The Steel Guitar Forum

I posted this version of Bud's Bounce a while back and I still think it's pretty cool. I worked it out for E9 Non-pedal (fantastic tuning) and it has some string pulls in it. I think I actually thought about doing this one for years and wrote it off as being impossible. Where there's a will....

I love this tuning (E9) and I'd be happy to talk about it--it is the perfect compliment to C6 for a twin neck guitar (can be easily converted to E13). It's proably my most used tuning, and Buddy Emmons and Speedy West used it quite a bit.

From high to low: E B G# F# D B G# E

Bud's Bounce
(This will open a new window.)

I have tabbed it out and notated it this morning and made it into a package with a backing track and Tabledit file, as well as a .pdf for printing out.

Give it a listen and if you are inclined to want to learn, the price is right and the download is a snap.

Kick a** Mike! SO cool.

Mike, what version of E9 would you recommend for 6 string?

Stephen, just leave off the bottom 2 strings, G# and E. I use the 6 string version, too, and you can retune a C6 set to E9 easily.

Man, this just tickles me. I'm going to put all of my tabs and arrangements on the Kindle (in case I forget them)

Mike Neer wrote:Man, this just tickles me. I'm going to put all of my tabs and arrangements on the Kindle (in case I forget them)

Mike,
I just got a Kindle for my birthday last month, and would love to be able to do that. How do you get the files on your Kindle?

Steve, you have to register your Kindle through your Amazon account. Once you do, they assign you an email address. You email a file to the email address provided and !voila!, it appears on your Kindle a little while later.

Does the file have to be in some type of Kindle format, or will the Kindle read PDF's?

Mine are pdfs. There are Kindle formats (.mobi is one), but it handles these pdfs nicely.

Mike Neer wrote:Stephen, just leave off the bottom 2 strings, G# and E. I use the 6 string version, too, and you can retune a C6 set to E9 easily.

Hey, never thought of it that way. I may have to give that a go.

I was thinking more of retuning an E Major set to
(lo-to-hi; F#-B-D-G#-B-E). Plus I get an E7 with no skipped strings.

Stephen Abruzzo wrote:

Mike Neer wrote:Stephen, just leave off the bottom 2 strings, G# and E. I use the 6 string version, too, and you can retune a C6 set to E9 easily.

Hey, never thought of it that way. I may have to give that a go.

I was thinking more of retuning an E Major set to
(lo-to-hi; F#-B-D-G#-B-E). Plus I get an E7 with no skipped strings.

Stephen, it works great the way I listed it. If you change the order of the strings, you lose all the benefits of the tuning. You just gotta work on that right hand--it's not so hard to do.

Hi Mike,

Sounds great.. Is it weird not having the E string between the D and F# strings. I'm so use to having it their playing e9th pedal steel.

Also what gauge are you using for the low E.

Thanks Cory

Mike Neer wrote:Stephen, it works great the way I listed it. If you change the order of the strings, you lose all the benefits of the tuning. You just gotta work on that right hand--it's not so hard to do.

At the risk of sounding dumb........would you be kind enough to delineate exactly what the benefits of that tuning are for a 6 string?

Stephen Abruzzo wrote:

Mike Neer wrote:Stephen, it works great the way I listed it. If you change the order of the strings, you lose all the benefits of the tuning. You just gotta work on that right hand--it's not so hard to do.

At the risk of sounding dumb........would you be kind enough to delineate exactly what the benefits of that tuning are for a 6 string?

I'd be happy to. First, on the bottom 4 strings you have a Bmi6 chord: B D F# G#. This is a sound I use a lot. Next, you have a Bmin triad on the bottom 3. So what, you may say. Well, a minor triad is at the heart of every 9th chord. If I were to play a C#min triad and slide down to the Bmi, with an E in the bass that would give me the common 9th chord vamp that you hear on records like Chained Lightning (Steely Dan), Mercy Mercy Mercy, etc.

Next, you have the interval of a whole step between strings 3 and 4. I could play an entire night of music on just those 2 strings--spend some time time with it, like a few months and you will see what I mean.

Not to mention that string 2, 3 and 4 have the same structure as C6, just a 1/2 step lower.

I do not miss the E in the middle range--if I need octaves, I play them on the B strings, G# strings, or low and high Es (2 octaves). Took me a little while to be completely at home with this tuning, but I prefer it to any tuning except C6/A7, which I love just as much.

This tuning looks really cool, Mike. I've found the minor triad to be one of the most useful tools for jazz improv on standard guitar and am trying to explore it on steel. A book called Jazz Guitar Structure by Andrew Green has an excellent chapter on minor triads that stuck in my brain and I've used that info ever since. I go back to it often when working on steel.
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-Struc ... pd_sim_b_1

You can see the page in the Amazon preview.

Adam Gejdos wrote:This tuning looks really cool, Mike. I've found the minor triad to be one of the most useful tools for jazz improv on standard guitar and am trying to explore it on steel....

Adam, that's right. Where there is a minor triad, there is a dominant chord. The upper extensions of dominant chords and altered dominant chords are often minor triads.

Pat Martino's Linear Expressions had some impact on me 20 years ago. Much of that book touched on his use of minor scales.

Wow,

I'm really loving this tune and this tuning. Any plans on tabbing more E9 stuff? Anatomy of a chord solo "Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" in C6 on your blog is great too. Thanks so much for doing this.

Ian

Thank you, Ian. Yes, "Seven Come Eleven" is in that tuning as well. I'm also working on Buddy Emmons' "Buddy's Boogie" (which is just killer!) and some Speedy West in E9.

Mike Neer wrote:Next, you have the interval of a whole step between strings 3 and 4. I could play an entire night of music on just those 2 strings--spend some time time with it, like a few months and you will see what I mean.

You had mentioned this same type of an interval of a whole-step thing with regards to the G and A strings in C6 tuning.

So, obviously the interval of a whole-step is a CONCEPT as opposed to something unique to one tuning. Could you briefly explain (in a separate thread if needed) what is so good about that?....and why you could spend a nite on just the whole-step interval strings. If you have discussed this in depth previously, just provide the link. Thanks.

Hmmmm....might the whole-step interval concept be worthy of a downloadable lesson?