Big List of Eighty 8-String Tunings with Degrees

[Kyle Jester]

I spend more time building learning tools than practicing slant bar so this is a compilation of data and tools.
This forum seems to be more populated by older pros, but just in case someone finds any of this useful......

tl;dr update: All of the tools and ideas in this thread are freely available at this website I compiled them all into: SlantFinder.Pro

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CHORD/NAME    TUNING                    ALL DEGREES          UNIQUE DEGREES      NOTES 

A Diatonic    D F F♯ G♯ A B C♯ E       (4 ♭6 6 7 1 2 3 5)    (1 3 5 2 ♭6 6 7)    John Ely 

A♯6           A♯ D F G A♯ D F G        (1 3 5 6 1 3 5 6)    (1 3 5 6)            High 6th 

A♯6           G A♯ D F G A♯ D F        (6 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)            Western Swing 

A11           A A C♯ E G B D F♯        (1 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4 6)    (1 3 5 2 4 6 ♭7)    Hanawahine 1 

A11           A G C♯ E G B D F♯        (1 ♭7 3 5 ♭7 2 4 6)    (1 3 5 2 4 6 ♭7)   Hanawahine 2 

A6            A A C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E       (1 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)            Herb Remington 

A6            A C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E F♯      (1 3 5 6 1 3 5 6)    (1 3 5 6)    

A6            C A C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E       (♭3 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 ♭3 6)    

A6            E A C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E       (5 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)            Low E 

A6            F♯ A C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E      (6 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)            Leon McAuliffe 

A7            A C♯ E G A C♯ E G        (1 3 5 ♭7 1 3 5 ♭7)    (1 3 5 ♭7)          Low A 

A7            E G A C♯ E A C♯ E        (5 ♭7 1 3 5 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 ♭7)           Low E 

Amaj7+E9      G♯ B D F♯ A C♯ E G♯      (7 2 4 6 1 3 5 7)    (1 3 5 2 4 6 7)    

Amaj9/E6      A C♯ E G♯ B C♯ E G♯      (1 3 5 7 2 3 5 7)    (1 3 5 2 7)    

B11           A B C♯ D♯ F♯ A C♯ E      (♭7 1 2 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)      Frank Baum 

B11           B A B D♯ F♯ A C♯ E       (1 ♭7 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)      Henriques 

B11           B A C♯ D♯ F♯ A C♯ E      (1 ♭7 2 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)      Drop-string A6th 

B11           B F♯ B D♯ F♯ A C♯ E      (1 5 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)    

B11           F♯ A B D♯ F♯ A C♯ E      (5 ♭7 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)    

B6            B D♯ F♯ G♯ B D♯ F♯ G♯    (1 3 5 6 1 3 5 6)    (1 3 5 6)             High 6th 

B6            G♯ B D♯ F♯ G♯ B D♯ F♯    (6 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)             Western Swing 

C11           C G C E G A♯ D F         (1 5 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)    

C13           A♯ C E G A C E G         (♭7 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)         Junior Brown 

C13           C A♯ C E G A C E         (1 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)         Slim Yamaguchi 

C13           G A♯ C E G A C E         (5 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

C6            A C E G A C E G          (6 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)             Standard-8 

C6            G A C E G A C E          (5 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6)    

C6+A7         A C C♯ E G A C E         (6 1 ♭2 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭2 6)         Jerry Byrd 

C6+A7         B A C♯ E G A C E         (7 6 ♭2 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭2 6 7)       Joaquin - High E 

C6+A7         B C♯ E G A C E G         (7 ♭2 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 ♭2 6 7)       Joaquin - High G 

C6+A7         b A C♯ E G A C E         (7 6 ♭2 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭2 6 7)       (hi 8 str)

C6+D9         F♯ A C E G A C E         (♭5 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭5 6)         Joaquin Murphey 

C♯m11/F♯9     f♯ d♯ A♯ C♯ E  G♯ C♯ E   (4 2 6 1 ♭3 5 1 ♭3)   (1 ♭3 5 2 4 6)	  Joaquin Murphey's "C♯m"

D♯6           A♯ C D♯ G A♯ C D♯ G      (5 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6)             Low A♯ 

D11           D A D F♯ A C E G         (1 5 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4)    (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)    

D6            A B D F♯ A B D F♯        (5 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6)    

D6            F♯ A B D F♯ A B D        (3 5 6 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6)    

D9            D A C E F♯ A C E         (1 5 ♭7 2 3 5 ♭7 2)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)         John Ely 

