The Steel Guitar Forum

I know a lot of you guys have real exotic tunings but I am wondering what ya'll use for rock and blues on your 6 string lap guitars?

I use A6 for many styles including blues and rock (high to low E C# A F# E C#. Although it's a 6th tuning, it means you can get both major and minor chords easily (including a nice easy major on strings 12&3 and a minor on 23&4. If you are playing major chords, there is one string (F#) you have to avoid - the "Hawaiian bomb" as it is known but apart from that, it's really cool.

Another thing is that if you go 3 frets up from the root position (so 3rd fret if you're in A), the notes on all the strings are part of the blues/rock pentatonic scale.

David Gilmour uses a G6 - high to low E B G D G D with the 6th note on the top string, so he has a G major on the lower 5 strings and an E minor on the top 3. He also uses an E minor tuning on some songs.

If you go for a straight major chord, you can still imply minor chords by playing just 2 notes (usually omitting the root, which other instruments in the band will probably be playing anyway).

what string gauges should I use for that?
Thanks

My favorite for rock and blues is open E. It's got the grease I like.
Low to high: E, B, E, G#, B, E

For 50s & 60s melodic rock 6th tunings are fine (I like C6th) but for a lot of modern rock genres, the 6th tone just gets in the way. There are always exceptions, but many people, find open E or open D work great for rock playing. Sacred Steeler Darrick Campbell has a house rocking sound and he uses (Hi to low) E C#, B, G#, E, E with the bottom low E an octave below string 5. Ben Harper uses some tunings that are essentially 6-string power chords - all roots and fifths. Greg Leisz used to use a tuning with A major on 3 strings and E major on the other three. Lots of ways to skin the rock cat!

Kirk Eipper wrote:what string gauges should I use for that?
Thanks

It depends on what scale length your lap steel is - short (around 22.5") medium (around 24.5") or long (around 26").

For A6 on my short scale lap steel I use .015 .018 .022 .026 .030 .038

For medium I'd go .001 thinner on each string and .002 for long but there is more "wiggle room" on lap steels for the gauges so if you're in that ballpark you'll be fine. Just don't use a regular set of guitar strings (just imagine tuning that low E string 10 semitones higher).

At a pinch, you could take a couple of sets of regular guitar strings and make a set by pickng the closest gauges out of them - you'll end up with something like a 2nd, 3rd, two 4ths and two 5ths - depending on what gauge of guitar strings you start off with.

David Lindley just uses an open E guitar chord form and carries several steels with that same tuning just moved up or down to other keys. It's good for blues-rock and you only have to learn one tuning and just change guitars like a harp player changes harmonicas for different keys.
A dobro tuning can work too especially if you already play Gmaj dobro. I saw a guy play an Asher with
lo>hi 1-5-1-5-1-3 in D and it was pretty good for modal blues especially when using partial barring/tip-of-the-bar + open strings techniques. Keys were limited tho and even with a dobro capo you can only get about 4 good keys.
For a one size fits all single tuning for all styles and all keys,you'll need some extensions so an A6,B6,C6 or E13 across 8 strings is best if you want to get serious. If you're a guitar player/lap steel dabbler,you're stuck with 6 strings and want instant gratification go with Lindley's approach. My 2 ¢.

As already seen here, there is defintely more than one way to skin a cat.

I take the WWJD? (What Would Jerry Do?) approach.

I'm already so comfortable with lo-to-hi GBDGBD, the "standard" dobro tuning, that I just carry it over most of the time to electric lap steel for rock sounding stuff, same as Jerry Douglas does when he plugs in and plays more in the rock vein. Or as Cindy Cashdollar often does as well.

You can use the same tuning, you just need to take a different approach with some of your techniques. Douglas has likened the difference between dobro and lap steel as follows: the dobro is like a handsaw, and the lap steel is more like a chainsaw.

open E/D/F, whatever has the most open strings for the keys you're playing in.
if you're rocking and playing low, you want that power chord on the bottom, imo.
for lead, C6 is cool, but I'd go with open E and a capo...

Michael Johnstone wrote: lo>hi 1-5-1-5-1-3 in D and it was pretty good for modal blues especially when using partial barring/tip-of-the-bar + open strings techniques. Keys were limited tho and even with a dobro capo you can only get about 4 good keys.

Lindley uses that tuning on acoustic...
I've used that a bit, in C, on acoustic, C G C G C E. I dig that. add a capo and factor in easy retuning to open D, low-bass G, and you've got some more options.

I haven't been playing very long but I'll cast another vote for open E. If you were a dobro player (which you don't appear to be from your equipment list) a dobro tuning would make sense but if you want to start wailing right away in typical rock/blues keys, open E will get you there. Since you apparently already play pedal steel, it will provide a nice sonic contrast to what you're already doing on the pedal. There are several things you can do later on strings 5&6 that will give you more chordal flexibility (eg: an E7 tuning or the A/E tuning that b0b uses) but still use everything you've learned on strings 1-4. My 2 cents.

