I seemed to have made an a*maz*ing discovery

[EugieBaange]

As I'm still rather new to the exciting world of lap steeling (about 3 months) and I've jumped cold into gigging with it, I've been looking for a quick and easy handle -or crutch- to fall back on when you go brain-dead in the middle of a song. I've been primarily using Jerry Byrd's C6/A7 tuning and for songs in a major key I've discovered that you can put your bar down at the relative minor and all the notes in that key are right there in a straight line across the fret. Boy have I milked that! You can do all kinds of things without even moving the bar - just change your picking. Wow. Does that make sense? Anyone else have a nifty trick to share?

[John D]

I think that's a C6/Am7 not a C6/A7.

[Bobby Lee]

This tuning?
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre> E
C
A
G
E
C#</pre></font>If someone is playing blues/rock in C, you can get a lot of milage out of the blues scale notes at the 3rd fret. I think that's what you mean, right?

[Bobby Lee]

Here's another position for blues licks in C
<font face="monospace" size="3"><pre>
E _____8--6__________________________
C ____________7______________________
A _______________8___________________
G __________________8________________
E ______________________8--6_________
C#_____________________________6_____
note: C Bb G F Eb C Bb G </pre></font>

[mikey]

John, it actually is C6/A7, as well as C6/A7/Am7!!!...That C# gives you the A7 right across the bottom 4 and the C gives you the basic Am7, It's almost more A7/C6, in my mind anyway...
that is one righteous tuning....wish I thought it up,
Mike

[EugieBaange]

Bobby Lee-
Sorry, yes, I should have mentioned the tuning and that I meant the pentatonic scale. Yep! That's the tuning (I've seen it called
the C6/A7,the C6/Am7. Whatever. It's all there: major chords, minor chords, dom7th, m7. Wonderful tuning)
Playing a pentatonic minor scale in a straight line across the relative minor is what I'm trying to say. So, for example, for a song in C, you'd play straight across the 12th fret.

BTW, tanks for the great, friendly & helpful site you've got here.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by EugieBaange on 11 June 2000 at 03:36 PM.]</p></FONT>

[C Dixon]

Here is a little history about that tuning A7/C6.

Jerry Byrd told me he came up with it early in his career. On his 6 string Ricks he would often tune the 6th string for the song he was about to play/record. He has been known to change it from a C to a C# in the middle of a tune! He has perfect ears when it comes to tuning a guitar. He is incredibley fast in changing tunings and bringing a guitar into tune. He rarely has to tweak it and goes right to pitch on each string. Like walking down them one time. Never seen anyone in my life that could tune so well, so quickly.

Later he asked Rickenbacher to build a 7 string steel expressly for the following tuning.

E
C
A
G
E
C#
C

With this he had the best of both worlds. It resulted in us later having the 8th pedal on C6!

On his double 8 string built by Shot Jackson, his tunings are:

E
C
A
G
E
C#
C
A (Low LOW A--same as sting 10 on a C6 neck PSG with the 8th pedal depressed)

and his diatonic tuning on the other neck:

E
C
B
A
G
F
E

He does not put an 8th string on this neck although it is made for one.

God bless JB and all of you,

carl

[Bobby Lee]

Bobby Black plays JB's C Diatonic on an 8 string with a low C#! <font face="monospace" size="3"><pre> 1. E
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. G
6. F
7. E
8. C# </pre></font>This tuning was a revelation to me. It takes the C6/A7 tuning to the next level by inserting two more scale notes: F and B. I've often wondered why Jerry Byrd doesn't add a low C#.

[EugieBaange]

Add a bottom C#?
Is the six string Byrd tuning not
C# E G A C E from bottom to top?

[Bobby Lee]

Yes, but his C Diatonic doesn't have the low C#.