Do you really need to have a double neck guitar

[James Cann]

double neck steels look cool...

I agree, but an SD- just oozes agenda!

[Alan Brookes]

No, you don't need a double-necked pedal steel guitar, you can make do with two single-necked pedal steels.

...but if I could only have one neck it would probably be the C6 one.

...then again, I'm not expecting anyone to pay me to play it.

[John McGlothlin]

I agree that most songs can be played on the E9th tunning but the number one reason that I love the C6th tuning is because of the heavy bass strings on it ...the universal tuning is a great idea but it cuts you short of that true swing and jazz sound...who in the right mind can listen to John Hughey or Curly Chalker and not want the C6th tuning...a pedal steel without the C6th neck is like a day without sunshine.

[John Floyd]

But I know Hank Corwin Doesn't, Hank is a Juliard Scholar and His Knowledge of Music runs very deep. Plays several instruments equally well as Steel Guitar. Hal Rugg was also a Juliard Student also. Is There a message here. Maybe its the player and not so much what he plays.

[b0b]

I always thought "Whiskey Bent" was played on E9th. There's nothing in the original that sounds like C6th to me.

I think I learned it note-for-note once upon a time.

[Frank Parish]

When I've heard this argument before either they didn't own a double neck guitar or didn't know how to play the one they have. Being probably the best example of playing strictly E9 I know that Lloyd Green did in fact own a D-10 and played the C6 on at least one of his early albums (Cool Steel Man and maybe more) but that doesn't make a precedent for everyone to change over to just one neck in this day and time. That was then but this is now! At the time of the "The Nashville Sound" that's all you needed was an E9 neck as it was a transitional period moving away from the old big bands of western swing for the most part. I'd say for about 25 to 30 years you could pretty much play most everything on the Top 40 radio with an E9 neck but that's changed a lot in the last 15 years. I wouldn't be without a D-10 regardless of what kind of gig I'm called to do.

[Andy Sandoval]

I consider myself a new student when it comes to E9 havin only been at it for a couple of years but I play a lot more on lap steel and dobro so for me it's great to be able to practice E9 and have the C6 neck to play all my lap stuff on when I want a break. I'm even startin to use the C6 pedals more now. Double neck! It's the only way to go!

[Stuart Legg]

b0b...

I always thought "Whiskey Bent" was played on E9th. There's nothing in the original that sounds like C6th to me.

I have no idea who did the original or what tunning was used. I was just trying to show an example of playing a C6 style on the E9 neck behind someone singing a 3 chord country song. I guess I should have listened, Bo told me it was a bad example.

[Bo Legg]

OK if you don't like my playing I'm packin up and out of here. Come on Stuart you can ride on the handle bars.

[chris ivey]

adriann legg has blown my mind many times...but that clip sounded like a tribute to sneaky pete.

[b0b]

I was just trying to show an example of playing a C6 style on the E9 neck behind someone singing a 3 chord country song.

The "6th style" of playing is a choice of notes, not a choice of tunings. From the 8th string on up, the C6th neck has the same notes as the E9th neck. The 5th and 6th pedals give you two different 9th chords on C6th. The first two pedals and the E lower lever give you two different 6th chords on E9th.

For me, the reason for a second neck has less to do with style and more to do with 1)tonality and 2)the mental models that I use when I play. Regarding tonality, I feel that certain frets just sound sweeter than others. As for the mental models, I find that some phrasings are just easier to play on one neck vs. the other.

Many people learned their jazz chords on the back neck, which is why it's considered to be the "jazz neck". If you listen to someone like Randy Beavers, you quickly realize that jazz chords on E9th are simply a matter of choosing the right notes. I learned my jazz chords on E9th and came to C6th much later in life. Whenever a song calls for jazz chords, I choose E9th because that's where I know those chords best.

[Scott Henderson]

I love that little switch that is on a Uni that turns it in to a B6th tuning...oh wait a minute all you do is lower the Es to Eb. hmmm that must mean the tunings are very similar. The bottom line is we all work very hard at our day jobs so we can afford to buy any kind of steel we want to play. So I guess if we want to play a D-10, a S-10,a uni, or one of Julians monstor 20 strings it's want we NEED because we deserve to play what ever day job mad money we can accumulate. Whiskey Bent was an E9 song I believe.

