C6: Moving the boowaa pedal next to pedal 5?

[Bill McCloskey]

I'm having Williams build me a C6 S10 6x5 and I've been thinking about the copedent. Currently I have it set up standard Emmons C6 1-5, with an extra pedal change in the 6th slot.
But after seeing a Jeff Newman "universal" instructional video, I noticed his "8th pedal" boowaa is moved to the left of "pedal 5" .

Since "Pedal 8" and "pedal 5" work well together, I was thinking of moving my boowa to the left of the Pedal 5.

Thoughts?

[Tommy Auldridge]

Bill: I have a center LKR that takes the place of pedal 8, and then used what used to be pedal 8 now raises strings 3 & 7 to C# And that is a good change, It will give you a C chord at the third fret when combined with pedal 5. Food for thought. Thanks, Tommy.....

[Bill McCloskey]

Thanks Tommy. I do have that C->C# change on the 3rd string on my RKR. I know Franklin uses a lever/pedal combo for his Boowaa. I'll look into that

[Donny Hinson]

A lot of players have forgotten more than I'll ever know about tunings and setups, but I eliminated a lot of "two-footing" by putting P5 on a knee lever (LKL), and I will never go back.

That's a trick I picked up from Stu Basore, way back in 1965 or 1966.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I picked up my first D10 pro guitar in '82, it was a P/P D10 with 10+6. It was set up with the splat pedal on 4 and it's been there ever since. It's a natural progression across the pedals.

For the 4th string raise, it's on a knee lever 1/2 and a whole, I can have the 8th also if if I want it. Either doubles on a front neck lever if the shaft goes all the way across or on a dedicated C neck lever.

I don't commonly use the 8th pedal too much anyway, but I have the E9 neck 5 & 10 lower whole tone over there or just a 8 & 9 lower on the C neck to put the lower register in a major all the way across for power chords or whatever. If you play a lot of C6, probably gonna have to 2 foot something anyway but actually, I could probably do without it altogether.

[John Swain]

As per Buddy Emmons advice, I raise str 3+7 Cs to C#s on RKR. Check out Buck Reid's C6. I like 7+8p for the 11 chord, so I don't see any need to move 8p unless you're playing " Hold It " often. I don't two foot ever but the combo p5 and 3rd str lower gives you the same voicing as p5+ p7(grabbing str 1 ) Also I would only lower str 3 not 3+7 together. I also have a LKV raising str 1 to Eb and str 6 to D. JS

[Richard Sinkler]

From maybe 1976 or so when I moved up to a D10, I always had the boo-wah (p8) pedal on pedal 4. In 1999 when I had my Carter built, I had them put the P8 changes on a LKL lever in my C6 center cluster of levers. While I really loved it there, I found myself only using it mostly for the C# note on string 7. Last year I thought about my C6 changes, and wanted that lever for something I would use more. Since I had a lever to raise string 3 to C#, I added string 7 to C# on it. Since I have a "reverse pedal 6" on my P4, and use it with P5, I put the Boo-Wah back on P8. I'll use my right foot on P8 if I need to "rock" between P5 and P8, like for playing "Hold It" (which I haven't played in 40+ years).

[Ian Rae]

If you look at the setups recorded in the back of Winnie Winston's book, a great many run 8567. My first guitar came set up that way. I reckon the advantage is 50/50 and depends what music you play, but it's definitely legit!

[Dennis Detweiler]

I play u-12, but my boo-wah is pedal 4. I don't use it in combination with any other B6th pedal combinations, but do use it with knee levers.

[Paddy Long]

Ive always had my Boowah pedal as the first C6th pedal, right next to pedal 5....very easy to pop back and forth between the two ... I got to play Terry Bethal's Blond lacquer "Bethal" guitar in Brisbane in Aussie a few years back and he had the same setup with his Boowah as well .... I have to say that Jeff Newman's Uni setup had some influence on my original decision to place it there.
As an aside, my E9th 4th pedal (Franklin changes), has no C6th changes on it, as I moved my whole C6th setup one step to the right (from my seat) .... all my guitars have 9 pedals.

