The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm trying to figure out how to get around in Leon's E13. If you folks out there can list songs you know are done in this tuning by Leon or anyone else, that would be very helpful. I'll find them on YouTube and do what I can to figure them out. Any other help you guys have to offer I'm wide open. This tuning doesn't fall under the bar intuitively for me like 6th tunings do.

I've been wanting to try this tuning too. I'll be curious to hear the responses.

I had a neck tuned to Leon's E13. I found that his Blue Guitar Stomp worked in this tuning. Experiment and see what you think.
https://youtu.be/WwX94t-hDzs

Yes, definately Blue Guitar Stomp. Also Pan handle Rag, Boot Heel Drag and Downhill Drag, all Leon McAuliffe. You should also check out Bobby Koefer and Vance Terry. Vance used a variation of Leon's a lot when he was playing in Billy Jack Wills band.

E
C#
B
G#
F#
D
B
G#

Modern day players like Jeremy Wakefield and Lee Jeffries use that one as well.

Vance Terry - not a good example IMHO pedals used. Not pure E13 on his Brisbane bop whatsoever


E13 Song examples (bear in mind I don't believe in using different tunings for different songs) But for those who want to know some E13 classics.

Leon McAuliffe - great example
Tom Morrell - excellent example

Rosetta
I can't give you anything but Love
Roses
It had to be You
Don't get around much anymore
Maybe You'll Be there
Stompin' At the Savoy

All the Things you Are
Cherokee
Fly me To the Moon
Nightlife

Advanced E13 technique - very similar to C6 pedal steel chords

Artists to imitate -
Buddy Emmons
Doug Jernigan

Example songs

Raisin the Dicken's
Cherokee
Nightlife
All the things You are
pretty much any pedal steel Jazz number try it on E13



the list goes on and on and on....

Vance Terry - not a good example IMHO pedals used. Not pure E13 on his Brisbane bop whatsoever

That's true of his later work with Jimmy Rivers but in the early 50s with Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band he's playing non-pedal E13th. The KFBK transcriptions (114 sides or so) feature tons of swingin' non-pedal E13th.

Hmmm.... Please send me some links could I'd definitely be interested to hear. Cause I am interested in what his approach on E13 would sound like.

Thank you all for these responses. Very helpful info. If any of you have proficiency with this tuning, please share some licks, patterns etc. that would be very helpful.
Blue Guitar Stomp is teaching me a lot. I'm sure many of you have seen this on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X8zOgF ... xEiaMN9y1s
Very helpful indeed.

I use Leon's E13 tuning on the middle neck of my T8. One tune you can use it on is San Antonio Rose. I play the verse on my C6 neck, then I use the E13 neck for...

Moon in all your splendor know only my heart
Call back my rose, rose of San Antone
Lips so sweet and tender like petals falling apart
Speak once again of my love, my own

Then back to the C6 neck.

I'll try to post some tabs of some of the E13 licks when I get the time.

Tunes I'm working on in McA E13:

Night and Day
There will Never be Another You
Everything Happens to Me
Blue Monk
Cantaloupe Island
Cherokee

Stefan, these are "must hear" recordings. Vance Terry is brilliant as is Tiny Moore of electric mandolin.

https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Jack-Wills ... jack+wills

https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Man-BILLY- ... jack+wills

Great bought it will analyse for sure.

Must say looking forward to see the approach and see if its outside the common C6th style voicings. As there is sooo much on E13 but all too often I'm finding that the straight C6 with the C as the melody note is the common approach and then 4 frets higher is the m7 but will wait and see.

Thanks guys. Considering Buddy Emmons mentioned the brilliance of Vance's work I must say Brisbane Bop was a let down although it was good at the time with all those pedals being used it sounded less than impressive to me. If it were non-pedal now that would be impressive.

Meaning his pedal work for that time was progressive but in comparison to today's mechanics and voicings sounded dated. Guess we are spoiled as Emmons and Jernigan came after and had more options and mechanics so I should've listened to him first on pedals.

Bo Parker wrote:Tunes I'm working on in McA E13:

Night and Day
There will Never be Another You
Everything Happens to Me
Blue Monk
Cantaloupe Island
Cherokee

Cherokee Doug Jernigan/Emmons versions are right there on E13 even though they play C6 with lots of pedals the voicings are all there on E13.

I put that E13 on several guitars and just learned to live with it... that helps a lot. Of course, there's songs that were written for it, or fit right in... but if you stretch your capabilities you can do more. For instance, Jersey Bounce fits great once you get the verse down... the chorus is all E13, of course.

