What tunings to use on religious songs

norm mcdaniel · From: waco tx

Hi Fellow forumites. Ive followed the forum for years but until lately ive started reading the no peddlers section. I like it a lot.

What Id like to know if there a few that play in Church on Sunday morning? Also do you use a standard tuning for most of the songs you play or change around. Im thinking mostly of C6th or some other tuning. We do a lot of hymns from the hymnal and some of the newer things. Most of the older songs I know but I need help with the questions above.

Thanks in advance for any help you may give. It will sure help Im sure.
Norm Mcdaniel
Waco Texas

Sierra U-12 Desert Rose SD-10 and several home made non pedal steels. All Peavey amps

Ron Victoria · From: New Jersey, USA

Funny that you should post this, I just auditioned last week at my catholic church for the music director. Most of the songs they do were difficult for me as the chord changes were non stop. Also, I was playing cold. He pulled one out of his book called Song of the Body of Christ which has hawaiian roots. It was only 3 chords and perfect for steel guitar. I also did On Eagle's Wings which I had practiced beforehand. I must say the guitar sounded awesome in the cathedral. The director is very conservative and I doubt he will get back to me. I use open E tuning on the single neck. Check this link what others had to say on this subject.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=126389&highlight=church

Good luck and welcom the the SGF.

ron

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

I don't play in church, but I have tried to do so in the past. I don't feel that I do the music justice. C6th tuning should be a fine tuning for this type of playing. There are a number of fine sacred steel players who use variations on the open E tuning. As long as you can play the melody, you should be fine.
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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Norm,
I see by your list of equipment that you play pedal steel. I have over 400 gospel songs tabbed out for the E9th pedal tuning if you would be interested. Very Happy

Robert Murphy · From: West Virginia

I play at Mass every Sunday and do backup and fills behind the choir. I started with A major on my Oahu with acoustic pickup but that didn't cover the minor changes so I upped it to A6. Then came the Dobro in G with an added E forth string. Now I have an 8 string G6 and I can do anything I need to do. Last week was my first solo and I didn't embarrass myself. Our group has been together for decades and I am new so I know how fast the chord changes can come. I have found that most of our music relies on 1,4 &5 plus all the relative minors so on Dobro 8 string they are right under each other like C6.

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Dom Franco · From: Beaverton, OR, 97007

I play A6th low to hi: C# E F# A C# E I play often at church to contemporary worship songs and Hymns.
Any 6th tuning will work because you have major and minor chords easily available.

A6th is my favorite because the notes are almost identical to the lower strings on a pedal steel E9th with the A+B pedals down. This makes it easy for me to play either instrument and sometimes both on any song. Smile

If you want some background tracks for Gospel, Hymns and Worship songs email me. I have a bunch that I recorded in my home studio. MP3's are free, CD's are just a few bucks for shipping.
Razz

Thanks
Dom

norm mcdaniel · From: waco tx

Thanks again guys-I appreciate all the input. I play pedal steel every Sunday in Church but playing the lap steel is new to me. I just needed a base to start with.

Norm in Waco

Tony Dingus · From: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA

I'm hoping to get a 8 string lap soon that I'll tune to C6 with a D for the first string and I'm going to think C9 (E9 with the A pedal down). Most of the songs we're doing right I play dobro so, I don't take my pedal steel for 1 or 2 songs. I play with my family at different churchs. We're southern, country, bluegrass gospel.

Tony

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I'd have Jerry Byrd's C6/A7 or C13 which is C6 with a low 7 like Junior Brown - you need 8 strings for that one tho. You can get triads,6ths,7ths,minor 7ths,and a lot of other fragments of chords like maj7ths sus4s,+9s,etc and it's not that far away from a standard C6 as far as melody and scales. The same tunings in A are a little fuller and I would recommend them in either key for any kind of music.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I dunno, I find the whole question kind of perplexing. It's not the music that makes a song 'religious'; it's the words. So if you changed the words, would you need to change your tuning? Pick a tuning based on the style of the music, not whether its secular or religious. (But maybe that's just me...? Confused

)

norm mcdaniel · From: waco tx

Jim, I guess what Im thinking was what tuning to start trying to learn on and stick with it. Im new to np steel. I play my Sierra U-12 now every Sunday and I want to try something new.

I guess thats just me, trying to figure out life.

Norm

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Norm,
I find that the tuning I use has a direct bearing on the key the song is written in. Before I started on the pedal steel, I played a T-8 Fender Stringmaster. I had an A tuning, a C6th tuning and a C#m7 tuning on the Stringmaster. Some songs just worked out better on one tuning than the others. I feel most comfortable when I can stay maybe between the 3rd and 12 fret when playing. And the different tunings allow you that luxury. Your mileage may vary. Very Happy

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