F# string on e9th

[Brian Henry]

I have a coupe of question on this . How is the F# string used and what other strings does it harmonize with and what chord does it produce. Many thanks. Brian

[Richard Sinkler]

First off, it is a scale tone between the 4th string E and third string G# for doing scale type runs.

Second, strings 1,2 and 5 give you a B chord (the 5 chord to the E).

Those are the 2 most basic uses.

[Rich Ertelt]

And, the same as Richard said, play that B grip up at the 5th fret, that is an E. So play those notes, mute and play the 3 and 4th strings, you moved from the 1 chord (E) to the 4 chord (A).
Note, when you play the E chord up there, you can play the 3rd string with the B pedal in, that is the 7th of the E chord.

[Jim Palenscar]

I'm thinkin Rich meant to say 5th fret?

[Ken Metcalf]

With pedals down, 3rd fret including the 7th string can be used as a 6th Minor. C to A/minor.
I use it the same way as a 6th sounding C6th.

[Rich Ertelt]

I'm thinkin Rich meant to say 5th fret?

Oops. yea, lol. 5th fret. I shouldn't be posting from work. I was thinking 4 Chord position, lol. Duh
Fixed it.

[John Larson]

The E9 tuning is based on the E major scale

This is the E major scale
E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#
The intervals from root are as follows
E - root
F# - major 2nd
G# - major 3rd
A - perfect 4th
B - perfect 5th
C# - major 6th
D# - major 7th
(the major 7th usually called the "leading tone" as it leads back to resolving to the root, think of all the progressions with a V7 it used to be the progression back in the day in most American popular music. This tone pulls back to the root because that 7th wants to resolve back home)
B pedal + E lower 1/2 step knee lever for us steelers.

Now what is a 9th? It's an octave (E to E) plus a second. So the F# is the 9th. Hence if you play strings 8(E), 6(G#), 5(B), 1(F#) that makes a root position E9th chord (E major triad + 9th)

Lets get practical.

What can you do with it?
I'll use the example of two great players.

Ralph Mooney licks can use a raise that raised F# a half tone to great effect or a bend behind the bar with the finger pulling the string a half tone, "Swinging Doors" is a good example. Merle Haggard's "The Bottle Let Me Down" is a great example of this in the intro lick. I'm not an expert on Ralph's actual copedent but I know it was very different from the more common Emmons E9th and it was on the back neck of his D-10 contra to most setups.
Looks like Norm Hamlet some years later with Merle had this half step change on his guitar.
Merle Haggard - The Bottle Let Me Down

The more common modern change raises this string a whole tone to G# which makes a unison with the 3rd string G#. This change can do a lot of unison bends the way electric guitarists commonly use.
Jeff Rady has a great example of this type of idea on his site in the adaptation he did for the b-bender guitar solo on The Eagles "Peaceful Easy Feeling"

Eric Heywood does these unison type licks a lot especially in his Son Volt days on songs like "Left a Slide" there's a real good vid from Austin City Limits of him doing this on the solo and he does some behind the bar bends on the F# string as well.
Son Volt - Left a Slide

[Brian Henry]

Thank you all! That is so helpful. When using the 7th string which other strings does one us to creat a harmony? Many thanks. Brian

[Jerry Dragon]

This is interesting! I have been using the 1,2 and 5 strings for chords but I did not know about the B pedal making it a seventh, cool. I have to try the other combos mentioned also.
Thanks All.

[Larry Moore]

Brian
I raise The 6th string F# to G it makes a nice passing chord with A & B pedals down.

Larry