Due to request for these, we have decided to add a lesson each week.  The basis of this course will be to help you understand Zane Beck's Tuning and what makes it special.  Each Lesson will have an example.  This is not an exhaustive course to teach you to play, per say, but to give you an understanding so if you have played standard E9 and wanted to look at Zane's Tuning you would be able to do so.  Roll your sleeves up and lets begin.

Here we have Zane's last copedant he used prior to his death.  This is a 12 String tuning and we will use it for the purpose of understanding how tuning works in relation to standard E9 Tuning.

Grip Difference - When we want to pull the grip F Major

Here is how we pull the F Maj. Grip on a Standard E9 no floors or knees.  This chord functions in what we call the 2nd Inversion.  Forget that for now, just musical jargon.  pick strings 3,4,5 on standard tuning and you have from top to bottom A, F, C.  This makes up the F major because our bar is on the first fret.  Keep in mind we are on the first fret.  We will now using the same grip slide to the 6th fret giving us Bb or the 4th of the chord.  Slide up two more frets and you have the C Chord.  So we have accomplished  the 1, 4, 5 chords in the key of F.

Now to accomplish the same result using Zane's tuning We have two options we can grip the first set or the second set.  For set one we have F, C, A with F being string 3.  Follow the same procedure as above you can keep this same grip moving up the fret to produce 1, 4, 5.  Here the big catch, you have to skip string 4 because it makes of the 6th note in the tuning.  If you were to hit string 4 it would be an Eb on the first fret because we are in the key of F.  Now lets move one to the next set.  If I pick strings 1, 3, 5 I have the same chord, A, F, C.  Basically a F Major chord with the difference being the inversion.  If the chord starts from the root , it is considered in Root Position Example (F,A,C).  If the chord starts with A, C, F it is considered a First Inversion and if it starts with C, F, A it is considered to be in the second inversion.  Now notice in the second set we skip strings 2, 4,.  This is a wide grip and considered unacceptable to a lot of guys but, it's no wider than some grips I play on C6.  So inconclusion, the real big difference between standard tuning and Zane's tuning regarding E9 is you have to make a grip change.  You don't have the chromatics on top like you do on standard E9 but that's ok.  For what it's worth, I play Zane's tuning which is Day setup and I play standard universal and standard D10.  You can do it, it just takes a little practice.  Now go and pick your day.

What makes Zane's Copedant so cool is not only is it E9 - B6 but also a E7th.  That opens the opportunity for playing the blues and so much more.  So moving on let's start out with a focus point that we will use for these lessons and that is the starting grip of 3, 5, 6.  Now this is no different than on E9 where your focal point is 3, 4, 5.  We will start out in the Key of "C" on the 8th Fret move to the 13th Fret for the IV chord and then move to the 15th Fret for the V chord.  So lets start out doing that.

Example 2A

Now we are going to move to the fun part of adding a 7th to the chord without any floors or knees.  We will repeat the same pattern as above with the exception of we will make the 1 chord a 7th.  So lets try that right now and follow this pattern in Example 2B

Example 2B

In closing any key you want to make a 7th in you simply drop down to the 5, 6, 8th string grip which gives you the 7th chord.  Practice this week going from the major chord to the major 7th.  Using the Major 7th will be decided by you or the music you play.  Now what is so awesome about this tuning is in order to get the 7th on other copedants you have to use a floor and or knee to accomplish this.  Have fun with 7th's this week and go pick your day.

Why do I say this is a Universal Tuning?  Well, best to my understanding Zane had been playing this copedant since late 50's.  I'm not sure how long Reese Anderson has been playing his so I'm not going to say this is the First Universal.  I will say this is the First Universal with the least amount of floors and knees.  Now that we have covered a little history, Let's look at Zane's tuning to see how we go from E9 - to B6 Mode.

Why the title Universal, it combines both necks off of the standard E9/C6.  As with all things you lose some to gain.  The ultimate goal of the Universal Tuning was to decrease the number of necks thus giving the player a lighter steel with one neck to concentrate on.

Let's establish how we move from E9 to B6 on standard setup as a reference point.  We will start with the 8th Fret Key of C.   Now we all know that with our bar on the 8th fret and A & B pedals pushed down we are in the key of F.  That holds true on standard E9 or Universal the same.  If I want to go into the 6th mode, I simply slide back 2 Frets and hit the knee that lowers my E's. On Emmons setup that would be the LKL.  Wa Lah! we are now in 6th mode.

For the most part that is true with Zane's Tuning Except one Exception, we use the the LKL.

Example (1)

Let's goto the 10th fret.  Hit Pedals B,C and Hold in RKL.  You are now in the Key of G.  If we want to goto G 6th mode, we simply slide back 2 frets and hold in the LKL only.  Wa Lah!  We have entered the world of B6.

Swinging with the 6th just a little bit.  Zane's 6th has advantages of the others.  Ok I'm on my Sierra Universal 12 and I want to go into 6th mode.  Using the same approach I simply slide down 2 Frets and hit my LKR.  Well that is equal to everything explained in Example 1.  Now if I want to goto the 4 chord on the universal I leave my bar where it's at but I have to hit pedal #6.  If I want to goto the 5th chord in the 6th mode I have to slide the bar up to frets while holding the LKR + PD6.

BUT with Zane's tuning! 

Example (2)

To goto the 4 chord in the 6th mode all I do is release the LKL and I am in the 4th chord of the 6th mode.  To goto the 5th chord, just slide the bar up to frets and you are in the 5th chord of the 6th mode.

