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Topic: New member with tuning question |
Louie Kirkpatrick
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 21 May 2015 7:43 pm |
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| New member and lifelong steel fan. I owned a OMI Dobro for many years, but never found time to learn much. I wound up selling it several years ago to help my son out. I am getting older and have a bit more time to start learning again. Anyway, I recently bought a Chinese Regal that sounds very much like my old OMI. I am now having to start at square one again. I first tuned it to G6 and a couple of days ago to G9. Today I was goofing around with it and combined the two as follows high to low: DAGEBG. Having no real musical training I have no idea what that would be, but it does have a nice sound. Any ideas if this actually a playable tuning? If so, what would it be called? |
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Nakos Marker
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 22 May 2015 12:25 am
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Last edited by Nakos Marker on 11 Aug 2020 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 22 May 2015 6:27 am
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1. D
2. A
3. G
4. E
5. B
6. G
It's a modified G tuning. If you can make music with it, it's playable. I'd agree that G6/9 is as good a name as any.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 23 May 2015 3:58 am
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After trial and error, I'm using this G6, only a note's difference.
D
B
G
E
B
G
It's a little more flexible for beginners (me) than standard Dobro tuning, unless you're an Auldridge.
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 23 May 2015 11:10 am
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If you're going to use a 6 tuning, I would go with the Jerry Byrd form of C6.
C-E-G-A-C-E. String gauges about 42-35-26-24-18-15. It is probably the most versatile tuning around as well as the one that offers the most educational material. If you're going to go with a G tuning, I would just go with G tuning. It has the 2nd most material available. And many of the better players get a lot more out of it than you might suspect at first glance.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 23 May 2015 11:55 am
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I'd counter with C9
D
B
G
E
C
G
which I use, more than the G6 for the project I'm on.
Lots of majors and minors.
Switchable, requires retuning one string, only two to return to G dobro tuning, and no need to re-string.
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 23 May 2015 2:46 pm
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I like that Charlie. But for a beginner with no musical knowledge?
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 23 May 2015 4:21 pm
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You may be right. There may be more literature for C6.
My thinking was in combining a tuning with C and G.
_________________
Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 23 May 2015 7:05 pm
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Don't want to hijack the thread. But that is an interesting tuning. Does it make itself heard easily over the accompaniment?
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Ian
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 24 May 2015 12:01 am
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Louie,
Just my two cents, I'll echo what Edward said: G tuning sounds just great on a dobro; C6 is a great tuning as well, I personally think it is a better electric tuning. There is a reason why these tunings are so popular.
Charlie,
That C9 tuning looks interesting. I may have to dabble with that one, thanks!
Ian |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 24 May 2015 4:18 am
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| Edward Meisse wrote: |
| Don't want to hijack the thread. But that is an interesting tuning. Does it make itself heard easily over the accompaniment? |
I assume you were asking me Ed, but you know what it is to ass-u-me. I guess I play steel mostly to blend chords supporting melody
rather than cut through. Working with G6 now does seem to be a case where I'm cutting through a bit, as I'm trying to 'emulate'
Mike Auldridge, who played on the original recording--his taste, if not his licks. I find 'thinking Dobro' (tho not playing one)
to be the key to whatever success I'm having (the key to tone and voicing may be in the hands,
but that starts in the mind, the brain and hearing. It's how Bishop Ronnie Hall gets that horn sound.).
The advantage of C9 to me is reaching major and minor thirds sequentially, as the tuning is stacking thirds,
with as little bar movement as possible. If I want to bite through, there are several fifths to do that.
Mostly, it's musical; I think it's having a major 9th. I use a M7 more than an m7.
The second inversion C in the bass is bracketed by a major 6th, with a G triad stacked on top.
In my notation and thinking it's G/C, so it's directed at music more contemporary than that for 6th tuning playing,
which is an important basis for much of the literature. G/C is not a hybrid to accommodate cowboy nor Hawaiian.
