top 4 strings of that Em chord, repeat the open B string harmoinc and then hit the D note 3rd fret/2nd string harmonic on the 1st beat of that measure of D. Simple, but it works and is interesting. Work on it a bit and see what happens.