My Crazy 8 String 4 Pedal Copedent

[Dennis Montgomery]

So after much study and analysis of existing recommended tuning setups for my recently purchased Fender 400, I've designed my own copedent which should work fantastic for my requirements...which are definitely not for everyone. Actually, probably not useful to anyone but me

In my world, 7th chords are king and extended voicings like 9th or 11th rarely if ever show up (I'd just sub a sus2 or sus4 anyway). I'm also not focused on licks/solos but chords, chords, chords! So, my goal was to get as many Maj7, m7, 7, dim, aug, sus4, sus2 chords as possible from my 8 string, 4 pedal, single pull machine.

When I was studying Sneaky Pete's B6 and the A6 in the original Fender 400 manual, the first thing I noticed was both open tunings were 2 groups of 4 strings an octave apart (F# G# B D# F# G# B D# and F# A C# E F# A C# E). I thought, what if I tune the upper 4 strings a whole step above their lower counterparts instead of matching octaves? As far as the chord I wanted to represent with the open tuning I went with a Maj 7. So, the open tuning low to high represents a 4 note/string DMaj7 on bottom followed by a 4 note/string EMaj7 on top. Another way to look at it is the intervals of the tuning alternate Major 3rds and minor 3rds from low to high.

D F# A C# E G# B D#

As far as the pedals go, my idea for A and B was based on an old keyboard exercise I made up to help me learn my chord qualities. I'd play a Maj7, drop the 7th to become a dominant7, then drop the 3rd to become a m7. So pedal A drops the 7th by 1/2 step and pedal B drops the 3rd by 1/2 step. Good...now I can play Maj7, min7, 7, dim & aug triads. I messed with different ideas for pedals C + D finally settling on pedal C raising the major 3rds to the 4th while pedal D raises the 5ths to a 6th. This also yields some additional triad versions of the Majors and minors.

Another thing is the 3 and 4 voice chords I created are only played with 3 or 4 adjacent strings to make strumming techniques friendly.

I found with this copedent I was able to play 34 unique chords from each bar position! For example, from the open position I can play CMaj7, C+, C#m7, C#-, C#m, C#sus2, DMaj7, Dm7, D7, Dm, Dsus4, EMaj7, Em7, E7, Em, Esus4, FMaj7, F+, F#m7, F#-, F#sus4, G, Gsus2, G#+, G#m, G#sus4, AMaj7, Am7, A7, A, Am, Asus4, B-, and Bm. I have no idea how many more chords I could pull if I didn't put that adjacent string requirement on this system. Maybe later I'll explore that, but hey, gotta walk before I run

So...chords, chords, chords just like I wanted! I thought it would be fun to share this if for nothing else than to show another way the wonderful machine we play can be configured to do interesting things

[b0b]

I need to see a regular copedent chart to understand this. You say that pedal A lowers the 7th. Which string(s)? There are three major 7ths in this tuning (DM7, AM7 and EM7) and two minor 7ths (F#m7 and C#m7). Fascinating concept.

You can use the <b>[tab]</b> BBCode to create a copedent chart in a forum post. See http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/faq.php?mode=bbcode#5

By the way, you say you don't need extended chords, but you have 9ths all over the place.

[Dennis Montgomery]

I need to see a regular copedent chart to understand this. You say that pedal A lowers the 7th. Which string(s)? There are three major 7ths in this tuning (DM7, AM7 and EM7) and two minor 7ths (F#m7 and C#m7). Fascinating concept.

You can use the <b>[tab]</b> BBCode to create a copedent chart in a forum post. See http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/faq.php?mode=bbcode#5

By the way, you say you don't need extended chords, but you have 9ths all over the place.

Thanks b0b, couldn't figure out how to correctly display the copedent. Here's my chart:

Code: Select all

open    A    B    C    D
1 D#    D      
2 B                    C#
3 G#         G    A
4 E
5 C#    C
6 A                    B
7 F#         F    G
8 D

Now that I actually look for 9ths, you're right! The open tuning has 2 obvious Major 9ths while the A pedal gives a Dominant 9th and the B pedal another Dominant 9th. Also, wouldn't the 11th just be the 9th with a major 3rd added on top? If so, then my open chord (D-F#-A-C#-E-G#) would be a DMaj11. Then by definition, a 13th is just an 11 with a major or minor 3rd on top so my first 7 open strings would be a D13. Guess there was a little more here than I thought

I'm also really happy that I have so many position options to play the 7th chords (even with my adjacent string rule). I can play an EMaj7 or Em7 from 5 different bar positions...here's the Em7 tab:

Code: Select all

1:  0a    3                
2:  0     3   
3:  0b    3  7b
4:  0     3  7   10  
5:     2a    7a  10
6:     2     7   10
7:     2b        10     
8:     2 

The E7 only has 3 positions which is a bit disappointing, but after your comment I've learned 2 of these are actually E9's (or possibly E13's) so I'm ahead of the game

[Rich Peterson]

I would exchange the C & D pedals so the D and B can be hit with one foot.

[b0b]

I would exchange the C & D pedals so the D and B can be hit with one foot.

I agree. This is still hurting my brain, but it's rarely a good idea to have adjacent pedals that that cancel each other out.

[Dennis Montgomery]

I would exchange the C & D pedals so the D and B can be hit with one foot.

I agree. This is still hurting my brain, but it's rarely a good idea to have adjacent pedals that that cancel each other out.

Thanks guys, that's a great idea and not just from a physical standpoint. My current C pedal introduces fewer new chords than the D pedal so swapping them makes logical sense as well

[Ga McDonnell]

Open chord (D-F#-A-C#-E-G#)......

Your G# is a #11 rather than an 11th in that key. To get the 11th you'd need to lower the G# with your B pedal. But since that would also lower your F# to F, you'd be creating a minor of the chord. So instead of getting a Dmaj11 you'd have a Dm/maj11.

I guess you can claim a D13 chord spelled out by adding B on top. Without lowering the G# it would be more like a Dmaj13#11. In the real world you won't often get all the notes available as handy as that. You might not even like the sound of it for a couple of reasons.