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Topic: Best tuning for Gram Parsons, Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers |
David McGuire
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 1 Apr 2012 3:31 am |
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| I'm just starting to learn lap steel...I have a six string which I tune to C6 CEGACE, and a eight string that I've been using with a E13th tuning,A,C#,E,G#,B,C#,E,G# with the Don Helms song book. I'm a big fan of Gram Parsons stuff with the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as his solo stuff. Any ideas on what tuning would be a all around fit for that stuff? I have looked at Sneaky Pete's B6 tuning and right now my strings are too thin for that (I'm not sure of the gauge but it's the Morrell 8 string set). I didn't know if there was something similar that would be a better all around fit. Thanks in advance. |
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Morgan Scoggins
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2012 9:57 am
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Hey David,
I am not too sure about how much of the Sneaky Pete
Style you could capture on a non pedal steeel. I was one that was impressed with his creative playing, but he played a Fender pedal steel with, I think, abou 8 pedals to get the various note combinations he played on the B6 tuning.Some of the pedals were used in combination with one another.
Sneaky Pete must have been a pure genus to devise a system that almost nobody understands. There is probably a few players around that have an insight to his playing, but very few.
Good luck!!
_________________
"Shoot low boys, the're ridin' Shetlands" |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 2 Apr 2012 1:27 pm
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| You can play most anything in that genre with the standard six string resonator G tuning - (bottom to top) GBDGBD. You're not going to get all of the pedal steel things you hear on those records, but I play that kind of stuff on reso all the time. |
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David McGuire
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2012 1:33 pm
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| Thanks Bob....do you have any demos of that style with the open G tuning? |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 3 Apr 2012 7:57 pm
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| I don't. If you want to get the idea, listen to some Mike Auldridge stuff with Seldom Scene. |
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Jonathan Mitguard
From:
San Rafael, California, USA
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Posted 6 Apr 2012 3:24 pm
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That E-13 tuning should give you plenty to work with. In time you can achieve pedal like sounds with slants. The C6 also, though for both you have to learn pic grips for the desired chords. The sixth in the tuning sounds nice but is out of place in some tunes. It provides many other useful options though. You mentioned the B6 which is interesting because it relates to the E13 more than C6. Which is the idea behind the universal single 12 pedal steel.
_________________
Mullen and Williams SU12, Owens Square neck dobro. Amps evolving Princeton II reverb w/ eminence Double T 12" |
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Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
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Posted 6 Apr 2012 9:34 pm Best tuning for Gram Parsons, Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers
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 That's a really good question. I've been wondering that myself.
I'm also trying to find a way to play that style on C6th...G tuning might work to some extent, but I'm not convinced.
Does anyone play "Buckeroo" like Tom Brummly on "Steel W/O Pedals" as this forum likes to call it?  |
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Nate Hofer
From:
Overland Park, Kansas
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Posted 8 Apr 2012 7:28 am Gram
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David, as a huge fan of Gram material I would say learn the pedal steel. Yes you can play it on lap but you won't get (I think) those 1960s and 70s sounds you're thinking of. C6 is more for swing playing - Bob Wills and the like. (Which is cool too.)
My opinion. |
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David McGuire
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 8 Apr 2012 2:42 pm
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| I know I need to get a pedal steel but I have 3 small kids, wife, a mortgage and 2 car payments that are preventing me from doing it right now. And I don't see how in the next 5 years I would be able to save up a extra couple of grand for one either. Thats why I'm trying to figure out how to make do with what I can afford. |
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Peter Harris
From:
South Australia, Australia
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Posted 9 Apr 2012 12:31 am
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...could always fit a multibender to the lap steel.. 
...a cheaper option while you get your head around it.. |
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David McGuire
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2012 3:14 am
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Thanks Pete...I'll look into it..and Solomon, I was reading my response again last night and I'm sorry if I came off like a jack a$$, I was arguing with the wife and it came out in my response..so please forgive  |
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Nathan Golub
From:
Durham, NC
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Posted 9 Apr 2012 9:36 am
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There are a lot of things you can do with the 6-string C6 tuning to sound like E9 pedal steel. Lloyd Green's intro on You Ain't Going Nowhere is a good example of these. Here's an old thread with tabs for both:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum8/HTML/000568.html
And if you use E6 instead of C6, the brighter tone will be more like E9 pedal steel. Then again, since Sneaky Pete used a lower tuning on his pedal steel, maybe a lower-tuned lap tuning is the way to go for this kind of stuff. |
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Nate Hofer
From:
Overland Park, Kansas
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Posted 9 Apr 2012 11:08 am
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| David, it's all good! You're right of course. Money has a way of determining lots of things. Especially hobbies. I myself have an 8-month son (Graham) so our spending is looking very different these days. |
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