Newby question

[Tommy Boswell]

I know little to nothing about lap steel. I have a D10 pedal steel now, and I'm trying to learn the C6 neck.

If I were to buy a 6 string lap steel, is there a common tuning I could practice with and develope skills that would transfer between lap steel and the C6 neck on my pedal steel?

[Noah Miller]

At the risk of stating the obvious... just use C6. You'll have to choose a subset of those 10 strings, but you can keep using the same tuning without the pedals. It's a common enough tuning that there are plenty of string sets out there.

[Brad Bechtel]

https://steelguitarshopper.com/c6th-1/

[Tommy Boswell]

Obvious, yes. Either CEGACE or ACEGAC would transfer directly to C6 on my D10. But which of those is "more common"?

[Jack Hanson]

But which of those is "more common"?

CEGACE. Lots of great tutorials available.

Be careful, though. Those little 6-strings can become addicting, and you may seldom touch your D-10 again once you're hooked. I speak from my own personal experience, since I played a D-10 for at least a decade before I purchased my first 6-string. Although I still have a S-10 set up, the D-10 hasn't seen the outside of its case for years.

One plus -- a small amp will do the trick; you won't need 200 watts and a heavy speaker cab for a lap steel, so your back will love it.

[Bill Groner]

I know little to nothing about lap steel. I have a D10 pedal steel now, and I'm trying to learn the C6 neck.

If I were to buy a 6 string lap steel, is there a common tuning I could practice with and develope skills that would transfer between lap steel and the C6 neck on my pedal steel?

I guess I have a couple of questions. If you know little to nothing about lap steel, why would you start off with a pedal steel? If it was a gift, or you got a super good deal on it, then I guess I can understand and maybe justify it. I have a friend who was determined to learn a pedal steel he bought. He told his wife he was locking himself in a room and she should slip his meals under the door. After a month he says he came out frustrated and not much better off than when he started his quest. I think a simple 6 string lap steel tuned to C6 would be much better suited to the needs of a beginner.

[Tommy Boswell]

Been playing pedal steel E9 for 17 years. Learning C6 just for kicks.

[Rich Arnold]

The most difficult aspect for me when I change from my D-10 to the 6 string lap is that I find the lack of options. Because of the lack of strings.
Even moving from the 10 to the 8 string lap is not easy but I can tolerate it because the 8 string has a fat sound..and a half dozen other reasons.
I'm not questioning your motivation or reasoning. Just sharing my experience.
But as a D-10 player, when you get the 6 string lap you'll have dozens of ideas on how to tune it.
R.

[Tommy Boswell]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Rich and Jack.

[Tommy Boswell]

For now, I'm having fun jamming along with tracks on my C6 neck, staying off the pedals to get a feel for what a lap steel might be like. Need to learn some slants.