Just got my 2nd Lap steel looking other tuning
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
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Just got my 2nd Lap steel looking other tuning
I use open G for my first lap. Would like to have a good tuning for southern rock/Americana maybe even a little southern blues.
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I assume 6 strings? Why not D tuning?
Check out my latest video: My Biggest Fears Learning Steel at 68: https://youtu.be/F601J515oGc
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How many strings?
You'll find many proponents of C6 tuning here. Or you can go with an open E or D, if you want something more, I don't know, straight up? I think you'll get a bigger change of flavor with C6. I've read many players here offering up C6 as a good blues tuning, in addition to being great for Hawaiian & western swing.
Like you, I settled on open G (low D in bass) for my main lap tuning.
You'll find many proponents of C6 tuning here. Or you can go with an open E or D, if you want something more, I don't know, straight up? I think you'll get a bigger change of flavor with C6. I've read many players here offering up C6 as a good blues tuning, in addition to being great for Hawaiian & western swing.
Like you, I settled on open G (low D in bass) for my main lap tuning.
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I think C6th is great all around. The open strings give you most of the notes in an A min pentatonic scale - essentially a blues scale. When played against a C root, the C6th notes give you a major pentatonic -- country and blues. Here's an example of blues using c6th: a little B min blues jam I put together against The Thrill is Gone backing track.
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/pla ... D=13857839
https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v4/pla ... D=13857839
If you want to play more “slide guitarishâ€, then yeah, open D or E. If you want to venture more into the steel guitar realm, then a C6, A6, E9 etc. is more in line. The steel gutar tunings have closer intervals, which, with enough practice, can make sounds available to you that you couldn’t get otherwise.
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- Stephen Cowell
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Open E (low bass) for Rawk!
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For what you want to play, southern rock and blues, D tuning is probably the best. Get a capo from Resophonic Outfitters and that D can become an E. Just going by what you say you want to play those are the best ones.
Kevin Maul: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Decophonic, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Webb, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing.