First, here is a video of me playing "Beyond The Reef" on the E9th pedal steel so you can see that it can be done. You'll see that I'm using bar slants. I am playing it in C6th as if it were a lap steel...
Beyond the Reef 01
Keep in mind that Hawaiian music is a STYLE and not a tuning. With that in mind, I recommend trying to learn the techniques particular to Hawaiian music and then apply them to the E9th. The best way to do this is to listen to lots of Hawaiian music.
Also, keep in mind that you have a complete C6th 6-string right there on your E9th neck. By using the E knee to lower strings 4 and 8 a half tone, you have the C6th tuning. On fret one, with the E's lowered you have from the 4th string to the 10th (treble to bass)...
E - C - A - G - E - D# - C
String 9 is the only undesired note. If you carefully avoid the 9th string, you have a complete 6 string C6th tuning. Pretty neat, huh? 90% of everything played on the C6th is played on the 1st few strings anyway. With the E's lowered, strings 4 through 8 on your E9th pedal steel neck are the same as strings 1 through 5 on a C6th lap steel. So I generally leave string 10 alone. That way I don't have to worry about the sour note if I hit string 9. It works fine for playing Hawaiian.
Having said that, if you get Jerry Byrd's tabs and instruction course (highly recommended) for C6th from Scotty's Music, then you can play most of it on your E9th pedal steel with the E's lowered.
In fact, that's the basic premise behind the Universal Tuning, that is, a 12-string hybrid pedal steel guitar that gives you E9th and C6th all in one. I started out learning on a D-10, so I have never gone to Universal, but it is intriguing and tempting.
You can play anything on E9th pedal steel that you can on a C6th lap steel. Just lower the E's. Your C6th tuning is found on fret one of the E9th pedal steel, so actually, with the strings open and the E's lowered you have a B6th on your pedal steel.
Leonard Zinn has recorded some wonderful Hawaiian albums using an S-10 E9th pedal steel. I highly recommend listening to his recordings because he definitely has an authentic Hawaiian style. Here is leonard playing "Song Of The Islands" on C6th non-pedal steel, where you can hear his great STYLE...
Song Of The Islands - Leonard T. Zinn
Learning the Hawaiian style in my opinion is the key to playing Hawaiian in any tuning.
Here are some tabs on how to play 9th chords on the C6th lap steel. These are C9th chords. You can play these exact same chords on your E9th by lowering the E notes...
Code: Select all
E___10____________________________________________________________
C___10___14___2___________________________________________________
A________13___1___________________________________________________
G___9_____________________________________________________________
E________12___0___________________________________________________
C#________________________________________________________________
This is why I highly recommend learning to play the C6th lap steel for all pedal steel players. It can all be played right on your E9th pedal steel. Most E9th pedal steel players don't realize that they have everything right in front of them to play authentic Hawaiian music.
Plus you have the benefit of giving the song a country flavor as well. I sometimes like to play the first part of a song using the C6th on my E9th pedal steel (Hawaiian style), and then play it country style using the pedals for the last part. It makes the song more interesting to the audience of listeners. They get to hear Hawaiian and then country.
In my opinion, C6th is much better for Hawaiian music, which is great for E9th pedal steel because you have the C6th and a whole lot more available.
You also have the B11th tuning on the E9th pedal steel, which is very popular for Hawaiian songs (such as Sand, How D' Ya Do, Hana, Mapuana, et cetera). Open fret, by pressing the A and B pedals, you have the B11th tuning on strings 4 through 7. If you lower string 8 when needed, that will give you the 5th string of the B11th tuning. The B11th tuning is (treble to bass)...
E - C# - A - F# - D# - C#
The beautiful thing about having the E9th pedal steel guitar is that you have the C6th, the B11th, the D9th, the E9th and other tunings at your disposal. Most players don't even realize that they've been playing B11th, C6th, A7th, D9th and other tunings for years.
If you get the tabs for "SAND" in B11th, you can play it on your E9th pedal steel, you just need to remember that the top E note (string four) needs to be E, and your bottom E (string eight) needs to be Eb. So you can't really strum the B11th tuning, but you can play a song like "SAND" which doesn't require a full strum. Of course, if you don't lower your 4th string like Jimmy Day and Lloyd Green, then you have a perfect B11th tuning with pedals A and B down. You also have the C# note on string 10 to complete the B11th (but again, you must avoid that sour note on the 9th string).
This all relates to playing Hawaiian music on the E9th. There's really no such thing as playing Hawaiian music in the E9th tuning on a pedal steel (unless you don't touch the pedals or the knees). By using the pedals and knees you are using the C6th, B11th, A7th and other tunings to obtain your sounds. So my point is why not learn those particular tunings and play it on your steel? In particular, I'd stick to C6th to avoid being overwhelmed at first. C6th is the way to go.
Jerry Byrd often said that the C6th is the most versatile of all the tunings. He may have changed his opinion in latter years with his diatonic tuning (which is nothing less than genius, but that's a different story and strictly non-pedal steel guitar). The tuning is (treble to bass)...
E - C - B - A - G - F - E
Danny Boy is awesome in Jerry's diatonic tuning. But going back to the C6th, Jerry Byrd used the C6th throughout his career, as did others.
Don't be afraid to learn the C6th, because you've been playing it on C6th all along, every time you lower your E's. The thing that you need to learn is how to play lap steel tabs on it. Here is an example, my tabs in C6th for "Beyond the Reef"...
Beyond the Reef Tabs using C#
Beyond the Reef Tabs using Bb
I'm grateful to God that I've been blessed to play steel guitar since 1992. What a beautiful, majestic and challenging instrument! I've never heard anyone teach this, but the best way to learn the C6th pedal steel is to first learn lap steel. I had a hard time comprehending the C6th pedal steel at first.
