Joel Paterson - Skiddle Dee Boo

This is a short improvisation on the Speedy West tune “Skiddle-Dee-Boo,” played here in non-pedal C6 on my Rickenbacker console. Speedy was in his E tuning I believe on the record, sounds like he has a pedal to lower the 5th tone to get that nice big 9th chord. It doesn’t really matter what tuning you’re in if you have the 5th, 6th, root, and 3rd on adjacent strings somewhere in the tuning. This change was later adopted into the modern pedal steel C6 setup by the likes of Jimmy Day and Buddy Emmons, who both pioneered the pedal steel (in the late 50s) to able to pick out the right string and pedal combinations to play every chord you can name. I’m approximating it here with some three-note Jerry Byrd-style slants which can really go a long way for you (and also add years to your life because you don’t have to lug around your pedal steel rig! But you may regret this choice as soon as someone calls a Ray Price or Buck Owens tune).