Help me stop thinking like a slide guitar player!!!

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

As a newbie, I don't even really know what questions to ask....in another thread we came up with an 8-string G6 tuning (A6 down a step) to utilize all of my fretboard knowledge from open-G slide.....and a lot of my bands tunes are in G (one country band, one Americana band, one blues band).

But I also understand that I should stop thinking melodically up the neck, and start thinking chordally across the fretboard....and I don't want to reject the standard A and C tunings without understanding why.

I still don't understand why A6 and C6 are the most common steel tunings (with some E9), losing the low end G position...with that big open chord and the open string pull-of/hammer-on options.
-Is it to make string gauges work better?
-Is it because swing, etc. tunes are in C or A, not G?
-Or am I just still thinking about this totally incorrectly?
-If I use C6 or A6, do I really play a G chord high up the neck, or do I have to slant, or what?

Please help me get my brain around this!
Thanks for all your help....this forum is a real lifeline!

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

The 6th and 13th based tunings offer a symmetrical approach to playing all of the basic diatonic chords. Its pretty amazing. Think of the C6 tuning like the white keys on a piano.
For an 8st tuning low to high A C E G A C E G

So you can take most any diatonic melody a play it in chords or 3rds and 6ths without slants and without leaving your basic

positions.

You can change string groups for different inversions and 7ths. The key to the 6th tunings is that you need to slant to get a tri tone. On the 13th tunings a tri tone is built in.

Nothing the matter with playing a melody straight up and down one string though. Its a beautiful sound.
_________________
Bob

John Bushouse · Posted 14 May 2011 5:31 pm

You (or anyone, actually) should be able to play in any key on steel, regardless of the tuning. As I see it, as a slide player I am usually playing in G or D, depending on whether I'm tuned to open G or open D. But on steel, I can play in A, B, C, D, etc. from open G, depending on where I am on the fretboard. Steel isn't tied to the open strings like slide can be.

If I was playing in a band and we played a lot in G, I probably wouldn't be in an A tuning because I'd probably spend a lot of time up at the 10th fret. But I might use a C tuning.

In the trio I've been playing with recently, I'm using an Oahu acoustic with a C6 tuning - CEACEG, low to high. I'm using that tuning because of the sonic space we're all occupying - the rhythm guitar is usually playing first position chords, the lead guitar is somewhere in the guitar's 5-12 fret area, and I'm up high. The lowest I usually go is the E at the 4th fret.

When I play acoustic by myself, I use something like open G.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Thanks guys! This is starting to get more clear....last questions:

ON the C6 tuning, there is ACEGACEG (61356135) and GACEGACE (56135613)- why would I choose one of those over the other?

I gather that people tend to use A6 for the first of those patters, and C6 for the second, but there are C6 proponents for both patterns, I just don't know why...

On a double neck I could see having different patterns with an A6 and a C6, on a single I don't know why I'd want one or the other...

Thanks again!

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

The main problem with major chord tunings is that it's hard to find the notes of the minor chords. The C6th tuning is both C major and A minor. Having all of your major and minor chords without having to do bar slants makes it easier to follow the chord progressions of country, rock and pop music.

The high-G C6th gives you a high, thin sounding string on top. Some people like that. Also, Dobro players are used to having the 5th on top, so they'll use it for familiarity. Myself, I tune C6th with a high E, and retune to A6th when I want the 5th on top.

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Thanks for all the input, folks, I'm actually beginning to understand all of this....I think I'm actually settling on C6 with an E on top....I can find my open G at the 7th fret, and I can find my 1-3-5 there also, just lower down than I'm used to...and I can buy string sets for this tuning (G6 is a bit harder) and I like the A6 change that was mentioned, to get the 1-3-5 where I am used to finding it....seems like the best of all worlds.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

If you go with the 8 string C6 tuning with the E on top make sure you experiment with an F in the bass.

Low to high
FACEGACE

As far as I know the basic reason people pick different versions of 6th based tunings is register.
_________________
Bob

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Bob-That F at the bottom in interesting! Gives you a 4th chord (F), and a Maj7th...anything else?

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I started as a slide player, too. I feel your pain.

You said something along the lines of "thinking chordally across the neck" as opposed to melodically up and down the neck. This is not true--you don't want to get locked into positions. The one thing that slide guitar and steel guitar have in common is that we can play most effectively up and down the strings.

What you have to do is learn your intervals--for C6 tuning (I prefer the one with E as a first string), you simply look at the distance between the strings. For me, between strings 1 and 2 is a major 3rd, between strings 2 and 3, a minor 3rd. I can play any pattern of successive major or minor 3rds on the same pair of strings simply by slanting. This is the Hawaiian style of doing it--it is smooth and doesn't break up the melodic line.

You can also play the major and minor 3rds simply by alternating string pairs. This is how you would do it with slide guitar, as well. It is not as smooth and doesn't really take advantage of the flowing quality of the instrument, but it works for playing backup. Obviously, you have to locate the desired notes, as they will not be together in most cases.

Here is a way of playing the C scale in 3rds on the first 3 strings (starting with the lowest possible notes, not necessarily the tonic):

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Mike-
Thanks for all of your replies to my dumb questions! And Andy Volk pointed me at your blog, another wonderful resource.

I've been hearing this "thirds/sixths" thing a lot - is that a typical steel style, to play double stops in thirds/sixths? And which is it? sixths or thirds - I know they are the same, it looks like "root on the top" is the method, which is thirds...

Twayn Williams · From: Portland, OR

Twayn Williams · From: Portland, OR

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