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Topic: Another really cool tuning: Noel Boggs E13 on a 6 string |
Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 3 Jan 2012 12:35 am |
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I've been raising the 2nd string 2 frets on my 8 string E9th steels to get the E13 tuning associated with Noel Boggs: E-G#-B-D-F#-G#-C#-E low to high. Very cool as it gives a jazzy flavor in a major mode to the E9th tuning.
I just tried doing the same to one of my 6 strings tuned to E9th and I think I might like it even better than the 8 string 13th. Very tasty. B-D-F#-G#-C#-E
The top 3 strings are a C# minor triad and the bottom 3 strings are a B minor triad. You also get a really nice major 7th interval between the 5th and 2nd strings. Plus a very full dominant or major E chord along with the tritone (b5) between the 5th and 3rd string.
While the 6th string version has all of that harmonically complex stuff going on, the 8 string version with the E and G# as the bottom two strings is a little boring as the bottom half of the tuning is just a straight forward E7th chord. For the heck of it I tried tuning the 8th string to F# instead of the E and things start to get nice and complex again.
| Code: |
E9 E13(alt)
E E
B ->C#
G# G#
F# F#
D D
B B
(G#) (G#)
(E) (->F#) |
Not to completely discard the low E in the 8 string E13th- it sounds great in many songs and gives you the root on the bottom. But I like having the option to raise that E to F# to get jazzier voicings in the lower register. I have a hunch that Noel Boggs might have used that tuning as well from time to time.
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Morgan Scoggins
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 3 Jan 2012 9:03 am
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Steve,
The tuning you have shown here is also featured in the "Jerry Byrd Steel Guitar Course".Jerry Calls this tuning C#mi9. I am not sure how it got that name, but it is a wonderful tuning and features songs like " Ua like No like","Sweet Someone",and "Paridise Isle". There is also a section featuring about a dozen or so intros using this tuning.
C#mi9 has become my favorite Hawaiian tuning, other than B11.There are some nice rich chords there .
_________________
"Shoot low boys, the're ridin' Shetlands" |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 3 Jan 2012 1:02 pm
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Noel Boggs was one of my mentors in the early years. He played a lot of Pop Standards and he would adjust his tuning on the Bandstand for some particular chord he wanted (just one or two strings which was done quickly). Mostly he played the A6th and his E13th tuning and would jump between the two tunings as he played his differen't block chords. Most of his single string playing was on the A6th.
Noel had many imitators but was hard to beat when he felt really inspired to play. He liked to show off and would look you in the eye as to say "How did you like that" ! He had a great personality and could really sell the Steel Guitar to the public. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 4 Jan 2012 12:02 am
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| Morgan Scoggins wrote: |
Steve,
The tuning you have shown here is also featured in the "Jerry Byrd Steel Guitar Course". Jerry Calls this tuning C#mi9... C#mi9 has become my favorite Hawaiian tuning, other than B11.There are some nice rich chords there. |
Morgan- I looked at the listing for that book over at Scotty's and it is written as C#m-9th which I think could also be written as C#m7/b9. It is amazing what you can get from the old E7th tuning (as in the Roger Filberto book) by just retuning a string or two.
So what are the notes in your B11 tuning?
| Billy Tonnesen wrote: |
| Noel Boggs was one of my mentors in the early years. He played a lot of Pop Standards and he would adjust his tuning on the Bandstand for some particular chord he wanted (just one or two strings which was done quickly). Mostly he played the A6th and his E13th tuning and would jump between the two tunings as he played his different block chords. |
So he would play both necks in some of the songs? I guess that a lot of steel players did that before they came out with pedals. I enjoy reading your posts to get a glimpse at what was going on back in the old days...
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Morgan Scoggins
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2012 5:45 am
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Steve,
Most of the time, my Remington S8 is tuned to A6(E C#
A F# E C# A F#)hi to low. When I change to B11, I simply drop the fifth string E to D#. The JB course is for a six string steel and on the B11 tuning section, I believe only fve strings are used, so it really doesn't matter how the low three strings are tuned. If I needed all 8 strings, I would probably tune the bottom three strings C# B E hi to low.
When I started playing non pedal steel 4 years ago. I thought all I would ever want would be to sound like Don Helms. Well I did all that and got involved with the JB course and now I can't get enough of those big Fat chords that you hear in Jerry's arrangements.
_________________
"Shoot low boys, the're ridin' Shetlands" |
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2012 5:52 am
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one thing for sure - there is more than a lifetime worth of fun tunings to try on the steel - i found myself last year getting way to immersed into 1 tuning at the expense of learning tunes - if you gotta retune, you gotta retune.
Billy - i always enjoy your posts - there's a whole new generation of young players (when i say young i mean 30-40's! ) taking up the instrument and it's unfortunate that straight steel guitar sort of skipped 1-2 generations and all that knowledge aquired during the steels golden age was "lost" - if it wasnt for forums like this, i dont know how we would unlock the mysteries of this wonderful instrument.
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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