Tuning options

Tony Boadle · Post by **Tony Boadle** » 10 Jun 2016 10:35 am

I'm happy enough with my present E7th 8-string tuning....but if I fancied a change (I play mainly Country and a little Western Swing) then what's the best general purpose option? I'm along way from music shop,so changing a string set needs planning and research lol!
Greetings from Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland.

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 10 Jun 2016 11:09 am

Please spell out your current tuning bottom-to-top and maybe someone can come up with something for you that isn't too far off your current tuning.

Tony Boadle · Post by **Tony Boadle** » 10 Jun 2016 11:41 am

Good thinking! E G# B C# E G# B E
Over to you......

Tim Weaver · Post by **Tim Weaver** » 10 Jun 2016 12:04 pm

What octave is your low E at? The low E on a guitar, or the E at the 2nd fret on the D string of a guitar?
Or, another way to ask the question: what string gauges do you use?

I'm tuned in E too, and I start at the higher of the two E's. I use a 36w string gauge for my low E.
My highest string is a G# (11 gauge), and I can't imagine trying to tune even higher to the B and E! So, after I write that I imagine you must be at a lower octave to start out with.

Also, I think you've got an E6 tuning because of the C#. For a 7th you'd want a D in there instead. (But that's just the name, if you can play fine no big deal!)

I don't have much experience with other tunings, so take this with a grain of salt, but some of the more common 6th tunings would be close to what you have, and may only need to swap out 1 or 2 strings.

C6:
A C E G A C E G

A6:
F# A C# E F# A C# E

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 10 Jun 2016 3:02 pm

Tony Boadle wrote:Good thinking! E G# B C# E G# B E
Over to you......

As Tim said.....you have an E6 tuning, not E7, and that should be good for what you want to play.

One suggestion:

E9: lo-to-hi...E-G#-B-D-F#-G#-B-E....this is a fairly easy re-tune with lots of fun stuff in there.

Tony Boadle · Post by **Tony Boadle** » 10 Jun 2016 3:09 pm

Thinking back, I originally tuned the fifth string to D, then dropped it to C# after a while. My low E is 56 gauge BTW.

Norman Evans · Post by **Norman Evans** » 11 Jun 2016 4:39 am

I play the same E6 tuning you have on one neck. On the other neck I have a modified A6 tuning lo to hi A C# E F# A C# E F# This gives me the same string groups on strings 8 thru 2 as the E tuning with a 6Th note on string 1, which is very useful to me.The gauges I use are A 042, C# 36, E 030, F# 026, A 022, C# 018, E 014, F# 012.

Tony Boadle · Post by **Tony Boadle** » 11 Jun 2016 4:58 am

That modified A tuning looks like an interesting option......and thanks team for all your input!

Ron Simpson · Post by **Ron Simpson** » 11 Jun 2016 11:54 am

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix1 ... ings_1.jpg

Michael James · Post by **Michael James** » 13 Jun 2016 6:51 am

Here's the tuning I use. It has some benefits.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ight=cma11

Tony Boadle · Post by **Tony Boadle** » 14 Jun 2016 1:39 pm

Help! I'm away from home until tomorrow night, my i-phone is suddenly blocking outgoing emails.... could anyone take a minute to e-mail George Boards and pass on my apologies for not replying to his mails? Back online tomorrow night.
Many thanks, Tony Boadle, currently in the sticks outside Galway......