What's the best 6-strng tuning for rock?

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 30 Jan 2007 11:28 am

and why?

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 30 Jan 2007 11:35 am

Open E

(lo -> hi) E E E E E E

No, seriously (lo -> hi) E B E G# B E - very bluesy sounding. You can use a standard gauge set of guitar strings as well.

The first tuning would work too.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 30 Jan 2007 11:59 am

I'v stayed away from the "bluesy" tunings becuase I just don't want to sound bluesy. However, I've realized that a lot of the experimental rock that I have been enjoying is using pentatonic scales and avoiding the bluesy sound.

What tuning did David Gilmour use on the old Pink Floyd recordings. Anyone know what Friends of Dean Martinez uses?

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 30 Jan 2007 12:04 pm

Open E (or Open D) probably work well. I play in an Americana/Rock band and use Open G (I've been playing b@anjo for 30+ years, thought lap steel in G would be easy -- HA!). It's a different sound that E, but it works for us.

Peter

Edward Meisse · Post by **Edward Meisse** » 30 Jan 2007 12:16 pm

The tunings that have been suggested above are what is being used by rockers as far as I know. But I have heard rockers play single string. I've never heard any chords to speak of. I have found that C6 is extremely versatile. You can try it or A6 or E13. There is absolutely no reason I can think of that these wouldn't be just fine. They are extremely versatile and I would even say, universal tunings. The only thing I have so far found impossible is the banjo style licks done in D or G tuning in bluegrass settings. The advantage is that when, not if, you feel like branching out or expanding your horizons, you'll already be familiar with a tuning that wil do the job (unless you expand into bluegrass).

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 30 Jan 2007 12:33 pm

I've used open-D as my main tuning for some years now, and it's great for blues and rock. With some slanting it's really not that hard to imply 'other' chords by using 2 and 3 note harmonies - lots of stuff available there besides the majors and minors, but for the fat jazz harmonies you'll need something else...

Steinar

Papa Joe Pollick · Post by **Papa Joe Pollick** » 30 Jan 2007 12:37 pm

Here's some thing I used to do on lead guitar for blues or traditional R&R that worked pretty good for me.Just dropped the 4th string a 1/2 step for A9th.Then used my Bic lighter for slide.Haven't done that in a while.Steel guitar has spoiled me.

PJ

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 30 Jan 2007 12:52 pm

I like the idea of Gerald's open E tuning, and the convenience of using a standard guitar set for the strings.

On the other hand, there's Jerry Douglas, who in addition to his mastery of the dobro, is a very innovative lap steel player. His most recent album, "The Best Kept Secret," probably contains more lap steel mixed in with the dobro than anything he has ever done, and much of it is definitely in the rock style.

Though he occasionally will use a couple additional tunings for dobro (E, F), I'm about 90% sure that on lap steel he pretty much sticks with the two most popular tunings for dobro and weissenborn, Open G and Open D.

I think that on dobro, since he knows these tunings like the back of his hand, and plays things that most of us can only dream about-no, wait-I can't even dream about a lot of what he plays- why not just move the tunings over to the electric version?

Paul Osbty · Post by **Paul Osbty** » 30 Jan 2007 1:21 pm

I knew I had this on David Gilmour somewhere (a copy/paste):

His lap steels are Jedsen* made. Both are fit with EMG H pickups (which are EMG's S single coil pickup inside a humbucker cover). The lap steels are tuned EBEGBE (open E minor) for One of These Days, and the other is DGDGBE (basically open G) for Great Gig in the Sky and High Hopes. Notice that he leaves the high E tuned the same, so that he can do major and minor chords.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 30 Jan 2007 1:38 pm

Believe it or not, for certain types of Rock playing C6th works well. Pentatonic scales lay out nicely. On the other hand, the E (or D) tuning gives you that nice power chord in the bass.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 30 Jan 2007 3:33 pm

I use open E for the most part since I'm used to it from playing slide guitar, but lately I've been using C6 with a band that does Grateful Dead, CSN&Y and the like. I like the way scales and chords lay out in C6. It takes a while longer to get your brain wrapped around it coming from standard guitar, but it gives you a lot of options.

John Bushouse · Post by **John Bushouse** » 30 Jan 2007 4:06 pm

I think open E or D is an excellent "rock" tuning. When I hear lap or bottleneck guitar on songs, I hear chords all the time - particularly sliding into the IV chord. At least major triads, sometimes 4-6 note major chords. And there's nothing like the slide into the 12th fret B, then the 12 fret high E - surely a big rock slide cliche.

