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Topic: C6th Tunning |
Wayne D. Clark
From:
Montello Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 5 Jan 2011 5:13 pm |
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Is the C6th tuning the most versitle for the Lap Steel Player? Or is it "E7th" for Country and "A" for Hawaiian, and C6th for Swing and Blues?
Wayne clark
usnyn2nd@frontier.com |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 5 Jan 2011 6:47 pm
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| X-2 what Doug said...... |
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Jeff Spencer
From:
Queensland, Australia
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Posted 6 Jan 2011 4:59 am
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Wayne it can also depend on the number of strings as you can "extend" the tuning. Dougs correct, but also remember that its more to do with the musical intervals as you can place strings in different order and still call it a particular tuning but it can sound 'different'. I think the thing to do is find a tuning that is pleasing to your ear and stick with it (check out Brads Page of Steel on the web - there is a goldmine of info). I have chased tunings but have always come back to C6th with some variations. Doug has a great C6th book of tunes as does Dewitt Scott.
Jeff |
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Wayne Cox
From:
Chatham, Louisiana, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 6 Jan 2011 7:39 am
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If you have a pretty good foundation in music theory,and only have a six or eight string lap steel,you might want to try the "Leavitt Tuning". The Six-string version is (from low to high): C#,E,G,A#,C,D. If you have eight strings try: A,C#,E,G,A#,C,D,D#. You can get almost any chord imaginable but it is not a "strum chord" tuning like C6 or E7. C6 & E7 are both beautiful in their simplicity.
~~W.C.~~ |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 6 Jan 2011 7:53 am
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| When a T-8 Fender Stringmaster was my primary instrument, the key the song was written in was taken into consideration when picking the neck and tuning. I liked to play the middle of the neck and the tunings were selected accordingly. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 8 Jan 2011 3:27 pm
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C6 is the Big Daddy. The 6 string C6(low) tuning uses the same intervals as the top 6 strings on the 8 string E13th(high) tuning. C6(high) has the same intervals as A6 (with the 5th on top). Not to mention all of the alternate tunings based on variations of the basic R-3-5-6 structure
E9th (B-D-F#-G#-B-E) is pretty cool for Western, Country, Blues and Rock. You can get some hot, cool and jazzy sounds with the added 7th and 9th for the 5th and 4th strings. With the top 3 strings being the same it is fairly easy for an open E player to learn.
I've been restringing some of my open E steels to E9th. You can usually move the 5th string(B) down to the bottom slot, and then you just need to replace the 4th and 5th strings with the D and the F#. If you don't mind having it looser you could even move the 4th string(E) down to the 5th position(D) so you would have to install just one new string. Many thanks to Mike Neer for the inspiration to try it out this tuning- it is a real keeper!
Although its generally not a good idea to move strings down on a fretted guitar with a compensated bridge, with the bridge and nut being parallel on a lap steel you can usually get away with it. (Yes, I am cheap, er, frugal! 
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Tommy Auldridge
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 9 Jan 2011 7:06 am Mine is C13?
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I like mine tuned to a C something.... The strings are tuned...from high to low D-E-C-A-G-E-C-Bb
I like the D on the first string so I can do scale runs that I learned From Buddy Emmons' C6 instructional stuff. The 6 strings in the middle are a standard C tuning. And the 8th. string tuned to a Bb, so I can make not only 7th. chords, but they seem to substitute for some type of a diminished,or something that repeats every 3 or 4 frets. I thought this was a tuning that I came up with on my own, but have since learned that other players use this too.
Maybe, Junior Brown?... Tommy........ |
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Stephen Abruzzo
From:
Philly, PA
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Posted 9 Jan 2011 7:22 am
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| Doug Beaumier wrote: |
| For example C#m7 and B11 are excellent for Hawaiian. E is excellent for blues. No one tuning covers everything,. |
 I just started messing around a bit with a hybrid of C#m7 and E. Lo-to-hi (C#-E-G#-B-E-D), so I guess that makes it a variant of E13? Straight bar for major, 5, 6, 7, 13, m and m7. The major/minor pentatonic scales lay out pretty well too. |
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