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Lap steels, resonators, multi-neck consoles and acoustic steel guitars

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John Schjolberg
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Joined: 11 Jan 2005 1:01 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

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Post by John Schjolberg »

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Last edited by John Schjolberg on 24 Sep 2009 10:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
John Dahms
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Post by John Dahms »

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.
Danny James
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Post by Danny James »

I play that tuning sometimes.

I still use it on some hawaiian & classic country songs.

I built a lapsteel guitar that I designed & built a changer into. It has four different tunings. The old hawaiian Amaj. low bass tuning you mention is one of them.

The other tunings are E,--A6th,--& C6th.
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George Keoki Lake
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Post by George Keoki Lake »

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/
John Schjolberg
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Location: Minnesota, USA

Post by John Schjolberg »

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Last edited by John Schjolberg on 27 Jan 2008 7:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Erv Niehaus
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Post by Erv Niehaus »

All my early Hawaiian music was written for the A, high bass tuning.
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George Keoki Lake
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Post by George Keoki Lake »

"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/
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