The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been playing a 6 string C6 tuning with the 3rd on top. I recently bought an electric 8 string while still wondering what to do with the extra two strings. I read every post I could on tunings from Joaquin Murphey's C6/A9 to b0b's C13 (he tunes it up two frets to D13). In the end the combinations I read about seemed to me to be pointing in the direction of combining the strongest points of C6 and Leavitt tunings. In fact b0b's C13 would have all the notes to do that if his 7th string was tuned up to C#. I intend to try the following tuning:
D-Bb-E-C-A-G-E-C#.
I'm wondering if any of you pros have tried this already and with what results. Does anyone have any suggestions for a different string order? I have kept the 5 C6 strings together to take full advantage of slant positions. But that spreads the Leavitt notes out pretty far.

The type of music you want to do would be more important here. If you want to play chordal arrangments of jazz and pop tunes then just extend the Leavitt tuning. No other tuning will give the incredible combinations of complex chords. If you need a big sixth chord then put an Eb on top of the Leavitt and there you have it G Bb C Eb. Leavitt is not really a "slant" tuning. You don't have to for the chords you can play.

What style are you wanting to play on the 8 string?

I can't imagine why you would want to limit yourself by not slanting.

Not limiting at all, as you can slant as much as you want if you like that technique, you just don't need to on this tuning. It is just full of non slant chords. I find myself only doing a few behind the bar pulls for some melody notes I might need.

What I've been playing is what most people would call traditional jazz. I also play alot of popular music from the jazz age. That Eb on top does the trick all right. I would then put a C on the Bottom below the C# and I would appear to be set. I am looking for more chord possibilities. I do intend to play some slants even with this tuning. I've already found a couple of good ones. At least one of them will be indispensible. I've been playing alot of single string stuff. I think that will also be enhanced with this tuning. Thank you so much. That's just what I needed. This forum is great, isn't it?

A total commercial for my stuff but, if you get my CD and TAB book you'll learn a lot of those cool Jazz chords you need.
Check out...
http://pedalsteelmusic.com/music/mikeihde.html
and...
http://members.core.com/~junod/musicmikeihde.html
click on the blue "A DIfferenet Slant" in the middle of the page.
You'll hear "Moonlight in Vermont"

Slants are great and part of the whole Lap Steel instrument, but if you can get great 3, 4 and 5 note voicings without a slant...what the heck.

'Leavitt is not really a "slant" tuning. You don't have to for the chords you can play.'

Bill and Mike, I agree absolutely that you don't HAVE to slant with the Leavitt, but why pass by the opportunity when the tuning presents so many possibilities? I've been playing the Leavitt tuning for more than a decade and find that I use slants more all the time. After all, even in the six-string version of the tuning, a simple three-string forward slant gives you a pair of augmented chords, a root position major and a dominant. Throw in all the many two-string and split slants the tuning allows and you can string together virtually any chord sequence without moving more than a few frets. To give just one example of how slanting opens up the tuning, with a straight bar you have a root position minor, but with three-string slants you can also slide up to a first inversion or down to a second.

As for extended versions of the tuning, I often have my 7-string Rickenbacher tuned to the standard Leavitt, but with an F on top (i.e. F-D-C-Bb-G-E-C#). That adds a root-position major, a sixth and (with a half-tone string pull on the 2nd string) the first five notes of a major scale (very cool effect!). A forward slant on the top three strings gives another root minor triad, and I can't even begin to list all the other voicings you find with the addition of just that one string.

More basically, sure, it's great to have a tuning that prevents one having to slant all the time, but surely the portamento effect of slanting is an essential part of the non-pedal steel sound, isn't it?

Slant all you want! No problem. I am just saying that Leavitt will let you play more intricate 2,3 and 4 voice chords without having to slant. That is one of the advantages and part of the genuis of what Wm. Leavitt came up with here. I do consider it a tuning that needs less or no slanting if you prefer. I have a 10 string guitar tuned extended Leavitt--I do virtualy no slants on it at all. Since I do a lot of playing on the Leavitt I am finding that my preference is behind the bar pulling. Maybe at some point I will find the need to develop more slanting technique.