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Those that say don't know; those that know don't say.--Buddy Emmons |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 24 May 2015 8:18 am
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Thanks. Auldridge is one of the people I try to emulate as well. This looks like a tuning to try out.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 26 May 2015 2:41 am
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For a beginner C6 is a great start.
Or push a stone uphill and use your own custom tuning I know.
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Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 26 May 2015 6:25 am
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I'd agree with Stefan. I've tried a lot of tunings but keep returning to open G and A6th (not simultaneously, on different guitars).
I use A6th rather than C6th because I have a bunch of strings that are suitable for either tuning.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 26 May 2015 11:11 am
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Lots of material available in C6th but be WARNED.
Just like guitar if you rely solely on tabs you will have to memorise riffs/licks. Its MUCH better to know the music theory which is not easy and seems futile in the beginning but later on you will start to understand and it will all make sense and free you on the instrument. And memorising will not be as necessary.
This is the better option but as I said it will seem futile in the beginning but later on as you progress you will fly by others who are stuck to tabs as your skill and ear and understanding develop. That's the best advice I was given. Henceforth have reduced the amount of tab use to almost none now.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 26 May 2015 12:45 pm
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Back to Louie's original post - he came here seeking advice on a tuning for lap style dobro or resonator guitar.
There's more than one way to skin a cat, and far be it from me to discourage innovation - but regarding the interesting tuning he is trying out, for one who is learning the instrument, I would take the "When in Rome, do as the Romans" approach, which is good old Open G, lo-to-hi GBDGBD.
Most educational material is in C6th? I'm not going to spend the afternoon scouring the web to take an inventory, but even for C6th lap steel plus dobro combined vs. G tuned dobro only, I would guess that the quantity of G dobro learning material available these days dwarfs the C6th stuff.
Let's say to further your learning you sign up for a weekend dobro workshop. If you show up at a workshop put on by a pro instructor, or become one of the lucky 100 students attending the annual ResoSummit put on by Rob ickes in Nashville in November, if your go-to tuning is C6th you will be on the outside looking in. And if you opt for one of the possibly cool sounding but let's face it - oddball tunings that have been posted here you're really going to be lost at these events.
It's no different than if you attend a general acoustic guitar camp and you play all the time in some alternate tuning, like DADGAD because you are a big fan of Celtic music. I actually know a guy like that - he started playing guitar several years ago and didn't start out on standard EADGBE and making the transitions so that he can play stuff like Beatles or Eagles tunes at a party for a sing along has been difficult.
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Mark |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 26 May 2015 8:19 pm
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Mark, I suggested C6 because his interest in G6 and his G 6/9 improvised tuning indicated a direction of interest that I thought called for it given that he is a beginner.
You are 100% right that if he goes to a,"Dobro," workshop in anything but open G tuning, he won't accomplish much. But more and more of us are, thanks very much to Mike Auldridge in my case, thinking of the instrument as an acoustic steel guitar. And so we are open to a broader range of possibilities. As you pointed out in an earlier post, once you learn a tuning and the basic techniques of the instrument, you can play in any genre though the tuning will determine to some extent what style of sound you will get. One of the reasons I thought Charlie's C9 was so interesting is that it lets you have things both way. You can play in open G tuning and with just a couple of twitches of the wrist get yourself a much richer harmonic sound. But that C9 I would not recommend to beginners.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Louie Kirkpatrick
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 29 May 2015 10:58 pm
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| I appreciate all of the replies. I still like the sound of the combined G6/9, but I did rearrange it as follows, high to low - DBGEAG. I found that some others on the forum have used this string arrangement. At least it is easy to revert to G6 or standard G if I want to. I am not planning to just learn "dobro". I like the resonator sound, but want to branch out from what is usually played on the instrument. I also have ordered one of the Paloma Stevens type bar with a round nose to try out instead of my standard Stevens. Hopefully this will be a fun journey. |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 30 May 2015 9:27 am
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The round nose bar will definitely facilitate split slants for you. And I would say that as a beginner, it is very good to experiment widely. But at some point it is a very good idea to take a sound that you like and get to know that one tuning extremely well. Not necessarily to the exclusion of all others. But very well just the same.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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