G6 versus A6

[John Rosett]

When I started playing steel, I went with a G tuning, then discovered the sixth tuning, so I just used G6. Then, I discovered this site, and found that hardly anybody uses G6, but A6 is a pretty popular tuning. I've been playing in A6 a lot lately, but I don't really know how much difference there is between the two, other than the slightly extended low range of the G6. When you play a D chord on the 5th fret in A6, it sounds pretty much the same as a D chord played on the 7th fret in G6.
What are the advantages of A6 over G6?

[Noah Miller]

For me, it's just that electric A6 sets are easy to find (even if I still have to order them online). I keep my acoustic steels tuned the same way as my electrics just for convenience's sake, and it happens that I can find acoustic G6 sets but not acoustic A6 sets. If I had started on Dobro and gone over to electric steel, I probably would tune them all to G6. Instead, I special-order A6 sets for the acoustics.

[Dom Franco]

Some advantages of the A6th tuning are that you can easily retune to C6th using the same string gauges.
There is a ton of tablature available for C6 and a fair amount for A6th.

If you ever begin to Play pedal steel, the E9 pedal down position is basically A6th.

If you play G6th already, The difference is minimal.
It just depends on which keys you play in most frequently. There are some cool "hammer on's" and licks using open strings in A6th, but those same licks would be 2 frets lower in pitch in G6th. So you just have to find what works best for you.

Dom

[Jeff Mead]

For me, coming from and continuing to play "underarm guitar", I find it much more intuitive to find chords in A tuning. I know I'll find an E on the 7th fret and a G on the 10th without even thinking.

Tuned to an open G or C, I'd be counting on my fingers half the time.

As has been previously said, if you decide to try pedal steel at some point, the pedals down position - at least on half of your strings - is that A6.

Of course, most Dobro players tune to G, although mine is in A6 too.

[Bob Watson]

I was playing an 8 string Dobro in an all acoustic ( no pickups, we mic'd everything ) band that played a lot of original old style C&W and Rockabilly style music. I had it tuned to G6, low to high E,G,B,D,E,G,B,D. We recorded a CD and eventually the bandleader decided to go "electric" and we also started to use a drummer. I had an 8 string lap steel that I had tuned to C6 so I just used it at first and although I couldn't play exactly the same licks that I used with the G6 tuning, I just did my best to make it sound like the CD that we had recorded. I picked up a D8 Stringmaster and I tuned the top neck to G6 and the back neck to C6. There are some really cool open string licks you can do with a G6 in the key of E and I used them on our CD a lot so it was great to be able to use them again with the G6 on the Stringmaster. I will say that the C6 neck cuts through the mix a lot better than the G6 and I've always wondered whether an A6,which was a lot more popular tuning in the pre pedal steel days of D8 lap steels, cuts better than the G6 tuning. I really dig the E, E7 licks that I can get with the G6 tuning, so that is my motivation for leaving it on the Stringmaster, but most D8's have an E6 or an E13 on the top neck and a C6 on the bottom neck. I would be curious to hear from other lap, non pedal steel players who have tried G6 and get their input about how it cuts through the mix with a band. It could be that its just a little too low to really mix well with a band, but I've heard Al Perkins play a 6 string Fender non pedal steel at the steel convention in St. Louis using a Dobro tuning, GBDGBD, and sound great on some Blues tunes. I would be curious to hear from other lap steel players that have tried a "G" tuning and see what they have to say about the G6 tuning.

[Gary Rue]

I like B6 with a a C note on the 6th string for 7th and dim. cords. As a guitar player first it's nice having B in the same place and I like the tension on the strings when pulling behind the bar. String gauge matters a lot. Lower tuning go bigger gauge. My 2 cents!

[Billy Gilbert]

With G6 you can sharp the Gs and be in E7 pronto if you like that tuning.

[John Rosett]

Thanks for all your thoughts on this!
I will probably never take up pedal steel at this point in life, so that's not much of an issue.
Billy Gilbert-I often pull the G string behind the bar to get that 7th chord.