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Author Topic:  Help - Take it away Leon
Mick Hearn

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 16 Feb 2020 12:30 am    
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It is not very often I get really stuck but I am now. For the sheer hell of it I want to play "Take It Away Leon". I have done a general search and can't seem to find any reference.

I am playing in the key of Bb which appears to be the original key and opening with chords Bb9, Eb9, C and F and I have found the notes on guitar that Leon plays, but, they don't seem to mesh together when all played together. The rest of the song is no problem. I am guessing that my chords are wrong.

I am using 8 string with Leon E13 tuning. HELP!!!!
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ShoBud 6139, Remington Steelmaster D8, National D8 Console x 2, George Boards Lap Steel, National New Yorker.
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Stephen Cowell


From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 18 Feb 2020 8:56 am    
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Note that Mr. McAuliffe used more than one neck... frankly, using E13 for anything more than a ‘strum’ is an advanced topic. I think you’ll find that if the chords are not falling easily you’ve chosen the wrong tuning.
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Fred Treece


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 18 Feb 2020 10:13 am    
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Right, Stephen. There is no way to get that first chord voiced right on an E13, not even for the maestro himself:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=beB6R9YDj0Q

The voicing for the first chord is D-F-Ab-C, a Bb9 inversion (3-5-7-9) done with a straight bar. Judging by Leon’s hand position on the back neck, it looks like he’s around fret 8. which makes sense because one of the necks he tuned to what he called Am, but was much more complex than that. It’s the one he would have used to get that Bb9 voicing at fret 8.

This is allegedly Leon’s triple-neck tuning in his own handwriting.
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Mick Hearn

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 21 Feb 2020 3:54 pm    
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Thanks for the help boys and you certainly are right. I think that is why you don't see many people try this one unless you have the same setup. But - never mind. There is a three note forward slant that gives most of the first chord but does not include that lovely bass note.

As for the recordings, I find that there are two recordings of Leon playing this one and there are some differences between the two during the rest of the song. As for the rest - I don't have too much of a problem with some of the E13. I was going to mention my version of Blue Steel Blues played on that neck but it seems to have disappeared off the net. Undeterred I shall carry on and see what I can do. Good enough for the public but not for the ears of steel players I reckon.
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ShoBud 6139, Remington Steelmaster D8, National D8 Console x 2, George Boards Lap Steel, National New Yorker.
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Mick Hearn

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 31 Mar 2020 4:56 pm    
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Well I had to do it. Like the Marines you adapt, you overcome, and fall flat on your face. Staying entirely on the E13 neck I went ahead and did my own version so dispensing with Leon's opening chord and substituting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAaUkcLg-fM
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ShoBud 6139, Remington Steelmaster D8, National D8 Console x 2, George Boards Lap Steel, National New Yorker.
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