The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I live near Liverpool, UK.
I currently play an acoustic 6 string lap guitar and I'm contemplating buying an electric model but what are the advantages/disadvantages between playing a 6 or 8 string lap steel?

A 6 string is smaller and lighter. That's the only advantage I can see.

8 strings gives you more range and versatility. for decades I couldn't even play a 6 string because I couldn't decide on a tuning. I always wanted "more".

These days I think I could be happy with 7 strings (B E F# G# B C# E), but I still feel all boxed in on a 6 string lap steel.

gimme one of each at least.

With a six you could likely get an instrument with familiar string spacing and scale, and use a familiar tuning. An eight is going to something quite different.

8 string without a doubt gives you a LOT more possibilities, as for tuning, the "E 13th" with an 'E' first string relates readily to standard guitar positions.
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I'm the exact opposite of Bob. I have owned an eight string for forty years and no matter how I tune the thing I just can't get past six strings. I think a lot of it has to do with the type of mucic you want to play. I play old Country, Blues, and a little bit of whatever so six strings are fine for me. Also I don't try to emulate anyone in particular and that makes a difference in your choice of six or more.

I find that I play differently with 8 strings than I do with 6. I can play 8 faster but for raw power a 6 string is best. If I do a lot of chording, I use the 8.

Alot of people start out on six. Then when they reach the limits of six, they move to eight. That's what I have done. I see an advantage in it for me. I still use some tricks I had to use with the 6 string instrument that I might not have found if I had started right out on 8. But at this point I would not go back to 6.

I can get along just fine with a 6 stringer if I'm tuned to a straight major tuning but when I go to a 6th tuning, I'd be lost without 8 strings.

I wouldn't buy an instrument with fewer than 8 strings.

It really depends on what type of music you want to play. If it's traditional rock, blues, folk, etc, many players use a 6 string for that. Like David Lindley for example. Simple open tunings work well with 6 strings.

It you want to play jazz, swing, Hawaiian, or county pedal type sound, etc., most all use an 8 string.

At least that's how I see it.

After going through several beautiful GeorgeBoards 8-string steels I gave up and settled with 6. I'm not sure why, but having to fight the limitations of the 6-string seems to bring out the best in me.

Steinar

You're right, Mr. Lynch. There are very few exceptions to your rule. I know of only one rocker who uses an 8 string. He plays a Chandler Studio 8. It's not his main instrument. I can't remember his name or who he plays for*. But they're very well known. Players of other genres who use 6 strings are more numerous. They TEND to be older. But there are a few exceptions.


*It's Joe Perry of Aerosmith

Just buy an 8 string guitar and start out with 6 strings on it and add strings as you progress.

Roger Shackelton wrote:Just buy an 8 string guitar and start out with 6 strings on it and add strings as you progress.

Roger, I'm not sure I like the word progress. It implies that a six string is some sort of a beginner instrument.!!
But you caught me before my third cup of coffee and I'm a bit edgy!

EDWARD - Your are correct, there are always exceptions.

One fact that may of note to some. I like larger spacing on my 6 strings. At least as much as a 1930's - 40's Ric lap steel ( a full 7/16 at bridge and 3/8 at nut). The 8 string instruments I've either owned or played have narrow spacing and for me, I am not comfortable with it. Especially since I like to play my Lazy River Weiss at times which has traditional spacing much like the Ric.

A lot depends on the tuning you're going to use. You can have six or even five strings cover the same range as eight strings. Look at the mandolin. It only has four pairs of strings, but it covers as great a range as if it had six strings tuned like a guitar.

I have a 10-string (5 double-string) guitar that I built which is tuned E A E A E. The first and fifth strings are tuned the same as the first and sixth strings of a regular guitar.

It's okay to play the blues in open E or open A tuning on a 6-string instrument, and you will be able to accomplish all the riffs the best slide players have played over the years, but if you wanted to tune to C6, for instance, and you only have 6 strings, you start reaching for the missing strings.

I think it works both ways, Charles. For me the 6 string instrument was for learning the basics. Because of my STYLE OF PLAY, an 8 stringer suits me better in the long run. I'm having a devil of a time getting used to the narrower string spacing. But I'm finding that that even has both advantqages and disadvantages. For other styles of play, such as rock and some others that were mentioned, the extra two strings don't seem to make any difference. They may even be a detriment. And the wider string spacing may also be advantageous to those styles. I think the fact that top players in various styles have such a strong tendency to use a particular number of strings for a particular style tells the whole story.

I don't know, I've heard some beautiful harmonized Hawaiian and C&W played on 6-string lap steels, so I just don't buy the argument that they're only good for blues and rock 'slide' playing.

Now if you're used to playing an 8-string that's another matter, I can understand going back to 6-string might feel like a pianist cutting off a couple of fingers..

Steinar

It's not a matter of being used to a particular configuration. I played six-stringed lap steels for about 40 years before I went pedal and switched to 10-string. I still have several six-stringed instruments, also 8, 10 and 12. I too find the narrowness of the fingerboard on pedal steels a problem. I have big fingers and I have difficulty hitting the right strings sometimes when they're so close together. I have the same problem with a regular guitar: I prefer the wide spacing of a classical fingerboard. That's why when I build 8-string lap steels I keep the same string spacing as on 6-string and make the fingerboard wider.

Steinar Gregertsen wrote:...I've heard some beautiful harmonized Hawaiian and C&W played on 6-string lap steels...

There are great steel guitarists out there who can make beautiful music on 3 strings if they have to...

Steinar, I was talking about strong tendencies, not absolute preferences. I agree with your observation. In a previous post, I mentioned that there were some notable exceptions to the, "rules."

has anyone thought of just taking the middle ground & go with a 7 string?

Jerry Byrd made his whole historic career on a 6 string.
Later moved to a 7, then retired with a dbl. 8.

Byrd's "favorite student", Bobby Ingano, makes his magic on a 7 string.

It's not how many strings you play, what kind of tuning you play, or what kind of guitar you play, it's how you play them.

I have a couple of Gibson Console Grandes.
One is a D-8 but the other one has a 7 string neck and an 8 string neck.

I also have a 1937 Gibson lap steel that has 7 strings. However, the 7th string isn't the low string it is set up to be tuned to a highter tone.