[J D Sauser]

The "BooWham"-pedal (typically P8 I would prefer to call the 8th string Dom pedal) does not do much "together/with" with P5 (the "Two Below"-pedal I would prefer call the 10th string rooted Dom-pedal).

The idea, as Paddy Long above mentions, was that it makes it closer to ROCK between (from to/back and forth) P5 & P8's change (BooWham) on the P4 pos, to work thru ALL DOMINANT turnarounds like II7 -> V7 or III7, VI7, II7, V7 turnarounds. That may be "OK" for somebody playing basic traditional Hillbilly Swing which often subs out minor chords like iii, vi and ii with all secondary Dominants.
I would however caution that in Jazz there is a "little" more emphasis on minor chords.

Yes, Jeff Newman tried to make that switch over of P8 to P4 popular using some of his C6th and -if my memory serves me well-his "Universal" video courses.

The pitch was -as JN put it- "we up here in Nashville now..." To which I would suggest to check out WHO of the Greats on C6th really moved their P8 change over to left of P5 permanently. I know of none... not even "up in Nashville".



Besides, most C6th players have 5 or at least 4 pedals (since many ditched the somewhat redundant A->B whole tone raise for an added pedal on E9th), and with anything over 2 pedals one will have to move the foot around quite often anyways.

What's more concerning is the loss of a vital combination with P7+P8 (John Swain suggests above), to which -IF one had such a change- one could add a whole tone lower on string #6 to that pedal combination; a quite versatile gateway to Quartal harmony (again, geared more to minor and the "darker" side of Jazz).

All in all, I think that unless one uses C6th only very basically (4 or 5P + 1 or 2K) for Hillbilly Swing, I would recommend against switching P8 over to the left of P5 (the "Two Below"-or 10th string rooted Dom-pedal).

... J-D.

[Marco Coblenz]

What's more concerning is the loss of a vital combination with P7+P8 (John Swain suggests above), to which -IF one had such a change- one could add a whole tone lower on string #6 to that pedal combination; a quite versatile gateway to Quartal harmony (again, geared more to minor and the "darker" side of Jazz).

I see a similarity to what Paul Franklin does with his P8 and P9 on C6th, but I don‘t quite get the Quartal harmony implication. I see a polychord structure Gmaj over Amaj. Is this what You mean?

[J D Sauser]

What's more concerning is the loss of a vital combination with P7+P8 (John Swain suggests above), to which -IF one had such a change- one could add a whole tone lower on string #6 to that pedal combination; a quite versatile gateway to Quartal harmony (again, geared more to minor and the "darker" side of Jazz).

I see a similarity to what Paul Franklin does with his P8 and P9 on C6th, but I don‘t quite get the Quartal harmony implication. I see a polychord structure Gmaj over Amaj. Is this what You mean?

Quartal CHORDS are built by stacking intervals of perfect fourths instead of the traditional thirds used in most Western music. This method creates a more open and ambiguous sound, which is characteristic of jazz music. For example, a C Quartal chord can be constructed as C-F-Bb. Typically a Quartal Chord will be "rounded off" with a Major 3rd on top, note which most will try to line up with the 5th of the underlining minor chord... especially if it's in the melody.

A typical example is the "So What" chords on the 1959 Miles Davis tune of the same name. And the chords played modulated as a whole, a whole step (2 frets) down... do wound like an exclamation of the words "Sooooo What!"
Quartal Chords can be "moved" around over longer "static" minor chords... and "So What It" is one of the examples to study as the tune rather than a "progression", just switches back and forth between two minor "key centers" a half step apart. Some call that "modal" Jazz (I disagree with that categorization, but that's not the subject here). "Moving around" Quartal voicings over such a static minor "situation", creates some kind "life"... well, "movement" in a stagnant musical situation. Bill Evans (piano) can be heard really "experimenting" with moving "Quartal Chords around" behind the horns soloing over "the" chord.
This has spread all thru Jazz from there on into R&B/Soul and especially Neo-Soul and from there also in some of the more complex Gospel music. It's there and part of modern music.