Now how simple is that.  It is unique approach that has many advantages as well as disadvantages.  The grips in the 6th mode on Zane's Tuning is the same as C6.  The only exception for players transitioning over is getting used to Lesson #1  where the chromatics are.  If you can over come that you are on your way to some fun and happy picking.  There is a lot I'm still learning about Zane's tunings.  With very little to go on this has been a labor of love more than anything else.  Next week we will start working on the translating of E9 licks to Zane's Tuning.  Thanks for checking in and remember, go pick your day,

This week we are going to learn about the Boo-Wah Pedal.  Yes Zane's tuning has it and can you guess what pedal it is?  If you guessed Pedal #1 you would be correct.  Remember that Zane's tuning only has 4 pedals & 5 Knees.

We will start on the 8th Fret in the key of C.   Now you will remember from the past lessons we basically have E9 on Top E6 & E7 on the bottom.  Now we are going to incorporate the Boo-Wah pedal.  So let's press Pedal #1.

Now that we have pressed the Pedal #1 you see what has changed.  Let's goto string 11.  Before we enganged the pedal we had a C Note.  Now that we have pushed the pedal the C drops to an A. Strings 2, 7, 11 are changed giving me the pedal sound of the 8th pedal on a C6 with a few exception.  I'm able to layer or thicken the C Chord while I still make  the transition.  If you look at strings 1,3,5 you have a C Chord in the 2nd Inversion.  Strings 4,6,7 give me a A Major Chord in the 1st Inversion.  So I have the option of staying in the C Chord on top Transitioning by hitting string 11 along with Pedal #1 and then hit strings 4,6,7, the A support chord for the Boo-Wah.  Also notice what is layered in this is A7 and we get that by adding the G in the chord of the A Maj. while I had C7 before I hit Pedal #1.

Obviously Zane considered this change important enough in this hybrid Tuning that he placed it as pedal #1.  Zane's tuning concerning Universal concepts follow the same rules.  Back 2 and engage whatever knee puts you in the root of the 6th chord.

I have barely scratched the surface of what Zane was thinking.  Next week we will start looking at some basic E9 licks for Zane's tuning that you can use for Country Music.  These are fills that I use when playing backup only.  No fancy riffs just basic fills that are fundemental parts of playing back up.  Have fun with Pedal #1 and go pick your day,

We are going to start now with chords in the open positions prior to going to floors and knees.  For this basis we focus on the key of C.  The grips work the same regardless of the key.

In pulling the C Major Chord we know there are two places in the open tuning we can find and pull the C Major Chord.  On fret 9 and fret 20.  Now what if I asked you to play in B Major could you pull the chord ?  Sure,  go back 1 fret to 7th fret using the same grips.

C Minor offers a little bit more.  Did you notice the repeating that goes on after the 12th fret.   We find C Minor on fret 1,11 and then on fret 13, 23.

C Seventh chord that we have talked about earlier, now comes up in our introduction to chords in Zane Beck's tuning.  Notice the options you have in your grip.  You could pull strings 11,10,9,8 or you could pull 8,6,5,3.  Now we get the same grip when we go up an octave. 

Practice this week on learning these major grips for the chords.  If you know  the key names of the fret markers you are way ahead of the game.  Next week we will talk about minor 7ths and minor 7ths with flat fifths.

Week #2 of Chords

After looking at the open tuning unfortunately, there is not a minor 7th in the open tuning but that is ok because we will make up for it this week with the new chords we will learn to compensate for it.

So lets get started with C Minor Seventh

Ok lets first look at the spelling of the chord.  C, Eb,G,Bb.  Basically we have two places on the fretboard where this is available, on the 11th fret and the 23rd fret.  Spelling is the same because it is just the same grip but up an octave.    Now looking to my left at the chart the best grip for this chord would start with pulling strings 6,5,4,3.  In this position you are in the second inversion of the chord.  So how would you use this grip or strings in a song.  Blues or Country.  How?  In blues you would use a triplet feel.  Let's practice that and I can tell you it here without charting it.  pull these strings in a triplet fashion.  654,543,431.  Like a telephone number almost this pattern will walk right into a 4 chord.  So using this chord you would move into strings 1,3,5, on the 13th fret.  With country music you would walk into the 4th chord by playing this type of pattern: Strings 6 & 5 would equal 2 eighth notes strings 4, and 3 would be 2 quarter notes.  Here is what it would look like on music staff:

This is how you would use it in a blues song moving from C to F.  Keep in mind I'm just pulling ideas out of my head where you could use these.  This chord structure works great in slow rock songs.

Country style pattern moving from I chord being C to F the 4 chord.

C Minor Seveneth with Flat Fifth.

When would I use this chord.  Actually I don't know, I haven't had a chance to apply this one yet.  But, I make it available so you have for your list.

C Minor Seventh with Augmented Fifth

Looking at the C Minor Seventh with the Augmented Fifth in the open tuning we see we can pick this on 2 frets, the 4th fret and the 16th fret.  Keep in mind that this is all open tuning.  We are not taking into account using the pedals or knees.  We can pick this chord grip by hitting 11,10,9,7 which will give us a 2nd inversion.  The next place to pull the grip is going to be 6,5,3,2.  Now you really can't strum either one of these grips but you could hit the bottom note first followed by picking the rest as a chord.  Zane Beck was know for playing chords like this similar to a eighth note pattern.

C Major Sixth

C6 is where it is at according to some, maybe not according to others.  Nevertheless, the best grip for this is going to be 6,5,4,3 on frets 8 & 20.  Wow, here we go, we have just entered the world of C6 on Zane Beck's Tuning.

C Minor Sixth

C Major Seventh with Flat Fifth

C Suspended

Not much to say on the Suspended Chords here other

C Dimished