It is very ironic that I am writing this essay given the fact that I did everything possible to avoid ever playing the C6 tuning. In fact, I'm sure I rallied enthusiastically against it in the past. The reason: because it didn't make a drop of sense to me, especially after 30+ years of playing the guitar. Oh yes, I had managed to delve into a few open tunings while playing slide guitar, but for the most part, I was a standard tuning man through and through.
I had a lap steel kicking around in my studio for many years before I knew of any tried and true tunings. The first tuning that ever made any sense to me was open E. It just so happened that a few of the Hawaiian steel players I loved played in either open E or C#m7 (same tuning with a raised 2nd string to C#). I bought a tricone and joined a band called the Moonlighters and tried to learn how to play steel guitar on the bandstand (which I did, to mixed reviews). Fast forward a few years later and my steel guitar approach has changed dramatically and I've returned to familiar musical waters from my guitar-driven past and have even evolved from a knuckle dragging guitarist.
Ooh, I made myself laugh!It became evident to me that I was going to need to learn the C6 tuning. I finally resolved to learn it first by transcribing some steel guitar music (Steelin' The Blues, Slippery Elm, B. Bowman Hop to name a few) and looking closely at the moves and the way things laid out. One of the first things I examined was the intervalic relationship of the strings, which struck me as its greatest and most challenging feature. C6 afforded intervals of Major 3rd, minor 3rd and Major 2nd on adjacent strings. If I skipped a string I had access to Perfect 4ths and 5ths. The E tuning that I was so familiar with had P4, m3, M3, P4, P5, in order from top to bottom. There were some similarities there. Let me demonstrate:
C6
strings..............interval
1--->2.................M3
2--->3.................m3
3--->4.................M2
4--->5.................m3
5--->6.................M3
E
strings..............interval
1--->2.................P4
2--->3.................m3
3--->4.................M3
4--->5.................P4
5--->6.................P5
As you can see, the E tuning contains a few intervals not present in the adjacent strings of C6; however, if we look at the results of skipping a string between each, we get:
C6
1--->3.................P5
2--->4.................P4
3--->5.................P4
4--->6.................P4
It's evident that all of the intervals present in the E tuning are there in C6. In fact, if we look a little closer at the 2 tunings, the orientation of C6 has its root on string 2 while E has its root on string 1. If we find E on string 2 of C6 (fret 4) and work our way across the strings, we'll see C#, B, G# and E. Keeping in mind the notes of the E tuning from strings 1-4, you'll find a commonality with strings 2, 4, 5 and 6 at fret 4 of C6. Anything that can be played on strings 1-4 of E can be played on strings 2, 4, 5 and 6 of C6, with very few exceptions.
As with any other tuning, one needs to find zones that contain inversions of our chords, much the same
as the CAGED system that some guitarists use. This is how we are able to ween ourselves from playing
in root position all the time and take steps toward having freedom all over the fretboard. I started a
thread called Harmony and Chord Theory for Steel Guitar that contains some information as to looking
at chords as related triads. For example, C Major can also be seen as Em and even Bm (how? I knew
you'd ask). Bm triad (notes B D F#) gives us very consonant upper extensions of C--the 7th, 9th and
#11th. Replacing the F# with G on strings 1 and 5 of the Bm or D position gives us a G chord (essentially a CMaj9). So, in essence, we can look to the root positions of these triads and use them as positions for C, as well (Em or G, 7th fret, Bm or D, 2nd fret). We experiment with these zones to find comfortable and recognizable patterns and, more importantly, interesting sounds.
Let's try an interesting experiment: the intervalic relationship between strings 1 and 3 is a Perfect 5th. Any time our bar is placed in a straight line across these strings, the Perfect 5th interval exists. If we forward slant, we have an Augmented 5th; reverse slant yields a Diminished 5th. Starting with open strings, let's play the C Major scale in 5ths:
string3............string1...........chord
Open (A).........Open (E)........Am
fret 2 (B).........fret 1 (F) ........Bdim
fret 3 (C).........fret 3 (G)........C
fret 5 (D).........fret 5 (A).........Dmin
fret 7 (E)..........fret 7 (B)........Emin
fret 8 (F)..........fret 8 (C)........F
fret 10 (G).......fret 10 (D)......G
As you can see, in only 1 instance did we have to deviate from a straight bar: that is at the 7th degree of our scale, or the diminished chord. Simple, but the nonetheless interesting. If we were to fill in the missing notes of our triads on string 2, we'd be looking at root position triads (root, 3, 5).
0 0 0 = Am
2 2 1 = Bdim
3 4 3 = C
5 5 5 = Dmin
7 7 7 = Emin
8 9 8 = F
10 11 10 = G
12 12 12 = Am
You can see the shapes emerging here.
Now what if we take string 3 out of the equation and instead bring in string 4. Our intervalic relationship between string 4 and string 1 is a Major 6th. The relationship between string 4 and string 2 is a Perfect 4th. This is also known as a second inversion (5, root, 3), or as it's written in figured bass x6/4 (x being the chord name, 6 and 4 denoting the aforementioned intervals). Let's take a look:
0 x 0 0 = C
2 x 2 1 = Dmin
4 x 4 3 = Emin
5 x 5 5 = F
7 x 7 7 = G
9 x 9 8 = Amin
10 x 11 10 = Bdim
12 x 12 12 = C
Looking back at our root position triads and comparing them with this set, you'll sse the respective relative major or minor to each chord, and in the case of Bdim (vii dim) and G (V), you can see another interesting relationship which becomes more apparent when the chords are extended to 7th chords.
There is still much good stuff to come that will not only attempt to clarify C6 a little and put it into a context you can relate to guitar-wise, but really inspire you to try to learn to use C6 for any style of playing. Many have remarked that it sounds too Hawaiian, etc, but it really isn't the case. Learning the notes on the neck of C6 is really only half the battle--the other half is getting good right hand technique so you can avoid just thinking of C6 as a strum tuning.
Good night!
