Harmonized 6ths

[ddewerd]

In the past few years I have really been getting into country stuff (from many years of playing blues/rock), and lately have been working on my harmonized double stop riffs.

I have 3rds down pretty well, so now I have been tackling 6ths. I know what they are and how to play them, but my questions is "when" do I play them?

There's a couple of songs that we do where I play them for solos (Tequila Sunrise, When the Sun Goes Down). But are there any "rules" or suggestions as to chord progressions or transitions where I can use a 6th as a fill (versus a run of 6ths as a solo)?

Thanks,
Doug

[Leon Grizzard]

How about on the transition from G to C playing on 3d and 1st strings, starting with b/g: b/g c/a c#/a# d/b e/c. Or e/c chromatically down to c#/a for the first part of a I VI7 II7 V7 progression in C. Or the classic blues end of verse turnaround: d/b c#/a# c/a b/g. Figure out the intro to Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl in G, starting on b/g.

[Tim Bowen]

I'm probably guilty of over-using diatonic 6ths (as well as the chromatic passing tones), but man, it's tough to relate this stuff via the internet. Basically, with any concept, I methodically milk the stuff to death at home, and just let the stuff creep in where it will on the bandstand, over time.

How to approach it... do you read charts? If so, take a variety of charts across different musical styles and - you guessed it - play all the changes with 6th intervals. "Autumn Leaves", "Wang Dang Doodle", "Star of the County Down", "One More Cup of Coffee", whatever, choose as you will - the basic premise of the song remains the same.

You said that you know what the intervals are, and how to play them, so this may very well be redundant. Sixth intervals typically lay out best in pairs of high E and G strings, B and D strings, G and A strings, and D and low E strings. If you can clearly see these shapes as they lay out across the string subsets within the five basic shapes (CAGED), you're well on your way. Note that in running through the 'inversions', you'll also encounter a perfect fifth interval along the way.

The only other bit of arbitrary advice that I'd offer is that 6th intervals absolutely love chicken grease. Slipping and sliding, and vibrato (although typically not for "country") animates them, and brings them to musical life.

[ddewerd]

thanks guys, gives me some food for thought.

I am a reasonably competent player and am always trying to learn new stuff for my arsenal. But I'll grab a snippet here and there, and I can play them alone just fine, but it's getting the feel for the context of where they fit that is the hard part.

As for Brown Eyed Girl... One of my old bands used to open every gig with that song, and for a long time after that, we refused to play it. But I'm with a couple of new guys now, and that just might be one to resurrect. Funny thing is, I played that intro flawlessly forever, but it wasn't until I started messing around with the 6ths a while back that I realized what I was actually playing!

Sometimes you learn the lick and then figure out why it works, sometimes you use the theory to figure out new licks... But the more theory I learn, the more I realize how little I really know and how much more there is

Thanks again,
Doug

[chaddukes]

I use diatonic 6th fairly often, but I never think of them that way. I think of them as the 3rd and 5th of whatever chord is being played. So, the 2nd fret of the high E, and G strings (F# and A) are a 6th...but they are also the third and fifth of D major. If I slide up to the 5th fret (A and C) I have the 5th and b7th of D7. So, I might use a phrase like this over an A7 to D7 progression.

A D

-4/5--4/5--9--7--5---4---------------------------
--------------------------- 7----5----3------------
-5/6--5/6--9--8--6---5---------------------------
----------------------------7----5----4------------
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

So, the notes that are chord tones are targets and the others are simply passing tones. This is just an example and not neccesarily something that I've ever played on a solo....but it should get the point across.

Chad

OK, the D has slid over right next to the A but it should be right above the transition to the D and B strings.

[nightsinger]

here's key of G 6th's ------------------------- -8--------10------12---------- --------------------------- -9--------10------12---------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------

[Valvey]

One thing you can do in country playing to make parallel sixths sound less cliche-- finger the top note with the index finger and the bottom note with the middle finger. That allows you to do "differential slides" with a twist of the wrist, like these:

[nightsinger]

-----------------------------
-8----10---12---------------------
-----------------------------
-9----10---12--------------
-----------------------------
------------------------------


G 6th my 1st post on is wrong please disregard my 1st post.My very first time putting a tablature post.I learnt alot from this site's about lead guitar you could put this G 6th as a lead intro.

[ejmc]

xxx0x0
xxx2x1
xxx4x3
xxx5x5
xxx7x7
xxx9x8
xxx11x10
xxx12x12
xxx14x13
xxx16x15
xxx17x17
xxx19x19

cool things i wanna point out that chaddukes mightve pointed out.

if you fret the b string the same as the high e, you have the highest three notes of a standard E-shaped barre chord.

like a perfect fourth above something is the perfect fifth below it, a major or minor sixth above something is the major or minor third below it. another way to say this is that if a note is the sixth degree of a key, that note holds the key's root for its third. C's sixth is A, A's third is C. Bb's sixth is G. G's third is Bb.

A sixth and a third are the same distance from the root, so they have similar effects and in a lot of cases, are interchangeable. if you count multiple octaves and repeated roots. Just remember 1=8 2=7 3=6 4=5. that's how eight teams would be seeded in a tournament so it should be easy to remember.

If you use a sixth, or its lower octave which is a third below the root, you're using the tonality of a third in the key which is the relative minor of your current one.

so basically i repeated my self a lot but i just figured this out as i wrote it. i had some form of knowing it but never really tried to explain it. even to myself. it's tedious.