Steel Guitar Forum readers need no introduction to Earnest Bovine. His sharp wit and insight into technical issues have been with us since the Forum’s inception. Many are not aware, however, that Earnest is a well known studio musician in Los Angeles. You often hear his work on TV and movie soundtracks as well as CD recording projects in all styles of music.
Earnest is one of the few players I know who plays the 12 string “Extended E9th” tuning. He also seems to have an affinity for half-stop levers. He is an excellent musical theorist; the ideas in his tunings have always been food for thought. Here is some correspondence from him:
From: ebovine@earthlink.net Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 10:59 PM To: quasar@b0b.com Subject: some extended E9ths for the pages
Hi Bob
Somebody on the Forum asked to see some extended E9 tunings and I was gonna reply with some of mine. But maybe you would rather put them up in the Tunings section of the Pedal Steel Pages. All I have is text which should look good monospaced:
Zum:
LKL2 LKL LKV LKR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RKL RKR F# +G,++G# -D D# -D,--C# G# +A -G E +F -D# ++F# B -A# ++C# +++D G# ++A# +A +A -G F# -F,--E E +F -D# D +D# (D),-C# B -A# ++C# G# +A -G E +F --D -----B (E),++F#
Franklin:
LKL LKV LKR 1 2 3 RKL RKR F# D# -D,--C# G# +A -G E +F -D# B +++D ++C# G# ++A# +A -G F# -F,--E E +F -D# D (D),-C# B ++C# G# +A -G E +F --D
GFI:
LKL2 LKL LKV LKR LKR2 1 2 3 4 5 RKL RKR RKR2 F# (F#),G D ---B -C# +D# G# +A -G E +F -D# B -A#,--A ++C# +C G# ++A# +A -G F# -F,--E E +F -D# D +D# --C -C# B ++C# -A# G# +A -G E +F (E),--D ++F#
My old Sho-Bud from 1982 thru 1997:
1 2 3
LKL LKR RKL RKR
F# .............................................. F#
D# . -D,--C# D#
G# . +A G#
E +F -D# .................................. E
B . ++C# ++C# B
G# . +A ++A# -G G#
F# . -F,--E F#
E +F -D# .................................. E
D . (D),-C# D
B . ++C# B
G# . +A -G G#
E .............................................. E
From: ebovine@earthlink.net To: quasar@b0b.com Subject: Re: some extended E9ths for the pages Date: Friday, March 01, 2002 3:48 pm b0b wrote: > Very good. I'll make a page for that. Do you have any bio information > or a picture that I could add? > > -b0b-
Photo from a performance by Severed Head In A Bag, where I took Dan Tyack’s place when he left Los Angeles.
Here is the tuning on the Sho-Bud:
E E E E B E E E B B E E
The band is in E.
Here’s what I have on the old 12-string Sho-Bud C6. I still like the sound of it and I would play it a lot more if it weighed about 80 pounds less.
LKL LKV LKR 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 RKL RKR G -F# E -Eb +F ++F# D +Eb -C# C -B ++D A +Bb -Ab +Bb,++B G --F -F# E +F -Eb ++F# D -C# C -B A +Bb --G F +F# -E C ++D ---A
From: "Doug Livingston" ebovine@earthlink.net To: quasar@b0b.com Subject: Re: some extended E9ths for the pages Date: Friday, March 01, 2002 3:50 pm
b0b asked for a bio
Early piano lessons led me to Bach.
Brass & woodwind playing showed me other composers, but Bach remains my favorite composer by a very wide margin and I play him every day at the keyboard and steel.
I started playing popular music during a brief failed attempt to discover deep truths about the universe in systems of nonlinear partial differential equations.
I’m very blessed in that I haven’t had to work for a living yet and can get by just by overdubbing whiny sounds in the garages and bedrooms of Los Angeles. I get a really ugly tone but most clients don’t care since I am fast and almost in tune, and can usually hide my all-consuming misanthropy for the first hour or two.
Earnest B.