The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm a novice steel player (messed about with E9 pedal for a while) and tried to carry the little I knew over to an 8 string lap steel project with 4 palm levers. Well... after almost a year of what can best be described as "fighting", I've given up!

I re-strung with standard "hi" C6, 8 string a fortnight ago, and everything just makes so much sense! I love this tuning.

I've never played C6, but I've probably made more musical progress in these 2 weeks with C6 than I did in 12 months with my crazy palm lever E9.

Anyway, just wanted to say "hurrah for C6" WITH NO PEDALS even though I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here but just wanted to share my joy!

Been lurking on the forum in the meantime, and always enjoy catching up with posts.

If you love high C6, you might like A6 even more, it's exactly the same intervals as the C6 but everything 3 frets lower.

As you've been used to an E based tuning with pedals, you will have been using, I'm sure, something like the standard AB pedal change that gives you an open A chord of some kind so, for example, finding a D chord on the 5th fret or a G on the 10th will already be familiar to you.

With A6, this all still applies and if you decide to go back to pedals again you'll still be on relatively familiar ground.

Coming from E9, I'm a bit suprised you didn't naturally choose A6 when you decided to swap - any particular reason for choosing C6?

I've loved C6(high G) so much that I have it on the inside neck of my D8, and A6 on the other. I do, from time to time, experiment with tuning my lower C up to C#, but I am nowhere near finished exploring basic C6 and A6. Every time I sit down, I discover exciting, new paths, patterns, runs, chords, and licks.

Hey Jeff,

Went for C6 almost on a whim and I'm glad I did. I figured there'd be more instruction material available too, without having to transpose.

Tempted to try A6 at some point for sure!

Hey Don - yeah, I'm on high G too. I thought about trying D on the top and the C# thing, but step at a time, step at a time for me.

So far, I just find that having both C6 and A6 at hand allows me some choices about where to play a given tune on the neck. Anything you learn in C6 is the exact same thing in 6, just 3 half steps lower. I use a lot of open strings, and choose which neck to play on a given tune according to what type of licks might be available for that tune in a particular key.

That's cool Don. Funnily enough, I found myself using open strings much more since I've made the switch to C6, especially for Bluesy licks and what have you.

Another guitar with A6 may well happen some day all being well.

One more consideration might be what keys do you play in most often?

If you play in a band or with a singer who favors a certain key, then C6, A6, G6 may become a better choice for you.

(For example playing in the key of Bb or B on a C6 guitar will limit your chord positions because you can't play behind the nut!)

I found A6th works best for me and my vocal range since I sing lead while playing.

Dom