1950s Chord Voicings

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 25 Jul 2016 10:08 am

Here's a recording where the steel player is using some unique and very jazzy chord voicings. I seem to hear these kind of voicings a lot in late 1940s and early 1950s hillbilly bop records like this one and then they seem to have faded into obscurity by the end of that decade.

Can anyone help identify the tuning and chords?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpWg-1Ai-0

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 25 Jul 2016 11:32 am

Hi Tim,

That's a pedal steel tuned to C6. In the solo the player uses a standard pedal that raises the hi C and A strings a whole step.

Mike

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 25 Jul 2016 11:40 am

Doesn't sound like pedals to me. It sounds like non-pedal E13th tuning both in chord voicing and the tone of the single note licks but heck, I've been wrong before!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Jul 2016 4:17 pm

Sounds a lot like Speedy West. According to info on line (which may or may not be correct) this tune was recorded in 1959. Sho-Bud started making pedal steels in 1957. I think the early ones came with A7 tuning and the pedals produced "swing chords", 9ths, 6ths, not the "country" E9 sounds we hear today.

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 25 Jul 2016 5:09 pm

Hi Andy and Doug, thanks for all you guys do for the for the non pedal steel!
Check out the passage starting at 1:15.

Mike

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jul 2016 2:44 am

Certainly sounds like pedal steel to me. The passage Mike refers to clearly employs a whole tone raise on what sounds like a C6th tuning. That kind of articulation wouldn't be possible on a non pedal E13th tuning. I can't identify the player, but I don't think it's Speedy West. Sounds a little like Vance Terry, but with a little brighter tone. Possibly Jimmy Day. His early work sounded a lot like that.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Jul 2016 4:48 am

Yes, I think that would be pedal 7 on a standard C6 psg. The early Fender pedal steels came with A6 tuning and the pedals produced jazz/swing chords. I owned one about 20 years ago and I set up the pedals exactly as shown in the owner's manual, and there wasn't an ounce of "country" sounds in those pedal changes. It sounded similar to what we hear in this recording.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 26 Jul 2016 5:26 am

I think the jazzy chords could be accomplished with non-pedal, and it's got that sound to me.

The progression is very normal; the jazzy chords come as IV/V sorts of 11ths chords, where the steel is playing a couple of frets below
the chord on the chart. More of like a chord substitution than something complex.

Sonny Jenkins · Post by **Sonny Jenkins** » 26 Jul 2016 11:08 am

For one to say "that couldn't be done on non-pedal",,,,maybe has not heard Billy Robinson,,,,he can do pedal type slants all day long.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 26 Jul 2016 7:09 pm

Charlie, that's what I heard - chord subs by changing grips and position rather than pedal sounds but again, I could be wrong. what other instrument has so many variables? A flute is a flute is a flue but a steel guitar? Oy!

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jul 2016 7:13 pm

Mike Bagwell had it exactly right in his first response. Not that it matters, I guess...

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 26 Jul 2016 7:13 pm

Sounds like Buddy Emmons to me. In fact, I would bet it is Buddy on 8 string E9 Bigsby (with pedals). These lick are very similar to the licks he played in Buddy's Boogie.

The very opening lick is Buddy Emmons, I'm absolutely positive. I just made this little clip of the intro to demonstrate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySq2gUPAksY

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jul 2016 7:36 pm

After a second listen, I'm inclined to agree that it's probably Buddy, though I still think it's C6th. That 9b5 chord at the end is a giveaway.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 26 Jul 2016 7:54 pm

Jerry, that is simply done on the E9 with the pedal down (raising B to C# and G# to A) to get that descending major9 (frets 4 to 2), then up to the 9b5, which is actually just an F# major triad at the 9th fret.

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jul 2016 7:58 pm

Could be. If it's Buddy, he probably would have been able to do all that on either neck, but it still sounds like his pedal C6th to me.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Jul 2016 8:00 pm

According to a rare records site it IS Buddy Emmons ----> http://www.popsike.com/HEAR-Rare-Countr ... 04609.html

Good call, Mike. I too hear Buddy's style in the intro: a little bit of Buddy's Boogie, Four Wheel Drive, Witches Brew, and others.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 26 Jul 2016 8:08 pm

Jerry Gleason wrote:Could be. If it's Buddy, he probably would have been able to do all that on either neck, but it still sounds like his pedal C6th to me.

The only thing is, the intro can't be played on C6. That's straight E9, no pedals. The E9 tuning is the same on strings 2, 3 and 4 as B6 would be. Lots of common ground.

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 26 Jul 2016 8:13 pm

Ok, Mike, You've convinced me. In those days, the E9th and C6th tunings were not so conceptually different as they became later. Still great playing, and I love that vintage Bigsby tone.

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 27 Jul 2016 3:16 am

I didn't really pay much attention to the intro, as Mike pointed out its played on E9. Buddy then switches necks to play the solo part on C6.

Mike

Stefan Robertson · Post by **Stefan Robertson** » 27 Jul 2016 3:18 am

Pedal steel for sure.

Big chord sound toward the end. But chord extensions in the beginning

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 27 Jul 2016 4:31 am

Okay I listened again. I was wrong. Good ears, Gents.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 27 Jul 2016 4:48 am

I wish I would have heard this one a few years ago.

After listening more carefully to the solo and to some of the little 13th partials he plays, no doubt that he is jumping necks. And some of the fills are played on the E9 neck and some on C6. Or maybe not! I wish I had time to transcribe it. Definitely whole step pedal bends in solo. This is awesome. He was both exciting and spontaneous in his playing, and he could pull it off because his chops were up to it.

Stefan Robertson · Post by **Stefan Robertson** » 27 Jul 2016 6:07 am

He knew intervals and their relationships heavily

I think he approached the instrument based on intervals and not knowledge of all note positions.

Common Nashville approach very effective. Either way he was inspiring.

Overtime you listen to his jazz work it makes you want to say fÂ£@k it and pick up a pedal steel.

However then you realise that pedal steel is heavy as ever.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Jul 2016 6:11 am

Yes, those whole step raises sound like pedal 7 on standard C6 pedal steel, C to D and A to B. If this song was recorded in 1959, Buddy is probably playing an early Sho-Bud D-10.
I love the amp sound. Such a raw, tube sound, no reverb, slightly overdriven.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 27 Jul 2016 8:12 am

Thanks guys! I suspected that it might have been early Emmons - it's similar to the style he plays on some of the Curtis Gordon tracks I've heard.