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[Derrell Reagan]

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[Douglas Schuch]

Derrell, E9 is, I think, primarily a pedal steel tuning. You own a non-pedal steel - you should re-post this in the non-pedal section. The guys there can help you a lot more with various tunings for your steel than I can!

[Derrell Reagan]

thanks Douglas i really appreciate your input Derrell

[Ricky Davis]

I find my E13 to be the best of all worlds.
1)G#
2)E
3)C#
4)B
5)G#
6)F#
7)E
8)D

[Mickey Adams]

Ricky is a rebel..

[Stefan Robertson]

E13 is was the impetus of E9 pedal steel moves.

E13 is what is best don't take my word for it.

Quote from Basil Henrique.

The reason different tunings evolved was to make more chords and harmonic possibilities available..
The A tuning and later the High Bass, had the fifth as the top note, the E7 had the root, then the C6 with the third on top. The development of the multi-necked guitar was directly because of the desire to have the three types of inversions available, and the standard initially was , A6 C6 and E13, on the three necks. The “Bread and Butter” tuning being the E13, with the A6 and C6 providing the other chordal possibilities, Retune the A6 to B11 and the C6 to D9 just by changing one note on each tuning. This of course led to the development of the Pedal guitar and the rest is history, BUT, the E13th was and still is, the most comprehensive of the vari- ants. One other comment I have, when Mike asks about the E9th tuning, this presents a problem because the common 10 string country pedal steel tuning called the E9th is NOT an E9th tuning. Neither for that mat- ter is the C6th a C6th tuning, related, YES, but neither are the chord they proport to be. Basil

[Fred Treece]

Basil’s got a good point. I’m just messing around with E13 and can already see some advantages.

I think the 10-string E9 tuning on PSG was called that because nobody could figure out what else to call it. And, C6 looks more like Fmajor9, but that’s still not accurate and it had to be called something.

[Chris Scruggs]

Fred, E9 and C6 are called what thy are called because originally they were just that. Later, after the two tunings had become fairly standard with the majority of players, extra notes were added and people just kept calling them that.

Jerry Byrd's original C6 from the late 30s was just a six string tuning:

E
C
A
G
E
C

When players started using it on eight string guitars, people did different things to fill in the low notes and by the time C6 with pedals caught on, players were using the low F string to get major 7 chords.

Bud Isaacs original pedal E9 tuning from 1953:

E
B....C# pedal one
G#...A
F#
D.....E
B.....C# pedal two
G#....A
E

The chromatic strings that make it a chord beyond just E9 were added in 1964.

Regarding what was the most standard back in the old days, in the county world I would say more players used A6 and E7 up until the late 40s. Only a handful of star players used E13 with a high G# string and many players moved to C6 due to the influence of Jerry Byrd. Of course by the mid fifties, most steel on hit records was incorporating pedal E9, with just a few stylistic hold-outs keeping with their older established styles.

[Fred Treece]

Thanks for the history course, Chris. Both Bud and Jerry kinda got it right, didn’t they? Safe to say E9 and C6 are more about reference rather than hard logic at this point. Just don’t get me started on labeling the high D# and F# strings “chromatics”.

btw—-I am a big fan of your music!

[Tom Snook]

Jerry Byrds E9 tuning high to low
E B G#F# E D G# B

[Stephen Abruzzo]

Kinda partial to....lo-to-hi...E-G#-B-D-F#-G#-B-E.

Got this from Mike Neer.

[Sam White]

HERE IS WHAT I HAVE ON MY DYNDA LAP LAP STEEL 8 STRING. I USE A C6 TUNING AND IT SOUNDS REAL GREAT. I ALSO HAVE A DOBRO AND IT IS TUNED THE SAME.HERE ARE THE TUNINGS G D C G D C TRY THIS.MY STRING GAGES ARE AS FOLLOWS .O11P 014P 017P O22W 030W 036W 042W O54W THESE ARE THE STRINGS I USEAND THEY ARE LIVE STEEL STRINGS AND I WILL NOT USE ANY BOYHER THEYARE HARD TO BREAK.THE P STANDS FOR PLAIN STRING AND W STANDS FOR WOUND STRINGS. I USE THESE STRINGS ON MY LAP STEEL MY DOBRO AND MY FESSENDEN S12 STRING PEDAL STEEL WITH 4 PEDLES AND 5 KNEE LEVERS.
SAM WHITE

[David M Brown]

hello .. I'm new here on the Forum..Originally born and raised in Miami Florida...I took Hawaii guitar lessons from Ernest Ka'ai studios when I was fourteen years old. That was a long time ago and today I am trying to catch up on a lap steel guitar.

Since you had Hawaiian lessons, may I suggest the Jules Ah See E13 tuning:

http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/tunings/se ... ?link=1019

Low to High:

E G# B D F# G# C# E

this gives lots of possibilities!

[Stefan Robertson]

HERE IS WHAT I HAVE ON MY DYNDA LAP LAP STEEL 8 STRING. I USE A C6 TUNING AND IT SOUNDS REAL GREAT. I ALSO HAVE A DOBRO AND IT IS TUNED THE SAME.HERE ARE THE TUNINGS G D C G D C TRY THIS.MY STRING GAGES ARE AS FOLLOWS .O11P 014P 017P O22W 030W 036W 042W O54W THESE ARE THE STRINGS I USEAND THEY ARE LIVE STEEL STRINGS AND I WILL NOT USE ANY BOYHER THEYARE HARD TO BREAK.THE P STANDS FOR PLAIN STRING AND W STANDS FOR WOUND STRINGS. I USE THESE STRINGS ON MY LAP STEEL MY DOBRO AND MY FESSENDEN S12 STRING PEDAL STEEL WITH 4 PEDLES AND 5 KNEE LEVERS.
SAM WHITE

Stop shouting. Capital letters means that. I'm sure its a mistake.

[James Kerr]

Plenty of opinions, plenty have a lot to say, none have offered to let you hear what they do with these magical tunings.
In my limited knowledge the big men of the past evolved tunings to find a particular signature sound that would get them work backing the Stars of the day, I won't name them all since you have your own favourites, but I still see posts here chasing the "Mooney" sound or the man who taught Chris Scruggs

What I would suggest is, instead of spending a lifetime trying to imitate that which has been done many times before, why not evolve your own style, your own sound, the Steel Guitar will not progress by looking behind us.

James.

[Stefan Robertson]

Plenty of opinions, plenty have a lot to say, none have offered to let you hear what they do with these magical tunings....

...
James.

All in good time James.