lap steel tuning question
KB9KB9KB9
I just bought my girlfriend a 6-string lap steep guitar as a birthday gift, but
I don't have the slightest idea how to tune the thing. can someone suggest a
tuning that would be the easiest for an absolute beginner to start tinkering
around? right now, terrible sounds are coming from the beast. I tried a
standard guitar tuning (EADGBE): not pretty.
thanks,
keith
Will Yardley
I think this has been brought up a bunch in the past, so you might want
to read through the archives. In any event, I would check out the
following two pages; most people seem to play open E / open D, or else
C6. An open tuning (like open E) will probably be a bit easier than C6
at first.
http://www.well.com/user/wellvis/tuning.html
http://www.hawaiiansteel.com/learning/gauges.html
I recommend buying lots of singles (it may be hard to get thick
non-wound strings near you) rather than trying to buy a set...
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Ed Cregger
"KB9KB9KB9" <kb9k...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040303171554...@mb-m02.aol.com...
I am new at this, Keith, and I have no experience with a lap steel. Maybe
someone with the knowledge you seek will come on board if we make a little
noise here.
I was scanning eBay yesterday for pedal steel guitar lessons on DVD and did
manage to see and buy what I was looking for in the mix. There was also
quite a bit of instruction available for lap steel guitar. If all else
fails...
Good luck and nice making your acquaintance.
Ed Cregger
J. White
Check out www.scottysmusic.com
For Strings (singles for different tunings)
www.juststrings.com
For a strings gauge chart
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/gauges.htm
This should help!
J.D.
LJL
Low to High
DGDGBD
Lewis
Hey Keith,
Tuning the lap steel to open major or minor chords, whether they be E,
G, D, whatever, is that you are essential pidgeonholed into playing
exclusively in a major or minor key. The only difference in the
tunings is the "color" a particular tuning exudes. ie; E major tends
to be a bluesier type sound, G major is more on the country side etc.
Regardless, this is the best place to start. It will give the player a
sense of location and feel regarding selection of notes and note
combinations. Certainly the C6 tuning provides the best of both
worlds, as the C6 is essential exactly the same as an Aminor7. The
problem with this tuning is that one has to learn how to dampen
certain notes (particularly the 6th) so as not to have every song
sound like the piano part in "Behind closed doors". Tuning to a 6th
chord gives you greater flexibility as you can switch easily from
major to minor chords, but essentially turns the instrument into a 5
string.
My suggestion is to have your girlfriend start out in E major. The
reason for this is that this is the position most guitarists are
familiar with (E on the 0 fret, A on the 5 fret), makes it fairly easy
to remember. Switching later on to an open G major she'll find that,
as the notes in the triad are in a different order, the chording takes
on a more countryfied sound.
Take a listen to the songs at the link below. Most of them were played
on a lap steel, some tuned to Emajor, one in Eminor, one in A minor.
It'll give you a good idea of the types of sounds you can expect to
hear from different tunings. If you need specific tunings for each
song just email me.
Good luck to the both of you.
Lewis
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/lewiscammaratamusic.htm