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Topic: Alternative tunings for the back neck... |
Andrew Frost
From:
Toronto, Ontario
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 9:57 am |
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| Interested to hear what people have if they're not using standard C6... |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 4:41 pm
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When I played D10 I tuned to B6, which wasn't really a different tuning, just standard C6 dropped down a half step - but it lined up musically with the E9. When I swapped to a universal I didn't have to rethink anything.
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 7:51 pm
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| Don Helm had his old original lap steel tuning on a 6 string back neck, So he could do all of his original Hank William's licks. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 2:01 am
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I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of players did that back in that time when pedals were finding their way and before BE came up with the C6 we have now.
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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David Spires
From:
Millersport, OH
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 5:06 am
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I believe Travis Toy has a baritone-approached A9th as his back neck.
I added a pedal (to keep engaged) that retunes my C6th to my open lap steel tuning on strings 3,4,5,6,7,8.
David Spires
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2021 MSA Legend XL 10&7; Asher Electro-Hawaiian Junior Lap Steel; '79 OMI Dobro 66 w/ Scheerhorn cone and setup; '64 Hand-wired Re-issue Fender Princeton Reverb |
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Andrew Frost
From:
Toronto, Ontario
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 6:25 am
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Thanks for chiming in fellas.
Interesting that Don Helms would come up. I believe one of his tunings had a fourth on the bottom - E6 over A maybe- and have wondered if he pioneered that approach. Akin to C6 over F. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 7:08 am
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| I've seen posts about those that only play E9th tuning both necks to E9th. If a string breaks or whatever just switch to the other E9th neck. |
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John D Miller
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 5:03 pm
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Hello Andrew,
Great topic, I have been meaning to post something along these lines in the past (what to do with the back neck on a D-10).
Love the E9th tunning. Got a D-10 (8 pedals and 4 knees) after learning on a S-10 (3 pedals and 4 knees).
Could never get the time to dive into C6th. Also, I found it hard to adjust from E to C. With E9th it is close to the 6 string guitar in that 3rd fret = G and 5th fret = A etc.
When I would try a song on the C6th neck my brain would not easily adjust to the fact that the G chord is no longer easily found on the 3rd fret.
I think a lot of us get D-10’s and never really get into the back neck and it becomes a 1k or 2k arm rest.
I also really wanted to get into the lower registers. Really wanted at least the low E on the 6-string.
So a few years ago, after studying Bob’s excellent analysis of Sacred Steel Tunings I came up with an E7th copedent that I was able to easily install on my 1995 Emmons LG 2.
It is a blast to play. Now I can get down to the bass players open A. I have an A (P5) pedal and a B pedal (P6). In fact, with P5 and P6 I get a 10 string A major chord (no wrong notes!!).
You can also see that I bumped the E levers over to the right knee.
These two factors allowed me to apply all of my E9th knowledge to the back neck instantly. No E to C stuff to mess up. Also love the P4 (instant minor chord). Also if I don’t want the dom 7th sound I just hit P3 and get rid of it. If I need a beautiful major 6th chord I just do LNL.
I lot of times I run with both pick ups on so I am able to easily go back and forth, playing it like it is one neck if you will that has a tuning based on the E chord and has 8 pedals and 4 knee levers.
Hope this maybe gives you or others some ideas for the back neck.
Side note: was worried about some pedals and knee levers working both necks. Had this for years with no problems at all. Obviously Emmons makes a damm fine pedal steel guitar!!
Link to Bob's Sacred Steel E7th Tuning:
https://b0b.com/tunings/sacredsteel.html
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 5:04 pm
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That's pure genius 
[I was referring to Jack's post. John's appeared meanwhile, although I'm taking nothing away from it!]
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs
Last edited by Ian Rae on 17 Mar 2021 1:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Andrew Frost
From:
Toronto, Ontario
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 8:17 pm
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Very cool John. I like the integration of the tunings you have there.
Man, with all those great unison strings, that E7 copedant looks like a goldmine for counterpoint and contrary motion phrases. |
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