The British Steelies Society

I am a guitarist primarily and used to looking at chord diagrams for reference.

I like to easily see what the intervals are within the chords (which note is the root, major or minor 3rd, 5th and dominant 7th). I have the Mel Bay E9 chord sheet and the Hal Leonard book of chords and scales but neither really let me see the intervals at a glance.

So I have had a go at creating my own simple chord diagrams with a system that shows the intervals. It was a useful exercise for me in familiarising myself with the neck but I thought the chord sheets that I have created might also be of interest to others learning pedal steel. So..

Here is a downloadable link to a pdf version of simple major, minor and dominant 7th chords in all major keys. I have kept it really simple - just using three pedals and two levers. Hopefully it is easy to understand from the explanation on each sheet. I have included a reference to where I have the levers for raising and lowering the e string but that may differ if you have a different copedant.

https://keefwilson.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Simple-Chords-with-interval-numbers.pdf

If you want to get separate sheets for individual keys they are available from a post on my website at:-

https://keefwilson.com/chord-diagrams-with-intervals/

Hope this is of some use to someone

Keith

Nice one Keith
I'm looking forward to the time when we can all get together again at the Buck
Keep well, Tony.

Thanks Tony. Yes definitely looking forward to getting back to the Buck!

More good news on vaccines today so hopefully it will not be too long now!

Kind regards

Keith

JohnDavisStringsHere wrote:Nice one Keith that is a lot of trouble you have gone to that I am sure will help a lot of people that are learning to play our beloved instrument properly and in a way I wish I had learned, unfortunately my brain fogs over at the sight of a sheet of written explanation and I can only play what my one remaining (working) ear judges to be right but as to what notes or chords I am playing I fess up, I have not got a clue but 45 years of trying has given some rewards but I still envy people who understand music.

One big part of knowing interval theory is that you've still got to be able to hear them.

Thanks John - I think it is just a matter of what you are familiar with - I think intervals a lot when I am playing guitar so I was looking for the same thing on the steel and couldn't find anything. Any way - you certainly can play a lot better than I can so music theory is pretty irrelevant!

Great job on the charts Keith, appreciate the input!...... Excellent!

Thanks Bob!