[Larry Strawn]

As badly as I play, and as little as I get to play any more I don't need a C6 or an E9th! But I'm gonna hang in there!

Larry

[Duane Brown]

We probably don't need two necks, maybe not pedals either, but it sure is a lot more fun to play what you hear with the correct set-up. I tried to learn Merle Haggard songs on a nonpedal 8 string supro in the 60's and got disgusted and quit because I couldn't get that Mooney lick without pedals. When I tried to play Night Life on e9 many years later I got that same helpless feeling. I learned C6 to play the correct voicing on my favorite style-Western Swing, but also learned that C6 is where it's at for rock, blues,funk,jazz and anything else you're brave enough to tackle.Listen to Paul Franklin with Dire Straits on utube-not exactlywestern Swing. Bob is right aboutRandy Beavers playing great C6 style on E9 but Randy told me he learns it on C6 first thentransfers to E9.He's a great player and super guy but that's too much work for me.

[Charles Davidson]

Would hate to not have my D-10,I consider the two necks to be TOOLS to use,Years ago when I played a little guitar,[very little]I played a double neck guitar,six string and twelve string,used different effects to get different sounds,all just tools to use.DYKBC.

[Duane Brown]

Charlie Davidson, You said it all!

[Roger Edgington]

I have played both necks on a D-10 for 40 years and I would not even think of playing a gig without both necks. I have played rock,blues,Hawaiian,top 40 country,pop and currently old country and western swing and always use both necks. It's just the way I feel it. I could play all night on a 8 string E-9 with no knee levers like the old days if I had to, but I enjoy both tunings with all the bells and whistles. Think music and quit worrying about tunings. Learn them all and enjoy them. We play a lot of C-6 here in Texas. I played about 50/50 on our CDs.

The late John Hughey was a master on E-9, but on the "Time Jumpers" cd it's mostly hot C-6. The double cd is excellent. It's nice to be able to play both tunings.

[Stuart Legg]

b0b...

The "6th style" of playing is a choice of notes, not a choice of tunings. For me, the reason for a second neck has less to do with style and more to do with 1)tonality and 2)the mental models that I use when I play

I’m sure our best effort on the E9 neck would fall way short of your tonality and ability on the C6 neck. Bo and I seem to us the term "C6 style" over simplified I realize, but broader meaning, which includes all the Intricacies there of, to which the tuning is the cause, not the effect. Perhaps you could elaborate further on your reference to mental models.

[b0b]

b0b...
Perhaps you could elaborate further on your reference to mental models.

What I mean is how you see, for example, a G7 chord or a D scale on one neck vs. the other in your minds eye. We all have different visualizations of each neck according to its copedent and the limits of our understanding. I call these things "mental models" - I don't know why.

[Brint Hannay]

A D-10 definitely looks more impressive with all those pedal rods--until somebody watches closely and asks, "How come you only use those two pedals on the end?" (I know this doesn't apply to everybody)....of course, then you explain "But I've got these levers I push with my knees, too" and they're doubly impressed...

[Earnest Bovine]

What I mean is how you see, for example, a G7 chord or a D scale on one neck vs. the other in your minds eye. We all have different visualizations of each neck according to its copedent and the limits of our understanding. I call these things "mental models" - I don't know why.

In my model, I visualize all possible notes including the pitches in between the notes. The task then becomes finding the good ones before it's too late.

[b0b]

In my model, I visualize all possible notes including the pitches in between the notes. The task then becomes finding the good ones before it's too late.

I think of that as the "piano" model, expanded to the pedal steel. On a piano, the position of each note is very clearly defined. You have expanded that model to encompass each string, pedal and lever of your pedal steel - a feat that many steel players find incredulous.

When you first told me, some time ago, that you know the name of every note you are playing at all times, I was blown away! I know that it's true, but I doubt that there are many other steel players who have mastered this mental model of the instrument. I imagine it's a very useful model for anyone who understands music well and needs to apply that knowledge to pedal steel.

[Scott Henderson]

I call it a grid but the same thought process.

[Stuart Legg]

I seems most of you agree
that you want two necks.
I guess I have to agree
good things come in twos.

[Joe Casey]

Probably if one really learns to master one neck then having two necks makes sense.