Junior Brown's funky chord

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Junior Brown has a particular trick that I have not figured out (just one???).

He is able to get what sounds like a #9 chord on his guit-steel. It sounds a lot like the boo-wah pedal on C6. He typically uses it over a dominant V in a turnaround. An example is the 2nd break on Hillbilly Hula Gal.

He uses a C6 with a C# in it somewhere, right? Anybody got his exact tuning?

[Jon Light]

I don't know Jr's tuning but if you raise the bottom string of a CEGACE tuning (low to high) to C# then you do have a built in 7#9.

[Earnest Bovine]

G
E
C
A
G
E
C
Bb


Strings 4,6,8 make F#7+9.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I am not in front of a steel at the moment, but lets see what we have here.

With the E13 tuning that E. Bovine suggests, strings 4, 6, and 8 would give a 9#, 7b, and a 3, if F# is the root. So that's pretty cool- when I want a V chord, I could go up a fret from the tonic and hit these strings for a twisted 5. I like this option, as i already play this tuning anyway, so this elusive cool chord has been right under my fingers.

The C# tuning has my little brain swimming though...

If we have some tuning in which we could get(high to low) a C, E, G, C#, we would have 9#, 5, 7b, 3. So this would be an A#9 chord without a root, but with a 5.

I just have to try these things out. I reckon the question is what gives us that cool funky sound- is it the dissonance of a low 3 and a high 9# (3b) along with a 7b?

Thanks all!

[Bobby Lee]

Yeah, that's it. The 7#9 chord is always 6 frets away from the root chord, right between the IV fret and the V fret. It's on the same strings that give you the b7th, 3rd and 6th tones at the root position.

The same chord is available in the same position on the E9th pedal steel. Press the first pedal and play strings 9, 6 and 5. If you're in the key of G, these notes at the 9th fret will give you the essence of a G7#9 chord.