The Steel Guitar Forum

John Dahms · Post by **John Dahms** » 10 May 2007 6:26 am

It is still a very popular tuning though not with contemporary steel players. It is probably the most used tuning by bottleneck players (tuned down 1 whole step to DGDGBD because scale lenth is longer and tension is greater with longer scale). Since I started with that tuning it has always been my point of reference. The intervals on the top 3 strings (1,3,5) are the same as high C6 or A6 so there is something in common there.

Danny James · Post by **Danny James** » 10 May 2007 6:35 am

I play that tuning sometimes.

I still use it on some hawaiian & classic country songs.

I built a lapsteel guitar that I designed & built a changer into. It has four different tunings. The old hawaiian Amaj. low bass tuning you mention is one of them.

The other tunings are E,--A6th,--& C6th.

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 10 May 2007 8:47 pm

There are still many steelers who enjoy the A Major Tuning...however, most adjust to A6th. FYI: In the early days, (up to around 1942), if you popped into any music store seeking a folio method to learn the Hawaiian Steel Guitar, the ONLY tuning available was the A Major. Nick Manoloff, Kamiki, Wm. S Smith, et al were hot sellers. O'ahu and Bronson and others commenced publishing folios for C#m and E7th during the mid-forties. Today, it is next to impossible to find ANY instruction books in any tuning in any music store...(at least around here!)

http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/

John Schjolberg · Post by **John Schjolberg** » 11 May 2007 11:28 am

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 11 May 2007 1:47 pm

All my early Hawaiian music was written for the A, high bass tuning.

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 11 May 2007 6:15 pm

"So would you guess that most of the artists on those vintage Hawaiian steel masters CDs are using the low bass A tuning?"
Not necessarily. All depending upon the age of the original recording....ie, very old stuff recorded in the 1920 era, (usually 2 guitars), were probably in the A Major tuning. To my limited knowledge, (also feeble), Sol Ho'opi'i pioneered the C#m during the jazz era.

http://www3.telus.net/public/lake_r/