The two handicaps I'm working with is that BOTH of my ring fingers are bent at the middle joint (old sports injuries). I have thought about string pulls and also a third finger pick. But I think especially the pick is just out of the question.
Mr. Idhe, I have your tab list and address. I'll be in touch. Thanks.

I must be searching incorrectly, but I cannot find this magical Leavitt tuning. Anyone care to share?

Thanks!!!

Google--Leavitt Tuning. Info comes back.

Search old Steel Forum archives. Info comes back.

The Leavitt tuning was developed by William Leavitt of the Berklee College of Music.

1. D
2. C
3. Bb
4. G
5. E
6. C#

This tuning gives you a C# diminished chord, a G minor chord, and a C major chord, among others. It's a very interesting tuning for jazzier tunes.

To anyone interested in finding out more about the Leavitt Tuning, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy of Moonlight in Vermont so you can check it out.

mihde@berklee.edu

Thanks for all the great info. I am off to Google right now. I have been using Reece's tuning on my 12 string, but this Leavitt tuning looks really tempting!

Well, getting back to the original post...I have played the tuning you listed and here are a couple of tips: D-B-E-C-A-G-E-C# is also a great way to go! It obviously combines Jerry Byrd's C6/A7 with a Maj7 and a 9th,which can also be used to achieve some beautiful pedal E9th scales;furthermore, for the more "country minded" players...you can substitute an "F" for the "E" (string 7) and move the "E" to the
bottom ( string 8 ). Now you have Jerry Byrd's "Diatonic" tuning, with some of the strings out of sequence...D-B-E-C-A-G-F-E. I use a 10-string variation of this..D-B-E-C-A-G-F-E-Eb-C; and sometimes I tune it down to: C#-A#-D#-B-G#-F#-E-D#-D-B (written and approached from an "E" tuning perspective, even though there is a complete B6 tuning contained therein).
The Leavitt tuning is also a great choice!
~~W.C.~~

What I've been playing is what most people would call traditional jazz. I also play alot of popular music from the jazz age. That Eb on top does the trick all right. I would then put a C on the Bottom below the C# and I would appear to be set. I am looking for more chord possibilities. I do intend to play some slants even with this tuning. I've already found a couple of good ones. At least one of them will be indispensible. I've been playing alot of single string stuff. I think that will also be enhanced with this tuning. Thank you so much. That's just what I needed. This forum is great, isn't it?

......amen brother....I love this place and all the good info available.......

Mr. Cox, the second string of my tuning would be Bb. I was trying to combinne C6 and Leavitt tunings. At this point I think I'm convinced that a Leavitt extension to Eb on the first string and C on the 8th is a better way to go.

Edward, the Leavitt extensions you suggest are fine and have been used by others. You might also search the archives and check out Don McClellan's tuning which combines the Leavitt pattern with a B6; just transpose or use as is. Happy picking!
~~W.C.~~

Here it is, Dom! Is that service or what??!!

Thanks
ED!

Dom

HERE IS THE PROBLEM: When I experiment with new tunings, I end up putting on different gage strings, and then shortly taking them off again. I hate wasting them, they are really almost new...$$$

But they have been cut or bent to a certain length, and really can't be used again except on the same or shorter length tuner shaft.

ANY IDEAS... Do you save old strings? mark the sleeves "used 032" etc?
If I was really rich I wouldn't care, but I work hard for a dollar, and I don't like throwing money away.

Thanks
Dom

BTW:
I have over a dozen guitars, 3 lapsteels, 1 pedal steel, two resonators, two violins, a mandolin, a bass and a Banjo... and Consequently I have a lot of strings!!!
keeping track is getting complicated.
I have full sets for all of the above, and lots of individual strings.

(I realize I am very blessed, and I am by no means complaining. I am thankful for all)

Just to add my small 2 pennies worth:
Great info on the Leavitt tuning--'hats off to all'of you knowlegable guys out there, and 'double hats' off to bOb for his wonderful site!

Mike

I roll my strings up rather than cutting them off. When I remove them, I put them in envelopes and write the guage on the envelope. You can use them more than one time for any lenght even with that little bend in them.