"Minimalist" Extended E9 Copedent?

[Mike Greenberg]

Hi there --
I'm looking to move to an ext E9 from my current S10. My current copedent omits the D string and adds a low G#. I do miss that D string though.
I'm interested in moving to an Ext E9 for a few reasons:
1. Want my D string back!
2. Want/need those lower register strings for the music I play
3. Want thicker, fuller chords

I would love to hear about copedents that folks use on their E9s, particularly those with a "minimal" number of pedals and levers. Of course, minimal is all relative, but I'm picturing something in the realm of 4 to 5 levers and 4 to 6 pedals.

As always, I'm very curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Many thanks in advance.

(p.s. -- If anyone is selling an ext E9 -- lemme know;)

[Brett Lanier]

Here's mine. Pretty stripped down from what i used to play.

A,B,C for pedals
LKL raises 4 & 8 (f lever)
LKR lowers 8 (E to Eb)
RKR raises 2 from D to D#

[Johnie King]

I’m a firm believer less is more unless your Paul Franklin or Robert Randolph or any number of pro players that started playing at a young age
Brett your ZBud parts shipped today u should receive them Thursday.

[Hugo Knef]

I have been playing with a low e on 10 and the b on 9 that I can lever up to d. F# to g# on 7. Huge fat chords. Rock out on 10 thru 6 and still country on 8 thru 1. My fav set up so far but I’m kinda a newb with 3 years in

[Sonny Jenkins]

The ultimate "minimalist",,,b0b's old 8 string 5x5,,,plenty of swing AND country

[Norman Evans]

Here's my extended E9 with 3X5

Standard Emmons ABC
E's on the left
RKL lowers 3&6 G# to G
RKR lowers 2D# to D and 8E to D
B string on 9
G# on 10 raised to A with B pedal
LKV lowers B's to Bb

[Larry Allen]

This has been working for me for 20+ years....

[Mike Greenberg]

This has been working for me for 20+ years....

Very interesting!
I've often thought about how to get a low E on a 10 string tuning without losing all the "stuff" in the middle. This would seem to do the job!
Thanks

[Jim Pitman]

You could do what most UNI 12 players (Jeff Newman tuning) do, ie, tune the 9th string to B and raise it 1.5 steps to D with a lever. This also solves a complaint I here often, "that D gets in the way". I am so used to this by now. In fact I never avoid playing that 7th on the lower string in a duad/triad by actuating my D lever.
Perhaps the 10th string would be E (rather than G# like the uni 12 standard).

[Jeremy Threlfall]

3 & 1

or even

2 & 1


that's what I would call minimalist

[Matt Pleasant]

I tune my single 10 EBEF#G#BEG#DF#. I have to play alot of six string rhythm parts and it worked out well to basically have a bar chord on the bottom half.
My A ped raises the lowest E to F#, and combined with my LKR dropping the next E string down to E flat, I get a really fat (and pretty) 5-1 change.
I know this is probably sacreligious, but I also moved my RKL to flatten my G# strings to G, giving me an open major OR minor bar chord. I've still got most of the top strings available for "licks" ( not that I have many) that sound like traditional steel moves, but I'm freed up to chug in the rhythm section as needed.
Just what works for me.

[Rick Schmidt]

I made a YouTube video about my Extended E9 a few years ago. I love the tuning! FWIW, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUiMp_I-O0

[Earnest Bovine]

"minimal" number of pedals and levers.... something in the realm of 4 to 5 levers and 4 to 6 pedals.

If that's minimal, what's a maximal number of pedals & levers?

[Mike Greenberg]

I made a YouTube video about my Extended E9 a few years ago. I love the tuning! FWIW, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUiMp_I-O0

Rick -- thanks for sharing the video. Just checked it out. Very inspiring, and is certainly making me thinking about the "more is more" option, like you talked about;)

[Rick Schmidt]

Mike... as you probably know, there's a lifetime of learning on any setup, no matter how minimal...but as a chord-melody guitar and piano enthusiast, I didn't want to spend a lifetime trying to find things that might not be exactly what I was looking for in the first place...so I thought up some changes I knew would work for some of my harmonic leanings. You should see my C6 set up!
Probably 90% of the actual gigs I do, I could do on a much simpler and lighter instrument...but I want what I want.

[John McClung]

Rick and I think alike and have similar extended E9 setups. I have his zero pedal changes, not really proficient at using them yet, but will get there. I also have been rethinking things that bug me about standard E9 changes and am in the middle of setting up my SD12 Rittenberry as a music lab to try new ideas out.

With 8 pedals and at least 5 levers (probably adding 1 or 2 staggered levers on the left in the future), there's every opportunity to truly mess up my playing!

[Kristian Frostad]

I've experimented a bit with extending the range and enabling some different open grip chord voicings.
This is where I've landed. My setup is 3x5.



The top eight strings are standard E9, but instead of D and B on 9 and 10 strings, I've ended up with C# and A.
These two strings are now equivalent to the 8./9.-strings A and F of the C6-tuning, enabling you to have 6minor and 4maj9 chord voicings as open grips.
With the AB-pedals down, they will now be the root and third of your A chord

The most quirky and interesting change is probably the LKV, which lowers the C# and A down to B and G#.
This is equivalent to the AB-pedal raises, but in reversed.
Instead of having low B/G# and raising them, they are now raised by default and you have to lower them instead.
It may seem weird but it's very easy to use and gives you quite a lot of nice open voicings. (On the LKV there is also a C#>C half stop where the A is untouched. The A>G# is enabled together with the C>B change)

One thing that's missing from this setup is string 2 lowering to C#, but I'd put that on a separate lever anyways, due to general dislike of halfstops.
The RKR is kind of a dominant 7 lever now. The 9 is raised and the 2 is lowered in a counterpoint fashion.

This setup probably wont work for everyone, but it has enabled me to get a little more range and C6 voicings without ruining the E9 completely. There are some cons, such as missing the simultaneous B>C# raises, but IMO the pros make up for it. YMMV
This LKV change would probably be even better in the 0.pedal position next to the A pedal.

Franklin shows the same kinda concept on the C6 neck in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdrZQYlv8oQ&t=11s

[K Maul]

I currently have an 11 string keyless EXCEL tuned to “Quasi-Universal” E9. I used to have a 10 string with four and five. I eliminated the D note so my lowest string was G#. RKR lowered my eight string down to D with the 2nd string . I know a lot of guys like to raise B-D but I don’t do that. My RKL lowered string 10 G# to E and also lowered my low F# to E. That gave me real fat and full chords for blues and rock and stuff. My fourth pedal was in number four position and it raised middle G#-Bb and B-C#. With the Es flatted that gave me a nice C6 type cord and in regular E9 mode two frets back for a cool dominant 7/9/11. Pretty much the same as changes on my 11 string except now I have a low E already there.