"Rainbows All Over Your Blues" - Buddy Emmons steel

[Jeff Garden]

I was listening to an old John Sebastian album last weekend and when I got to "Rainbows All Over Your Blues" I must have replayed it 10 times. I never get tired of hearing Buddy's steel playing. I searched the Forum tab and came up with John Steele's great work tabbing out the break in 2007
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... t=rainbows
I decided to tab the rest of it start to finish. I've included John's work on Pages 5-7 and labeled it as such.
Comments, corrections, and slicker ways to play things are always welcome (including the opening kickoff - I'm hearing sort of a half-pedal A?). This is my first try at tabbing out anything by Buddy...hope it's close.
Here's a youtube video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfk3wBeeaLY

And lastly, thank you for all of the music and inspiration over the years Mr. Emmons...may you rest in peace.

[Alexander Rehfeld]

Super, I always wanted to learn this tune! Great job!

[Dale Rottacker]

Never heard that song before Jeff, but followed your tab while I was listening to it... that was very nicely done... Good Job

[Joachim Kettner]

That's great work, Jeff! I never have been able to figure it out by myself. Thanks!

[steve takacs]

Jeff, This one is the "Mother of All Tabs".
I started tabbing this out a while back and then put it aside. It happens to be of my favorite examples of Buddy Emmons steel backing. Thanks, yet again, for your expertise and time giving us this Emmons gem! I will practice it right now.

Kudos to John Steele also for doing the killer break. stevet

[Doug Garrick]

You're my new hero Jeff! Thanks for the tab and the link to John Steele's tab. Great stuff.

[Joe Alterio]

[Bob Vogel]

Hi,

Thanks for the great tab. This is one of my favorite pedal steel songs.

What Copedent does this tab use, in particular, what are the Knee Lever settings?

Thanks,
Bob Vogel
1975 Emmons E9

[Jeff Garden]

Hey Bob,

Glad you enjoyed the tab.

Knee levers are as follows:
D lowers strings 4 and 8 a half tone
F raises strings 4 and 8 a half tone
G lowers string 6 a full tone
E lowers string 2 a half tone (I use EE for the full tone lower)

[George Biner]

I remember first hearing this song when I was about 9 years old -- fantastic song from a great writer with a killer arrangement and Buddy, too. and what tone Buddy had on this.

Thanks, Jeff, for the FULL SONG tab, gotta love it.

[Patrick McHenry]

As always Jeff, thank you so much. This is a banquet of knowledge for someone like me. Why can't everyone be like you and just post the tabs for all to see? It's not hard! Thanks you rock dude.

[Jeff Garden]

Thank you for all of the nice comments, guys.

[Larry Dering]

Good one Jeff, thanks for sharing your talents.

[Fish]

I made it a habit to never ask Buddy questions like "how did you play...." Maybe that's why he was kind enough to answer my emails and phone calls.

You can imagine how many times I've kicked myself for not asking him "how did you play...."

BUT....one time I was down in the basement with him. I had never played in front of Buddy. I somehow got the nerve to ask if I could play "The Blade," which was set up with the cover off. Buddy said "sure." We didn't turn his amp on. I noticed immediately his E9th neck was perfectly in tune (this was some time after Peggy had passed and rumors flew that Buddy wasn't playing at all anymore....yeah, right).

For some reason, the first thing I could think of to play was Buddy's "Rainbows" solo in F. I somehow managed to get through it without mangling it too badly. As soon as I finished, he immediately suggested I try what I refer to as "The Climb" a different way. I was using knee levers to play it, but what Buddy showed was so much more logical and economical -- and it sounded so "right" -- that I was completely floored. For Buddy it was all about bar movement for this particular lick. Here's what he showed me:



PS: in the next section I "half-pedaled" the first floor (A) pedal at the 8th fret to get the bluesy IV chords and he didn't correct me, so that might have been the way he originally played that part, although I'm not certain.

[Roger Rettig]

That's a great story, Fish!

Thanks for sharing.

(So: YOU got to play The Blade in Buddy's basement, eh??? That's a feather in anyone's cap, although I fear I'd have been too nervous. )