D9            D F♯ A C E F♯ A D        (1 3 5 ♭7 2 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

D9            F♯ A C D F♯ A C E        (3 5 ♭7 1 3 5 ♭7 2)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

D9 (no root)  F♯ A C E F♯ A C E        (3 5 ♭7 2 3 5 ♭7 2)    (3 5 2 ♭7)           Drop-string C6th 

D9 (no root)  F♯ A C E G A C E         (3 5 ♭7 2 4 5 ♭7 2)    (3 5 2 4 ♭7)         Joaquin Murphey 

E13           B G♯ D E G♯ B C♯ E       (5 3 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

E13           D E F♯ G♯ B C♯ E G♯      (♭7 1 2 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)        High G♯ 

E13           E B D E F♯ G♯ C♯ E       (1 5 ♭7 1 2 3 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)        C♯min9 

E13           E B D E G♯ B C♯ E        (1 5 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)          Harry Brooker 

E13           E B D F♯ G♯ B C♯ E       (1 5 ♭7 2 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)        Western Swing 

E13           E D E G♯ B C♯ E G♯       (1 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)          Don Helms, Little Roy Wiggins 

E13           E G♯ B D E G♯ C♯ E       (1 3 5 ♭7 1 3 6 1)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

E13           E G♯ B D F♯ G♯ C♯ E      (1 3 5 ♭7 2 3 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)    

E13           E G♯ D F♯ G♯ B C♯ E      (1 3 ♭7 2 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)        Leon McAuliffe, Bobby Koefer 

E13           G♯ B D E G♯ B C♯ E       (3 5 ♭7 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)          Low G♯ 

E13/C♯♭7       E G♯ B D E G♯ C♯ E       (1 3 5 ♭7 1 3 6 1)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

E6            B C♯ E G♯ B C♯ E G♯       (5 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 6)    

E6            G♯ B C♯ E G♯ B C♯ E       (3 5 6 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6)    

E6/Amaj9      A C♯ E G♯ B C♯ E G♯       (4 6 1 3 5 6 1 3)    (1 3 5 4 6)    

E7            E B D E G♯ B E G♯        (1 5 ♭7 1 3 5 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭7)            Low E 

E7            E G♯ B D E G♯ B E        (1 3 5 ♭7 1 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 ♭7)            Hawaiian And Country 

E7            G♯ B D E G♯ B E G♯       (3 5 ♭7 1 3 5 1 3)    (1 3 5 ♭7)            Low-High G♯ 

E7+A6         E G♯ B D F♯ A C♯ E       (1 3 5 ♭7 2 4 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 4 6 ♭7)      Scott Martin 

E9            B G♯ D E F♯ G♯ B E       (5 3 ♭7 1 2 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

E9            E B D E F♯ G♯ B E        (1 5 ♭7 1 2 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

E9            E G♯ B D F♯ G♯ B E       (1 3 5 ♭7 2 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

E9            G♯ B D E F♯ G♯ B E       (3 5 ♭7 1 2 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 2 ♭7)    

Emaj13        E G♯ B D♯ F♯ B C♯ E      (1 3 5 7 2 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 7)    

F♯13          f♯ d♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E    (1 6 1 3 ♭7 2 5 ♭7)   (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7)        Herb Remington 

F♯9           G♯ C♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E    (2 5 1 3 ♭7 2 5 ♭7)   (1 3 5 2 ♭7)          Jerry Byrd 

F6            D F A C D F A C          (6 1 3 5 6 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6)    

F9            F C D♯ G F A D F         (1 5 ♭7 2 1 3 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 ♭7)        Kayton Roberts 

Fmaj9         F A C E G A C E          (1 3 5 7 2 3 5 7)    (1 3 5 2 7)    

G             D G B D G B D G          (5 1 3 5 1 3 5 1)    (1 3 5)    

G13           E G B D G B D F          (6 1 3 5 1 3 5 ♭7)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

G13           G B D E F B D E          (1 3 5 6 ♭7 3 5 6)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

G13           G B D E F G B D          (1 3 5 6 ♭7 1 3 5)    (1 3 5 6 ♭7)    

G13+9/11      E G B D F A C E          (6 1 3 5 ♭7 2 4 6)    (1 3 5 2 4 6 ♭7)    

G6            B D E G B D E G          (3 5 6 1 3 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 6)             High G 

G6            G B D E G B D E          (1 3 5 6 1 3 5 6)    (1 3 5 6)             High 6th 

