C6 tuning for six strings, notated an octave higher than it sounds.[1]: 5
C6 tuning is one of the most common tunings for steel guitar, both on single and multiple neck instruments. On a twin-neck guitar, the most common set-up is C6 tuning on the near neck and E9 tuning on the far neck.[2]: 34
History
[edit]In the 1930s, steel guitar had a limited vocabulary due to its open tuning in a single chord. Players began adding a seventh to the bottom of the range. Jerry Byrd realized that by adding a sixth scale degree, he had even more flexibility. By 1937, Byrd was devising an arrangement based around a C major sixth chord. The tuning allowed easy access to nearly any chord through pedals and slant positions. Byrd claimed C6 tuning as his invention, but so have other players.[3] Regardless, Byrd indisputably was the one who popularized C6 tuning.[4]: 185
C6 tuning remains closely associated with Western swing and jazz, and E9 tuning is more endemic to Nashville country music.[5] C6 tuning is sometimes called "Texas" tuning.[6]
Practice
[edit]On six-string guitars, the basic C6 tuning is E4-C4-A3-G3-E3-C3.[4]: 186 .
On a console steel guitar with eight strings, C6 tuning often runs G4-E4-C4-A3-G3-E3-C3-A2.[7]
Pedal steel guitar usually features ten strings. A C6 tuning arrangement for ten strings often runs G4-E4-C4-A3-G3-E3-C3-A2-F2-C2. The top string is often D4 instead of G4, which creates a reentrant tuning.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Scott, Dewitt. Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method. Mel Bay Publications, Incorporated, 2014.
- ^ Stern, Jordan C. Full Circle: Becoming a Pedal Steel Guitarist. Boston University, 2022.
- ^ Byrd, Jerry. It Was a Trip, on Wings of Music. Centerstream Publishing, 2003. 117ff.
- ^ a b Miller, Timothy. "This Machine Plays Country Music: Invention, Innovation, and the Pedal Steel Guitar", in Travis D. Stimeling (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Country Music. Oxford Handbooks, 2017.
- ^ a b Barker, Kenneth B. The American Pedal Steel Guitar: Folkloristic Analyses of Material Culture and Enbodiment. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2012. 7f.
- ^ Miller, Timothy D. "George Lloyd", in The Grove Dictionary of American Music, volume 3 (2nd ed.). Edited by Charles Hiroshi Garrett. Oxford University Press. 608.
- ^ Haines, Rob. Mastering the Lap Steel Guitar. Mel Bay Publications, 2018. 4.
Further reading
[edit]- Volk, Andy. Lap Steel Guitar. Centerstream Publications, 2003.
External links
[edit]- Steel guitar tunings indexes many tunings.
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