Tuning suggestions for double 6

Aaron Brown · Post by **Aaron Brown** » 28 Apr 2023 9:36 am

Hi, I've been playing an open D acoustic and a homemade lap steel 2x4 in C6 for 3-4 years now (guitar , bass for decades) . I just bought a double neck 6 string lap steel. Anyone got good suggestions for complementary tunings? one neck will likely be in A6 or C6.

Thank you! links to places in the forum are great, if thats convenient for you.

AEB

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 28 Apr 2023 9:38 am

What kind of music do you want to play?

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 28 Apr 2023 10:04 am

Put the same tuning on both necks and then pretend to jump back and forth. Impress the ladies. I think some of the guys who played quads did that.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 28 Apr 2023 10:08 am

Actually I'm only sort of partly kidding. Putting variations of a single tuning to give you more 6 string options is what I would do. People get slowed down trying to learn too many tunings well when they start. If you have a G tuning on one neck, put a G minor or a flat 7 on the bottom, or something to give you a more options for the limitations of a 6 string tuning. That way, all the chords remain in the same places.

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 28 Apr 2023 1:16 pm

What Bill said. And remember Jerry Byrd said "Learn one tuning thoroughly, before moving to another."

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 28 Apr 2023 10:46 pm

I’d keep one neck in the tuning you’re already familiar with, and the other in C6.

EDIT: Just noticed that you already play in C6!

Since C6 on six strings doesn’t have any bass notes, you might want to consider a low bass tuning on your second neck.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 29 Apr 2023 2:47 am

I'd put a 6th tuning on one neck (C6th, A6th or G6th) and a tuning that features rich dominant 7th voicing on the other - like B11th or D9th. Another way to go is a 6th tuning g one one neck and Open D or E on the other. The type of music you want o play can influence this choice.

Aaron Brown · Post by **Aaron Brown** » 29 Apr 2023 8:07 am

Hey Thanks everyone! As I said i was going to do C6 on one, I like the idea of a very similar tuning on the other. I kinda want to try to play over some Bossa Nova. So like m7?

Aaron Brown · Post by **Aaron Brown** » 29 Apr 2023 8:12 am

just found this, might be the way to go.
https://steelc6th.com/tunings/b11th.htm

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 30 Apr 2023 5:52 am

I think most steelers would have a C6th or other 6th tuning on one and a version of the E13th on the other, maybe?
I like A6th and E6/9th best, but I'm kind of weird and don't play all that well. A little below average I say.

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 30 Apr 2023 8:31 am

Andy Volk wrote:I'd put a 6th tuning on one neck (C6th, A6th or G6th) and a tuning that features rich dominant 7th voicing on the other - like B11th or D9th. Another way to go is a 6th tuning g one one neck and Open D or E on the other. The type of music you want o play can influence this choice.

9th tunings are fun alternatives to 6th tunings. Maybe D9;
D9 – A D F♯ A C E
D9 – D E F♯ A C E

Or E9;
E9 – D E F♯ G♯ B E

These provide nice low bass notes that you don’t have in C6, as well as major and minor triads and dominant 7 chords.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 30 Apr 2023 8:56 am

Aaron Brown wrote:Hey Thanks everyone! As I said i was going to do C6 on one, I like the idea of a very similar tuning on the other. I kinda want to try to play over some Bossa Nova. So like m7?

For all indents and porpoises, a 6th tuning and a minor 7th tuning are one and the same. C6 = Am7.

Aaron Brown · Post by **Aaron Brown** » 1 May 2023 3:51 am

Jack Hanson wrote:
Aaron Brown wrote:Hey Thanks everyone! As I said i was going to do C6 on one, I like the idea of a very similar tuning on the other. I kinda want to try to play over some Bossa Nova. So like m7?
For all indents and porpoises, a 6th tuning and a minor 7th tuning are one and the same. C6 = Am7.

Breaking News! I have no idea what I'm doing . Thank you Jack, i come here to learn

Aaron Brown · Post by **Aaron Brown** » 1 May 2023 4:03 am

Allan Revich wrote:
Andy Volk wrote:I'd put a 6th tuning on one neck (C6th, A6th or G6th) and a tuning that features rich dominant 7th voicing on the other - like B11th or D9th. Another way to go is a 6th tuning g one one neck and Open D or E on the other. The type of music you want o play can influence this choice.
9th tunings are fun alternatives to 6th tunings. Maybe D9;
D9 – A D F♯ A C E
D9 – D E F♯ A C E

Or E9;
E9 – D E F♯ G♯ B E

These provide nice low bass notes that you don’t have in C6, as well as major and minor triads and dominant 7 chords.

Hi Allan, so can i buy the same string set to have a C6 neck and a D9 neck? or B11 for that matter?
again , thank you all for the education

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 1 May 2023 10:35 am

You absolutely can tune C6 string sets...particularly 6 string...to D9 and B11. I'm a C6/B11 guy myself, when I have a doubleneck...saves you the trouble of retuning.

Well I should say...for the D9 tuning I was taught by Alan Akaka...its a "minimally altered" version that doesn't even have the root in the tuning.

C6 - C E G A C E
C13 - Bb E G A C E (bottom string flat whole step)
B11 - B D# F# A C# E (bottom three strings flat half step, second string sharp half step)
D9 - C E F# A C E (flat fourth string)
C6/A7 - C# E G A C E (sharp bottom string)
A6 - C# E F# A C# E (sharp 2nd/6th, flat 4th string)

On the D9 one as long as you feel confident your bottom string can go up to D you could do that as well. Nice thing about the above set of tunings, you're not going further than a half step with any tunings (other than the Bb for C13 but that is flatting the string, which isn't usually a problem).

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 1 May 2023 3:57 pm

Aaron Brown wrote:
Allan Revich wrote:
Andy Volk wrote:I'd put a 6th tuning on one neck (C6th, A6th or G6th) and a tuning that features rich dominant 7th voicing on the other - like B11th or D9th. Another way to go is a 6th tuning g one one neck and Open D or E on the other. The type of music you want o play can influence this choice.
9th tunings are fun alternatives to 6th tunings. Maybe D9;
D9 – A D F♯ A C E
D9 – D E F♯ A C E

Or E9;
E9 – D E F♯ G♯ B E

These provide nice low bass notes that you don’t have in C6, as well as major and minor triads and dominant 7 chords.
Hi Allan, so can i buy the same string set to have a C6 neck and a D9 neck? or B11 for that matter?
again , thank you all for the education

Aaron, it depends on which version of D9 you want to try. For a lower bass tuning you might need a heavier bottom string. I use John Ely’s string gauge guide to buy appropriate strings.
https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/graphics/ ... _chart.pdf
Lap steel guitars are pretty sturdy, so they will survive most mistakes… but eyes are hard to replace, so it’s wise not to push things too hard, too often

John Viterito · Post by **John Viterito** » 1 May 2023 7:39 pm

One could be some 6th, the other an open tuning of your choice (low or high bass).

David M Brown · Post by **David M Brown** » 2 May 2023 6:26 am

All great ideas....

For a double 6 I'd have the closer neck strung with a set of strings that could be tuned to C6, A6, C6/A7, the B-D-E-G#-B-E E7 and the variant B-D-E-G#-C#-E, etc.

The far neck would have a set of strings for open A low bass, open E, the E-B-E-G#-C#-E E6, and F#9 F#-A#-C#-E-G#-E, and even just guitar tuning aka Em11.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Tuning suggestions for double 6

Tuning suggestions for double 6

Edited April 30

Maybe?