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Author
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Topic: What year did JB invent the C6/A7 tuning?
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Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 23 January 2004 03:33 PM
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I know JB invented C6 in 37' and recorded it for the first time in 38'. I was wondering when he added the C# to the equation? Also, is this voicing for the Dom7 found on the lower strings, found alot in his early session work? Thanks... |
C Dixon
Member From: Duluth, GA USA
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posted 23 January 2004 03:45 PM
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Not sure the yr Jessie, but the following classic JB tunes using the A7th chord can clearly be heard:1. Cocoanut Grove 2. Remington Ride 3. Steel Guitar Rag On "Cocoanut Grove", it is the 3rd and 4th notes as the tune begins. Of course Jerry uses a strummed 7th chord to get these 2 notes. On "Remington Ride" and "Steel Guitar Rag", the 7th comes in much later in the tunes. But the strumming 7th is the same in both cases. carl |
Doug Beaumier
Member From: Northampton, MA
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posted 23 January 2004 03:59 PM
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Here's what Tom Bradshaw says in his huge 1996 catalog of steel guitar items:"... Jerry, alone, formatted and introduced the C6 tuning in 1937. It was the forerunner of today's C6 tuning. He expanded it in 1938 to include an A6 suppliment." I think Tom meant to say an A7 suppliment. Or maybe it was a misprint in the book? ------------------
My Site - Instruction | Doug's Free Tab | Steels and Accessories
[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 23 January 2004 at 04:35 PM.]
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Jeff Au Hoy
Member From: Honolulu, Hawai'i
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posted 23 January 2004 09:07 PM
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1937 and 1938 are the magic years. I got that from Jerry himself.[This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 23 January 2004 at 09:09 PM.] |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 23 January 2004 09:49 PM
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Jeff, did you get to talk to JB in person? Cool...  |
Chris Scruggs
Member From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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posted 23 January 2004 11:47 PM
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Check out Zeb Turner's record "Huckleberry Boogie" sometime. It's just about my all time favorite Byrd solo, and is mostly the A7th side of the neck. It is hand's down the "spookiest" Byrd solo you will ever hear. It's on this CD, Zeb Turner: Tennessee Boogie & Jersey Rock There is alot of good lazy boogies on this disc with the "Mind Your Own Business" kind of feel. Chris Scruggs P.S.
On the subject of Byrd sounding "Spooky", an old timer once told me,"The thing that made Jerry Byrd sound so great was because he played with a ghost behind him."
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Ray Montee
Member From: Portland, OR, USA
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posted 23 January 2004 11:52 PM
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Chris......."Huckleberry Boogie" one of my all time favorites as well. The chorus JB takes is most unique. Actually nearly all of his work on the records of other artists is so creative that those who have limited their interests in JB to his own instrumental albums......have missed so much.
Out here on the LEFT COAST, names like Copas, Hawkins, Burris, Innis, Turner, etc., were "unknowns" but JB did some really great things on some of those old discs. That's what we're hoping to expand upon on our JBFC site. |
Jussi Huhtakangas
Member From: Helsinki, Finland
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posted 24 January 2004 12:08 AM
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Speaking of "unusual" JB work, check out Jack Turner's version of Hound Dog from -53 ( yes, the same Big Mama Thornton song Elvis and others covered later ). Throughout the whole song Jerry plays this very low pitched boogie riff and sounds like a baritone guitar, then takes a classic JB solo in the middle. One of my favorite versions of the song. |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 24 January 2004 07:54 AM
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Dang, this is cool info. Ray, can y'all post these songs down the road for us sometime? Someone should put out a greatest hits CD of just Jerry doing sessions. That would be one heck of a music lesson for us younger guys fer sure. |
Mike Neer
Member From: NJ
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posted 24 January 2004 08:21 AM
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Huckleberry Boogie |
Ray Montee
Member From: Portland, OR, USA
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posted 24 January 2004 09:24 AM
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Hey Jussi! Don't you know WHO Jack Turner was? If not, listen to it again, a couple of more times and try to figure out WHO is the most unlikely person that it could be, recording under a different name. Then listen to the guys in the band for clues.
