The Steel Guitar Forum

I think that one of Jerry Byrd's tuning was Lo to hi B D E F# G# B E . Am I right on this and Why doesn't anyone ever mention it. It see s to be good for country licks going from I chord to the IV chord,

Seven string E9th tuning! This is what Jerry used on his Admirable Byrd LP (except for Faded Love and Chime In, those were in C6).

My favorite recording of Jerry with this tuning is the Suprize Waltz.

~Chris Scruggs~

Jerry used this tuning a lot - it has a very distinctive sound and you can usually tell when he's using it - you hear a lot of reverse slants and faux pedal stuff. If you check the YouTube videos, he kept this tuning on his 8-stg frypan.

Jerry Byrd:

"I did an album called "Admirable Byrd" and I did a lot of pedal sounds in there... not as good as the pedal guys could do it but it was that sound and it was still different. I wrote a lot of the tunes to show what you could do without pedals in an E9th tuning. I got a lot of mail... one of the songs is "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" and I do a lot of bar slant work, you know, and a lot of people still don't believe I did it without a pedal guitar but I did. To me it's kinda silly. Why would I lie about it if I did play pedals! I'd tell 'em."

Out of over 8 hrs of video tape ... here is the very best segment I have of Jerry Byrd ...

http://www.horseshoemagnets.com/jbfrypan1990.wmv

Kawohikukapulani ...

Surprise Waltz ...

I'll be All Smiles Tonight ...

Tomi Tomi ...

E9 tuning ... (hi to lo) E B G# F# E D (B G#)

It's a very big file ... but who wants to see JB in a tiny box ...

Thanks everyone especially Rick!!!

He plays so beautifully you have to cry in amazement!!!!

Wow nice video Rick!! Thanks.
Anyway we can get the entire tape?

I bought all those VHS videos back in the late 80's and early 90's ... They were filmed by Clay Savage for HSGA, Aloha International, Steel Guitar West, Scotty's convention, etc.

I did notice this segment is chopped up and put on YouTube ... Probably from when I posted this before ... Or he may have the whole Steel Guitar West convention ....

Thanks Rick, awesome video. There is so much "ear candy" in those slants and chord changes in Surprise Waltz, it's almost unbearable! Beautiful, and played with a master's touch.

Correct me if I'm wrong...I use to play Chime in many years ago when I had a triple neck Fender. After many frustrating hours I finally figured out that Jerry was useing the C diatonic tuning. I kept this tuning on the 3rd neck just to play this tune. Had a lot of request after I put it on the bandstand. Lee

OK... I'm going to correct myself.... This thread got me interested in Chime in after 20 years or so. But something wasn't right...a little research on the puter and I found I was tuning my first string to middle C and JB's used and E on the first string.(JB's tuning is high to low....E, C, B, A, G, F, E, D. yAAAA.
I'm walking in tall cotton. Chime In is now on the play list. Lee

Hey Dave,

Let me know when you get "Surprise Waltz" down. I want to come by to see how it's done...

Best,

Bob

Lee, I used to play "Chime In" in C6/A7. It's been a while, but I could get everything I heard on the record in that tuning, chiming the "off" notes at the 7th fret. It's a fun tune to play.

Tom. For the life of me I cant get to first base trying to play the song on my C6/A7 tuning. With the tuning mentioned above... the whole song plays out just like the record. The harmonic parts are all on the 24th and 19th frets... also the same Octave as the record. Lee

Lee, I played it at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets, but it didn't lay out neatly. There was a lot of jumping back and forth.

It's an 8 string JB frypan ... The rest of the concert was done on his ShoBud 8/7 ...

This was 1/2 through ... And I think he liked to take a break from standing up ...

I have an Aloha International convention video, where he did the same thing. Played someone's Excel D8 standing ... Took a seat with a JB Frypan tuned to E9 and played ... Then finished standing with the Excel.

Im trying the tuning E9 tuning (hi to lo) E B G# F# E D B G# .

Any educational material available for this tuning? Im mostly looking for country and blues licks.

My best guess is there probably isn't anything specific to your E9 tuning available. That said, there's a boatload of stuff you can get out of Open E, even if you explored Open E slide guitar and took some of those riffs to lap steel.

Also, you can play around with your C6 skills on the C6 G-A strings and use that 7th (dom & minor) vamp with the whole tone intervals you have in your E9.