Twin Guitars?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 14 May 2003 1:03 pm

Years ago, there was a lot of "twin guitar" playing. Where, one guitar would pick the melody and another guitar would add some harmony. I have a question as to the harmony. Was that the third note of the chord or the fifth note? Or did they pick something different? I sure liked it. Sometimes it was two lead guitars and sometimes it was the lead player and the steel.
Erv

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 14 May 2003 2:10 pm

It was just as if you were singing the part which means the possibilities were huge. I play in a group with fiddle steel and lead.
we do a lot of working parts for backing in three part (1st,3rd,5th) in fact we do remington ride in three part it's pretty cool! the point is some used 3rds and some used 5ths just what ever struck their fancy.
but most usually I hear 3rds

Doug Seymour · Post by **Doug Seymour** » 14 May 2003 2:57 pm

I have an old tape, I think was just recorded
in a Texas(?) club. (by the sound of it) With
2 excellent guitarists (steel & lead) playing
3 part stuff. I believe the steel plays the melody & the lead man is playing the other 2 notes to harmonize. Also they comp w/block chords etc when the other player is improvising. It's really fine musicianship. The recording is not that great, but it shows what these folks are doing well. I was always impressed by them & it shows what can be done with these 2 instruments in the right hands!

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 14 May 2003 7:12 pm

Check out the "Almost To Tulsa" L.P., tape of Leon Rhodes and Buddy Charleton, also the Sonny Garrish L.P. titled "Soul Stew". Both of these if you can locate copies had some tough twin and harmony pickin' parts on several tunes.

May GOD bless ya'll

Woody

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 15 May 2003 6:17 am

I don't know why more of this type of playing isn't done. I can remember back when I was a pup, most of the tab written for Hawaiian music had an additional harmony part written for a second steel guitar. And it seemed like all of the great sounding country bands would do this sort of thing. Maybe they were more into "sharing" the spotlight than they are now.
[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 15 May 2003 at 07:19 AM.]

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 15 May 2003 6:52 am

These older threads might help:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/000400.html
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/001544.html

neat stuff! [This message was edited by Joe Kaufman on 15 May 2003 at 07:57 AM.]

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 15 May 2003 6:54 am

On the RCA "Swing West" album I recorded with Pee Wee King in the early 50's, Bobby Koefer played the lead parts on steel and I did the harmony parts on guitar. For the most part, I played the next note above the lead. I suppose "thirds" could describe it. In some cases, Koefer played two parts -- either the lead and third or lead and fifth, depending on his non-pedal tuning and fingering -- and I took the other part to round out three-part harmony. In my opinion, it's a matter of taste; anything that sounds good is good music.

Jesse Pearson · Post by **Jesse Pearson** » 15 May 2003 7:54 am

Erv, playing harmony involves not only the 3rd and 5th of a chord, but also their inversions of 3rd/6ths, 5th/4ths and 7ths/2nds. On top of that you have:

"Parallel motion", this is where all of the parts move in the same direction. This is good for very short backing parts, parts that repeat a short phrase of a lead line or just chime in from time to time.

"Contrary motion", this is where all of the parts move in different directions, especially the center part.

"Oblique motion", this is when some parts stay stationary, playing one note that is common to all the chords, while other parts move. A common use of Oblique motion is when the bass holds one note while the other voices move, creating slash chords.

There are some rules (which can be broken from time to time), like no "Parallel 4ths or 5ths". Consecutive (or "pararllel") 3rds and 6ths are acceptable from time to time.

It takes some work to use these more involved harmony approaches and might be more work than you need in the end, but this is what they do in the pro studios. Good luck...

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 15 May 2003 10:16 am

Thanks for the comebacks!

Erv