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how to tune a lap steel guitar
The cool whiny sound that the steel bar makes when slid against a guitar string has one big limitation. You can't make fancy chords (minor, seventh, etc.) without tuning your guitar to a different tuning than the standard guitar tuning. (Actually, I recommend trying to play lap steel using regular guitar tuning once in a while. It may give you a different sound than you would otherwise get!)
All tunings are shown from the bass (lowest) string, which I'll call the sixth string, to the treble (highest) string, which I'll call the first string. Using this system, standard guitar tuning would be represented as:
1. E
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. A
6. E
Additional strings on your guitar means you can expand the tuning possibilities.
Certain tunings require that you use a different set of strings than a normal electric or acoustic guitar would use. Bob Quasar has a string gauge chart on his pedal steel web page. Just Strings has a wide variety of lap steel strings available. You'll get a good overview of what is commercially available by visiting this site. GHS Strings has a list of string sets they sell for acoustic slide guitar and electric Hawaiian and pedal steel guitar. Ernie Ball's web site has a list of their pedal steel guitar string sets, both in E9th and C6th ten-string sets. Remove two (or four) strings and you have your lap steel string gauges!
The most common tuning for acoustic steel guitar (Dobro) is open G:
1. D
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. B
6. G
One advantage to this tuning is that you have three sets of strings one octave apart for each note in a major chord. It's easy to play the same thing an octave higher or lower by just moving down (or up) three strings. It's also great for quick hammer-on type playing.
Some people use this tuning tuned up a whole step to open A:
1. E
2. C#
3. A
4. E
5. C#
6. A
There is also a tuning called low bass A or Hawaiian A:
1. E
2. C#
3. A
4. E
5. A
6. E
This is the original tuning used in many early Hawaiian guitar instruction books. If you find a very old book without any indication of which tuning is being used, it's probably this tuning. This tuning is also frequently seen tuned one whole note lower, as low bass G:
1. D
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. G
6. D
These tunings allow a nice finger picking rhythm to be set up, alternating the root and fifth of the chord using the bottom three strings
On electric lap steel guitar, I started out by using open E:
1. E
2. B
3. G#
4. E
5. B
6. E
although some people prefer the same tuning in open D:
1. D
2. A
3. F#
4. D
5. A
6. D
The advantage for me in using this tuning is that the tonic (the note representing the base to which all other notes relate) is represented three times, and the third (which indicated whether the chord is major or minor) is only present once. By leaving this note in or out of your playing, you can "fake" playing minor chords. This type of tuning also lets me play sixths on the top and third string up and down the neck for a Hank Williams/pedal steel effect. This tuning is also great for power chords played through a highly overdriven amp.
The C6/Am7 Tuning has been mentioned several times by different people. It's tuned as follows:
1. E
2. C
3. A
4. G
5. E
6. C
The advantage to this tuning is you have almost every type of chord interval under the bar without having to slant the bar. C E G is an C major chord, A C E G is an A minor 7th chord, C E G A is a C sixth chord, etc. You can plays sixths up and down the neck without slanting the bar as much as you would in the open E tuning due to the fact that you have two sets of strings situated a sixth apart (the second and fifth strings are a major sixth, the first and fourth strings are a minor fifth).
The disadvantage is that everything you play sounds Hawaiian until you get your act together (or until you join a Hawaiian band). Once you learn how to play the right combination of strings (and more importantly, how to stay away from certain strings), you can play many different styles. Because the bottom strings are tuned much higher than normal, many people use a combination of fifth and/or fourth strings (in other words, lighter gauge strings) in the bottom three strings.
Some people play this tuning with the bottom string tuned to C# rather than C. This makes it a A7 tuning and gives you additional chordal possibilities. I think this tuning works better with eight strings.
Here's a list of some other common tunings.
Alternative C6 Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. G
4. E
5. C
6. A
Another C6 Alternate Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. A
4. G
5. C
6. G
Yet Another C6 Alternate Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. A
4. G
5. C
6. E
Here's another C6 Tuning:
1. G
2. E
3. C
4. A
5. G
6. E
G6 Tuning:
1. D
2. B
3. G
4. E
5. B
6. G
G9 Tuning:
1. D
2. A
3. G
4. D
5. B
6. G
C13 Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. G
4. Bb
5. D
6. A
C# Minor Tuning:
1. E
2. C#
3. G#
4. E
5. C#
6. G#
F#9 Tuning:
1. E
2. C#
3. G#
4. E
5. A#
6. F#
B11 Tuning:
1. E
2. C#
3. A
4. F#
5. D#
6. B
Em or G6 tuning:
1. E
2. B
3. G
4. D
5. B
6. E
Cmaj9 Tuning:
1. D
2. B
3. G
4. E
5. C
6. G
Eight String Tunings
Additional strings on your guitar means even greater tuning potential. With the additional strings, you can minimize the number of slants you have to play to get your guitar to match the song's harmonies. Here are some suggested tunings for eight-string steel guitars.
A6 Tuning:
1. E
2. C#
3. A
4. F#
5. E
6. C#
7. A
8. F#
C6/Am7 Tuning:
1. G
2. E
3. C
4. A
5. G
6. E
7. C
8. A
This is an extension of the C6/Am7 tuning listed above in the six string tunings. The addition of an A to the bass and a G to the treble seems to center this tuning around A rather than around C, as on the six string version.
E13 Tuning:
1. C#
2. B
3. G#
4. F#
5. D
6. G#
7. E
C6/FMaj9 Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. A
4. F
5. E
6. C
7. A
8. F
C13 Tuning:
1. E
2. C
3. A
4. G
5. E
6. C
7. Bb
C Diatonic Tuning
1. B
2. A
3. G
4. F
5. E
6. D
7. C
Expanded E7 Tuning:
1. E
2. B
3. G#
4. E
5. D
6. B
7. G#
8. E
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