The four high strings are just a 6 tuning... you'll probably miss the high 3, so you have to deal with that... I'll slide up 4 and (edit)forward-slant on 1&2, or put the 3 in the bass. Add the 5th string (the '2') and you get a kind of E9 pedals-down 2-fret box where you're in the V position... reach up 2 frets for the 3 and 5 on strings 1 & 2, your 5th string gives the bottom 5 tone, a great place to start melodic runs... this is the place where the high 3 and 5 lives. Perhaps you've noticed that the top three strings' intervals are duplicated by the 5-4-3 strings' ones... so, learn to jam in this new position and you've got a new tool. I-IV-V are available in this 2-fret box.

One thing missing from Leon is the normal major third... it's down a string and up two frets (5&6), or on the bottom 2 strings, not so useful. It doesn't sound that good because the gauges of the strings are heavier... and you have to jump up 2 frets to hit it... if you can get your adjacent string forward-slant working you can come from below on the 3-4 strings... these are the kinds of things you have to do to use E13 as a normal tuning... same thing available on strings 1 and 2 if you can adjacent-string (edit)forward-slant.

In addition to the normal 1 and 4 string major diatonic dyad scale that uses forward slants there's one in the middle (strings 6 and 3) if you can reverse-slant... that starts in that alternate V position too, so you can work that into the jam. There's another one for strings 8 and 5, it starts level instead of in a reverse slant, so you can use it in E from the root position... you can ring the open high E against it and get a nice effect. When you learn to switch between these scales/positions/slants then you start to get comfortable in the tuning. There's a nice 2-fret box using strings 8 and 4, then 7 and 3... if you can forward and reverse, this opens up lots of stuff (the slants are easier with the wider grips!).

I play SGR, Playboy Rag, Blue Steel Stomp, Boot Heel (that's a Remington tune BTW), Panhandle, Jersey Bounce, BBowman Hop, and working on Lover (hard!). Some things are hard... I still struggle with minor chords, go into dyads when that happens. Still, it's a very rewarding tuning to explore. You can drop the 2 down to 1 and the 7 down to 6 and get in more familiar territory if you have to.

This is all hard to explain, not sure of my nomenclature, I'll make a short video demonstrating these tonight.

You've given me a lot of info there Stephen. Don't know if I'll get it all, I'm a "show it to me guy". But I'm going to print out your words and do the best I can.
If you make that video, that would be wonderful. I would be grateful as I know many others here at the Forum will also be.

Kevin Glandon wrote:You've given me a lot of info there Stephen. Don't know if I'll get it all, I'm a "show it to me guy". But I'm going to print out your words and do the best I can.
If you make that video, that would be wonderful. I would be grateful as I know many others here at the Forum will also be.

Here it is, unvarnished. Not that entertaining, but it gets the ideas across. The close slants work better with a steel bar on a 22" guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r4bpr4mhxw

Thanks, Stephen. That’s going to be helpful. So is the list of E13 examples in this thread.

Stephen, thanks for posting the video,there is a lot there to work on and it all sounds like stuff that will be easy to incorporate.

Lots of good Ideas.

Will analyse this Saturday. Thanks Stephen.

Informative video, Stephen. Thanks.

Here is my contribution. I am pretty sure that Vance is using regular Leon tuning. Only one note in bar 9 makes me wonder about string 5. The solo is at .045.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQoNQmetolA

Stephen, that was great. Thank you for you video. Very very useful. Also thank you Guy for your transcription.
All this is wonderfully helpful. All you folks here at the Forum are great. Thank you all.

Guy Cundell wrote:Here is my contribution. I am pretty sure that Vance is using regular Leon tuning.

Wow. Very cool. I have this on a comp but this is a different performance of it. Vance was such an exciting and creative musician.

This thread is great!

I have a neck tuned to this E13. Up until recently I only played a few things on it. Paradise Isle is the only song I knew. Thanks to Stephen especially and for the video! I’ve been practicing to it.

[quote="Guy Cundell"
Here is my contribution. I am pretty sure that Vance is using regular Leon tuning. Only one note in bar 9 makes me wonder about string 5. The solo is at .045.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQoNQmetolA
][/quote]

Guy.....a bit late, but thanks. That was very helpful.

Anyone have any more E13 tips, tabs or suggestions?

Jim, earlier this year I'd heard about a xeroxed-copy of a guide somebody posted long ago (we know it's long ago because they apologize for the long download time required for a 152K document...back in the days when you started your dl then went to bed!) I found a pdf copy and posted at the Lap Steel Jazz Facebook page. Emailed you a copy.

I've attached a fretboard layout I made to accompany it. Someday I'll do a chord chart per the pdf. Good luck on your journey!