The Steel Guitar Forum

This one is just for fun.

I’m curious to learn what proportion of Steelers use a “ standard” vs special tuning as their go-to six string tuning.

I know that there are a few other fairly common tunings, like A6 and Open A, but I’ve limited the “standards” to the most common tunings only.

C6 is my home, but for certain songs I'll move a string up or down to get something I need.. for example when I play "Rattler" by Santo and Johnny I'll drop my low C to B.. If I play "Hilo March" I'll raise the high C to C#

Something else, as in A6 as my go-to, although I use those other tunings at times.

My current 6 string tuning is an Open D7
Low to High = DADF#AC
Similar to my 7 string, which is in D9 = DADF#ACE

My tuning is Em7/G. EGDGBD low to high. I have minor 7 chords if I use the E root, and G chords if I use the G root, which is basically low G dobro tuning without the low D, which I never got the point of in the first place. But I am an extreme rookie, so I find the ability to do a I - VI - IV - V sequence (Sleepwalk), or the old I - VI - II - V turnaround so easily kind of handy.

I have separate instruments dedicated to all of the above tunings and more. On my 6-stings, I spend the most time working out of C6 and tweaking a string or two up or down to achieve A6, B11, C6/A7, D9, etc.

What about this one?
E
B
G#
E
C#
F#

A6th... partly because it's easily re-tuned to C6.

ALSO** I bet most of the "something else" responses were for some sort of 6th tuning.

So far it’s interesting to see just how popular the C6 tuning is! Almost as many people use it as their go-to as all the others combined.

I've settled on D/G for 6-string, D6th for 8- and 10-string. This puts me in the comfort zone for all. It should be the standard, IMHO.
[tab]6 8 10
E
F# F#
D D D
B B
A A A
F# F# F#
D D D
B B B
G G G
D [/tab]
Retuning standard dobro G to this is just a matter of slacking 2 strings.

Gsus4 for me. I never use the low B in dobro tuning, so I just left it out (like Keith Richards). That gives me power chords on the low end. Iadded a C as the “first” string so I can suspend chords without pulling the high B. Otherwise, it stays out of the way. Low to high: G D G B D C

C6/A7 for everything C#EGACE bottom to top Thank you Jerry Byrd!!

Peter Jacobs wrote:Gsus4 for me. I never use the low B in dobro tuning, so I just left it out (like Keith Richards). That gives me power chords on the low end. Iadded a C as the “first” string so I can suspend chords without pulling the high B. Otherwise, it stays out of the way. Low to high: G D G B D C

That’s a cool tuning, and looks versatile too. I think it’s a Gadd4 rather than sus4, since you still have the 3rd (B) in there, but it definitely makes sus 4 chords easy to play with a straight bar.

And of course Gsus is the holiest of chords!

b0b wrote:I've settled on D/G for 6-string, D6th for 8- and 10-string. This puts me in the comfort zone for all. It should be the standard, IMHO.
[tab]6 8 10
E
F# F#
D D D
B B
A A A
F# F# F#
D D D
B B B
G G G
D [/tab]
Retuning standard dobro G to this is just a matter of slacking 2 strings.

b0b, I actually agree with you that your (Gmaj9?) GBDF#AD should be the standard! There is nothing that can’t be done with that tuning. I just wish that I wasn’t too thick to wrap my head around it in real life. :-/

Good point, Allan --Gadd4 makes sense. This tuning lets me attempt to cop some Sonny Landreth licks (which is why I tried it in the first place) and I can sound a little pedal steely, which can be fun.

DADACE

Good for blues, which is what I mostly play. Nice to have a full A minor triad for minor blues. The two octaves of DA cover nicely for the 3rd that’s missing on the major chords.

C#-E-G#-B-C#-E

I call it "Double E6" tuning. I’m not very good yet, but it seems to get me through most of what I want to play at this point.

I’m surprised that there aren’t more 11th tunings in here. I’m just now learning about them, and how versatile they are! Two major triads and a minor triad on every fret using only consecutive strings - plus a whole bunch of other chord types on each fret.

As with b0b’s Gmaj9 tuning, I’m not quite ready to tackle a tuning with so many options... I end up getting confused by them and losing my way in songs. But it seems to me that something like B11 (or Gmaj9 GBDF#AD)would be more versatile than C6, and about as easy to learn after the major chord tunings.

EDIT
After spending a day experimenting with 11th tunings, I ended up at G11. GBDFAC.
As expected, it was nice, but a bit too much going on for me to stay on top of. So I raised the C to D to make it a G9 GBDFAD. Kinda like b0b’s tuning but with a D minor on top instead of a D major. I’m gonna leave that tuning in place to see if it sticks.

2nd Edit:
G9 — GBDFAD I like it. That’s all.