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Topic: Steel Parts in Hank Williams Songs? + What Tuning? |
Mark Helm
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2019 6:24 pm |
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I've been listening to 25 Hank tunes or so, and almost every one has a cool steel part/solo.
Has anyone ever seen tabs or lessons for non-pedal (original) steel parts from
Hank Williams' songs? What tuning are most of the steel guitarists using?
I know Don Helms did a lot of these , and Jerry Byrd did a few, but I'm not sure about the rest.
Though I'm certain one of you guys out there knows all about this.
So... Please, fill me in!
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Remington Steelmaster S8 w/ custom Steeltronics pickup. Vox MV-50 amplifier + an 1940's Oahu cab w/ 8" American Vintage speaker. J. Mascis Fender Squire Jazzmaster, Hofner Club bass, Ibanez AVN4-VMS Artwood Vintage Series Concert Size Acoustic Guitar. 1920s/30s Supertone Hawaiian-themed parlor guitar. Silvertone parlor guitar. |
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Doug Taylor
From:
Shelbyville, Kentucky, USA
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Travis Wilson
From:
Johnson City, TX
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 3:46 am
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| In the Legends Of Steel Guitar videos, Don Helms says he uses A6 and he got it from Jerry Byrd |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 3:57 am
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| Travis Wilson wrote: |
| In the Legends Of Steel Guitar videos, Don Helms says he uses A6 and he got it from Jerry Byrd |
Hmmm...
I use A6 for Hank stuff but in his hand written note shared earlier in the thread, Don claims E6 (on the top 6 strings at least). Also, it seems strange that Jerry would have reccomended A6 as he famously played C6 most of the time.
I guess now Don is no longer with us, we will never know the real answer but just about all the Hank stuff can be played using any 6th tuning. |
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John Herb
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 4:05 am
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| In the legends of steel guitar video its not A6 that he got off of Jerry Byrd it was a variation of B11. |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 4:17 am
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| Fredrick Herb wrote: |
| In the legends of steel guitar video its not A6 that he got off of Jerry Byrd it was a variation of B11. |
Maybe that's the other neck? The one Don calls B13 in the handwritten note.
He has previously said that just about all the solos and main licks were played on the top 6 strings of the 6th tuning (without slants) and so I still believe his primary tuning was the E6 (ish) tuning in the note. |
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Jeremy DeHart
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 5:44 am
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| From what I can tell of Don's tuning it is basically a C6 tuning but in E. So if you're on a 6 string it's basically E6. The exact same tuning as Byrd's but in E. Am I wrong about this? I think the 2 lower strings are different and don't include the 13th, more akin to the A6 tuning etc, but still in E. |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 6:23 am
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Yes, the top 6 strings are C6 but 2 whole notes higher to make E6.
The bottom 2 strings work with the 6th string to make an A major chord and though Don didn't use those strings much, I think he probably thought of that neck as 2 different tunings - E6 on the top 6 and A major on the bottom 3. |
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 6:24 am
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Yes, like C6 but tuned up to E6, because Fred Rose suggested Don play as high up the strings as possible so the songs would cut through a noisy bar crowd on the jukebox and everyone would know it’s Hank Williams. A marketing more that a musical decision, but a great one. AC#E on the bottom strings make a simple A chord he could use for comping, and it matches well with the B11 on the other neck.
I know people use C6 and A6 for Hank songs that Don played on, but you don’t really get that sound unless you tune the strings up to E.
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Kevin Maul: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Decophonic, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 7:55 am
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He also tuned his 1st string higher that the E usually used by steel guitar players at the time. 
Erv |
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Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2019 9:51 am
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Don played these on his E6 neck. The bottom strings make an open A chord, which might be part of the confusion. But Don primarily used just the top 6 strings. As discussed it's just like playing low C6 tuning (C E G A C E) four frets higher. Apparently he just did fills on the other neck. Lots of people play these on C6, which is fine, but the E tuning, with the right strings, gets you to the original "timbre".
Don's E tuning can also be easily used to play many Roy Wiggins tunes, as he often used his own very similar variant of "E13" for many classic recordings. See the Little Roy Wiggins "Memory Time" song book. |
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