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Topic: Why A6 rather than G6 for 8-string electrics? |
Mike Harris
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 8 May 2015 9:31 am |
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I'm curious to know why A6 rather than G6 is a common tuning for 8-string lap playing. I would think the dobro key of G, so close to A, would be used more instead.
Sorry if this is a tired topic or obvious, but I'm scratching my head here.
thanks,
Mike |
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Don Barnhardt
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 8 May 2015 4:33 pm
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| If I were to use any tuning besides c-6 it would be dictated by the key I'm using most. If I was playing to a singer that favors key of c I might consider g-6 because I like playing around the 5th fret. I think the answer to your question it just depends on the player. |
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Jack Aldrich
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 8 May 2015 6:29 pm
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Well, ya know that the higher strings on the B11 tuning are an A6 chord (from top, E C# A G#)?
_________________
Jack Aldrich
Carter & ShoBud D10's
D8 & T8 Stringmaster
Rickenbacher B6
3 Resonator guitars
Asher Alan Akaka Special SN 6
Canopus D8 |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 8 May 2015 7:25 pm
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As I understand it, A6, B11, C6, E7, etc... were all derived from the original Hawaiian A major tuning (with high E, string 1 on all the tunings). Those tunings are easy re-tunes from one to the other on the same set of strings. I'm not sure how G6 would fit into that... whether it would work with the same string gauges or if intervals of G dobro tuning are possible without changing strings. A6 is very easy to get to from the other standard lap steel tunings. That's why it's so popular. I think the popular tunings evolved because players can change between them easily without changing the strings.
_________________
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Todd Clinesmith
From:
Lone Rock Free State Oregon
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Posted 8 May 2015 8:48 pm
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Doug has this correct IMO. A was the common tuning before C6 , A6 , and definitely before G became a popular tuning.
Josh Graves is most likely credited with making G popular, after tuning his Dobro to G to match the range of Earl Scruggs' banjo. G became popular from there to be able to play the banjo tunes, then capo to A to play most fiddle tunes. |
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Bob Watson
From:
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
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Posted 9 May 2015 1:02 am
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| I picked up a Gold Tone 8 string Dobro 6 or 7 years ago and recorded a CD with a band I play with that at the time was all acoustic. We ended up going electric and I played C6 on a Fender Deluxe 8 for awhile. I picked up a D8 Stringmaster and tuned the front neck to G6 and the back neck to C6. I did the G6 tuning so I could play all of the same parts I did when we were an acoustic band. I like G6 because you can do a lot of cool open string blues licks in E7. With the C6 you can do the same licks in A7. As we all know, both of those keys are popular Guitar keys. The only questionable thing about the G6 is that it doesn't cut as well as the C6. I have been tuning the lower G to a G# on the G6 to get a G/E7 tuning and the low A on the C6 to a Bb to get a C13. I like both of the tunings but I am still a bit skeptical about the G/E7 being lost in the mix compared to the C13. Mike, thanks for posing this question. I'll be curious to hear from other Steel players who have used a G6 8 string tuning on a Lap Steel. |
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Jerome Hawkes
From:
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 9 May 2015 4:48 am
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i would say because lap steel is NOT an electric dobro...they are played completely different
the A major tuning is the grandfather of them all - thousands of students learned the hawaiian guitar on the A major tuning.
like was mentioned, the G tuning was devised when dobro started to become part of bluegrass music more so than hawaiian.
Brother Oswald played in the 'old' A tuning
_________________
'65 Sho-Bud D-10 Permanent • '54 Fender Dual-8 • Clinesmith T-8 • '38 Ric Bakelite • '92 Emmons D-10 Legrande II |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 9 May 2015 8:46 am
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I think that probably A was the first tuning because it played better with the popular instrument of that time, the violin. As Todd pointed out, the tuning changed to G in order to play better with the banjo. When it comes to 6th tunings, I'm with Bob, the C6 sings out above the mix. The others tend to get lost in it.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Mike Harris
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 14 May 2015 4:52 am
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| Thanks to all who posted--I was under the mistaken impression that the natural progression to electric lap steel was from the dobro. I wasn't thinking about all the guys who came from Hawaiian beginnings. I learned a lot--again, many thanks. |
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Webb Kline
From:
Orangeville, PA
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Posted 15 May 2015 8:57 pm
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| Eddie Rivers says he likes A6 rather than C6 because it has a fatter sound to it. He has a point and his records support his claim. I like the sound of it, but for most of what I do, C6 works better. Acoustically speaking, A6 is higher than G6, and to my ear, G6 on an 8 string dobro is too deep for most music, yet C6 on a dobro loses something. Some say it puts too much tension on the cone. A6 seems to work very well. |
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Mike Harris
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 29 May 2015 9:59 am
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I would think that it ("fatness")has to do with string length and string gauge, no?
I love Eddie's sound and his playing, BTW. But who doesn't...? |
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Chris Scruggs
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Posted 8 Jun 2015 10:39 am
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| The progression to G tuning didn't happen until the late 40s and early 50s with Josh Graves, to match the tuning of the banjo. Before that, even the early country Dobro players like Brother Oswald and Cousin Jody tuned to A. The original Hawaiian tunings were open E and A. Traditionally a lap steel tuning will either have E as the top string (A6, C# minor, C6, B11, etc.) or at least be an E based tuning (like Don Helms' E6). That has only changed due to bluegrass dobro players (G and D players) and pedal steel players (guys who play C6 with the D string or the G string on top) taking up lap steel in recent decades. |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 17 Jun 2015 11:20 am
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| When I played A6, I always thought of it as E9 with the pedals down and that made the fretboard more "comfortable". |
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Jack Aldrich
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 18 Jun 2015 9:21 am
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| chas smith wrote: |
| When I played A6, I always thought of it as E9 with the pedals down and that made the fretboard more "comfortable". |
Indeed! I discovered this when I was learning the B11 tuning, which has an A6 on the top 4 strings. I was playing "Sand" in C and I noticed that the G chord was at the 10th fret, and a light bulb in my head!
_________________
Jack Aldrich
Carter & ShoBud D10's
D8 & T8 Stringmaster
Rickenbacher B6
3 Resonator guitars
Asher Alan Akaka Special SN 6
Canopus D8 |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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