9th flatted fifth in B11

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Nic Neufeld
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9th flatted fifth in B11

Post by Nic Neufeld »

I heard this intro today by Jules:
https://youtu.be/8uhe0SnC5To?t=1345

(around 22 minutes in, as they start "Beyond The Rainbow"/"Waipi'o")

I was briefly wondering if he had used an unconventional tuning for that last arpeggiated chord, but then realized it was a B chord. Conventional B11 8 string tuning, played open, with the top string at fret 1 to give you a flatted fifth (instead of 11th): 1-5-1-3-5-b7-9-b5

Anyway, I thought it was cool and deceptively simple.

I went ahead and charted the rest of the intro...it's pretty surely the C13 neck first, then over to B11 for that final chord. Jules did that a lot on Hawaii Calls recordings (in Sand he goes from B11 to a C6Maj7 neck several times, and at the end).

Code: Select all

C13
 E|--------------------------------3----
 C|-----10-10----------------------3----
 A|-----10-10--------------12-----------
 G|-10----------10--------12-------3----
 E|-10--10-10---10--12---12----12-------
 C|-10----------10--12--12-----12-------
Bb|--------------------12---------------
 C|-------------------------------------

B11
 E|--------1---
C#|-------0----
 A|------0-----
F#|-----0------
D#|----0-------
 B|---0--------
F#|--0---------
 B|-0----------
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me
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Joe A. Roberts
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Post by Joe A. Roberts »

Cool trick!
Thanks for sharing.
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Mikiya Matsuda
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Post by Mikiya Matsuda »

Jules rules! I hadn't heard this one before. Thanks for hipping me to this, Nic.
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Andy Volk
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Post by Andy Volk »

Very hip harmonically. Cool find, Nic, and well sleuthed!

Makes me miss having a double neck.
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com
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Nic Neufeld
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Post by Nic Neufeld »

What's funny is I found a zip file on my hard drive...from 2017...files Basil H had sent me back then when I was just getting started, and I'd never unzipped them heretofore. Transfers of this album and "Fire Goddess"...both great! And I had had them all this time. D'oh, and thanks Basil!

The vibraphone is nice on this album...in style I would compare it to "Hawaiian Strings"...similarly varied in instrumentation, nice arrangements. Based on the release date I was thinking it might be Barney but once I started listening to it the sound is pure Jules and was probably just released posthumously.
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me
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Andrew Frost
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Post by Andrew Frost »

Nice. Somebody posted that whole record on a Facebook steel page last summer. That particular intro caught my ear as well and I thought it was a B9#11 tuning, but your assessment makes a lot of sense!
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Nic Neufeld
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Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Post by Nic Neufeld »

Thanks Andrew, I think you are right in calling this a B9#11 chord (vs 9 flatted fifth...especially because the fifth is in there). Chord theory was not something I ever learned in a formal or thorough way! :D
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me
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