The Steel Guitar Forum

I remember many days of frustration and tears on C6. But, I kept working and it feels great now. It has logic that is very different from other tunings. I played a Funk-Jazz gig on Sat night and stayed on C6 all night. (Except two tunes)

i got my first D10 3 years ago
i knew nothin'bout C6
Thanx to BE C6 course and tabs i got straightened out
(i'm not dangerous)
now C6 is mostly what i feel comfortable with
and i prefer it to E9.
i dig figurin'out the similitudes between the 2 necks and i have found a few.
pedal 6 on C6 is like pedal B on E9
pedal 7 is like pedal A
on E9 1st fret w: lowered Es is a C6 chord
p5+6 : diminished chord like raised E to F on E9
C6 is 2 chords in 1 (like E9)
O fret C6 or Fmaj7(root on 9th string)and a Am too (P8)
7 fret G6 or Cmaj7 and a Em too
Gerald, Stick w: it and you'll see that you'll find the Gold in C6 too
oh yeah 2 Necks are better than 1
Merry Christmas

....So maybe the kinds of bands I play with have in some sense led me to spend more time on the E9 neck.....

Gerald, you may have found the secret! You can't effectively play C6 style while a band is playing E9 style backup....it doesn't work together! Learn to "feel" which style is appropriate on a song.

The "swing feel" of the material being played will usually automatically take you to either C6 or E9 style as is appropriate.
www.genejones.com

<SMALL>Sine qua non" is Latin for "without which there is nothing</SMALL>

and I always thought it was Flemish for "where did I put my shorts?

No wonder I could never get a part in Julius Ceaser....

Howard in a toga... ooh it's just to stange to imagine.

Does anyone have TRAP TRUELY'S webpage address.

He has a PDF file of most of the important C6 chords spelled out in ;
Chord name, fret to play at, Strings to play, Pedals and levers to use.

Just go down the list.

I have lost my copy, but it is printed out and plasticised.

This chart was the most important thing I every found for learing C6.

That and the Real Book of jazz tunes.

If you want to hear awesome C6 playing, listen to some of the tracks on Paul F's The Christmas Collection. Four tracks (if I counted right) are C6 only and 3 use both necks.

Of course, the entire album is excellent. I listen to it at least twice a year!

<font size=-2> no, I don't mean I only listen to it twice at Christmas time</font>


I'm listening to it as I type this ... Jingle Bells is playing ... I think there's smoke coming out of my CD player ... <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Don Walters on 23 December 2003 at 02:30 PM.]</p></FONT>

Don... I am glad you like it. The second solo on Jingle Bells and the fills on "Have Yourself A Merry Christmas" were played on C6th. "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", "Joy To The World", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", and "What Child Is This" are C6th only.....Thanks for listening....Paul

My pleasure, Paul. Say Hi to Randle for me when you see him. We don't see him back home here nowadays, he's doing so well & is so busy.

Now that were so close to the subject
Paul can i order your Christmas CD from yer site ?
B0b seems to be plumb out of 'em

Merry Christmas

I think you need to decide what kind of music you want to play first and foremost. That will dictate whether you need to learn both necks or not. I had a double neck to begin with because I thought you had to play both necks to be a real steel player. Then I went to a Universal for many years. Now, I am down to a 12 string extended E-9. I can do everything on it that I want to play. I have no interest in playing blues, swing, or jazz.
It has taken me 30 years to realize that all I need is the E-9th. It is enough of a challenge to keep me busy the rest of my life.

Yes, and I also have an instructional video that is not listed on the site.....Have a merry Christmas!!!

Paul

Thanx for your reply Paul
Yes i would like to order your Christmas album
edited: i found it on your site
is there anyway i can pay via Paypal rather than snail mail ?

Merry Christmas

------------------
Steel what?


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 27 December 2003 at 02:21 AM.]</p></FONT>

I play a D12.and on C6 the range of chords and scales is limitless.I also have an S12 that I would rather carry than the big one .I started really exploring E9 and its possibilities as an all-round tuning for stage work.I split lowering of the E's to two Knee levers.That opened up a whole different world on E9.Maj7+9 is now available and along with lowering the B's it increases the chord possibilities awhole lot so that one can sound a lot more " swingy".And that is just an extended E9 with 4+4.If you go a step further as Bob has and add more foot pedals,you end up with a tuning that has enough range to play any gig-that is unless you sit in with Paul.

I forgot to mention that I also lower the 9th a half tone to C# on RKL along with the top E.They don't interfere with each other and you end up with a 6th on the bottom for a partial E6 or scale.R

The link for Trap's C6 chord chart is found in this thread http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/001350.html

Happy Holidays,
Ken Prutzman<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ken Prutzman on 26 December 2003 at 01:26 PM.]</p></FONT>

C6 is no great mystery, but the steel guitar is and difficulty is learning to master both necks. In my opinion one needs to become accomplished on one neck at a time (but perhaps not everyone). When I first began playing steel guitar, over 50 years ago, there were no pedals and Jerry Byrd was my idol. Naturally I learned C6. My first pedal steel was a Fendr 400 with two extra pedals. I tune it to C6 and played country. I had no pedal set up from anyone so I set it up musically n turned out to be close to other setups with the exception of a couple of country pulls. First recording I made was for Jack Daniels of Highway 101 fame when he was a teenager in California. I played country licks on C6, which shows it can be done, but not preferred. My first double neck was a D12 MSA in about 1959 then I had a D12 MSA built for me in 1974. Basically what I am saying is I learned C6 first and then had to learn E9 when I bought my double neck, which means that either tuning can be mastered, but one at a time. I hope my rambling has been of use to someone and I basically just want anyone learning to know that each tuning has it's own signature and the Steel Guitar has unlimited possibilities. I have been playing over 50 years and still learn everytime I put my picks on.

Mastery takes decades... if ever.
Usefulness can take a year or less... for both necks.

By the logic above I should only be able to play one neck and the other would be useless to me. That seems quite illogical ~IMHO. Sorry Robbie.

I am no master, but BOTH necks are useful to me right now. And I intend to get better on both in parallel.

I wanted a C6 S-10 PSG, but danged if those C6's don't come with that E9 also.

Ken P. thanks for posting trap's site link.
The pdf file is free and REALLY can help make C6 usefull quickly.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 28 December 2003 at 06:18 AM.]</p></FONT>