C6th is tuned in "3rds"... mostly. Pretty much a wash of alternating minor and Major 3rds with a 2nd (whole step) near the middle to keep things within ONE Diatonic center. The D string on top adds not one but two 2nd intervals, between E & D and also C & D. All in all, if you counts up all the adjacent string pair intervals and divides it by the number of intervals... the AVERAGE interval is nearly minor 3rds... almost a diminished tuning. There are 4 notes evenly spread within a diminished chord in an octave (12 half steps)... spread evenly pretty close to every 3 frets. The difficulty with such a tuning was to spread those tight intervals into 4ths as the widening becomes cumulative. P7 raise the higher strings away from the lower just enough but it takes adding P8 (8th string rooted Dom-Pedal) and dropping the 6th string a whole step to bring it al in place and you get two wide Quartal grips which allow us to replicate EXACTLY the voicings Bill Evans is slinging around on "So What" behind Miles Davis... and those are the voicings piano and organ players still use today.

Higher Voicing P7&9 +#6string LL:
-1
-2
-3 o RR
-4 o RR
-5 o
-6
-7
-8 o
-9 (o)
-10

Lower Voicing P7&8 +#6string LL:
-1
-2
-3
-4 o RR
-5 o
-6 o LL
-7
-8 o
-9 o L
-10

Try moving these two voicings above down and back up 2 frets! Then alternate the two grips/voicings (listen to Bill Evans) when moving them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp7k8xXlEdg

Higher Voicing WITHOUT P7&8 but with #6string LL alone:

-1
-2 o
-3 o
-4
-5 o
-6 o LL
-7
-8
-9
-10

This voicing is a replication of the first high voicing on top, 5 frets below


Again... this is accessible on more advanced setups. PF and Doug Jernigan and others of that caliber have the single string whole step lowers on string #6, some also on string #5 (the later for entirely different reasons).

Playing in Quartal Voicings becomes somewhat of a "language" or "dialect" of it's own.

... J-D.

[J D Sauser]

I'm having Williams build me a C6 S10 6x5 and I've been thinking about the copedent. Currently I have it set up standard Emmons C6 1-5, with an extra pedal change in the 6th slot.
But after seeing a Jeff Newman "universal" instructional video, I noticed his "8th pedal" boowaa is moved to the left of "pedal 5" .

Since "Pedal 8" and "pedal 5" work well together, I was thinking of moving my boowa to the left of the Pedal 5.

Thoughts?

IF you are debating ditching the traditional first C6th pedal (D10 P4) raising A to B, and you are serious about C6th (you plan to play and not just lean on it ) I would suggest replacing it instead with a pedal which raises your C's to C#. That turns your 8th string rooted minor (open Am7) into A7th by raising the m3rd to Major 3rd. P5 (the "Two Below" or as I call it the 10th string rooted Dom-Pedal), when added to it lowers the b7th to 6th. In other words: I would recreate the same chord you have off the 7th string (C6th open) 3 frets higher, but this time with a 5th on top. There is more to this combination of two adjacent pedals... much more. I am not the only one having it on that pedal instead of a lever.

... J-D.

[Marco Coblenz]

J-D., thanks to Your detailed and rich answer concerning the Quartal harmony. I totally get it now. I was looking at the P7 + P8 + String #6 LL combo and striked by the halftone rub of strings #6 and #7 with no connection to Quartal harmony here. That was true, but I overlooked what You showed. So I learnt something

[J D Sauser]

J-D., thanks to Your detailed and rich answer concerning the Quartal harmony. I totally get it now. ... So I learnt something

Now you got me worried, Marco... worried about YOU!

Thanks, Marco — and yes, every now and then I do accidentally make sense... well, TRY to.

