The Confusion Of Tuning a non-pedal Steel Guitar

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 1 Jan 2009 11:53 pm

I have my D8 tuned to C6th on the first neck and E13 on the second neck.

I will probably give Rick Alexander's tuning a bit of a run to see what I can do with it.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 2 Jan 2009 5:35 am

IF the proposed student has experience of "Regular Guitar" the tuning he/she can relate easiest to is an E variant.The C6th with the high G seems to defeat the purpose of having tunings with different chord inversions available on the top strings, the reason multiple tunings and multi-necked guitars evolved..

Knowledge of C6 with E on top, A6 with E on top and E6 or 13 with E on top are the tunings required to cover most material to its best possible advantage. That's how they started out, the C6th with the High G is just an A6 up 3 and the E13th with a high G# is just a C6 up 4.. these tunings are Localised whether you realise it or not, Mainly Western states. Generally in the rest of the world the Lap or Console steel tunings still retain the original E on top format. (With the exception of the Dutch players who developed D variants of the E6th.)

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 2 Jan 2009 9:05 am

My vote is A6 first choice, C6th second and open E 3rd choice.

I agree with Basilh fully. The "e" on top first string tunings are most practical and were the earliest.

Also when I took Steel lessons as a young boy,(1961)they were still the most common. We were taught several tunings. A, A6, and C6, all with the same string set, and all with high "e" first string.

Now it also seems to me that those lighter gauge strings .013 and smaller were non-existant or very rare at the time. I heard somewhere that early pedal guitar used (banjo) strings for the high G# note?

Dom

Gerard Ventura · Post by **Gerard Ventura** » 2 Jan 2009 9:15 am

Rick Alexander wrote:Les, these are the gauges I use for A6 tuning:
E .015
C# .018
A .022
F# .026
E .030
C# .034
A .042
F# .056
Lately I've been tuning the bottom string to G, which makes it an A13.

I started tuning the bottom string to low E, helps me cover blues riffs a little easier but plenty of 6ths still available.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 2 Jan 2009 9:33 am

I find it amusing that anyone considers the non-pedal steel to have tuning problems, when the pedal steel has all the same problem PLUS the pedals and knee levers.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 2 Jan 2009 11:42 am

That's true Allen; however, the E9th tuning in its self is basically the same on all pedal steel guitars. It's how the individual sets up the pedals and levers that adds, or changes, the standardized tuning of E9th.

I suppose if one looked at the non-pedal steel in the same manner, "bar slants" are basically the same as knee levers and pedals (to a lesser degree of course) in that they "add" notes to the open tuning. It's just that the bar can reach only so far to change measures.

My answer to this was a non-pedal D10. (As of late, I have also been testing the use of a leather sewing thimble on various fingers. I can use the thimble with my Stevens bar but not my chromed bullet bar.)