Reso Tunings

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

I've had a six-string reso for quite a few years now. It's tuned to standard G tuning.

I've never been very inspired by the G tuning.

Any suggestions for an alternative? I'm a pedal steel player with very little non-pedal experience.

Thanks!
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Spats Davenport · From: Dublin, Ireland

Lee,

High bass G with the 4th string D raised to E gives a nice sixthy sound, while maintaining the familiarity of the three treble strings. Cindy Cashdollar uses this one a bit.

I had a Tricone in C6, which I know some here believe does not suit the instrument, but sounded fine for me.

Of course, I'm a singer and guitarist who just paddles in the steely waters, but it's my two eurocents.

Spats.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

From open D (high to low) DAF#DAD you can easily get a bunch of tunings ....

- Open G
- Dmaj7 (1st string D to C#)
- D6th (2nd string to B)
- D7th (4th string D to C)
- Dmin (3rd string to F)
- DADGAD (4th string to G)
- CGDGAD (low C/El McMeen tuning)
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Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Easy stuff to try out:
Raising the middle D to E gives you a 6th tuning, similar to C6, i.e., with a minor chord in it (EGB). No more strumming, though, with anything other than a major chord tuning (unless you want to sound Hawaiian). But you can move back and forth to open G on the fly...

That doesn't give you the slants that a real 6th tuning gives you (GBDEGB) but if you don't use slants it will be fine, You could drop the middle G to E for a real 6th tuning with good slants, that string will be a bit floppy, but you can certainly do that to try it out easily

And if you haven't used slants, they basically are the pedals on a pedal steel..e.g., in your open G tuning, a forward slant on GBD is the same as pressing A+B pedals, to get GCE, a C chord....
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Mark Eaton · Posted 29 Jul 2014 2:33 pm

All fine suggestions, and it is fun to use different tunings but there's a reason GBDGBD is so popular for dobro and the vast majority of learning materials are in that tuning - it is very versatile.

If you haven't spent much time on the instrument, then I can see how one would perceive of it as being not very inspiring. But the deeper you dive in the more you find that most of what you need is there - the keyword is "most" - a tuning to an open chord, played across the strings with a straight steel bar is always going to have its limits, but I am amazed at how much music is there in Open G when I watch and listen to the top players in action.

Last Saturday we enjoyed a show with Mike Witcher on dobro, and it isn't a matter of it being "in my opinion" that Mike is one of the best players in the world and that it's open for debate - he just is!

He didn't venture out of Open G at all during the show, and he played some stuff that flat blew me away including some deftly executed reverse slants.

But I'm also amazed at how changing one string only in a six string tuning completely changes the "voice" of the guitar. Fellow member Greg Booth often tunes his 6th string from G down to E and this can give one a very different approach. This also was the tuning that Mike Auldridge used on his second solo album back in the 1970s on the big hit for Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly," that morphs into as a medley the Tut Taylor classic "This Ain't Grass."

Andy Volk posted earlier, and I am going to put in a plug for his excellent little book, Slide Rules - I highly recommend it. Every dobro and lap steel player will enjoy this book.

Here is link to Mike Auldridge playing Killing Me Softly/This Ain't Grass at the Station Inn in one of his last public performances, in 2010 - it was that evening that he announced that he was retiring from being a regular member of a band and would no longer tour. This was during ResoSummit in Nashville, put on by Rob Ickes (who rarely plays any tuning other that GBDGBD and it doesn't handicap him in the least).

A few of us members here were fortunate enough to be at The Station Inn that evening, I will remember it the rest of my days and I'm glad much of it was caught on video. Mike is using his Beard MAS with the 6th string tuned down to E. I was just out of view of the camera, but I made sure I found a seat near the front close to Mike so that I could watch the master up close and personal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2x7Mo2-vvU
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Steve Green · From: Gulfport, MS, USA

I de-tuned my little 3 strings to go give me a G6th tuning. It's now tuned:

1. B
2. G
3. E
4. D
5. B
6. G

It gives me the same intervals as a six string C6th, which I'm much more familiar with than open G. It's also the same tuning as the "middle 6" strings that Gregg McKenna puts on his 8 string reso's.

Of course, the small 3 strings have a lot less tension than the big 3. I'll be re-stringing it soon to the proper string gauges.

I'll buy a standard D'Addario open G set, and purchase a single 0.030w for the middle "E". I'll just discard the small string from the D'Addario set, move strings 2 & 3 down to the slots for strings 1 & 2, and put my 0.030w E string in the 3rd position.
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John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

What kind of music do you want to play? That can help determine the tuning that might be best.