Fred · Post by **Fred** » 30 Jan 2007 6:17 pm

I've used this G6 tuning for rock and folk lo to hi
BDEGBD

This works well for songs in G, A, C, D and E which which covers most rock stuff I've played. Having the the E in there opens up a lot of possibilities.

If you pick the right string gauge you can drop the low B to G to get power chord sounds and alternating bass lines. You can also change to E7 pretty easily BDEG#BE to get the root on top and a more dominant sound.

Fred

Todd Weger · Post by **Todd Weger** » 30 Jan 2007 6:19 pm

I think any tuning with a ONE or FIVE on top works best for any type of rock style playing. Tunings with a 6 tone in them work, too, but you have to be careful to avoid that 6th tone at the right times, or else you end up souning Hawaiian or western swing (NOT that those are bad - only "bad" if that's not the style you're playing).

Open E or D give you that ONE on top, and for my money, are THE classic tunings for the rock style. Open G or A are also great, and give you the FIVE on top. Also cool, IMO.... The best part is, you can get most/all of these with the same set of strings, although you have to be creative with the bottom strings.

At least, this has been my experience. YMMV... OMG, I Looooooooooove lap steel...

Richard Sevigny · Post by **Richard Sevigny** » 30 Jan 2007 6:30 pm

Open D (like E but a step down) works well for Rock. It works well on tunes in E because you have all these "hammer on" notes that fit pentatonic.

C6 works well for folk or country rock.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 30 Jan 2007 11:25 pm

I totally agree about the D tuning hammer on thing!

As much of a 6th tuning freak as I am, I have to admit that the open E, D, and G (with D on the bottom) tunings really rock out on six string slide.

Tor Arve Baroy · Post by **Tor Arve Baroy** » 31 Jan 2007 2:52 am

I am very happy with standard GBDGBD tining for rock playing.
You have great power chords on (low-high) 1-3-4. Strings 3-4-5 are the same as standard guitar so it is easy to find well known guitar patterns in the tuning, and also, if you raise string 3 from a D to an E, you hav minor chords on 3-4-5, and major chords on 4-5-6, more complex chords are in my opinion better to stay away from because of the overdrive makes it to muddy. (usually play rock with overdrive/dist)

Ric Nelson · Post by **Ric Nelson** » 31 Jan 2007 3:49 am

E tuning works the best. Makes songs like Sleep Walk very, very easy to play and also, as noted above, gives a powerfull bass string. Many rock song use the cord Am which sound nice in this tunning, in fact all of the minors do playing the first and fourth stings together.

Top to bottom, for a 7-string it's E B G# E B G# E,
6-string E B G# E B E

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 31 Jan 2007 4:45 am

C6 works perfectly for rock for me - you've got both major and minor chords/triads available, and as Andy already pointed out, there are a few convenient positions/"pockets" for both minor and mjor pentatonics, and that's pretty much all you'll need...

Mark Vinbury · Post by **Mark Vinbury** » 31 Jan 2007 9:57 am

These clips by Joe DeFeo were done on C6th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V2NDUjYwI8

If I'm not mistaken ,this is in E tuning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KigjfZAF ... ed&search=

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 31 Jan 2007 10:58 am

What tuning did David Gilmour use on the old Pink Floyd recordings. Anyone know what Friends of Dean Martinez uses?

According to this fan site, David Gilmour uses E minor tuning currently.

1. E
2. B
3. G
4. E
5. B
6. E

He used to use this tuning:

1. E
2. B
3. E
4. D
5. G
6. D

Strangely enough, I couldn't find any information on which tunings Bill Elm of the Friends of Dean Martinez uses. Their site seems to be somewhat inactive, with the latest information being posted in 2005.

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 31 Jan 2007 11:18 am

About Bill Elm:

I don't know what tunings he uses, either, but I do know from seeing him live that he uses a doubleneck Fender Stringmaster, and he did switch between the two necks for various songs, so he definitely uses two different tunings.

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 31 Jan 2007 11:57 am

Rick Schmidt wrote: I have to admit that the open E, D, and G (with D on the bottom) tunings really rock out on six string slide.

Rick - I totally agree. I should amend my earlier post -- while I'm basically using open-G, I did a Keef thing and left out the low B. I also added a high C, so I can do pseudo-suspended chords (can be Stones-y or pedal steel-y) -- I originally did this so I could cop some Sonny Landreth licks (in my dreams...).

Having the G-D-G on the bottom gives a huge sound, especially when I'm comping rhythm:
(low to high) G-D-G-B-D-C

Peter

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What's the best 6-strng tuning for rock?

What's the best 6-strng tuning for rock?

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D, G, A or E

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