For blues and Rock styles you probably need 151 on the 456 strings to get the balls.
Open E or D etc works well.
With slants you can get 3 note minors ,6ths,7ths I can also get major7ths if you incllude some open strings and 2 note augments and diminished ,that should cover most bases.
With behind the bar string pulling theres a lot of stuff in the open tunings

Blues and rock is best using a 6 tuning of some version as it affords you a pentatonic scale all on one fret.

Blue needs that call and answer. Chord then solo riff. Chord then solo riff.

Open E & D and many others require too much movement to achieve basic pentatonic scales and also are weak chordally.

stick to a 6th tuning and learn how to play. The genre of music will only be limited based on your ability.

Coming from a banjo background, I went with open G for rock and blues, but use a 1-5-1 on the low strings for power chords and to imply minors. It's the same "low bass" tuning that a lot of "upright" slide players use.

G B D F# A D

Listen to this. It's actually an 8 string on the recording, but I can play it on 6.

Sometimes I lower the low G to E for a song in E. There are lots of hammer-ons and pull-off licks in E at the 2nd fret. You can hear them clearly in this song (acoustic 6-string).

Thanks for all the help you guys. b0b, that's the idea i was looking for.

This forum is still amazing to me. When I started out there were only a hand full of guys to talk to about this stuff.

Stefan,
I currently and for years have been using a E6 derivative but I need more low register stuff, perhaps a straight C6 would be best but I only need it for single line David Lindley style stuff.

As many have already suggested, open E.

Another fan of open E or D here. I have D on the acoustic and E on the electric. I play bottleneck in A and lap in C6 as well, but E is my go to for rock and blues and even some folky country. I'm a big David Lindley fan.

I'm with the Lindley crowd - open E (1-5-1-3-5-1) or open G(5-1-5-1-3-5) and its variants, in keys both up and down from there. Pretty much what most slide guitarists use. I have guitars (steels and slide guitars) tuned to open D, E, and G in the 1-5-1-3-5-1 and, with a slight adjustment, open F, G, Bb in the 5-1-5-1-3-5 sequence. These cover a lot of ground for rock and blues stuff. I don't see many guys tune open E (1-5-1-3-5-1) up to G, but I like it.

For me, I find that the 6th note on a 6-string restricts the range too much, and too often gets in the way - for rock and blues. YMMV.

Kirk Eipper wrote:Stefan,
I currently and for years have been using a E6 derivative but I need more low register stuff, perhaps a straight C6 would be best but I only need it for single line David Lindley style stuff.

So I can recommend:

a 6 string version of my Theory Tuning:

C, E, G, B, D, F Michael James also uses this

or

E, G, B, D, F, A

I'd recommend the second moreso for a six string. You can jam and play solo if you want with full chord sounds. Enjoy.

There's a lot of chords in there:

Minor, Major, Maj7, Min7, m7b5, 7th, 7thb9 dim, dim7, aug, and many more...

Stefan Robertson wrote:

Kirk Eipper wrote:Stefan,
I currently and for years have been using a E6 derivative but I need more low register stuff, perhaps a straight C6 would be best but I only need it for single line David Lindley style stuff.

So I can recommend:

a 6 string version of my Theory Tuning:

C, E, G, B, D, F Michael James also uses this

or

E, G, B, D, F, A



I'd recommend the second moreso for a six string. You can jam and play solo if you want with full chord sounds. Enjoy.

There's a lot of chords in there:

Minor, Major, Maj7, Min7, m7b5, 7th, 7thb9 dim, dim7, aug, and many more...

So do you think standard C6 set gauges should do the trick?

I've been playing around with your tuning bOb. I like it. All the chords one is likely to encounter in about 98% of popular songs are right under the bar and lots of nice hammers. Do you call it Gmaj 9th? That's what the online chord namers call it, but it really seems more of an Open D variation. The non major triad notes are on 5 and 6, easily avoided when you don't want them. Very nice. What is your 8 string version?

--Chase

Kirk Eipper wrote:

Stefan Robertson wrote:

Kirk Eipper wrote:Stefan,
I currently and for years have been using a E6 derivative but I need more low register stuff, perhaps a straight C6 would be best but I only need it for single line David Lindley style stuff.

So I can recommend:

a 6 string version of my Theory Tuning:

C, E, G, B, D, F Michael James also uses this

or

E, G, B, D, F, A



I'd recommend the second moreso for a six string. You can jam and play solo if you want with full chord sounds. Enjoy.

There's a lot of chords in there:

Minor, Major, Maj7, Min7, m7b5, 7th, 7thb9 dim, dim7, aug, and many more...

So do you think standard C6 set gauges should do the trick?

Looks like an interesting tuning. I'd say C6 set would be fine - with an E on top for the first variation or with G on top for the second.

Many rock and blues songs are based on the dominant 7th. Another great tuning variant from the open tuning 1-5-1-3-5-1 is 1-5-1-3-5-b7 (low to high).