‘Universal’ non-pedal tuning?

nick allen · From: France

Like everyone else starting out, I’ve been trying different tunings, to find the one I’m most comfortable with. I’ve noted the frequent admonitions on this forum to pick one tuning and learn it well. I’m looking to be able to play country, blues, pop, rock, rockabilly, - in fact pretty much anything and everything.
As a guitar player, I find the open E tuning fairly natural, and I like having the root on the top and bottom strings - on the other hand I love the country/western swing 6th sound.
I've tried all the variations, 3rd on top, 5th on top, etc.

The tuning I’ve come up with is (as scale steps) low to high -
1 3 5 6 1 3 5 1 ; in G that would be G B D E G B D G.
The actual key would probably depend on string gauge availability and scale length, somewhere between E and G. I tend not to use open strings much, and I think in numbers rather than chord names anyway - once I’ve got in mind which fret the 1 chord of a song is on, everything else relates to that.

This gives the following tuning ‘types’ (in terms of intervals):
“Open E/David Lindley” type tuning on strings 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Standard dobro tuning on strings 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2.
“C6/Don Helms type” tuning on strings 8 through 3 - albeit a fifth (plus?) lower.
“A6/Herb Remington type” tuning on 8 through 2.
“Shot Jackson” tuning on all but the 5th string.

It then occurred to me that tuning the 5th string up a semitone would give a 7th chord - at which point I realized what I’m sure many of you realized waaayy back - that with that one semitone change, this is (the same intervals as)the standard 8-string E7 tuning... But in all the tuning threads here, I’ve never seen anyone suggest the 6th version. Nor have I ever seen it mentioned on any of the various sites that list tunings (Brad’s, Scotty’s, etc.)
I haven’t yet got an 8-string guitar, so I’ve got the top 6 on one guitar, and the bottom 6 on another (acoustic). Sounds OK to me...
Just taking the comparison with the A6 tuning, the root on top seems more useful than an extra 6th on the bottom.
I realize that the 6th note is down fairly low at this point to get the real “Hank Williams sound”, but the notes are there. Maybe the “6th sounds” are going to be too muddy, in a band context?
I'd be interested in any comments, whether anyone else has used it, etc…
Thanks for reading this far!
Nick

[This message was edited by nick allen on 03 April 2001 at 04:15 AM.]

Chris Walke · From: St Charles, IL

I THINK that would be a cool tuning for an 8-string dobro. Kind of traditional open G/G6. Very interesting.

Now, if I only had an 8-string dobro...

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I too would like to develop a non-pedal tuning I felt comfortable playing anything and everything on.Since I get around OK on C6 and it was developed for non-pedal in the first place,it seems like a great core tuning to add to.The typical addendums to the C6th tuning would be: a middle D on top(Buddy Emmons)a C# on the bottom(Jerry Byrd)a Bb on the bottom(Junior Brown by way of Jules Ah See)and I really liked Joaquin's middle B on the bottom although I would probably put it on top.So I would end up with(hi to low)B,D,G,E,C,A,G,E,C#,Bb. Of course that's 10 strings but that's what it would take.If I had 12 strings,I would add a low C next to the C# and either a low A as last string or a middle F# placed in either the 1st or 2nd string position.With a tuning like this,you could play anything and your core C6 would be intact.To consider a tuning "universal" I would have to be able to get major,minor,augmented,diminished and lots of extensions,inversions and altered chords and without pedals,this means more strings. With only 6 or 8 strings,I would stick to tried and true tunings and get into the fine art of slanting or possibly try a Leavitt tuning. -MJ-

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

I'm using an 8-string G6 on my acoustic, and on the bottom neck of my D8. Same as yours, except I tune the top string to e, so it's
GBdegbd'e'. If you get into string bending, there's a lot of chords there. The easiest thing is to yank either e up to an f, but you can pull either g up to a g#, or the b to a c, and so on. You can also use most of the dobro slants plus a few others. A very flexible tuning for me.

I'm used to open G and haven't worked much with tonic-on-top tunings. If you're used to open E or D, your tuning might feel more natural. I can think of mine as a combination of open G and standard guitar tuning, the two I can still "think in" best. Having the fifth and sixth on top is very nice for melodies, and strings 6543, or 65432, work for the things I've learned in C6 tunings.

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

Nick,
I would urge you to look closely at Tommy Morrell's E13 tuning -- I think it works best with 10 strings but the 8 string tuning is very useful and it meets most of your criteria. Morrell makes it TALK -- in a variety of languages.

8 String version (a la Leon McAuliffe)
E G# D F# G# B C# E

One 10 String variation
E D E F# G# B C# E F# G#
(I believe that's the version Morrell uses)

If what you mean by universal is that it gets the two major tuning categories: 9th and 6th, this one fills the bill in my book.

For what it's worth.

LTB

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 04 April 2001 at 04:59 PM.]

nick allen · From: France

I appreciate the comments/suggestions. I recognise the potential in the Morrell tuning, and in what Michael J. suggests, but in all honesty, this is going too far (for me!) in the direction of ultra-complex chords/tunings.

In fact, my concept of "universal" was, given that 6th tunings or straight major chords seem to be the most widely used and recommended, to get all of them in one.

Or to put it another way – if you're going to have a 6th tuning (notes 1, 3, 5 and 6 of the scale), what's the best way to arrange them?
(I guess it's one of those "to each his own" things

)

Nick

Chris Corrigan – thanks for your e-mail – I've tried to reply, but keep getting "unable to deliver" messages - ???

[This message was edited by nick allen on 05 April 2001 at 09:06 AM.]

[This message was edited by nick allen on 05 April 2001 at 09:07 AM.]

Forum Index > Steel Without Pedals		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: