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Moderator: Brad Bechtel
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- Posts: 47
- Joined: 11 Jan 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Minnesota, USA
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- Joined: 14 Feb 2005 1:01 am
- Location: Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA
It is still a very popular tuning though not with contemporary steel players. It is probably the most used tuning by bottleneck players (tuned down 1 whole step to DGDGBD because scale lenth is longer and tension is greater with longer scale). Since I started with that tuning it has always been my point of reference. The intervals on the top 3 strings (1,3,5) are the same as high C6 or A6 so there is something in common there.
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- George Keoki Lake
- Posts: 3665
- Joined: 23 Nov 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Edmonton, AB., Canada
There are still many steelers who enjoy the A Major Tuning...however, most adjust to A6th. FYI: In the early days, (up to around 1942), if you popped into any music store seeking a folio method to learn the Hawaiian Steel Guitar, the ONLY tuning available was the A Major. Nick Manoloff, Kamiki, Wm. S Smith, et al were hot sellers. O'ahu and Bronson and others commenced publishing folios for C#m and E7th during the mid-forties. Today, it is next to impossible to find ANY instruction books in any tuning in any music store...(at least around here!)
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/
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- Location: Minnesota, USA
- Erv Niehaus
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- Location: Litchfield, MN, USA
- George Keoki Lake
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- Joined: 23 Nov 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Edmonton, AB., Canada
"So would you guess that most of the artists on those vintage Hawaiian steel masters CDs are using the low bass A tuning?"
Not necessarily. All depending upon the age of the original recording....ie, very old stuff recorded in the 1920 era, (usually 2 guitars), were probably in the A Major tuning. To my limited knowledge, (also feeble), Sol Ho'opi'i pioneered the C#m during the jazz era.
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/
Not necessarily. All depending upon the age of the original recording....ie, very old stuff recorded in the 1920 era, (usually 2 guitars), were probably in the A Major tuning. To my limited knowledge, (also feeble), Sol Ho'opi'i pioneered the C#m during the jazz era.
http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/