Tips for dobro open G player moving to C6 lap steel

[Joe Buczek]

Folks,

I'm pretty comfortable on the open G dobro these days and I just acquired a lap steel for learning C6 western swing. I'd love to hear from anyone who has made this transition who can share tips for adapting to C6.

Thanks!
Joe

[Michael Miller]

Long time open G dobro player here. I was never able to grasp c6 in a good way but found A6 to be comfortable on lap steel. The top three strings are the same interval as the open g...just moved up two frets. So a lot of tunes translate.

[Joe Buczek]

Long time open G dobro player here. I was never able to grasp c6 in a good way but found A6 to be comfortable on lap steel. The top three strings are the same interval as the open g...just moved up two frets. So a lot of tunes translate.

Thanks, Michael. Good insight!

[Steven Wilson]

Joe - It's a work in progress for me, but I am finding C6 to be pretty straightforward. Thinking in terms of numbers, strings on the dobro are tuned to 135135 (GBDGBD)in 2 octaves as you know. With C6 (6 strings) it's 135613 (CEGACE); down a step and a half for A6. Anything you play on the dobro can be played on those 1,3,5 strings, and on the 6,1,3 strings you can get 3 notes of a relative minor. I have an 8 string that I really like (61356135). Coming from a dobro background, it makes sense because you have again 2 octaves of the same thing and you can play anything you would play on the dobro on those top 3 strings plus a lot of western swing and Hawiian sounds using the 6. Troy Brenningmeyer has good instructional material at his website that helped me. Steve

[Lee Rider]

I put a Hipshot Doubleshot on my GBDGBD dobro and, when disengaged, puts my tuning at G11 (GBDFAC) which, in my dobro-centric mind, is easier to understand and opens up many chordal possibilities. I have tuned my 6 string lap steel the same way at times, no issue with string gauges.

[Tony Oresteen]

Well, that depends on which A6 tuning you use. For 6 string A6 I use:

(L2H) A C# E F# A C#

Which is the same as C6 but down a step & a half.

For 8 String I use:

(L2H) F# A C# E F# A C# E

These are what Herb Remington/Cindy Cashdollar used for A6.

[Rich Arnold]

I did that.
I went from the DBGDBG to 8 string C6.
Then to A6.
I ended up tuning my inside neck to G6.
This is much like the dobro open G but with an E in the middle of the 2 triads and an E on the bottom.
It sounds like this...

https://youtu.be/sUlbu9wxdYQ?si=VIccmjtQw5VMmL8d

[Richard Alderson]

Is your lap steel 6 strings? or 8? I am not an expert or pro. I did make a modest transition once from 6 string open E and G dobro tunings to 8 string C6th steel. I think only the 8 string configuration would really make C6th come alive. But it was a hard transition, and instead of being faster louder and with more sparkle and zest, it was slower, softer, and more mellow. A lot more half notes and volume swells, and not as many 8th notes and 16th notes, that's for sure. Very difficult transition in my case, but perhaps with your E9th experience, you'll be better poised than I was.

[Sebastian Müller]

Joining a Honky Tonk Band last year I did finally decide to learn C6 tuning because it is used quite heavily in the typical repertoire of that style.
The biggest difference to Open A (Like Dobro tuning only a whole step up) is that you have to get used to chord grips
in the right hand. C6 is really a Mix of a C Major tuning and A minor, but to be able to play these chords you have to avoid
certain strings. That was quite a learning curve, but if you played E9 pedal steel you should be very familiar with the concept of grips.
I prefer C6 with the E on top to A6 or C6 with the G on top, I also thought A6 would be the way to go because it has the 1 3 5 on
top but a 6th tuning is a very different beast anyway, so I picked C6 which sounds best to me, you can get close to the sound of a E tuning and C#minor which I both love.
On my Fender D8 Stringmaster I have one Neck in Open A which I detune to C#minor for certain songs and the other Neck is C6, really like that setup for now.

[Joe Buczek]

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far.

Since it came up, I should have mentioned that my lap steel is a 6 string instrument that I intend to tune to C6 for learning western swing and leveraging existing instruction materials. I might explore other tunings but am starting with C6.

I have been watching a lot of Troy Brenningmeyer on youtube. Good stuff, indeed.

[Sebastian Müller]

For a 6 string I think the standard C6 tuning with E on top is pretty ideal. With that tuning you can play most Hank Williams repertoire, for the one with Don Helms you have to play quite high up the neck but it is not too bad. Have fun on your Western Swing journey and don't forget to listen to Joaquin Murphey !