Whereas you can play an entire song on one fret on the E9th pedal steel (having the entire chromatic scale available); you cannot do that on C6th because you need to move the bar to obtain a chromatic scale (12 notes of an octave). C6th is a different mindset. Some of the older players who began on C6th lap steel had a hard time learning the E9th pedal steel years later, because it is a different mindset. They're both beautiful tunings.
Like many players, I relied on tablature and memorized tabs to play a C6th song on pedal steel. You can move beyond that if you'll take up C6th lap steel. It will open the eyes of your understanding. Plus, you'll have a new skill on lap steel, which you can carry under your arm and is very lightweight. Lap steel is awesome and you can play so much. Most beginners to lap steel are not aware that Jerry Byrd wrote an instruction course and that many tabs are available. Jerry's instruction course and tabs are awesome.
I didn't take up lap steel until I started having neck problems (peripheral neuropathy) in 2004. When I learned the basic C6th and the need for bar slants to obtain the different chords, it became clear as day why the C6th pedal steel was designed the way it is (but that's a different subject).
I recommend buying some of Jerry Byrd's Hawaiian albums and pick some songs that you would like to learn. Then request a list of Jerry Byrd tabs from Scottys music and see if C6th tabs are available for the song you like. Jerry tabbed out hundreds of individual songs. Then learn to play it on your E9th pedal steel (with the E's lowered to give you C6th).
Keep in mind that authenitc Hawaiian steel guitar does not use pedals and so it's important to be careful to avoid the "twang" distinctive to country music. You simply press the pedals first to obtain your desired chord, and then pick or rake the strings.
Technique is everything in Hawaiian music. For example: sliding up an octave is a distinctive Hawaiian sound. With your E's lowered, pick or rake across strings 8 through 4 at fret 3, letting the notes ring, and then slowly slide up an octave to fret 15. This is the most popular sound in Hawaiian music.
Here's another version of "Beyond The reef" on E9th pedal steel. You can hear the classic Hawaiian octave slide which I am referring to at the end...
Beyond The Reef 03
Another great Hawaiian technique is to mute the strings at the bridge. You don't want your hand on the bridge, but just before the bridge. Here is an example of muting sounds like at 2:00 in the video. This technique can be used on pedal steel too. I am playing in the A6th tuning here, which is the same as C6th with a high G (just 3 half tones lower)...
Sweetnin'
I have enjoyed learning to play lap steel so much, and it has greatly helped me to understand the pedal steel. I couldn't figure out for years how Lloyd Green (I love Lloyd and Jerry Byrd, they are my musical heroes) obtained a G note on the 6th string by doing a forward bar slant. I tried and tried and it never sounded right. I just couldn't figure it out and it was so frustrating.
When I bought Jerry Byrd's steel guitar instruction cource from Scotty, Jerry showed the way to do a forward bar slant to play a diminished and augmented chord on the C6th. There's a drawing in the book showing the bar tip positioned exactly BETWEEN the two strings. That blew me away because I couldn't understand that technique for so long. I couldn't grasp that concept until I actually saw it. I had been slanting my bar across string 4 only, so string 5 was flat and sounded terrible. You have to place the bar directly in the middle of the strings, so that the tip of the bar rests between the strings. You can see and hear me play this chord at 3 seconds into the following video, doing a forward bar slant. I love this chord and use it quite a bit now in my style...
Example of Dominant 7th Chord using forward bar slant
E9th pedal steel is perfect for Hawaiian playing, it's just a matter of learning some basic Hawaiian techniques. There are many different styles that can be played and that's what I recommned, that is, focusing on the techniques of the Hawaiian style.
Vibrato is another important technique and a distinctive characteristic of Hawaiian music. Here I play "Near The Cross" in the Hawaiian style, using simple single notes with a lot of vibrato. You could play this easily on the E9th pedal steel guitar...
Near The Cross
Bud Tutmarc's style was characterized by mostly single note playing on the C#minor7th lap steel tuning.
Lots of reverb is a distinctive characteristic of certain Hawaiian songs, such as "Moon of Manakoora" and "Bali Hai," producing a dreamy effect to the song. In other songs, like "Lovely Hula Hands," too much reverb would ruin the song.
Harmonics are an important aspect of playing Hawaiian music in any tuning. Some songs like, "Kewalo Chomes," are performed completely with natural harmonics. "Natural" meaning that you chime the open strings at frets 5,7,12,19 or 24. It is easier to chime frets 5 and 7 by picking slightly closer to the bridge.
The volume pedal is also important, VERY important to learn. Jerry Byrd mastered the technique of picking a string with the volume pedal backed off, and then he would slide up into a note while raising the volume. Here's a perfect example of this technique from the song "Sophisticated Hula." This may seem difficult to do, but it simply requires getting the "feel" for it. A lot of techniques are more felt than anything. All jerry is doing is picking the note before pressing down the volume pedal, and he slides up into the note at the same time. This is a Hawaiian technique that can be used on the E9th pedal steel (as well as any steel guitar)...
Example of using volume pedal for Hawaiian technique
Hawaiian guitar is a unique style that once learned is like riding a bicycle, that is, you'll never forget how to do it. The steel guitar is profoundly simple, yet takes a lifetime to master. I've just scratched the surface and have so much more to learn. I love the challenge. After playing steel guitar for decades, I'm more of a student today than ever before.
I don't claim to be an expert, just an amateur that's still hungry to learn and share what I learn with others. God bless.
