The Steel Guitar Forum

Can anyone suggest a good beginners book for C6 tuning? Or really any ideas of stuff to work on. I have worked up a few blues licks but I am not really sure where to go from here. I am really not sure what each of the raises and lowers are used for. Not obvious chording or scales are popping out at me. I have attached a pic describing the setup. It is a D12 with 8X5.

Buddy Emmons Basic C6th course got me a long way towards understanding the C6th neck. I think you can buy it from Jim Palenscar.
Jeff Newman's C6th stuff is pretty great too, but very expensive. I also tried the Herby Wallace stuff, but he didn't have a D on top.

Just noticed you have a 12 string setup, so that will make things a little more complicated, but 10 string instructional material should still do the trick.

I think I'd put aa D instead of F# on the first string.
Strings 3-12 are the normal ten strings of the C6th neck

Usually on a 12 string C6th, string 1 is tuned to D and string 2 is tuned to B. Then the 3rd string G is the highest string.

The "home" position for your foot is over pedals 5 and 6. Pedal 5 turns the tuning into a D9th chord (II⁹) and pedal 6 makes an F9th chord (IV⁹). Together they make a diminished chord on most of the strings.

Steve Palousek's C6 courses are very good. He just re-issued them.

What would be the advantage of tuning the 1st string to D and string 2 to B? Keep in mind the only slide I have played is open E 6 string and E9 pedal steel.

Also the course that you guys suggest, where would I find those? I didn't see them in the forum store. Do these guys have their own sites?

The first two strings D and B are similar to the first two on E9th. They are used for fast melodies and licks, mostly.

D-12 guitars are rare. There is no real standard for 12-string C6th, but adding D and B as the first two strings is the most popular option. On 10-string, most modern players use D instead of G as their first string. Some courses and tab require the high D, others require the high G. With a 12-string, you have both available.

Another option is to tune the string 1 to F and string 2 to D. I've never tried it, but it makes more sense to me. Any other options would involve changing the standard 10 strings (3 through 12 on your guitar), which I don't recommend. The 10-string C6th is a very powerful, well thought out copedent. Once you start to understand it, you'll love it.

b0b wrote:The first two strings D and B are similar to the first two on E9th. They are used for fast melodies and licks, mostly.

D-12 guitars are rare. There is no real standard for 12-string C6th, but adding D and B as the first two strings is the most popular option. On 10-string, most modern players use D instead of G as their first string. Some courses and tab require the high D, others require the high G. With a 12-string, you have both available.

Another option is to tune the string 1 to F and string 2 to D. I've never tried it, but it makes more sense to me. Any other options would involve changing the standard 10 strings (3 through 12 on your guitar), which I don't recommend. The 10-string C6th is a very powerful, well thought out copedent. Once you start to understand it, you'll love it.

Yeah I think makes the most sense to have the CFACEGACEGBD set up. You have both standard C6 setups plus 1 string. 10 string learning materials should be easy to translate to that set up.

To get started with chords consider the bottom 3 or 4 (includes two C notes)strings as chord roots. You have a C6, a Fmaj9 and a Am7 (I6, IV7 & vi).

When playing a two - five change assuming you're playing in the key of G (no bar, open strings), Am7 is the two chord and pressing pedal 5 makes it a D9. Then move to pedal seven and play strings 3,4,5,6,7 on your 12 string (or 2,3,4,5 on a 10 string) gives you a G6. That's a ii-V-I on one fret.

You can also get a two minor by moving the bar up two frets from the root chord and pressing pedal 6 (if you have a knee lever that raises the 6th string (4th on a 10 string) a half step it's the flat 7th note. Then with the pedal still down and thinking of the 11th (or 9th) string as the root you have a V9. Then down two frets (no pedals) to the root chord.

So now you have a major 7th chord, major 6th chord, a minor seventh chord and dominant chord. Add the diminished chord (from above) with pedals 5 & 6 and you have enough chords to play most tunes.


Hope this helps,
Ned

Ned Ramage wrote:To get started with chords consider the bottom 3 or 4 (includes two C notes)strings as chord roots. You have a C6, a Fmaj9 and a Am7 (I6, IV7 & vi).

When playing a two - five change assuming you're playing in the key of G (no bar, open strings), Am7 is the two chord and pressing pedal 5 makes it a D9. Then move to pedal seven and play strings 3,4,5,6,7 on your 12 string (or 2,3,4,5 on a 10 string) gives you a G6. That's a ii-V-I on one fret.

You can also get a two minor by moving the bar up two frets from the root chord and pressing pedal 6 (if you have a knee lever that raises the 6th string (4th on a 10 string) a half step it's the flat 7th note. Then with the pedal still down and thinking of the 11th (or 9th) string as the root you have a V9. Then down two frets (no pedals) to the root chord.

So now you have a major 7th chord, major 6th chord, a minor seventh chord and dominant chord. Add the diminished chord (from above) with pedals 5 & 6 and you have enough chords to play most tunes.


Hope this helps,
Ned

I love this forum. This post would go over the head of most guys on 6 string forums so fast.

Ned,
I had to read it a couple times before I got it but I do think that will help a lot. I am going to try that ii-V-I as soon as I get home. Thanks!

Paul Franklin once posted a wonderful explanation of the C6th tuning on this forum. Someone with a better grasp of the search function could probably find it. For some reason search by author isn't working for me, but it's definitely worth finding.

Our own robert kramer did an extensive series on understanding and playing the C6 neck HERE back in 2009-2010. There are at least 20 more lessons like this one from Mr. kramer back there - plenty of material to work/play with.

Yet another great resource, this one is from Herb Steiner:
http://herbsteiner.com/C6_essay.pdf

I would look at the Jamey Abersold jazz lessons. Figure out where the notes are on your tuning and get to it.

The first thing you will discover is that there are no tri tones in the C6 tuning. That is where the standard pedals come in.

The process of figuring out where the notes are is where you can gain a visceral understanding of the neck. It is invaluable and there are no real shortcuts.

Joseph,
That less is great. It lays the chords out in a really easy to understand manner. I printing that out and keeping it.

Joseph Carlson wrote:Yet another great resource, this one is from Herb Steiner:
http://herbsteiner.com/C6_essay.pdf

Leave it to Herb. I haven't played pedal guitar for 8 years, spending all of my time on C6 and E13 consoles and dobro. But, being away from the pedals has forced me to study SG theory much more than I ever did before, and I'm getting a new D10 soon and I can't wait to apply what I've learned to it and I'll be doing a lot of shedding on getting serious with chord theory.

But, I never did completely grasp the D 1st string, and now I'm so acclimated to the G that I'm not sure I can adapt back to the D.