The Steel Guitar Forum

I just bought a new Morrell "Little Roy Wiggins" eight string Hawaiian lap steel and was wondering if anyone could give a total newbie any suggestions for tunings? All responses would be greatly appreciated.

E It is great for hawaiian music,
C also works great for other types of
A songs.
G
E
C
Bb
G

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P. Fawcett, Ca.

look in scottys or john elys web site for a long list of popular tunings.

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If you are a guitar player just starting on steel E7 is easy to relate to: EBG#EDBG#E...If you want to play Hawaiian...I use C13: ECAGECBbC...Bb gives easy 7th chords and the low C is nice..just my 2 cents,
Aloha,
Mike

David, there is a lot of instruction books, tab, and tapes available for the C6 tuning. That's the one that Porter laid out for you. You can order a lot of it through Scottie's, and Jerry Byrd has an awful lot of real nice arrangements tabbed out, that is available directley from Jerry. If you like country and Western Swing, Herb Remington has a lot available also. Herb's is arranged for the A6 tuning, but you can also play it on the C6 tuning. Hope this helps.

Jim

Just thought of something else. If your just starting out, Cindy Cashdollar has a couple of really good instruction tapes available, that come with tab also. They are in the C6 tuning, and are availble from several different sources. Homespun is one.

Jim

Here's a form of C6th tuning that I've been wanting to try once I get an 8-stringer.
G
E
C
A
G
E
C (C#)
G (A)

Dennis

I'm getting a lot of good melodies out of this tuning. It's a D13th with a high "chromatic" 9th:

E
F# (highest string)
D
B
A
F#
D
C

Lower it a step if you're more comfortable with a C tuning.

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Bobby Lee www.b0b.com/products
Sierra S-12 E9th 5p+6k, Fender Stringmaster D-8, Sierra S-8 Lap

Hi David:
If your interest is Hawaiian, C6th may be the way go. If you subcribe to Hawaiian Steel Guitar Assoc. Quarterly, as I did until it became too pricy (through no fault of theirs), you will notice that all, or at least most, of their tabs are C6th.
Aloha, Charlie
P.S. The other side of that is the guy who used to be the Canadian Director of the H.S.G.A has a single, a double, and a triple; and he doesn't use C6th on any of them.<p ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b">[This message was edited by Charlie Fullerton on 11-05-99]</FONT></P>

Hi David,

I just ordered the same guitar from Bobbe Seymour. Haven't gotten yet -- I'm fully expecting to love it, but how do you like yours?

Hi B0b,

Are you still using this d13 th for 8 strings. Can you post some scale and grips that are good for melodies please.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>If you are a guitar player just starting on steel E7 is easy to relate to: EBG#EDBG#E...If you want to play Hawaiian...I use C13: ECAGECBbC...Bb gives easy 7th chords and the low C is nice..just my 2 cents,
Aloha,
Mike</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That low C is really important, I think. When I first met Dick Sanft, he came over to my house, tried a few licks on my A6 neck, and asked if he could retune it. Then, he dropped that low string to a low C, and retuned it to C13 with a E on top. It made all the difference in tone for Hawaiian stuff, and I've used that ever since, though I prefer to get my 7th dominant chords with subs, and I like that A on string 7 for thicker minor 7th chords, so I often tune that Bb to A.

Aloha,
TJW

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Todd James Weger/RD/RTD
1956 Fender Stringmaster T-8 (C6, E13, B11); 1960 Fender Stringmaster D-8 (C6, E13); Melobar SLS lapsteel (open D); Chandler RH-4 Koa semi-hollow lapsteel (open G); Regal resonator (open D or G)

Wow - a 5-year-old topic!

I haven't played the D13 in the past year or two, but it's pretty straightforward. The middle 6 strings are just like the C6th lap steel, but raised one step for D6th.

Then I added the low b7 note, like on an E7th or E13th, but lowered a step for D13th.

The first string is a 9th tone, like the first string D of a modern C6th pedal steel, but raised a step for the D tuning.

The neat thing about D13th is that the timbre is close enough to C6th or E13th to pass for either. It's a great choice for old country and western music, where the players switch tunings a lot. The first string is really handy when I'm playing fast licks.

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<font size="1"><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra SD-12 (Ext E9), Williams D-12 Crossover, Sierra S-12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, C6, A6)</font>

<SMALL>Wow - a 5-year-old topic!</SMALL>

and....your 5 year old picture....


Porter was a good character also. Miss him & the slingshot dog....

Ok, back to tunings......

David .. one question firstly.. do you ALREADY play guitar ?
This would be VERY relevant to what tuning is reccomended..
Baz

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<SMALL>Steel players do it without fretting</SMALL>

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

I use the following tuning on one of my necks on my D8 Rickenbacker as mainly my main tuning. Top to bottom.
D
G
E
C
A
G
E
C

This is an all-too-obvious beginner question, but with all the different tunings...can you use the same tablature for all of them? Or how do you do this?

Leila, different tunings would require their own tab but C6 tab could be played on A6.

I see my old comments have been unearthed -- still valid, I guess. I would like to add that I am currently "foolin' around" with a six-string B-11th (two more strings would be nice). Lots of chords! For the first time (on a six) I can find thing like " Song of the Islands", even "Moonglow"; I would recommend it for a second or third neck -- of course I haven't used it for long!

Does anybody tune an 8 string lap with 2 chromatics on top?
F#
D#
G#
E
C#
B
G#
E

I'll bet one play some licks similar to the PSG - well....

I tune mine B*E*B*E*G#*B*C#*E. Got it from Darick Campbell, and it's a lot of fun! The other neck on my National D8 is A6 Herb Remington style.

I called this, 'Chuck Fisher's Weirdo Tuning'. And I thought it was until he showed me the versitility of this formulation. Now I pick up the Lap that's tuned to it all the time. To me it's just fun to play.

E
B
D
E
G# (Drop the G# to G for the minor)
B
C#
E

These are some interesting tunings but a nice simple tuning is GECAGECA. Works well with Hawaiiain and western swing also country especially old Hank Williams songs. I use regular E9 strings minus the two bottom ones.