The Steel Guitar Forum

Is there a particular tuning that is more suited for mostly straight bar playing while still getting lots of chord options?

Perhaps that is the purpose of the diatonic and/or Leavitt tunings? I've never tried either tuning.

My pick would be the C6th tuning.
I don't recall many slants while playing that tuning.

Jerry Byrd made an entire career out of the C6 and slanted the hell out of it. His left hand/slants were a/the major part of his playing.

You miss out on a ton of fun and music, Greg, by not slanting.
Is there a reason you seem reluctant to it? It ain't that hard.

But, Cindy Cashdollar has made her fine career out of 'running away from slants', so anything is possible. Here's her site, with many tunings she prefers - www.cindycashdollar.com

I am a little biased, but I would recommend you try the Leavitt tuning. The 6 string tuning D C Bb G E C# Hi to Lo gives a nice selection of 'big sounding' chords perfect for jazz and standards. Mike Ihde and Roy Thomson have instruction material available. Also Roy and Bill Hatcher have experimented with adding more strings to the tuning. I am currently using an expanded Leavitt tuning....adding a high F string and a Low A string to the original 6. I use this tuning on my Night Life video on YouTube.

And, best of all, No Slants Required!

Try it out, I bet you'll like it.
Therman

Yes, I believe one of the founding principles of the Leavitt tuning was to be able to play any chord without slanting.

Of course, I suppose you still could slant and then you'd have something else again...

C6/A7 gives a wide variety of "straight bar" chord options. You can get full major chords, minor chords, minor seventh chords, sixth chords and seventh chords all while keeping the bar straight.

E
C
A
G
E
C#

But as Ron said,Jerry Byrd (the father of C6 tuning)slanted almost every other chord he played on C6 to reach it's full potential.

Slanting is a fundamental part of steel guitar technique and SHOULD be mastered if you want to play your guitar to it's FULLEST potential. Even if you discovered/invented a "perfect" tuning for straight bar playing you would only be playing 1/3 of the tunings potential if you don't find the forward and reverse slant chord positions.

Think of it like playing a guitar with a capo and only ever using G, C and D chord shapes. While that works fine for some styles you are still only playing you guitar to a fraction of it's true potential. Not slanting on steel is like not playing barre chords on a standard guitar.

Even the most legendary of pedal pushers (Emmons, Day, Green) slanted on their pedal guitars.

Slant! Slant! Slant!

CS

I tend to use open E a lot of the time. Is it possible to use slants.My early days at guitar doing back up chords helps but hinders also. I am trying c6/am7 on my latest 8-string but its a task. No pain -no gain huh

I always thought slants were part of the fun of it all. Getting practice and experience in slants will make you a better player and build confidence. You may amaze yourself when you go for it

Gary,

There are many slant options for open E tuning. A few of which are:

1. Play strings 1 and 3 with a straight bar on the 5th fret. Slant forwards so that string 1 goes to the 7th fret and string 3 goes to the 6th fret. Then slant forwards again so string 1 goes to the 9th fret and string 3 goes to the 8th fret. This little run works well for walking into the next chord and can also be played backwards, starting up and moving down.

2. Play strings 2, 3 and 4 with a straight bar. Slant forwards so that string 2 moves up two frets, string 3 moves up one fret, and string 4 stays stationary. This gives the "E to A" sound commonly associated with E9 pedal steel.

3. Play strings 1, 2 and 3 with the bar straight. Back slant so that string 1 goes one fret flat, string 2 stays the same and string 3 goes one fret sharp. This will give you the change of a root chord to a five chord with a 7th in it. Once again, this is a move pedal players use commonly with the B pedal and a knee lever. This one is a little tricky at first, but with a 2 3/4" length bar it is very possible.

CS

CS is correct. I use open D. You can go right to the Weiss from the steel and feel comfortable in the same tuning too. If a person memorized every note, there are all kinds of possibilities. It amazes me to listen to each player using open D. They often sound very different in their styles and dynamics.