Peter Leavenworth · From: Madbury, New Hampshire, USA

Lee,
40 years ago I was disappointed that I couldn't get minor triads with the standard G tuning on my dobro. I tried using a Scruggs peg on my second string but that quickly went away since it was just too cumbersome to work it in the middle of a tune. I took my low B off, moved the low G over to the 5th string position and put an F# on the 6th string position. I've been very happy with it for all these years, and I got the idea from the E9 tuning on my PS. You get major 7ths, full minors, sixths, and partial ninths as well as some occasional chromatic licks. The odd string is out of the way of the full G chord so you can strum back-up, etc. What would be optimal, for me, is a 7-string dobro. I'm working on it.
Pete

Webb Kline · From: Bloomsburg, PA

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

I detuned the second and third strings to get D major on the top 4. G B D F# A D It works well for me because it's a subset of my 8-string D6th tuning.
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Dave Thier · From: Fairhope, Alabama, USA

I think a lot of what works for you depends on where you are coming from. Many folks here are steel players first and play dobro only occasionally. For them it makes sense to stick with something you know.

I am primarily a dobro player. I dabbled in lap steel a while back and got frustrated with the C6 tuning since I wanted to use what I already knew from the dobro. I think many here would cringe at tuning their lap steel in dobro G.

For those looking to master an instrument, it makes sense to me to start with the common tuning and for dobro, this is GBDGBD.

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Nice thinking Dave. The same applies for the lap steel using the old A Major tunings. These were used in the 20's through to the 40's.

A Major Low Bass Hi to Lo E C# A E A E

A Major Hi Bass Hi to Lo E C# A E C# A

The Low Bass is nifty to play when you're playing solo and accompanying yourself in your living room, or you're playing with someone who is playing the "second part" in unison to the song.

The High Bass tuning is used when you're playing with a group as you don't need to play any chords. Playing these old tunings, you surely learn nifty slants resulting in great haunting sounds of the Hawaiian guitar.

And similar to G6 on the Reso, A6 E C# A F# C# A is nice.

It's so easy learn, and a lot of fun.

Geo
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"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me"

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

"I detuned the second and third strings to get D major on the top 4"

Ha! I did just the opposite in the studio once. The song structure cycled between E and D a lot. Okay,,, I could play the E open in E tuning, but then jumping up 10 frets to play the D sounded cruddy and disjointed. So,,, I tuned the low three to D tuning, DAD, and the top three to G tuning, GBD. DADGBD. Worked great!

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

That sounds interesting John. I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for sharing that.

Geo
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"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me"

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

George,
What I did was play the low strings on the 2nd fret for the E chord, and of course open for the D chord. As the song was in the key of E, the top three strings, GBD, were Em7th, and perfect for licks in the key of E. Here's the song. I was not satisfied with the take, but they wouldn't let me do it again. I had just tuned up when they came back from lunch. Hadn't played a note in this tuning. I came up with the tuning while they were all at lunch. I rushed to a nearby music store, and bought a nut riser. I asked the engineer to record a run through, and if they heard anything they liked, I'd work on it. This is that run through. They liked it, and wouldn't let me make a second pass. I hear all the mistakes, and timing screwups, but it wasn't my money,,,,,,,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ100pj82Po

Former Member · Posted 5 Aug 2014 8:22 pm

G-B-D-G-B-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATuhvnu4gy4

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Jouni Karvonen · From: Helsinki, Finland

Bm7(D13) is my newest favorite tuning on a tricone with standard "dobro" string set:
D B F# D C A (hi to low). I got this from the great Mike Neer Lap Steelin' blog of topics on Henry Bogdan and Old Steel Guitar Chord Charts. So Thank You again Mike!

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

I use C6 with the E on top. I find it a lot more versatile than G. There is less jumping around to hit the notes. There is a lot instructional material for C6. Most of it is intended for electric lap steel, though. C6 is one of the tunings that Mike Auldridge used on his 8 string guitars. There is an 8 string instructional DVD where he teaches it. But I find you can do almost as much with 6 strings. And you can get a lot out of his DVD for 8 strings to do it.
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Howard Parker · From: Maryland

Mike did tune one of his 8's to C6 but abandoned it for A6 to get more power out of the fatter strings.

Early on he fooled with G6 (Low E) on his 6 string and returned to that tuning later for several tunes.

Here is Mike on a promo track for the new "Three Bells" (Auldridge/Douglas/Ickes) CD to be released on Sept 16. Just scroll down a bit to the link. This is the G6 tuning.

Completed just weeks before his passing.

No one has tone like Michael. Smile

h

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

Good point, Howard. A lot of it does come down to personal taste. I prefer the tone of the lighter strings. And I like the way the C6 seems to sing out above the other instruments. I find that all too often playing in G6 or A6 the sound of the steel can get lost in the shuffle.
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Jim Bates · From: Alvin, Texas, USA

The open D tuning with low D is great for experimenting. (h-l) D A F# D A D
You don't have to change strings for this.

Thanx,
Jim

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