Help Tuning Doulble Neck 8 String Non Pedal Lap

[C Dixon]

Carl,

There are many books available. I am sure other posters will list some of them. If not, call Scotty's Music in StLouis and ask them to help you. 1-314-427-7794

In the meantime, maybe this will help:

Tune one of the necks to this,

E
C
A
G
E
C
A
F

Tune the other neck to this,

E
C#
A
F#
E
C#
A
F#

if you do not like one of these, make that neck,

G#
E
C#
B
G#
E
D
B

With this, you will have 2 of the 3 most popular tunings ever created for lap steel guitar.

Bear in mind, there are over one hundred known tunings for lapsteel.

But these are by far the most often used.

Dobro is another ball game. I know nothing about this type of playing. Never cared for the sound.

May God bless you in what ever you do,

carl

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Here's Scotty's website. http://www.scottysmusic.com/

[Steve Feldman]

Don't move!! Stay right there, back up two notches, and click 'tunings' at the bottom of the blue page. (or, if you get lost, click here:
http://www.b0b.com/forum/

And be careful!

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve Feldman on 27 February 2000 at 11:25 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Jim Landers]

Carl there is a ton of stuff out there for non-pedal steel. The first thing you need to decide is what kind of music you'd like to play. Hawaiian, Country, Western Swing, etc.

Jerry Byrd has a great book and also a video, but in my opinion the book is by far the best. It comes with cassette tapes to play along with. It's a bit spendy, but in my opinion well worth it.

Ciny Cashdollar has a 2 video set out that is real good too. It's Western Swing style.

I think you can get both of the above at Scotty's, plus he has a lot of other non-pedal stuff too.

Those tunings that Carl gave you are definitley the most important. Using those as your basic tunings you can just alter 2 or 3 strings a semi or full tone and get a bunch more tunings besides. Jerry Byrd's book explains all that in detail.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.....Jim

[Charlie Fullerton]

Hi Carl:
I've always thought that the two tunings on a double should compliment each other, and work well together. I use an A6th, old E13th combination -- I love Western Swing. I never saw much point in having A6th and C6th on the same double -- much too much alike. As a Spanish player, you should easily adjust to the bar positions of an E tuning, be it 6th,7th, 9th, 13th, or whatever.
I personally would not combine the E13th with the high G# with an A6th (unless you put an F# on top) again they are too close together.
My thinking is that if one heck has a fifth on top, the other should not have a third on top; unless the tunings are radically different. Hope this helps, good luck!
Charlie

[Ian Campbell]

Hey Jim,
I live in England is there any way I can get hold of the Jerry Byrd book mail order?

[Brad Bechtel]

Jerry Byrd's book is available through Scotty's Music in St. Louis:
http://www.scottysmusic.com/

------------------
Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[mikey]

What style of music do you want to play?...That would certainly narrow the field of tunings...I've been playing for like 20 years now and one of the biggest obstacles was deciding a tuning...and I still switch around,
Mike