why C6??

Jimmy T. Vaughn · From: Porter, OK

Someone tell me why C6 is the most popular tuning for the 2nd neck,and why not B6. Sence it matches up with the E tunings, fretwise and that makes it easer to remember when crossing the necks. What am I missing here?
signed,I. Bsick

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

*

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 06 May 2002 at 09:06 AM.]

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

It's easier to spell

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

C6 is the older tuning, deriving from the era when standard guitar strings were all that were available. In that period of time the first string was inevitably E, and E7 (E B G# D B E) tuning and A major low bass (E C# A E A E) tuning were common.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

A major is probably the oldest of the tunings. As for B6, I too used that instead of C6 simply because it placed C on the first fret instead of open. "Steelin' the Blues" was played in the key of C instead of Db. (The average rhythm yokel around here could never figure out how to play Db!) But I changed many years ago to the A6/7 and E6/9 as these tunings got me away from the C6 sound which it seems everyone uses. There is life after C6 !

Dana Duplan · From: Ramona, CA

George:
Would you mind sharing a break down of the two tunings you mentioned? I'd like to give them a whirl. I've used similar tunings, but just the straight 6th or 13th versions. Thanks much!
DD

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

My A6/7 (in a sense, A13), Hi to Lo:
E C# A G F# E C# A
The E6/9 Hi to Lo
E C# B G# E F# B E
I find both are excellent for Hawaiian Music in particular. You will find all sorts of chordal possibilities with the A tuning (above) by using gap picking. I have used both of these tunings for years and whenever I drag out my triple neck, I put B11 on the far neck.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

C major is the obvious reference key for piano playing, and I would venture to guess that during the years of peak popularity for Hawaiian steel guitar, a parlor piano was a normal accessory in a well-dressed home. Having the family whanging away on the same tune in the same key on a Saturday night might have had a certain appeal in those pre-TV days. It's an evolutionary thing, just like the preponderance of guitar songs in E, A and G and the sax-written tunes in Bb.

Charles Beshears · From: Leesburg, AL, USA

c6th is the tuning i learn to play in
at age 12 (1949) I still prefer it even
on my pedal still. I use some open
string playing like Jerry's slippery elm
no one plays in the key of b to much,
drive a rythem man crazy.
Charles Beshears DW Rickenbacker

Charles Beshears · From: Leesburg, AL, USA

I forgot one thing. In my opinion (ha)
c6th has nothing to do with playing
in the e9th tuning. Two differant styles.
That's why u12 pickers must think one
tuning and not two...
my thinking. Charles Beshears

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Charles:
Where can you get one of those "pedal stills"? The way I play I think it would come in handy. To drown my sorrows! No, just kidding. Feeling a little crazy on this last day of 2001. My best to all you Forumites for the new year.
Erv

Tim Rowley · From: Pinconning, MI, USA

I'm gonna go along with George Keoki Lake and expand on his comments to say that C6th is more popular than B6th because many of the standard steel guitar instrumentals are in D, working off the second fret on C6th. Trying to play these tunes in the standard manner on B6th tuning puts them in Db (OK, C#). You can't find many other musicians who can play comfortably in Db because it's just an awkward key to play in on most any instrument due to lack of available open strings, too many black keys, weird fingering for horns, etc! Therefore steelers who play these tunes are gonna favor C6th tuning.

The reason I chimed in here is because I frequently play in the B6th mode of the E9th pedal steel tuning and have my knee levers set up to accommodate this. But when I want to play Remington Ride or Raisin' the Dickens it puts me at a terrific disadvantage to play them in D, and the band would be at a similar disadvantage trying to play them in Db (C#). The alternative would be to tune the E9th neck to F9th but the 3rd string breakage would probably become intolerable.

Seems to me that all we have to do to make the B6th tuning more popular is to invent a reliable and easily removable capo mechanism to use at the first fret! I can visualize such an item, made out of aluminum with a protective felt bottom, gauged rollers, and possibly thumbscrew-activated side clamps to hold the unit in position. It would sell for about $45.00 US and would solve the B6th dilemma. Or the other thing would be to build an E9th/B6th/C6th universal guitar with a special "pop-up" or cam-operated roller nut at the first fret position. But wait a minute, somebody has already invented an instrument to eliminate this problem. It's been around for many years now. It's called a doubleneck steel guitar with E9th tuning on the outside neck and C6th tuning on the inside neck.

That, IMHO, is the reason.

Happy New Year!
Tim R.

c c johnson · From: killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.

The original reason was an old saying,"If yor were east of the Mississippi you were in C6 due to Byrd and west of the Missippi you were in A6 due to Boggs,McCaulife, Remington,etc. of course through the years things change.

Charles Beshears · From: Leesburg, AL, USA

Hi Erv...Just a little humor from
a baaptist preacher stealer or stiller?
I spell like i pick?
But I Just love the c6th.
Charles Beshears

Fred Layman · From: Springfield, Missouri USA

Just a little more history here -- Alvino Rey in his 1937 book Modern Guitar Hawaiian Style indicated that the dominant tunings being used at that period were E or A-based tunings because players preferred the open tuning to be in a key which was rarely used (perhaps because of the tonal difference between an open string and a bar-fretted string), putting the keys most often used at fretted positions. He stated (p.70)that E7th was the most-used tuning at the time, followed by the A "high bass" tuning (low to high = A,C#,E,A,C#,E).

Interestingly, he lists no 6th tunings in the 18 six, seven and eight-string tunings then current; rather they are almost all E and A-based tunings, with E7 and A7 tunings listed in the seven and eight-string tunings.

He does list two C tunings -- C major and C7, suggesting that the C tunings were just beginning to emerge at that time. My own suspicion is that the C6 tuning evolved from the A minor tuning that he lists (low to high = A,C,E,A,C,E), which is also a C6th tuning.

In the Jerry Byrd fan club newsletter that circulated years ago, Jerry stated that all the Hawaiian players kept an E on the first string and tuned out to the E, A and C tunings from there. Somewhere along the line someone dropped the low A and added a G to the tuning (i.e., C,E,G,A,C,E low to high)and added a G to the first string when seven and eight-string guitars came along, for a complete C chord. FWIW.

[This message was edited by Fred Layman on 02 January 2002 at 08:34 PM.]

George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Actually, going back to the 1940 era, I recall the so-called C6 tuning (which was unknown by that name) as being the Am7 tuning. It was a fairly quick change from the then popular A7 tuning.

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