The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi everybody!
I wanted to check out a tuning on looknohands.com/chordhouse, but the string-diagram doesn't seem to work anymore. Does anybody know what happened to this website? Too bad if this wonderful little tuning-helper would have been gone...

Anyway, this is the 8string-tuning I wanted to check out there:

E high
C#
A
F#
D
B
G#
E low

How does it appear to you? There is quite a lot in it.
If this is a common one already please don't blame me as a newcomer in this forum.
Thankful for any suggestions
Tom

I actually just tried this out... it is very cool. Might be a good choice as a second tuning. (for Me)

Dom

I came to this by fumbling around a bit with the B11 6string tuning. At first sight it just looks like a E7/A6 tuning.
As far as I can see this one has got following chords in it:
E, E7, E7/9, D, Dmaj7, Bm, Bm7, A, A6, F#m, F#m7
Are there more 'jazzy'ones which I haven't recognized yet? I am not too firm in music theory.
It gives you good blues runs as well as melodic lines in two voices (do you say so?) nearly without slanting . I think I like it.
Tom

...and beyond that I found Bm11, Bm9, Bm6 and some more specific chord-stuff. Okay, some are identic - like A6 to F#m7 e.g. - but anyway, this tuning has a potential worth giving it a try.
Michael Hogg's Guitar Chord Explorer (http://www.michael-hogg.co.uk/gce.php) was a useful help to me.
Check it out!
Tom

I've been fooling around with something very similar for the last year or so. Was trying some re-tuning experiments with the low end of A6 and came across this:

E
C#
A
F#
E
D
B
G#

So the difference is I have your low E an octave higher, on the 5th string. This leaves unchanged the high 5 strings of my A6 tuning, where most of my melody playing and slanting take place. Most of what it does take away, you can get back with easy slants, and there's a whole realm of nice split-string reverse slants that opens up. And if you're willing to sacrifice that low E root note, you still keep the chords you mentioned, and gain some very cool close voicings without slanting.

Having that E in the middle will make single-note playing a heckuva lot easier, too.

It took a few weeks for me to notice that the low 5 strings of this tuning have the same interval relationships as the top 5 strings of the Leavitt tuning (!), but pitched 8 half-steps down.

Also, the top 6 strings correspond exactly to Chuck Lettes' mod of the high C6 tuning, where he tunes the 6th string E up to F. Here, strings 1-6 are the Lettes tuning, pitched 3 half-steps down.

So, strings 1-5: A6 tuning
......strings 1-6: Lettes tuning, 3 half-steps lower
......strings 4-8: Leavitt tuning (minus 1), 8 half-steps lower

I guess it's basically A6/E9. Of the several useable ways I've come up with to change the bass end of A6, this is harmonically the richest. I love it because it lets me hang on to most of what makes A6 my #1 tuning, but adds so much more. Haven't heard yet of anyone else playing this one, but in the world of highly useful steel guitar tunings I've learned there's not much new under the sun, so who knows.

Tom, I can't predict you'll prefer this to the one you listed above, but it's definitely worth a shot.

--Steve

Thank you, Stephan, for your detailed response.
I'll surely try out your suggestion with the higher E.
Even though we have not reinvented the wheel, this is a tuning I have not found in any tuning chart before.
Tom

Tom, Your tuning seems worth a try.
I am still using the old classic tuning but have often regretted the absence of a D string.
E C# B A G# G F# E

After all these years, I wonder whether I could handle your variation.

Well,let's see now: the G string gives me a 7th for a chord rooted on the 4th string (E C# A G), and the F# string gives me a 6th (E C# A F#) and corresponding minor. That would leave me no choice but to replace the low E sting...I'm not so sure.....

Anyone have an opinion or suggestion?
-Del

Hi Del,

your tuning: From high to low or the other way round?
The G# right beside the G is confusing me a bit...

Tom

...from high to low, I guess.
Always get confused by the ways of numbering the strings.
Tom

Tom Breitenfeldt wrote:
E high
C#
A
F#
D
B
G#
E low

How does it appear to you? There is quite a lot in it.
Tom

I have always been a little intimidated by tunings like this one, which to me resembles the B11. I "get" C6 and E7, this seems a bit more complicated.

I see that it almost looks like a bunch of stacked triads, but the G sharp doesn't work as a root because it forms a tritone with the D above it. Yet it doesn't give you a diminished chord either, which might be nice.

If you had a G natural instead, then each string is now the root for the following triads (all the 5ths would be perfect):

A Major
F# Minor (f#m7)
D Major (DMaj7)
B Minor (bm7)
G Major (GMaj7)
E Minor (em7)

A whole lot of chords with no slants. And the pattern of major and minor alternates which might help to get your head around approaching this.

Hmmm, I will give this a try tonight and see how it sounds. Looking good on screen doesn't mean a whole lot. If i like it, i will consider the slants, next.

Hi Matt,
you're right, I came to this by fumbling around with the 6string B11-tuning, which I like very much. I asked myself what my choice for an 8string-tuning would be like.
I thought a fat E-major 'down in the ground' would be good, especially if you like to jam in blues sessoins. Then I turned down the D# (from the B11-tuning) to D in order to change the lower 4 strings from Emaj7 into a more 'bluesy' E7. After this I was quite amazed about that lot of chords turning up in this tuning.
I admit, the G# sometimes might be confusing, especially when you have to move around in minor blues scales. But if you tune it up like Stephan did (see above), you've got the G# out of your way. And as a bottom-note the G# can easily be changed into a G without mixing up all the rest.
Thankful for any hints and suggestions
Tom

I see that it almost looks like a bunch of stacked triads, but the G sharp doesn't work as a root because it forms a tritone with the D above it. Yet it doesn't give you a diminished chord either, which might be nice.

G# B D is a diminished triad. Changing it to G gets rid of the only dom7 voicing. That's something I'd want to keep. The tuning is an A major scale going up in thirds so you have all seven triads (and seventh chords and so on) that are diatonic to A.

I like it, but I'm not trying any new tunings for quite a while.


Fred

Tom, with your explanation, it makes sense as an extended E7 tuning. Stephen's variant looks cool, but I like roots on the bottom. And mine has some symmetry. What a wonderful instrument we play with all of these possibilities.

...yes, that's what I love this instrument for, too. All these little secrets hidden in a handful of wires...
Tom