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Topic: 6 or 8 strings? |
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 20 Dec 2011 2:53 pm |
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| If I were looking for a more acoustic tone perhaps an acoustic amp and/or an acoustic effects pedal and maybe a wooden bar (piece of a broom stick)..... |
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J Hill
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2011 3:30 pm
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Acoustic is what I don't want.  I want that steel tone.
Yes, I do see the difference in your neck's widths. So if you buy the 6 stringer does it automatically come with the same width neck that the 8 stringer has? Are the extra parts to add strings very costly? Sorry if I'm treating you like an MSA salesman.... But I appreciate the advice of someone who actually owns one (or two). |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 20 Dec 2011 3:49 pm
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| The width of the neck is the same for either 6 or 8.....the extra nut & bridge is not very costly....check with MSA as it's been about 3 or 4 years since I've bought those parts.... |
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J Hill
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2011 4:21 pm
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| Thanks Howard, I'll do that. I hope it's still not very costly. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 20 Dec 2011 5:51 pm
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| Karl Fehrenbach wrote: |
| I am going to switch from 6 string lap steel to 8 string tuned to C6 with F as the 8th string, low to high, F A C E G A C E. The reason, as mentioned before is the note selection in the tonic key in which you are playing as well as the 4 chord on strings 8, 7, & 6. Plus the Maj 7th if you add string 5 to the 4 chord. Nice lush sound without the 6th note that has become a habit which I am desperately trying to break. |
Karl: After trying out different notes for the 7th and 8th strings of C6th tuning, the one that makes the most sense to me is what you spelled out which we might want to call a C6/FM9 to eliminate confusion with other C6 tunings. With the other variations its almost like the bottom strings are just tacked on and not absolutely necessary. With F A C E G A C E you have a very lush F major 9th chord with all 8 strings and a C6th chord on the top 7 strings. All 8 strings are absolutely necessary.
BTW this tuning uses the exact same intervals as Don Helms' preferred E6th tuning (his bottom strings are A and C# which like F and A are the 4th and the 6th). I think the C6/FM9 tuning covers a better range than the Don Helms E6 as it is pitched 4 frets lower. If that is not convincing enough, the C6/FM9 tuning is identical to the middle 8 notes of C6th pedal steel.
| Code: |
C6/FM9 E6(Don Helms)
C F E
-- -- --
E M3 M7 G# M3
C R 5 E R
A 6 M3 C# 6
G 5 9 B 5
E M3 M7 G# M3
C R 5 E E
A 6 M3 C# 6
F 4 R A 4
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Steve Ahola
P.S. Once your 8 string is tuned to C6/FM7 you can retune some of the bottom notes for variations. You can raise the 8th and 7th strings to G and Bb to get a C13th tuning with the exact same intervals as the Little Roy Wiggins high E13th tuning, but 4 frets lower. You could also raise the 6th string from C to C# and the 8th string from F to G to create an 8 string version of the Jerry Byrd C6/A7 tuning that is so popular here. What more could anyone ask for? 
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Chris Gabriel
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 24 Dec 2011 4:44 pm
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Dear Leila and crew...
by the way I just "won" a guitar from ebay...
An *8-stranger*
(Morrell)
Merry christmas to me (and you)
Chris
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J Hill
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 24 Dec 2011 10:10 pm
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Merry Christmas Chris and all the rest of you too!
Chris, can you show us your new guitar. Now that's exciting! |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 25 Dec 2011 11:53 am
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first of all, let say that some of my favorite steel players play 8-string.
But Leila, unlike most every other steel player I've talked with, and counterintuitively, for me, 8-string guitars became restrictive instead of opening up more possibilities. Maybe from many years on standard guitar, I found that I think better with just six strings. With eight, I'd often get lost in the chase for advanced, complex harmony instead of just playing songs. Eventually I found that I could imply harmony with fewer notes and it would be al be less cluttered. I actually got better on the instrument when I restricted the strings to six. There's nothing like the sound of strumming an open C6th/Fmai9 and letting it ring from here to Sunday but for it personally, that was a bit of a trap. Try both and see what you think. |
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J Hill
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2011 3:37 pm
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Okay, here's a hard question: If I wanted to use the same song tablature for an 8 stringer that I'm using on my C6 tuning (C-E-G-A-C-E), how would I tune those 8 strings from 1 to 8?
I think Steve answered this above....FACEGACE. Now, what do I do with the FA strings? |
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Chris Gabriel
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2011 5:38 pm
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Here is my new guitar! (well haven't technically recieved it yet...this is the ebay picture)
Steve Ahola gave me some pointers (thanks Steve!) on how to transform my pickup/nut challenged guitar into a screaming monster steel...
I look forward to the "Challenge" 
I plan to tune this one to "GECAGECA" by the way.
Peace on earth, and goodwill to all men and women,
Chris |
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J Hill
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2011 6:21 pm
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That's a great looking guitar, Chris! I happen to like red a lot! I know you're going to have a lot of fun with that one.
I asked above what I should do with the F and A strings. I just broke the A string so now I only need to know what to do with the F string. |
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Chris Gabriel
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2011 10:58 pm Oops
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| Lol! |
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Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Posted 26 Dec 2011 12:03 am
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| 8 strings. You'll never be sorry you went with 8 strings. |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 26 Dec 2011 1:47 am
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| Leila Tuttle wrote: |
| I think Steve answered this above....FACEGACE. Now, what do I do with the FA strings? |
For starters:
FACE[8-5] is an F Major 7th chord
ACEG[7-4] is an A minor 7th chord
CEGA[6-3] is a C Major 6th chord
(all of the notes from the 1st-7th strings are CM6 and Am7 chord tones)
Or you can retune the bottom strings as G-A or G-Bb.
Steve
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2012 5:11 pm
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| George Keoki Lake wrote: |
It's simply a matter of choice. 8 strings will definitely afford you the advantage of playing fuller chords and perhaps finding the ellusive "lost chord" depending on which tuning you select.
I personally prefer 8 string. However, looking back to the truly great steel guitar artists of yesteryear, DICK McINTIRE, ANDY IONA, SOL HO'OPI'I, SOL K. BRIGHT, TAU MOE and the list goes on and on, some mighty fine work was done on 6 strings and using fairly simple tunings such as the E7, C#m, F#9 and/or D9.
Stepping ahead a few years, I suggest you listen to Joachim Murrphy doing "Sweet Georgia Brown" on a 6 string! Awesome. (Yes, he did another version using pedals, however the original 6 string version was absolutely super).
It's not how many strings you have, it's what you can do with them.
That was all that really needed to be said. I would say that unless you have a specific idea about what you want to do with the additional two strings, don't bother with them.
Which poses another interesting question...gee, how come the violin has stayed with only 4 strings and one standard tuning ? |
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Amor vincit omnia |
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