When to start C6

[Austin Starkey]

Maybe some more seasoned players can give me some advice or point me to a thread on a question I'm sure that's been asked many times. Is there a "time" to look into learning C6? I've been playing E9 for a couple years now, still learning a lot, but have been coming across songs and sounds that use C6. I'm even branching out to play with other musicians on songs and would like to have that range going forward.
Maybe I just answered my own question, but any tips, advice, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I know it'd be an investment going from an S10 to a D10 but I think I'm too far down the rabbit hole to turn back!

[Pete Burak]

You can play alot of C6th sounding stuff on S10 E9th.
Do a Google search for C6th on E9th.
Here is a link to some info that comes up:
https://www.gregcutshaw.com/C6th%20On%2 ... 0E9th.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p49rY9NyOSk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVMj02WNWw

[Ian Rae]

The sooner the better. What follows is not strictly practical advice because for you the moment has passed, but I was lucky enough to start on a D10 because that's all that was available, and I studied both necks equally. I soon traded it for a universal, which is an alternative you might consider.

If you're only 2 years in you should soon catch up. C6 is more intuitive and less note-for-note than E9.

[Jack Stoner]

The "time" is "anytime".
Jump in and start feeling it out. Its not as foreign as you would think.

If you have the usual 8 pedal setup, Pedals 6 and 7 are sort of similar to the A and B pedals and you can get a pocket with them.

I'm old school and still use a high G for the 1st string but starting out, go with the D for first. That will give you another relation to the E9th.

[Ian Rae]

[duplicate post]

[Jerry Overstreet]

Never too soon. I'd only been playing about a year or 2 when I got my first D10. I restrung it, tuned it and started learning the C6 right away. It's right there in front of you and you can learn as you go.

I hate to see a lot of guys abandoning the D10 in favor of weight loss. I think they're really missing out. Even though you don't hear much C6 on modern records, it's still an itch you can't scratch any other way. It'll grab you and stay with you once you start.

Best of luck.

[Paul Wade]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_LovsJJA_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jZlyQJQh54

[K Maul]

I never really got deeply into C6 with pedals but now I think I should have. I think it was partly because there was just no place in my world to play that type of material. Some would say that you should master one neck before starting the other so I waited. Still haven't ”mastered” E9! Haha. Listen to what Paul has to say.
https://youtu.be/zdrZQYlv8oQ

[Jack Hanson]

If you're a tad hesitant to spring for a D-10, why not begin on a 6-string lap steel tuned to C6? Whatever you learn on the little guy will transfer to the pedal guitar, since the standard C6 lap steel tuning is identical to strings 2-7 on most pedal steel C6 necks. Go for it!

[John Swain]

I bought my first D-10 4 months after I started, 46 years ago!

[Mike Vallandigham]

The sooner the better. Buy a D-10. My first guitar was a D-10.

I enjoy C6th more then E9, for sure.

[Richard Sinkler]

If I had the money to upgrade now to a D10 or universal, I wouldn't even think about a C6 lapsteel. Chances are that some of what you are hearing and wanting to play, involves the pedals. If upgrading is a bit farther in the future, a lap steel would be a good start. I just wouldn't spend a lot on one and put that money into the upgrade.

[rick andrews]

Yesterday.

[Tony Prior]

How about right now ? For some very strange reason many view the C6th as some oddball thing that came from another planet, an impossible challenge. Probably because we hear the masters play such incredible music on the lower 10, , Swing, Jazz etc.. "I can never do that". Well many of us can't do what the Masters due on E9th either !


Its just a C tuning, yes, true , played a bit differently than the E9th, but the theory is exactly the same . The 5 and 6 Pedal would be a great place to start ( stock tuning ) , grow from there. Just like the E9th , the grips , pockets and ped position movements repeat up and down the fretboard. Learn half dozen movements in 1 KEY and you are good in any key.


IF you are baffled , move up 4 frets to E, now its an E tuning , beginning at the 4th fret.

Start today !

[Ian Rae]

I'll throw in another thought. I mentioned above that I started on a D10, but I didn't mention that I tuned the C6 neck to B6 in case I ever went universal. I soon got used to reading tutor material a fret higher.

Even if you never swap to a uni, it helps to relate the two necks and it gets the key of C away from the nut. The same string gauges work just fine.

[Roger Rettig]

I had a conversation along these lines with Tommy White many years ago. If I recall correctly, Tommy's reply was that he started both pretty much at the same time. I don't remember what age he was but he must have been a toddler because we know from that first album he cut that, by 15, he was playing like a Master on both necks!

His approach obviously makes the most sense but, in my case, my first guitar was a single-neck and it was E9th that had drawn me in to the fold. I suspect that this has been the case with a lot of us. I regret it now but I knew no better. Assimilating the two tunings concurrently would surely have been easier.

[Jim Fogarty]

I found spending a while with non-pedal C6......either 6 or 8 string......helped me make the transition a LOT easier. There's a ton of tabs and learning material for it, and and it's almost all transferable. When I finally got a D-10 and sat down behind it, I already knew how to do something and wasn't totally lost.

Now my mission is using the pedals.....but I'm able to make some music without them already.

[Ian Rae]

You can play a lot of C6 just using slants.
The pedals duplicate the commonest ones, so that the bar remains straight enabling 4-note chords (or more).

[Tom Keller]

No time like the present.

[Tucker Jackson]

I've been playing E9 for a couple years now, still learning a lot, but have been coming across songs and sounds that use C6.

Then it's time. "Necessity is the Mother of Invention."

Also, the mother of learning C6.

[Bobby Snell]

You're in Texas, hoss.

[Ian Rae]

It's a mystery to me why Austin from Austin wasn't born playing it

[Franklin]

Yesterday was the best day to start...Learning one tuning and then another does not slow your learning down...If you love its sound? Learn it today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdrZQYlv8oQ

[D Schubert]

Start now. Set up a lap steel or acoustic/resonator and learn the basics for CEGACE "center" of the tuning. Depending on circumstances, use a lower tuning with the same 1-3-5-6-1-3 intervals on a guitar you already own (G6, A6)

[Richard Alderson]

This is not a permanent solution, but just engaging the E flat knee lever to get a faux C6th is something you can do immediately and get lots of no pedals c6th sounds and songs. You can't do Nightlife, but you can do San Antonio Rose.