GDobro/6      E G B D G B D G          (6 1 3 5 1 3 5 1)    (1 3 5 6)    

Gmaj13        G B D F♯ A D E G         (1 3 5 7 2 5 6 1)    (1 3 5 2 6 7)    

Gmaj7+C       C G E G B D E F♯         (4 1 6 1 3 5 6 7)    (1 3 5 4 6 7)         Dick Sanft 

 

[Kyle Jester]

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Jack's Gauges:

E       015
C#      018
C       018
B       018
A       022
G       024
F#      024
E       N30
D#      N34
D       N34
C#      N34
C       N34
Bb      N38
A       N38
G#      N56
Low C   C60
LowA    C65

From this post by Jack Byrd: https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/003330.html

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John's Gauges:

Pitch     Gauge Range     My Choice  Notes
A        .009  to .011	  .010	
G#/Ab    .010  to .011	  .011	
G        .011  to .012	  .012	
F#/Gb    .012  to .013	  .013	
F        .013  to .015	  .013	
E        .013  to .015	  .014      Guitar High E
D#/Eb    .014  to .016	  .015	
D        .015  to .017	  .016	
C#/Db    .016  to .018	  .017	
C        .016  to .018	  .017      Middle C
B        .017  to .019	  .018	
Bb/A#    .018  to .020	  .020	
A        .020* to .022*	 .021	
G#/Ab    .024* to .026*	 .024w	
G        .024* to .026*	 .024w	
F#/Gb    .024w to .026w	 .026w	
F        .026w to .030w	 .028w	
E        .028w to .032w	 .030w	
D#/Eb    .028w to .032w	 .032w	
D        .032w to .036w	 .034w     Guitar D String
C#/Db    .034w to .038w	 .036w	
C        .034w to .038w	 .036w	
B        .034w to .038w	 .038w	
Bb/A#    .034w to .038w	 .042w	
A        .040w to .044w	 .042w	
G#/Ab    .042w to .046w	 .046w	
G        .044w to .048w	 .048w	
F#/Gb    .048w to .052w	 .052w	
F        .052w to .056w	 .054w	
E        .054w to .058w	 .056w     Guitar Low E
D#/Eb    .056w to .060w	 .058w	
D        .060w to .064w	 .060w	
C#/Db    .060w to .068w	 .064w	
C        .064w to .068w	 .068w	
B        .064w to .068w	 .068w	
Bb/A#    .068w to .072w	 .072w	
A        .068w to .072w	 .072w

From this piece by John Ely: https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/learning/gauges.php


And finally, this was uploaded here to the forum by Bob Lee over 10 years ago:

[Kyle Jester]

I wanted to make a Fretboard that showed the degrees of other chords that I might be sliding by, so I have a spreadsheet too that I will probably share at some point.
This is a screenshot of 8-string A6 tuning F♯AC♯EF♯AC♯E showing the degrees of all the progression chords and highlighting the one chord.
All of this info is based on the KEY OF A. If you have a request of a tuning and key just holler and I'll grab a screenshot for you, it's all auto-generated in a spreadsheet.

This first one assumes the 2, 3, & 6 chords are minor and shows maj7 rather than dom7....




This one assumes all chords in the song are major and includes the dom7 rather than the maj7....

[Kyle Jester]

Sticking with the key of A for continuity.

[Kyle Jester]

Turns out that MXR 10-band EQ only has 6 useful faders for guitar/steel (approx 62.5 to 2k).
The highest 2 faders on that pedal (8k & 16k) don't even show up when mapped over a piano keyboard.

[Bill McCloskey]

Wow, tremendous amount of work and a great resource. I love my spreadsheets.

[Landon Jarrel]

Fantastic! Thanks a bunch!

[Tim Whitlock]

Terrific resource! Thanks for sharing!!

[Kyle Jester]

Thanks for chiming in guys, much appreciated. Everyone's so nice here and it's just a goldmine of stories and info, I'm happy to donate the time/tools.

This weekend's tool is a very minimal and quick-loading webpage that will auto-generate a copedent based on your choosing of any of the 80 tunings above.
It also displays the scale degrees based on whatever key you choose.
More options/features coming to that soon.
And just below that is the big list of tunings, sortable and filterable.

