TENDERLY - ALKIRE TUNING

[Roy Thomson]

Another beautiful old standard that I recorded
using the Alkire Tuning.
I am quite sure Mike plays this song on the
Leavitt set up and was wondering if Bill or
Therman have worked on it as yet
It is a tricky exercise to play this on the
Alkire with ten strings. The chords are endless
on the tuning but difficult to play as the
"grips" are so varied.
Link:
http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3g167

[Therman Jones]

Great job, Roy! I love that song and I have played thru it a few times on the Leavitt tuning. It sounds like the Alkire tuning has plenty of nice chords. I have read about it but haven't tried to play it yet.

With my limited learning capacity I think I will concentrate on the Leavitt tuning....I'm still having a ball with your course. Hopefully I'll be able to 'cobble together' a ten string lap steel later this summer. I am gathering parts for the project now.

I always enjoy your songs and look forward to them.

Therman

[Howard Tate]

Good grief Roy, you seem at home in all tunings. That's beautiful, by the way.

[Mike Ihde]

Roy,
That sounds great and fairly similar to Bill Leavitt's arrangement.
Just for comparison's sake, here's Bill's arrangement from my CD "A Different Slant" on a 6 string and, of course, with no slants.

http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3g1he

[Roy Thomson]

Mike that's interesting and thanks for
posting your very nice arrangement.
The voicings [mine/yours] sound so similiar in "spots".

The Alkire Tuning does not require slants
either and I did not use any in my recording.
As a player of both tunings the Leavitt is
much easier and fun to play as you can pretty
well get the full deal on six strings. Anything
beyond is a bonus.

Roy

[Bill Wynne]

Another beautiful old standard that I recorded
using the Alkire Tuning.
I am quite sure Mike plays this song on the
Leavitt set up and was wondering if Bill or
Therman have worked on it as yet
It is a tricky exercise to play this on the
Alkire with ten strings. The chords are endless
on the tuning but difficult to play as the
"grips" are so varied.
Link:
http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3g167

I am speechless, Roy. We have not met (and I rarely post), but that is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard come out of that tuning. And I thought you should know.

I grew up in an Alkire household. My father learned the tuning from Francis Brown who learned it directly from Mr. Alkire. But my father desired to play "Hawaiian style" and the gap picking of this tuning just doesn't lend itself to that style. With all credit due to dad (he may be reading this, after all), he never turned out anything that sounded like your "Tenderly."

Dad gifted me with one of his old 10-string steels a few years ago (a custom job made by one Charles Moore) and after years of struggling myself with B11th, C13th, E13th, and diatonics, I am going to give Alkire a go.

You inspired me, man...

[Roy Thomson]

Many Thanks Bill and good luck
with getting back to Alkire.

If I can help further please email
me as I have some arrangements that
are much easier and maybe better to
warm up on before tackling "Tenderly".

Mr address and email are on my Site noted
below.

Roy

[Howard Tate]

A beautiful song played so well by both Roy and Mike, and Mike, that six string guitar solo is nothing short of great. I assume that's you playing it?

[Bill Hatcher]

Always great playing Roy and a classic standard.

The Alkire tuning is basically where I got the idea to add the upper srings in half steps to the Leavitt tuning when I went to the 12 string. It was a natural extension to add these for playing melody as the chords are already in the lower.

With Alkire you seem to be working in the middle of the 1/2 steps to play chords and with the extended Leavitt I use, you work in the Leavitt for chords and in the 1/2 step Alkireish tuning on top for melody. I found this to be better for me.

I had some recordings of Eddie Alkire playing his tuning. He was quite a fine musician.

[Roy Thomson]

Thanks Bill and I appreciate your approach to
the Leavitt Tuning by keeping the basic set
up in tack on the bottom while adding auxiliary
strings on the top end.
Will look forward to hearing more from you in
the future.

Roy

[Mike Ihde]

Howard,
Thanks. Yes, that's me. Had to do the whole thing myself on my old 4 track reel to reel tape recorder (can you imagine...how primitive!) Band in a Box background on 2 tracks and electric guitar on track 3 and steel on track 4.

[Doug Beaumier]

Great job, Roy, as always.

The chords are endless on the tuning but difficult to play as the "grips" are so varied.

I can image, since strings 4 through 9 are chromatic!

1. E
2. C#
3. B
4. A
5. G#
6. G
7. F#
8. F
9. E
10. C#

I recently acquired a 10-string Alkire Eharp, but I haven't had much time to experiment with it. So far, my favorite 10 string tuning is Tom Morrell's E13 (with C# on string 10 instead of E)

[Roy Thomson]

Doug,

I have 2 CD's of Tom Morrell and both feature his
non pedal tuning that you refer to in your post.
Lots of room to strum and dig and I plan on trying
it myself some day.
Congratulations on your new acquisition and we will
look forward to hearing it sometime in the future.

Roy