And Jesse, we DO hope to share more of this type of stuff on the JBFC site so hope you'll visit us often. Thanks for the interest.
Mike Neer did beat me to the punch tho'. Thanks for linking everyone to the tune. That one record, displays Jerry Byrd's fabulous tone better than thousands of others and, what about his backup? Jerry Byrd does NOT just make a plunking noise here or there in open spots. His backup continues throughout most of the recordings he's on and one could almost make a beautiful instrumental out of his chosen backup themes. Thanks MIKE. I appreciate what you took the time to include here.
And for those of you that have asked about the C6th/A7th combo that Jerry put together, this tune (link) perhaps lets you hear it best. After he does the octave run from top to bottom, he goes into that upward SLIDE using those bottom strings. How full bodied does one want to get? And remember, it was that "olde" Rickenbacher on which this was performed and he didn't have to change pickups every time he played.[This message was edited by Ray Montee on 24 January 2004 at 09:27 AM.] |
Mike Neer
Member From: NJ
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posted 24 January 2004 09:32 AM
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He's definitely on the money on this recording--lays out at the right time and he plays very clarinet-like when he plays single notes. Also, his vibrato in one particular spot in his break is very effective and gives it that eery quality. |
Jussi Huhtakangas
Member From: Helsinki, Finland
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posted 24 January 2004 10:30 AM
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Well, I'll be #%¤&!¤ Ray!!! I never gave a thought about it, but now that you mentioned it, I can definately hear the one and only Homer Haynes there!! I'll crawl back to my hole now...  |
Andy Greatrix
Member From: Edmonton Alberta
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posted 24 January 2004 11:28 AM
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I met Zeb Turner when he came to play in Sudbury Ontaro in in about '65.
He had a Martin solid-body guitar which he picked finger-style.
I've never seen one before or since.
He was one smooth player, and told great jokes.
Two jokes I stole from him and still use were
"Like the spider said when he walked across the mirror, that's another way of lookin' at it,"
"Like the skunk said when the wind shifted, it all comes back to me now." |
C Dixon
Member From: Duluth, GA USA
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posted 24 January 2004 02:26 PM
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Ray,As you know I am sure, IF anyone ever wondered what we mean when we say the Rick "moan", this moan can be clearly heard on this tune. After Jerry does his awesome "7th slide" and then plays those upper major and minor 3rd intervals, the moan stands out on this tune in several places as pretty as I have ever heard it. NO other guitar ever built has IMO produced 'that' sound. And no player on earth can bring it out of a Rick like JB. One man that you and I know, IE, Wayne Tanner comes the closest (save JB) to getting it as anyone I have ever heard. carl |
Ray Montee
Member From: Portland, OR, USA
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posted 24 January 2004 03:01 PM
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Hey Jussi! I just knew you'd get it quickly
Atta-Boy! It's all in the EARS!Carl, you absolutely right! And about that Zeb Turner album: What other tunes does Jerry Byrd play on........in that album?[This message was edited by Ray Montee on 25 January 2004 at 09:19 AM.] |
Bill Creller
Member From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA
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posted 24 January 2004 05:43 PM
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That tune is sure typical of early JB stuff. That's the sound that really got me into the steel guitar during WW II. I first heard him on the Renfro Valley outfit, and couldn't wait to find out "who that guy is".
I beleive when he was on WJR in Detroit the oitfit was called "The Goodwillbillies", with WJR being known as the Goodwill station.
Bill |
Ray Montee
Member From: Portland, OR, USA
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posted 25 January 2004 01:27 PM
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If you want to hear more of HOW Jerry Byrd has used that bottom C# string on his C6th/A7th tuning, dial up the www.jerrybyrdfanclub.com site. There's two great examples of how it expands and enhances the basic C6th tuning. It makes six strings sound like a full orchestra. |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 25 January 2004 04:33 PM
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Ray, you guy's are right about C6/A7. I just couldn't hear it until Rick applied the Mother of all Hawaiian Vamps, then I could finally hear it. Man, I went "why didn't I think of this before"? I can play the "I got rhythm" changes on it now better than I ever could on Basic C6. Hey Ray, the new song is great. I think you have one of the coolest sites on Hawaiian steel anywhere now. Thank you. |
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