---
Back to the Pedal:

I think the first step toward better understanding and using P8 might be to stop calling it the “Boowhah” pedal altogether, look at why Jerry Byrd had a C# instead of a C at the bottom of his C6th, and consider the pedal’s primary function — at least as a starting point.

Namely: it converts the 8th-string–rooted minor 7th into a Dominant 7th (yes, with a #9 on top) by raising the bottom minor third a half step to a major third. That’s not a sound effect — that’s concrete harmonic real estate.

From there, people like Barry Harris will happily lead you into the darker corners of the forest — Family of Four Chords, multiple positions, and the pedal’s most common PSG application: the tritone. (Bring snacks.)

---

Over the decades I’ve heard plenty of players say they don’t care much for the “Bhoo-Wham!” sound and therefore consider “downgrading” the pedal. I actually agree that the “splatt” sound (Maurice Anderson’s term, not mine) is a bit dated — strong late-’60s to mid-’70s mothball energy.

But its existence is no less important than P5 or P6 — or, for that matter, being able to raise your A’s a half step (turning the tuning’s namesake 6th chord into its b7th equivalent… the same job the B-pedal does when you’re holding the E’s down on that other tuning).

Those changes — and this pedal being one of the four — complete the ability to convert any of the four naturally occurring pocket positions along the neck into a Dominant chord. That’s not optional vocabulary; that’s the grammar of the tuning.

---

Jerry Byrd realized early on that his baby was standing on only two legs. A full 6th chord contains the same notes as its relative major and its vi-minor — but it lacks a tritone, which you need to form a Dominant chord (and, by extension, a half-diminished).

His solution, without pedals and without disturbing the inner workings of the chord, was simple: raise the bottom C to C#. On his 7-string he added a low C while keeping a strum-accessible C# above it.

When you don’t have pedals, you make things up, it's called creativity, and sometimes it even qualifies a genius.

Seen that way, the change we’re discussing was arguably the first C6th “change” ever conceived and applied — just without a pedal. Might as well call it the JB pedal.
Or, if you prefer… the peddle.

---

Yes, the optional C-to-C# lever many players add may SEEM somewhat redundant — the thinking being the same — but all who have it will raise the top C as well, giving a straight Dominant 7 across the tuning without the strongly dissonant #9 on top (which many insist on calling it the “Jimi Hendrix chord,” though Django Reinhardt and Impressionists before him were using decades earlier — but I digress, AGAIN.)

Personally, I prefer the full C-to-C# change on a pedal left of P5, because — as mentioned earlier — they work exceptionally well together.

---

Speaking of the “splatt”-sound end of the change (bottom string): on some setups Maurice Anderson removed the bottom pull down to the resulting Dominant's primary root, but kept the rest of the change. He wasn’t alone.

Maurice’s 6th tuning used a 9th on the bottom rather than the root — not as a 9th to the namesake chord, but as a relative vi-minor to the string in front of it (the same logic as the D-to-F relationship on C6th’s 9th string). Pulling that down to the root of the primary Dominant of the change would’ve required a much larger interval drop of a 4th instead of the minor 3rd on a BE setup, so he chose to alter the bottom string differently to make the change work more fluidly in other positions.
HA! Family of Four Chords again.
And yes — unsurprisingly — I agree with my mentor, Mr. Anderson. What else is new?

---

In short: leave the pedal where it is, stop judging it by its most cartoonish use, and actually learn what it does.

(building a lasting relationship with Barry Harris wouldn’t hurt either.)

... J-D.

[Johnny Cox]

That's where I prefer mine. I have there on my D13th S12 and my D12 C6th. I'm also putting it here on my other giutars.

[Andrew Frost]

I like how the Emmons arrangement has a coherent order to it musically. Each pedal 'dovetails' with the one beside it. 4&5, 5&6, 6&7 and 7&8 are all logical combinations that have no clashing changes, and the resulting voicings make logical sense.
But I can see the advantages of having 8&5 beside one another for quick back and forth action.
Are the players that use this set up doing any kind of splits with string 9&10 when both pedals are engaged?