The Steel Guitar Forum

IN all my years of playing i am starting to develope a lot of the old country and bluegrass licks to glory. from off of the C6th neck.Everyone seems to say that if you want to play country, bluegrass and Hawaian music you play the E9th. Then Jazz and all other musics are on the C6th. SHould i try and transpose all them licks to the E9th or does it realy matter. I just wondered how many you people play the old country and blue grass stuff on the C6th.

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I like playing old time country, Hawaiian, and bluegrass styles on the C6th neck. I use the high G tuning for string one. I like the E9 neck for Country and Rock.
YMMV.

If you can make it work for you,
then it is right.

Country music was done on C6 for decades, but then was supplanted by the E9 Nashville sound.

Jerry Byrd did MANY super Hawaiian songs on C6

BUT, bottom line,
all the notes are there, make music with them.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 08 September 2005 at 07:27 PM.]</p></FONT>

David, you just said so much with those few words. All the notes are there - in any tuning - it's just a matter of finding and executing. Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go myself!

As a hotshot jazz/fusion guitar ace once told me: "If you want to get better at finding, you have to practice searching."

<SMALL>David, you just said so much with those few words</SMALL>

A rarity indeed!!! ......hope all is well in your new corner of the world.


Nathan, the searching and finding quote is so true. We are only limited by our own thinking.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by HowardR on 09 September 2005 at 04:48 AM.]</p></FONT>

To me a lot of the blue grass music specialy the old music used the main keys of G-D-A and E. To me where a lot of people today use hammer on and pull offs on some of there fancy licks the G and D keys realy fit over the C6th neck more than the E9th cause it gives you more open strings to work with on them hammer on and pull offs.When you want to save time and dont use as many pedals. to me it also gives more of that Hawaiian sound without your volume pedal. Blues and rock sound good on the E9 to me better than the C6th. But i guess it is all in the tonation that you want or the string gauge size.

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Many years ago, while sharing a venue with Commander Cody in N. CA, Bobby Black gave me his views on the C6th:
"I don't know why so many younger players don't use the C6th more often... especially for Rock... the intervals are so much closer it's a natural"

I now play a U12, but still don't sound half as nice as Bobby Black... few do.



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Dave Wren
'95Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Session500; Hilton Pedal
www.ameechapman.com

I prefer C6th when I'm playing new age or atmospheric music. Not that I do it often, but it's just easier on the C6th neck.

when i bought my first steel a couple of years ago, a sho~bud professional D10, i didn't know how to play a note. the strings were pretty vintage, so i changed them out, and in stretching them i snapped off one of the little nibs you hook the ball of the string on, on the E9 neck.

so i learned to play C6.

i haven't played it in any of my country bands, as it seems too dense sounding, but i do have a steady gig playing in a pop/rock/experimental band. i play C6 through a bunch of boutique pedals, a tape delay and a dr. z amp, and it's a real blast.

just released the first record and it's a lot of fun.

cheers!
- justin

I agree with David. These precepts we have about certain tunings are only barriers in our minds. What you can and can't do is because of <u>you</u>, and not the tuning! About the only deficit a tuning has is it's range. The "interval problem" only arises due to our lack of skill...all the notes are still there, only in different (read: less convenient) places, or with different voicings.

I love playing R&B, and I prefer the E-based tuning for that, but only because I can relate to copping straight guitar licks easier on that tuning. If the situation demands, I can also do it on C6th, as I'm sure many others can. These same ideas get passed on to other aspects of playing. A Fender Strat is considered a "Rock" guitar, while a Tele is a "Country" guitar.

Kinda dopey when you really think about it.

ALTHOUGH I'M NOT PROFICIENT WITH THE C6TH TUNING, I FIND THAT IT IS VERY COMPATILBE WITH LATIN MUSIC SUCH AS "LATIN SALSA"..."LATIN JAZ"...NOT TO MENTION "BOLEROS"......

CARLOS

Long ago, as a young person, I first started out on the 6th tuning. It took me a long time, and it was much later that I learned to play in the E9th tuning. I like to play all kinds of music, so I play in the 6th a lot.