Instant Steel Drum

 

Instructions

(just add guitar)

Here's how it works:

Normally your guitar strings vibrate between the nut and the bridge or between a fret and the bridge. When you weave a metal wand across your strings and move it to the bridge, you now have two bridges.

Each string now makes a main note and a secondary note just a fraction of a half-tone 'off'. The 'jump-roping' motion of the string forms a third frequency of the string switching 'bridges'.

The spring steel 'remembers' its shape and resists the motion. This dulls the main note somewhat so that natural harmonies seem louder. They do not sound distinctly but they shape the sound.

The steel wand also transmits the sound from the picked string to the stationary strings, so they vibrate sympathetically.

If you are fingering a chord, but picking one note, the other notes will be in the background, shaping the sound. All this adds up to one thing: you've got a steel drum sound from your guitar!

Weaving wand onto strings:

Basically, all you're going to do is weave a steel wand between the strings and move it towards the bridge. Wands can bend and spring back but are prone to break without warning. Handle them carefully. Hold wand by wooden handle and point at the low 'E' (6th) string.

Before weaving, use three fingers to depress the strings the wand will cross over. I go over the 6th string, 4th, and 2nd , and under the 5th, 3rd and 1st. This gets the wand end out away from the strummng hand. Hold the wand by the small wooden handle. Start near neck of guitar, and weave the wand across the strings. Leave an inch or so of wand protruding beyond the 1st string.

Then use the wooden pusher to push the wand toward the bridge. Stop about 3/4 inch from the bridge. You have now installed Instant Steel Drum --almost.

The 'sweet spot':

With the wand in place and sticking out an inch or so beyond the high 'E' string, play a few different notes on the high 'E' string. You are listening for a harmonic tone which follows the notes you play. Pull gently on the handle to move the wand slightly, and play a few more notes on the high 'E' string. Repeat this process until you hear a harmonic tone that follows the notes you play. You'll know the 'sweet spot' when you hear it. You can listen to me repeating this process until I find the 'sweet spot' here. You can also hear a short piece on acoustic guitar with Instant Steel Drum added, here.

Removing the wand:

Use the pusher to bring wand from bridge to neck of guitar. The wand can bend and spring back, but it is brittle. Fingers alone can break it by applying uneven force. Once the wand is at the neck you can pull it out by its wooden handle. It helps to depress the strings that the wand is over, so that it pulls out more easily, or red plastic tip on the end of the wand may scrape off.

Variations:

You will notice that the thicker the string, the less the effect. This actually works well when fingerpicking if you want the bass strings relatively untouched by the effect, while the high strings sound like steel drums.

Also, the further the wand from the bridge, the stronger the effect. You can slant the wand (using the pusher) further from the bridge at the thick strings and closer at the thin strings. The bass strings will sound more like steel drums than before. Wand can be slid away from the bridge until harmonic effect nearly hides the main note.

Thirdly, the further toward the bridge you get on a string, the more pronounced the effect. Try your fingering positions and wand position so that you don't lose notes as fingering approaches the bridge.

Finally, the thicker the wand you use and the thinner gauge strings you use, the stronger the effect. This is a matter of personal preference. Instant Steel Drum can also imitate the gamelon and stone percussion instruments of Indonesia.

Playing:

Picking two notes together sounds especially like steel drums, also staccato playing with a guitar pick. The high 'E' string makes a special 'solo steel drum' once the 'sweet spot' is found. The rest of the strings act as lower pitched steel drums at the same time.

Instant Steel Drum can play a more sustained note than a real steel drum. You can dampen the sustain by resting your hand on the strings.

To closely imitate steel drums, consider what steel drummers do. Since steel drums cannot hold a sustained note, steel drummers play staccato notes in place of one long note. As a result they play fast intertwined notes and double-notes (intervals). A player may use two drumsticks at once. Players create complex note and rythm patterns that challenge any guitar player. On the other hand, Instant Steel Drum makes you several steel drummers in one.

You will do things with Instant Steel Drum that are far beyond what I have done or even thought of doing. I have not yet messed around with using more than one wand, or combining Instant Steel Drum with electronic effects. And the wand can be twanged, too. I am interested to hear what you do with Instant Steel Drum and how you do it, especially if you want to share it with others.

Happy Playing! Alan Fontana wosker@gis.net www.clarencethecat.com