The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone know what tuning Jules Ah see used on My Rose of Waikiki?

I believe he used D9.

ECAF#EC# hi to low. From a C6, just detune the 4th string G down a half step and sharp the low C.

Thanks for the reply. I just got another reply from someone who has the History of the Hawaiian Guitar CD and they say the sixth string is a C#. I will check it out and see which one is right. Andy

Never mind, you got it right. I just read it wrong.

Never mind, you got it right. I just read it wrong.

Thanks for the reply. I just got another reply from someone who has the History of the Hawaiian Guitar CD and they say the sixth string is a C#. I will check it out and see which one is right. Andy

No, you read it right. I checked my copy of the CD and added the C# to my post, though to be honest, I can't remember how it fits into his version or how it relates to D9. It's been a while since I played it, but I recall that it was that F# that made it lay out like the record. Not sure that low C or C# (which ever) even factors in.

I believe that he played it in C13th.

The C# at the bottom gives you a straight bar major (6th) chord. I can't remember now if Jules strums such a chord anywhere in the recording.

OK I found the Rose of Waikiki by Jules Ah See on the CD called the history of the steel guitar and worked up the tablature. Trying to play along with the CD it came out to be in the key of G#, probably because it was not 440hz. I would suspect it was probably done in the key of G. Now, my question would be "What are the chords in the song?"

Jeff Au Hoy wrote:The C# at the bottom gives you a straight bar major (6th) chord. I can't remember now if Jules strums such a chord anywhere in the recording.

Jeff, I believe the very last chord Jules plays in the song is a Bb6th on the 13th fret on strings 3,4,5 and 6. That low C# seems to give the D9th tuning a bit of added usefulness just as the low C# gives the otherwise straight C6th added possibilities.

Also, I believe the tune was indeed recorded in G# since the introduction Jules plays to the melody requires playing string #1 open and the bar on the second fret of strings 2 and 3 to make a 3 note passing chord (diminished?). This particular "trick" of Jules drove me crazy until I suspected he did something "deviant" to get that particular note cluster (Typically clever for Jules' style as well as Barney's).

Playing the big section of the tune purely with harmonics the way Jules did without messing up will take me a long, long, long time!

A few years ago I did a rough work on it for a student. Here is some tab with the chords. The bridge is intended to be played harmonics so the bar is 12 frets below the tab numbers.







Tuning C6th: E--C--A--G--E--C High to Low
Hope this is of some assistance.

Roy

Thanks Roy. I tabbed it out in the key of A with a d9th tuning. Wasn't easy but it sounds great. I will give this one a try.