Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

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Riggs Horton
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Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Riggs Horton »

I have just recently discovered Wiggens' and his Steel playing, and I absolutely love it, and as a Lap Steel player, I want to learn how he did it. This song was recorded in 1955, I'm just curious what tuning he's in. My 8 string is currently in A6, but I may want to tune it to whatever he's in here. https://youtu.be/Pnj9_6AIhnQ?si=oi-S8pumfjHCgFOA
Riggs Horton
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Doug Taylor
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Re: Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Doug Taylor »

Not sure about this song but in his book he used E13

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Roy-Wiggi ... 114&sr=8-1
Glenn Wilde
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Re: Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Glenn Wilde »

I have his book from 1949 and he lists the tunings he uses. It's a very simple book, aimed at the absolute beginner so there's not much information worth sharing here, however, I'm glad to have it.
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Bill Leff
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Re: Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Bill Leff »

I'm gonna guess E6.

If you like this style, check out Carl Smith's "The Essential Carl Smith" album.

Here's a cut that sure sounds like it might be Jerry Byrd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9uilIvd6PY
Sebastian Müller
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Re: Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Sebastian Müller »

Great song, Riggs,

thanks for posting. Love his signature lick at 0:28 that he reuses a couple of time in the song, so nice !
Definitely a 6th tuning, so I guess it is a E6th tuning with the Third on top what he calls E13th in his book.
Same one Don Helms was using but a 6 string version.
Should be a pretty playable with a standard C6 tuning.

Great to see parts of his book, thanks for sharing, Glenn !
Glenn Wilde
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Re: Little Roy Wiggens' Tuning in Lily Of The Valley

Post by Glenn Wilde »

Sebastian Müller wrote: 19 Apr 2025 8:19 am Great song, Riggs,

thanks for posting. Love his signature lick at 0:28 that he reuses a couple of time in the song, so nice !
Definitely a 6th tuning, so I guess it is a E6th tuning with the Third on top what he calls E13th in his book.
Same one Don Helms was using but a 6 string version.
Should be a pretty playable with a standard C6 tuning.

Great to see parts of his book, thanks for sharing, Glenn !
It's a cool book, I've never seen another one. It was probably something they sold at the Eddy Arnold merch table when they played, it seems very homegrown, with hand drawn lessons and such. I should probably try to scan the whole book and post it here for folks to see.
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