Each tuning may have some limitations and color your work different, but each tuning can be taken to it's extreme possibilities too. Creativity, time, your imagination, and talent can shuttle you thru the portal of infinite sounds.

If you'd like to avoid slants completely, I understand that some steel guitars have foot-levers, or 'pedals', that can be used to raise or lower the pitch of the strings.

(Sorry--I got tired of waiting for someone to go there, so I went there.)

Michael,
You hit the nail right on the head!

Hi Michael , I've heard something about those foot lever operated ( pedal ?? ) type steel guitars !! But don't they add a lot of weight and cost a lot of money ??? I kind of like the old easy to play, light weight , cheap lap steels from the 40s , slants and all !!! I can't change my old ways !!! Eddie "C" ( the old non-pedal geezer )

I'm not opposed to slants at all and do use them. I suppose the original question was posed to see if anyone out there had some special tuning they use that gives them most of the chords they need without having to slant very often.

I keep my elctrics tuned to E and my acoustic to D and there's a lot I can play without slants. It's a tuning that you can start out with no slants and add them later if and when you get bored. I use the slants that Chris Scruggs mentioned plus a couple more. One of the advantages of slants is to keep from jumping all over the neck to get to the next chord, and I also use them to get some nice pedal steel type simulations. Sometimes I'll use a slant for an alternate chord inversion for a different sound

The only tuning to get all your chords without any slants is the Leavitt 6 or 8 string tunings. You have to jump around a bit but nice chords are there . C 6th is also pretty good for Hawaiian and old country music without using some slants , all this is I M H O !!! Eddie "C" ( the old non-pedal geezer )

They were using slants on the "Hawaiian" guitar in the 20s, so why change now

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Alkire tuning! Sixty different chords at one fret with no slanting seems pretty impressive to me. Mae Lang, Ron Schiedler, and Roy Thomson do pretty darn good with this tuning. Why not give it a try?

Yes , Duane is 100 % on !! I had forgotten that one from back in the late 30s or early 40s ??? I heard a fellow play the Alkire guitar tuning back in 48 or 49 and was quite impressed !! The only thing is you need a 10 string lap steel !! How could we have missed that tuning !! I think it is similar to Byrds Diatonic ??? Thanks , Duane !! Eddie "C"

Jerry Byrd C Diatonic:

E
C
B
A
G
F
E

Eddie Alkire Tuning:

E
C#
B
A
G#
G
F#
F
E
C#

I understand how the Alkire tuning has all those chords, but surely a 6,7, or 8 string with various tunings can do plenty if slants are used.
If slants were used for the last 100 years, why not use them now? Like mentioned above, even some pedal players use slants. So I don't really understand what the reason is for going way out of the way to avoid them.
I always figured they were part of playing steel guitar, but maybe it's just tradition.

The question is which tuning would be best suited for NO slants, not why or why not do slants.

The Leavitt tuning is the best tuning for not having to do any slants. It is conceived for 6 string, but if you have access to an 8 or 10 string then you can add above or below and enjoy it even more.

Here's the solution to the whole problem!
_1.= E
_2.= Eb
_3.= D
_4.= Db
_5.= C
_6.= B
_7.= Bb
_8.= A
_9.= Ab
10.= G
11.= Gb
12.= F
13.= E
14.= Eb
15.= D
16.= Db
17.= C
You don't need any slants, but; you do need a Crowbar and a very large grip! (and at least 3-fingure-picks!) 1-thumb-pick goes without saying, unless you're ‘all thumbs’!
{[(SERIOUSLY)]} I don't think there are any truely “Short Cuts” to having it all!

Oh man, I had that tuning once and then lost it. I've been trying to find it again ever since. Whew, thank God...

There is also even one drawback that I forgot to mention with this seemingly complete tuning! You can't play in ‘sharps’, only in Natural & Flats! If you want to play in Sharps, you have to retune all the flats to sharps! And, of course; you could hardly play any ‘accidental’ chords either! It might also be adviseable to mention here that I don't give lessons either!