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Topic: 6-string lap steel open E ? |
James Turner
From:
Jackson, MS
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Posted 12 Sep 2011 3:57 pm |
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| I'm fixin' to start playing lap steel for an "old timey" style country band. They want that "Hank Sr." sound. I'm gonna use my National Dynamic tuned to open E. My question is... What gauge strings would work best to help me get that old Hank sound? Any and all input would be helpful. |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 12 Sep 2011 4:50 pm
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Get a copy of "Your Cheatin' Heart", the Don Helms
book done by Scotty.
It has tabs for the most popular songs.
You can buy it here on the Forum.
Don's tuning and string gauges are given in the book:
1. G# .010
2. E .014
3. C# .017
4. B .020
5. G# .024
6. E .030
7. C# .038
8 A .042
Strings 6,7,8, are wound. The others are plain.
As far as I know (which may be incorrect) Don did not use the last two strings on the Hank Williams
recordings.
You only need six strings for "the sound." |
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James Turner
From:
Jackson, MS
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Posted 13 Sep 2011 1:33 pm tuning
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thank you. I will try it.
jim |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Ric Nelson
From:
Silver Spring, Maryland
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Posted 16 Sep 2011 7:08 pm
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E .014
B .018
G# .024
E. 026
B .038
E .050 |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 17 Sep 2011 12:25 pm
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In another thread I found a scan of a note that Don wrote up in 2003 spelling out the tunings and gauges he used to play "with Hank Williams, Ray Price, Patsy Cline and everything that you heard me on.":
| Code: |
E6th
--------
G# .011
E .015
C# .018
B .022
G# .026
E .034w
C# .038w
A .044W
B11th
----------
E .015 11th
C# .018 9th
A .022 b7th
F# .030w 5th
D# .034w 3rd
B .040w root
A .044w b7th
F# .056w 5th
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Don labeled the 2nd tuning as being B13th. There is no G# which would be the 6th or 13th so I retitled it "B11th". He also spelled the 5th string as being an Eb, which I changed to D# to match the B dominant scale.
Steve
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Daniel Policarpo
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Posted 24 Sep 2011 3:56 am
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| I use a C6 for the Hank Williams stuff, as well as amost everything else. I went through a few years of exploring and just settled on C6 since there are a lot more transcriptions of songs in this tuning(like Hank Sr. stuff) and it is pretty straight forward. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 24 Sep 2011 5:56 pm
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The E6th tuning that Don Helms used was essentially the same as C6th but moved up 4 frets (looking at the top 6 strings the intervals are exactly the same). So you might want to play some of the higher passages an octave lower if you are tuned to C6th.
For a 6 string lap steel I think the E6th tuning is pitched too high unless you are specifically trying to copy Don. IMO C6th is pitched in a more useful range. And there were other steel players on Hank's recordings, many who were using the C6th tuning.
Steve
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Morgan Scoggins
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 24 Sep 2011 6:30 pm
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I agree with Steve about the E6 tuning being too high pitched. The G# open first string has a high thin sound that is a little over the top for me. A few years ago, I learned some of Hank Sr's songs and I now play them all in B6 tuning (D# B G# F# D# B). The B6 tuning is a fifth lower than E6 so i can play all of Hank's tunes using the same fret positions as E6 only the key is changed and the overall sound is a lot more mellow and closer to the mid range of a piano keyboard.
_________________
"Shoot low boys, the're ridin' Shetlands" |
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