The Steel Guitar Forum

<b><i>16</i> SONGS FOR LAP STEEL GUITAR</b>

3 tunings: C6, A6, B11, all three tunings available on the same set of strings

* 6-string lap steel guitar
* Large, easy to read tablature with notation
* Book has a spiral binding
* 2 CDs, the steel melodies and the backing tracks








AUDIO CLIPS from the CD

Click on the links below!

The Enchanted Sea
Take These Chains From My Heart
Sophisticated Hula
Waltz Across Texas
How D’ya Do

$44.95 plus shipping

ORDER HERE ---click---> http://playsteelguitar.com/book3-16-songs/

Congratulations, Doug! The result of a year's work. This a terrific collection of tunes from a great pro player. Hope you sell many, many copies.

Thanks for your hard work, Doug!

Thanks guys, I hope the book inspires players to dig more into A6 and B11 tunings. Those tunings and several others are easily accessible from C6 tuning without having to change strings.

just ordered it...really excited to get it ! I have the other two lap steel books and they are wonderful !!

Thanks Larry! I'll ship your book tomorrow morning (Friday).

Is the A6 in the example above considered the standard A6? (yes, I know nothing is "standard" with this ridiculous instrument!)

I've never played that tuning, and, until today, always assumed A6 was the same order of intervals as C6, i.e., 135613 (l-h), but the A6 above is 356135 (l-h).

Interesting...

Also (back on topic), that book looks great! I'm putting that on my Bday wish list for sure. Nice work, Doug!

Thanks, Andy. That 6-string version of A6 seems to be the most common one. A lot of lap steel tunings were derived from other tunings, and are set up so the player can easily change from one tuning to another without having to change strings and without having to raise a string by more than 1/2 step or maybe a full step.

[tab]
C6 A6 B11 (no root)

E E E
C C# C#
A A A
G F# F#
E E D#
C C# C# (or B)[/tab]

always assumed A6 was the same order of intervals as C6, i.e., 135613 (l-h), but the A6 above is 356135 (l-h

No, the intervals are different, and that's a big advantage. A lot of songs lay out much easier with the 5th tone on top, the full major chord on strings 1, 2, 3, and the 6th on string 4. And some songs work better with the "C6 intervals", as listed above. Tuning A6 to the same intervals as C6 would defeat the purpose of having two different tunings IMO, unless a player needed to play open string licks, songs in the key of A.

Just did payment. the exchange rate hurt but still worth it

Thanks, Jeff! I'll ship it tomorrow morning. Cheers

Just sent the money via PayPal.

A millisecond before pressing Send I looked at the amount.
62950 USD

I'm in Sweden and it seems like PayPal doesn't change the decimal comma to point even if you select USD. I just copied the amount from your post...

Anyway I caught it in time (good for me, "bad" for you)

Now it's a waiting game...

// Anders

Andy Henriksen wrote:... always assumed A6 was the same order of intervals as C6...

I had always assumed the same, never got why one should change from C6 to A6!

But then I got a tab, from a friend, that was for A6. Trying it out on my C6 made no sense to me. Until I realised that A6 was a totally different tuning from C6!

Looking it up at Mr. John Elys web site
http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/tunings/my_tunings.php

made the coin drop!

// Anders

Hello Anders, thank you for ordering my new book. I will ship it immediately.

Just sent payment! Can't wait to get started with the new tunings!

Thanks, Frank. I'll ship it Monday morning.

A couple of guys have said they thought that C6 has the same intervals as A6. I think they are referring to 8-string C6 with high G. That 8-string version Does have the same intervals as 8-string A6, I believe, a minor third apart. There has been some discussion about that on this forum and I think that's what some folks are referring to. But with 6-string lap steel C6 and A6 are different animals, set up differently. Some harmonies and licks are easier to play on one or the other.

Doug Beaumier wrote:A couple of guys have said they thought that C6 has the same intervals as A6. I think they are referring to 8-string C6 with high G. That 8-string version Does have the same intervals as 8-string A6, I believe, a minor third apart. There has been some discussion about that on this forum and I think that's what some folks are referring to. But with 6-string lap steel C6 and A6 are different animals, set up differently. Some harmonies and licks are easier to play on one or the other.

You are right. I tried 8-string A6th a while back and yes, found it redundant with the C6th I am used to (w high G), so quickly gave up on it. That is where my confusion partly stemmed from.

Thanks, Andy. I also got a couple of emails from players asking me about this, and after a while I realized that they were talking about 8-string tunings. Cheers

I love your version of Maori Brown Eyes and, after Pokarekare Ana, this is my favorite New Zealand song. I play (more noise than music so far) 10-string C6th and E9th pedal steel so I will have to find a way to play it on C6th.

Doug

Another great book....just got my copy today in the mail and enjoying it already.

...highly recommended.

Kind regards

Mike

Thanks Michael and John. I'm glad you like the book. Some of the songs are fairly easy to play, like the Enchanted Sea, My Tane, Drifting and Dreaming. Some others are more advanced, like Sand, How D'ya Do.

Just paid for the book as I love your previous tab books. Excited about trying the new tunings, but any suggestions for how to tune the 1st (bottom) and 8th (top) string in A6 and B11 on an 8-string lap steel for possible enhanced strumming or chords in these tunings?

John B

Thanks, John. If I were expanding the 6-string tunings shown above to 8 strings...

C6: high G on string 1, and low A on string 8.
A6: F# on string 1, low A on string 8.
B11: F# on string 1, low B on string 8.

Thanks Doug. I got ACEGACEG on my 8-string. Do you think I can safely tune down to F# on the bottom string without restringing?
Kind regards
John

John, it's always safe to tune a string down to a lower note. But if you go too low the string will sound floppy. When you say "bottom" string, I hope you mean the thickest string... string 6, the one closest to you as you sit at your steel guitar. The top string is string 1, the thinnest string (usually), the furthest from you as you play your steel guitar.