Playing a bullet nose tone bar...backwards!

[Joseph Lazo]

I reversed my hold on my tone bar to see if hammer ons might be more precise if I used the other end of the bar. Whoah! I found it not only enables greater precision in hitting notes, particularly with fast licks that include sliding up or down while plucking an open string, but also makes it possible to grab the string being hammered and pull it slightly to bend the note up in pitch.

Don't know if I'm explaining it well, so below is a side by side photo. On the left you can see I have the "wrong end" of the bullet bar angled such that the desired note is being hit cleanly, while allowing the adjacent higher open string to be played cleanly. It's much easier to see what I'm doing than with the rounded nose of the bullet bar creating a visual and spatial obstruction. It's like writing with a pencil versus a thick piece of chalk.

Then, in the right photo, you can see I'm using the edge of the bar to grab the second string and pull it towards me. Basically a string pull done with the bar instead of a finger or two. You can't do as big a bend as with fingers, but it adds a raw, bluesy dissonance to rapid-fire hammer ons.

Wondering if anyone else has tried flipping a bullet bar around like this.

[Brooks Montgomery]

yes , it allows you to do pull offs like using a dobro steel (such as a Tipton, or Scheerhorn, or Beard)

[Joseph Lazo]

Never tried any of the bars you mention, but have a similar one - the Shubb SP-2. I found it hard to do clean hammer ons with it, and the edge is too rounded to grab the string and pull it like is possible with the non-rounded end of a bullet bar.

[Joseph Lazo]

This shows better the string pull using the edge of the bar. Works best on the first and second strings.

[K Maul]

I’ve doing that for a LONG time! I also took a Shubb SP 2 to a grinder and sharpened that non rounded end to an angle that makes pulloffs work well.

[D Schubert]

Yes, me too. I'll use both ends.

[Joseph Lazo]

It's good to hear that others have tried this, and even use it regularly. I knew there was no way I actually came up with some new technique!

[Andy Volk]

“Wondering if anyone else has tried flipping a bullet bar around like this?”

Only everyone who has ever owned a bullet bar since about 1925. I don’t find it particularly helpful but ya gotta try it .

[Joseph Lazo]

Ha! I'm kind of slow, I guess. I had tried playing lap steel with a regular bottleneck slide before I got a proper slide for steel, and it didn't work well at all. So, I hadn't even bothered trying it with a bullet bar.

[Andy Volk]

No worries. It’s terrific to be excited about new techniques and want to share. Having been on this BB since the late 90s I’ve seen so many folks anxious to share their discoveries only to realize many have asked and answered those same questions. All that ultimately matters is “does it sound good” however you get there.