The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anybody know the 8-string tuning of AJ Ghent ?

Thanks guys.

this demo video says "tuned B F# B D# F# G# B C#"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXOUie967w

Thanks Stephen,

That same demo video says: "strings are .012, .014, .016, .022, .032, .036, .040, .056"
That is obviously high to low.

Do you think "tuned B F# B D# F# G# B C#" is low to high?
Or high to low?

It's low to high: 1-5-1-3-5-6-1-9, a B6 tuning with a 9 added on top.

Thanks Bob
That makes it a lot clearer.


Lo- B-F#-B-D#-F#-G#-B-C# -Hi

There ought to be a law passed that tunings are always listed low to high. There have been a couple threads here about this over the years and it still drive me nuts.

When we use tricks to memorize the notes on the staff, like Every Good Boy Deserves Favor for the lines EGBDF or spelling out the word FACE for the spaces, it is low to high. I don't know that anyone has ever been taught the spaces by memorizing the reverse, ECAF.

A trick to memorize the notes in standard guitar tuning EADGBE low to high, is Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early.

When kids are taught how to sing a major scale it's do-re-mi...etc., low to high.

Mark, you got my vote.

Mark Eaton wrote:There ought to be a law passed that tunings are always listed low to high. There have been a couple threads here about this over the years and it still drive me nuts.

When we use tricks to memorize the notes on the staff, like Every Good Boy Deserves Favor for the lines EGBDF or spelling out the word FACE for the spaces, it is low to high. I don't know that anyone has ever been taught the spaces by memorizing the reverse, ECAF.

A trick to memorize the notes in standard guitar tuning EADGBE is Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early.

When kids are taught how to sing a major scale it's do-re-mi...etc., low to high.

+1 Mark It drives me nuts too

Indeed. Everytime someone lists a tuning high to low God kills a bunny.

How I've done it since the last big discussion on this topic:

1. C#
2. B
3. G#
4. F#
5. D#
6. B
7. F#
8. B

I was wondering about his tuning too. It's basically pentatonic on the high strings, which is how he gets those blazing fast blues licks. Easier to understand if you look at the notes on the first fret:

C G C E G A C D

There's a C power chord (1 5 1) on the low 3 strings, and an Am pentatonic scale (5 b7 1 b3 4) on the top 5 strings.

Interesting tuning.

Stefan Robertson wrote:

Mark Eaton wrote:There ought to be a law passed that tunings are always listed low to high. There have been a couple threads here about this over the years and it still drive me nuts.

When we use tricks to memorize the notes on the staff, like Every Good Boy Deserves Favor for the lines EGBDF or spelling out the word FACE for the spaces, it is low to high. I don't know that anyone has ever been taught the spaces by memorizing the reverse, ECAF.

A trick to memorize the notes in standard guitar tuning EADGBE is Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early.

When kids are taught how to sing a major scale it's do-re-mi...etc., low to high.

+1 Mark It drives me nuts too

String 1, is the high string. Most folks I converse with in the steel guitar world use high to low, but as long as it is specified it should not make a difference.

Todd Clinesmith wrote: String 1, is the high string. Most folks I converse with in the steel guitar world use high to low, but as long as it is specified it should not make a difference.

But that's backwards from how its done on every other stringed instrument I'm aware of. You start at the top or at your body and move down or away from you. EADGBE, BEADGC, GDAE, GBDGBD, etc.

Todd Clinesmith wrote:Interesting tuning.

Stefan Robertson wrote:

Mark Eaton wrote:There ought to be a law passed that tunings are always listed low to high. There have been a couple threads here about this over the years and it still drive me nuts.

When we use tricks to memorize the notes on the staff, like Every Good Boy Deserves Favor for the lines EGBDF or spelling out the word FACE for the spaces, it is low to high. I don't know that anyone has ever been taught the spaces by memorizing the reverse, ECAF.

A trick to memorize the notes in standard guitar tuning EADGBE is Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early.

When kids are taught how to sing a major scale it's do-re-mi...etc., low to high.

+1 Mark It drives me nuts too

String 1, is the high string. Most folks I converse with in the steel guitar world use high to low, but as long as it is specified it should not make a difference.

Of course Todd, as long as it's specified (as Brad does it, which I have used that format many times myself) then it doesn't make any difference, but if there were a way to make it a universal language, wouldn't it be easier on everyone? Because inevitably, there are folks whom list tunings that don't specify, as in the reason for this very thread.

It's not always convenient to use Brad's format - you could be sending a quick e-mail or text to someone re a question about a tuning, and you might not go through the whole exercise of typing it out like that.

I see things on YouTube where someone is teaching a song on standard guitar, and they might play pretty well and understand the structure of the piece, but in referring to the 6th string on the guitar, they will call it the "high string." Why? because with the guitar sitting on their lap the 6th string is the "highest" one off the floor. C'mon man - did you really just refer to the fattest string on the guitar as the high string because it is higher off the floor than the others? The other pet peeve I have run across when someone is demonstrating something on what most of us think of as a "higher" fret, say 12, the "teacher" will refer to it as playing this particular chord "down" the neck. Wait a second - it's on a "higher" fret with a higher pitched tone - why on earth would anyone refer to this as being "down" the neck?

I'm sure many of us at one time or another have been on one of those guitar chord websites where they show the notes in a given chord and you click on a sound sample and it's played by a midi device. Usually it's because you want to check out some oddball chord, not the bread and butter ones. For the sake of discussion let's keep it simple. The three notes in in a G major chord are G, B and D. Unless you plug in an inversion to the midi file on the website, the G major chord will be written out low to high as GBD, and the sound file will play it in that order, low to high. If you were a young music student just starting out, you shouldn't have to furrow your brow in confusion and have think about this stuff - low to high, low to high - same format for everyone.

Sort of off topic. Can we get back to AJ Ghent's tuning? The order is known in this case.


<hr>Does the toilet paper roll go over top, or drop down from the back?

Sorry for resurrecting this thread! In this it seems like he has a 2nd between 2 strings like a high C6 but with the 151 like you would in open E or D ? Seems like the tuning may be the same as what’s discussed above ? https://youtu.be/vkFQ5PZ1oqI