The Steel Guitar Forum

What tuning did Jerry Byrd use on I'll be all smiles tonight? Driving me crazy to figure it out Lee

E9

Hi to lo ... E B G# F# E D

The "secret" to this tuning is that it works only if the instrument is tuned in Just Intonation. While a forward slant on (say) the top three strings of A6 will be badly out of tune in Just, putting that gap between the E and G# in the E9 tuning enables a forward slant on the E G# and B strings to be in tune.

Roger Fletcher wrote:The "secret" to this tuning is that it works only if the instrument is tuned in Just Intonation. While a forward slant on (say) the top three strings of A6 will be badly out of tune in Just, putting that gap between the E and G# in the E9 tuning enables a forward slant on the E G# and B strings to be in tune.

Just Intonation all the way. A440HZ tuning makes no sense anyway on steel/pedal slants always sound sharp or flat so JI is the way to go.

I've added mine for E13 which WILL WORK for this E9 tuning if you have a Peterson store tuner. I also believe Peterson ripped my tuning off and they now have theirs based entirely on mine but whatever.

I based it on math and note cycling on a resonant string in E. So should sound good. Which does not cycle at 440hz. It seems to work well when playing along to computer's and recordings so I think its fair enough to say the math is right.

To further state no I don't base it on 432 hz. Although the math is good sounds weird.

However I noticed many tuner round up and round down values so definitely think about using a Peterson for more accurate tuning. I didn't believe it until I invested in one.

Eg. most Guitar tuners round Low E to 82Hz when its actually. 82.41Hz and the same is for every other string except for the A hence why a more accurate tuner will also help you tweak until you are happy with overall tuning. Check the link out below to see the tuning beating problem when doing slants on steel. Cheap tuners will never get you accurately in tune. So either use your ears or invest in a quality one.

https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html

OK rant over. LOL. Not that anyone geeks out or cares. Just felt like sharing.

Rick....Stefan...Thanks a million...Everything your said opens a big door. Rick thanks for the tab. You guys are great... Lee