The Steel Guitar Forum

What is the chord if string four is flatted a half tone, A&B pedals are down, playing 4,5 and 6?

I believe it’s a 9th chord.

Thank you Charlie.

B9th on the open strings.

Thanks b0b. I really like it.

This is also a good way to play a partial D#'half diminished' chord aka D#min7b5. If you include the F# string(s) it is a complete 4 note chord, R b3 b5 b7
AB down w/ Es lowered, "one fret above" is how I think of it. So Em7b5 is at fret one. The root note is on string 4 & 8.
D#m7b5 w/ B in the bass makes B9. Great 5 chord in the home position. You can get the B root by using the BC pedals w/ Es lowered instead of AB. Its a big chord though- one needn't play all the chord tones.

Thank you Andrew. That helps. I'll try the one fret up chord and see what I can do with it.

Wayne Baker wrote:What is the chord if string four is flatted a half tone, A&B pedals are down, playing 4,5 and 6?

I always thought that was a 7th chord.

What b0b said. Playing 4, 5, 6:

In 0 position, B pedal + E > D# lever = B7

Add A pedal: B9 chord

Caveat: Determining "what chord is this" really requires knowing the root of the chord (i.e. "What note is the bass player playing?)

BTW, if you half-pedal A you get a nice B7b9 chord . . . jazzier than a straight B7.

Excellent! I like jazzy. I'm tryna get some super fat jazz type stuff for a more modern Christian music application as well. I'm taking the PFM. The C6 essentials course is really helping me.

The way you may want to look at it is the Dom7th chord you get with strings 4&8 lowered half (E-to-Eb-lever) and the B-pedal down only: which is your typical 7th chord.
You ADD the A-pedal to the mix and you have a 9th because the root get's raised a full tone on the same fret (which is 2 frets below your A&B down Major position).

... J-D.

AB+E’s lowered changes the 0 position tuning to
C#-D-D#-F#-A-C#-D#-A-D#-F# (low to high)

String 9(D) is the oddball in an otherwise basically symmetric pattern across the strings.

The four notes C#-D#-F#-A, in any order, can form 4 different chords:
B9 no root (3-5–7-9)
D#m7b5 (1-b3-b5-7)
F#m6 (1-b3-5-6)
F7b9#5 no root. (3-#5-7-b9)

Some ordering of notes sound better than others for context. Only string 9 is “wrong” for any of those chords, but there is still a lovely Dmaj7 chord sitting there on strings 9-7-6-5.

Wayne Baker wrote:What is the chord if string four is flatted a half tone, A&B pedals are down, playing 4,5 and 6?

Just an FYI, with A and B pedals down, then lowering 4 (or 8 ), is not flatting the root. It is flatting the 5th of the A chord, and turns the A chord into the B9 chord the others have mentioned. The root of tha A chord would be the A notes on strings 3 & 6. And once you lower the E notes to make the B9 chord, you no longer have a root for the B9 chord.

Thanks for getting us back on track, Richard. Strings 4 and 8 are only the root of an E major after pedals and levers are released from the chord in question when it is played as a B9.

Any 3 of the 4 notes C#-D#-F#-A also form the same chords and chord partials I mentioned in my previous post, including the notes in the string 6-5-4 grip. I just thought the additional information might benefit the OP since he is looking to jazz-up his sound.

Any 3 of the 4 notes C#-D#-F#-A also form the same chords and chord partials I mentioned in my previous post, including the notes in the string 6-5-4 grip. I just thought the additional information might benefit the OP since he is looking to jazz-up his sound.

Yes indeed. AB w/ Es lowered is one of those "swiss army knife" grips on E9 for chord subs. One cool trick for minor 2 5 1's is to use it for all 3 chords in the turnaround. For example, on strings 5678, play Bm7b5 at 8th fret, E7(alt) at 11 and Am6 at 3 or 15.

Some great ideas everyone. Thanks! One of my favorites is the diminished available using strings 8 - 4(which I believe someone already mentioned) using the half pedal, or half step change from B-C if you've got it. You can get lost down a rabbit hole once you start looking at the possibilities!

Once you start using ideas like this for the more harmonically rich chords, you begin appreciate the depth and versaltility of the C6th tuning. To me, these ideas are so much more accessable and logical on the C6. Now if I could just figure out a way to combine these tunings.....HA!

Steve Mueller wrote:Once you start using ideas like this for the more harmonically rich chords, you begin appreciate the depth and versaltility of the C6th tuning. To me, these ideas are so much more accessable and logical on the C6. Now if I could just figure out a way to combine these tunings.....HA!

After a lifetime, I've finally started exploring C6th and getting a kick out of it. And what you say here about depth and versatility and logic, gotta say I'm not there yet. The C6th stuff I find relatively easy on E9th, I'm having to do a LOT of hunting for on C6th. E9th has always been more intuitive to me than C6th, even though a lot of people have told me for what I play on E9th, I should rightly be on C6th.