How about this tuning for an 8-string?

[Terje Larson]

Low to high: C# E G A C E G B

That covers a lot I think. I can play C, C6 (but that voicing will sound like Am, at least on it's own), Cmaj7, Am, Am7, Am9, A, A7, A9 and Em at the same fret.

Someone (who really knows) suggested a D on top. I can't see how a B is less useful. Being able to play a full major 7th chord must be nice. Not putting the extra notes in the bass makes sense to me now as I play the instrument. That's not where my ears tell my hands to go.

Keeping the C in the bottom makes little sense to me when C# gives me that full dominant chord (be it with the 3rd in the bass but still, not the strangest voicing for dominant chords anyway).

[Terje Larson]

Now I've spoken to the guy who suggested the D on top and finally understood that the pitch of this D is lower than the high E and G-strings to enable fast runs. Interesting, perhaps, I'll try it out.

[Chris Walke]

That's an interesting idea. I'm not so fond of switching my tunings - I have a hard enough time keeping track of G and C6, but this is compelling enough for me to retune my 8-string.

On paper, I like the B on top for that full maj7. But the D offers an Asus2 and a Csus2 or add9...

Let us know how the tuning is working for you, and I'll try to do the same.

Thanks for posting this tuning.

[Chris Walke]

hmmm...now I'm thinking about it, that B is gonna be pretty high and thin, so the D probably is the better option.

[Earnest Bovine]

That is Joachin Murphey's main tuning, and it is a great one. The only difference is that Joachin put the B on string 8, not string 1.

I've been using this tuning on Dobro, and I find that I usually tune the 1st string to D, not B. The B would be more useful for chords, but for melodic playing, I find D is more useful.

Also, instead of high G, I have a low A.

[Terje Larson]

OK, so the man who suggsted the D on top knew what he was saying. It makes no sense on paper, at least not to someone who has not played pedal-steel before, but in real life it's very practical and even a novice like me could hear and feel that right away. A lot of licks on any major chord will circle around the root, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 5th. Well, they're right there but also because they're not in that order it's easier to reach them for interesting rolls and runs (not that it's very impressive when I do it but still).

I just figured out how to play the chords to Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone with this tuning I have now (C# E G A C E G D) and I can easily copy Mike Bloomfield's roll on the G7 chord that is one of the clichés that make up the sound of that song, by just doing a roll on the top three strings. Didn't have to think, it just happened. The D stays on top. B would be very thin, I'm sure of it.

Who needs to play a maj7 chord anyway?

The C# in the bottom makes it easy to lay dominant 7th chords and the smart thing is this: I have a major chord with the 5th in the bass on strings 3, 4 and 6, a minor chord with the 5th in the bass on 4, 5 and 7 and finally a dominant 7th chord with the 3rd in the bass (which is OK for a dominant chord actually, not a bad voicing) on strings 5, 6 and 8.

The only drawback with the C# in the bottom is that the 8th string if played at the wrong time, or if you try to strum all 8 strings, it'll sound really out of tune. But since there is no end to how out of tune lapsteel can sound anyway, who cares?

[Fred Bova]

I have been playing around with this and really like it.

Low to High

B C D E G B D F#


The high F# eliminates a lot of Bar moves


Fred

[Edward Meisse]

Nobody ever seems interested in the fact that Mr. Murphey's tuning with the 20 gauge B string on the bottom of his C6/A7 tuning gives you a half diminished chord on the bottom 4 strings. It's the only tuning I know of that includes one.
Hold it! Someone else used to put an F# on the bottom of a C6. That did it too.

[George Piburn]

edit

[Drew Howard]

I gotta chime in on this one. I use A6 (lap) and G6 (dobro)and constantly retune the low string up or down depending on what I need. More and more I'm going with one tuning and re-tuning of a couple strings as described above is easy.
[tab]
E
C#
A
F#
E
C#
A
F#+G/----D
[/tab]




Heck, how many of you tune between from E6 to C6?
[tab]
E
C# - C
B -- A
G# - G
E
C# - C
B -- A
G#--- F
[/tab]

[Earnest Bovine]

Nobody ever seems interested in the fact that Mr. Murphey's tuning with the 20 gauge B string on the bottom of his C6/A7 tuning gives you a half diminished chord on the bottom 4 strings. It's the only tuning I know of that includes one.
Hold it! Someone else used to put an F# on the bottom of a C6. That did it too.

Every E9 tuning is a G# half diminished chord.

[Gerard Ventura]

I gotta chime in on this one. I use A6 (lap) and G6 (dobro)and constantly retune the low string up or down depending on what I need. More and more I'm going with one tuning and re-tuning of a couple strings as described above is easy.
[tab]
E
C#
A
F#
E
C#
A
F#+G/----D
[/tab

I've settled on this too, aka Remington A6

low to high with gauges
F#46 A42 C#36 E30 F#26 A22w C#17 E14