C6th - Middle D Report
Posted: 26 Jun 2002 9:43 am
Recently I dropped the 10th string from my back neck and added a middle D between the C and E (actually I'm tuned a step higher, but I'll talk "in C" for simplicity). This modification has become popular among several progressive players in recent years. I thought it might be fun to share my impressions of this tuning.
The basic string tuning is:
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>1. D
2. E
3. C
4. A
5. G
6. E
7. D
8. C
9. A
10. F </pre></font>As you can see, the low C string is gone, the 7th string is tuned to D and the lower 3 strings have been moved down a slot.
I've been playing C6th for 3 or 4 years now, and I've been playing extended E9th (12 string) for 24 years. I mostly play country, western swing, rock, blues and new age music. I rarely play jazz or pop standards, genres often associated with C6th, so my needs on the C6th may be different from yours.
I really like this tuning, but it takes some getting used to. As I see it, there are five basic issues:
1. No low C string
2. New grips
3. No thumb sweeps
4. Less bar movement required
5. More chord positions available
Number 1, losing the low C, was no big deal for me. I rarely played it anyway. I really don't miss it at all. I think that someone who plays jazz/pop standards might miss it a whole lot, though, because those styles often require full chords that include the bass note.
Number 2, new grips, wasn't as difficult as I expected. The intervals between strings 5, 6, 7 and 8 are the same as on the E9th, but two steps lower. So a lot of the "new" grips were actually pretty familiar to me. It didn't feel as strange as I expected.
Number 3, no thumb sweeps, is a real issue in western swing. I was accustomed to the technique of slamming my thumb across the strings in hot rock-a-billy/swing tunes. Now the chords are two dense to do that with wild abandon. In the case of P6, what used to be a perfect 9th chord now has a dissonant D-Eb interval stuck in it. To me, this issue is the number 1 deterrant of the middle D.
Number 4, less bar movement, is imprtant in up-tempo tunes. I'm finding fast scale pockets all over the place. The tuning itself is a pentatonic blues scale. I have no trouble adapting to the middle D when playing single note runs. It's great! The pedals extend the pentatonic (5 note) scales to diatonic (7 note) at several positions with no bar movement at all.
Number 5, more chord positions, is a big one. I use four picks, and the addition of the D string is giving me quite a few more chords. One example is use of P7 to get a G6 chord. I always knew that chord was available, but the addition of the D string extends its range nicely with a low 5th.
I want to make it clear that I'm not really advocating this modification. Like everything on the pedal steel, it's a trade-off. The purpose of the this topic is to examine the trade-off, so that people won't blindly go switching things on their guitar for no good reason.
------------------
<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 26 June 2002 at 10:46 AM.]</p></FONT>
The basic string tuning is:
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>1. D
2. E
3. C
4. A
5. G
6. E
7. D
8. C
9. A
10. F </pre></font>As you can see, the low C string is gone, the 7th string is tuned to D and the lower 3 strings have been moved down a slot.
I've been playing C6th for 3 or 4 years now, and I've been playing extended E9th (12 string) for 24 years. I mostly play country, western swing, rock, blues and new age music. I rarely play jazz or pop standards, genres often associated with C6th, so my needs on the C6th may be different from yours.
I really like this tuning, but it takes some getting used to. As I see it, there are five basic issues:
1. No low C string
2. New grips
3. No thumb sweeps
4. Less bar movement required
5. More chord positions available
Number 1, losing the low C, was no big deal for me. I rarely played it anyway. I really don't miss it at all. I think that someone who plays jazz/pop standards might miss it a whole lot, though, because those styles often require full chords that include the bass note.
Number 2, new grips, wasn't as difficult as I expected. The intervals between strings 5, 6, 7 and 8 are the same as on the E9th, but two steps lower. So a lot of the "new" grips were actually pretty familiar to me. It didn't feel as strange as I expected.
Number 3, no thumb sweeps, is a real issue in western swing. I was accustomed to the technique of slamming my thumb across the strings in hot rock-a-billy/swing tunes. Now the chords are two dense to do that with wild abandon. In the case of P6, what used to be a perfect 9th chord now has a dissonant D-Eb interval stuck in it. To me, this issue is the number 1 deterrant of the middle D.
Number 4, less bar movement, is imprtant in up-tempo tunes. I'm finding fast scale pockets all over the place. The tuning itself is a pentatonic blues scale. I have no trouble adapting to the middle D when playing single note runs. It's great! The pedals extend the pentatonic (5 note) scales to diatonic (7 note) at several positions with no bar movement at all.
Number 5, more chord positions, is a big one. I use four picks, and the addition of the D string is giving me quite a few more chords. One example is use of P7 to get a G6 chord. I always knew that chord was available, but the addition of the D string extends its range nicely with a low 5th.
I want to make it clear that I'm not really advocating this modification. Like everything on the pedal steel, it's a trade-off. The purpose of the this topic is to examine the trade-off, so that people won't blindly go switching things on their guitar for no good reason.
------------------
<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 26 June 2002 at 10:46 AM.]</p></FONT>