HERE'S THE LINK: https://kylejester.nfshost.com/steel

[Joe A. Roberts]

Good work! Some things I noticed:

This is listed twice:
F♯13 F♯ D♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E (1 6 1 3 ♭7 2 5 ♭7) (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7) Herb Remington
E13 f♯ d♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E (2 7 2 ♭5 1 3 6 1) (1 3 5 2 ♭5 6 ♭7) Herb Remington
and should be:
F#13 f♯ d♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E (1 6 1 3 ♭7 2 5 ♭7) (1 3 5 2 4 ♭7) Herb Remington

Also I continue to question the existence of this tuning as written. Are the string 8 and 7, G# and C#, respectively, low bass strings or re-entrant?
F♯9 G♯ C♯ F♯ A♯ E G♯ C♯ E (2 5 1 3 ♭7 2 5 ♭7) (1 3 5 2 ♭7) Jerry Byrd

A copedent is a diagram that shows what the pedals and knee levers do on a pedal steel. What you are calling copedents are more of a fretboard diagram.

How are the "Unique Degrees" ordered? Some seem to be ordered in line with their appearance from lowest string to highest string, then others are not.

Finally, while often disregarded by guitar players who come to the instrument, steel guitar tunings are traditionally written from the highest string to the lowest string.
This is undoubtedly the logical way to write tunings as why should one count DOWN from string 8? Why not call it string 1 then?
John Ely recognized this, and being sympathetic to both sides has a toggle has a button to toggle the string order displayed, to the users preference.

[Kyle Jester]

Hey thanks for the feedback.
Most of this data was sorted out with algorithms so I'm still cleaning it up by hand.
F#13 is fixed, the other deleted.
There may be another duplicate if it's a tuning know by 2 different names.
And thanks for the copedent definition, I'm so new to all this.

Looks like that F#9 tuning came from this page (not that it's correct): https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/tunings/master.php

Unique degrees are shown with 1 3 5 first, then any additions/extensions since nearly all have 1 3 5.

Interesting idea to switch the order of tunings. I went with lo to hi as that's how I've seen 90% of tunings. might add that today if it's easy enough.

EDIT/P.S.: I was able to add a checkbox to switch the order of the tuning and degrees for the tuning list, now to apply it to the dropdown fretboard part :]

[Mike Harris]

FWIW keyboard instruments and bowed strings instruments have gone low-to-high for centuries. Violin, viola, etc. list 4th string to 1st string.

[Kyle Jester]

Yeah just like guitar. I've been hearing "DADGAD" for my entire guitar playing career.
I do agree with Joe that it's confusing as hell to have strings numbered from high string to low string.
But I added an option to view the tuning list either way so all good for now.

[Landon Jarrel]

Regarding Joaquin Murphey's tunings, the C6maj7/A9 tuning he used beginning in 1953 was, at first "b C# E G A C E G" (7 b2 3 5 6 1 3 5) where the "b" string is pitched between the C and A (strings 3 and 4). As of now, there's a tuning which is this one but the "b" is capitalized which gives the impression of it being pitched below the low C#; I have never heard of him using it from recordings or otherwise.

Murphey used this re-entrant tuning too: "f# d# A# C# E G# C# E" which he called C#min and is technically either C#min11 or F#9. Strings 7 and 8 are the same pitches as what Remington used in the F#13 tuning discussed above.

Once Again, fantastic job on the site!

[Tony Oresteen]

Fantastic! This qualifies you for a PhD in Steel Tunings for sure!

Thank you for your research Doctor!

[Kyle Jester]

Over the last week I managed to get the most useful tools from above into a simple website using PHP.
It's got:

- The fretboard visualizer tool with customizable key/degrees and highlighting, and 80 tunings to choose from.
- The chord builder grid which displays degrees and notes based on chosen key mentioned above.
- The sortable/filterable list of tunings.
- All degree colors/highlights are consistent.
- There is an option to reverse how tunings are displayed (low to high-->high to low)
- hand-coded 1-page site, no database connections, no cookies, no newsletter signup requirement.

Probably going to add:

- Second fretboard under the first one where each string is customizable to create a tuning for comparisons against known tunings in the fretboard above.
- A tool that is like: The "♭3" of the "Ⅵ" chord is the ?? of the "Ⅱ" chord :: where the site calculates the ??

https://kylejester.nfshost.com/steel/

UPDATE: All of the tools and planned options mentioned
in this thread are now freely available and functional at this website: http://www.slantfinder.pro/
(hey, the URL was $3 so what the hell)
I still plan on leaving it completely FREE into the future for learners like myself,
if it gets decent/costly traffic I'll add a donation button or something.

Cheers, k