Some questions from a newb

Travis Brown · From: Florida, USA

First post on a forum I've lurked on a fair bit over the years.

I've been playing guitar since the 80s and I'm a pretty good lead and rhythm player with a good handle on theory and some light jazz chops. That said, I finally just got my first lap steel, a Recording King RG-32SN, and I have some questions. FWIW, i think I'm more interested in Hawaiian guitar than Dobro style, and the music I write has plenty of minor and even the occasional altered chord. I bought the Brosnan Hawaiian video and watched it once but certainly need more time to digest it.

How did y'all settle on a tuning? There're so many options I have a bit of decision paralysis. My lap steel came with strings that seem appropriate to a E-G#-B-E-G#-B tuning, which I've been playing with. I obviously could put on lighter strings and raise it up to G or A with the same intervals, but my real question is for folks who use tunings like C6 or C11 - what drove you to that tuning? I've been playing with E11, and frankly I love it because it opens up easy access to minor and dominant chords. I worry a little that I'm losing the ability to strum a chord across all six strings, but I suspect that is a overblown concern.

If you do play with a 1-3-5-1-3-5 tuning, how do you play minor chords? I think I understand "slant" usage of the tone bar and the 3-5 interval gives you a minor 3rd, but do you just play two notes over a min7 chord?

How many of you are fluent with multiple tunings? That's where I worry I'll get in over my head. How do you keep it straight? I'm far from gigging on a lap steel, but if you do gig on them do you carry multiple guitars for different tunings? I can see retuning between songs, but I guess you have to pick tunings that work with the string gauges on the guitar. If you retune on the stage, what tunings do you use?

How many of y'all primarily play lap steel? This is more curiosity than anything else, but I wonder how many folks specialize in lap steel in this day and age.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to learning more as I read.

Allan Revich · From: Victoria, BC

I started on open D. DADF#AD

Tried several other tunings, and have settled on D6; DADF#BD

Putting the B on string 2 gives me easy access to minor chords, while still enjoying the big, fat, bottom for blues and rock strums. Also itâ€™s easy to tune the B back down to A for open D, or up to C for C7.

This tuning is a variation of the old C#m7 tuning. Same intervals but down a tone.
D6 = Bm7
E6 = C#m7

On my 7 string steels I put a reentrant C on string 7.

As for learning multiple tunings, there are quite a few players here who are indeed comfortable with many tunings. Iâ€™m not among them. Even though Iâ€™ve tried quite a few, I try to settle on only one at a time.
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Current Tunings:
6 String | G – D G D G B D
7 String | G9 – D G B D F A D
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database

Mick Hearn · From: United Kingdom

My main tuning for lap steel is C6 8 string although I do have an E13 to hand. My advice would be to pick a tuning and milk it for all it's worth. You will be surprised at what is there with slants and straight bar but you do have to go searching for it.
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ShoBud 6139, Remington Steelmaster D8, National D8 Console x 2, George Boards Lap Steel, National New Yorker.

Jeff Mead · From: London, England

If you love E11, than that sounds like the tuning for you.

I use A6 as my pimary tuning but I don't really strum very often.

I play mainly old country and western swing - not Hawaiian, though a lot of Hawaiian players do use a 6th tuning.

As a guitar player, it appeals to me because I have a nice easy to find major chord on the top 3 strings and the relative minor on strings 234. Regarding bar position, I pretty much instinctively know that I'll find a D on the 5th fret and an E on the 7th - with C6 I'm counting on my fingers.

In my current band, we have one song where I need a 7th chord so I do re-tune for that (unless I'm using my doubleneck).

As you can see from my avatar, I do sometimes use as many as 4 different tunings but I always have A6 on the neck closest to me and that's what I have on all my single neck guitars (and my Dobro).

Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

Master 6 strings first. G dobro tuning is a good 6 string tuning to start with. with open strings you can get a couple of minors, but mostly you are playing the minor third and suggesting a minor chord. Next stop is 8 strings.

Here you make a decision: some folks play an extended version of their 6 string tuning: G6, A6, C6. Just depends on what voicing sounds good to you. B11 is good for hawaiian. Plus infinite variations on a theme here.

But if you want my opinion. The best tuning is the 10 string eharp tuning for those that want to play music beyond country and hawaiian. Literally no one else on this forum will suggest that to you. I stand alone here. But I've done a deep dive, and I know what it can do, regardless of my limited technical ability to demonstrate it. For me, it is the only tuning that is as limitless as your imagination regardless of style.

Travis Brown · From: Florida, USA

I very much appreciate the replies, and I certainly appreciate the advice. Before I joined the forum I bought a set of strings for C6, so I guess I'll try that next and maybe twist it to B11 if I don't like C6. I do think it's pretty interesting how different the tunings can be - compare that to standard 6 string guitar where 99% of the players use the same tuning!

With regards to the eharp, I'm definitely interested. If I can find a 10 string lap steel for cheap I'll be trying it out. Conversely, if I stick with lap steel and get more serious about it, I'll look into shelling out the $800+ for an eharp. It definitely seems like a very advanced and flexible system.

Eric Dahlhoff · From: Point Arena, California

Lap steels are relativity inexpensive, so the thing to do is get several and set them in different tunings. Play around and enjoy all the differences. Then settle on the 3 or 4 you like best! Laughing

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"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)

Nic Neufeld · From: Kansas City, Missouri

Since you mentioned interest in Hawaiian, here's my teacher going through the gamut of tunings. If it shows anything, it shows how much is possible regardless of the tuning! Mastery of slants is really a key to sounding fluid and in tune when you are playing non-pedal, particularly if you want anything close to a Hawaiian sound. I was scared of, and avoided, slants for a long time when I started (let's face it, they are hard to get in tune) but just keep practicing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8qAmotF_c

C6 is where I started and remain, although I'm usually tuned to C13 (really just a modest variant of C6). C13, C6/A7, D9, B11, A6, lots of tunings are available with a set of C6 strings and a twist of a couple tuning knobs...that's one reason it is a nice "parent" tuning.

I would say B11 is a great complement, not alternative, to C6 or C13...on any doubleneck or tripleneck I have the pair of them on. C6/C13 is probably more broadly versatile to me anyway, but B11 is a split tuning in my view...on top strings, an A6 type tuning great for melody, on low strings, B7 or B9 (yes, B11, but rarely used) great for chordal accompaniment. Great for jazz, or Hawaiian swing stuff (hapahaole). But like I said...tune up in C6, just a couple minor retunes to get to B11 whenever you want to.

6th tunings like C6 and others give you the ability to hit minor chords (C6 = Am7) without slants. More chromatic tunings like Jerry Byrd's C diatonic or eHarp tunings will give you even more chordal options...the only downside to consider here is that the more capability to hit everything with a straight bar removes limitations in more limited tunings (such as a 6th or open major tuning)...and ironically those limitations are part of what gives steel guitar a bit of its sound...ie having to swell up into, and back down to, a split bar 7th chord in a 6th tuning. It's that fluid sound of movement that makes the steel (particularly in Hawaiian context) have that special something, vs hitting notes all on a straight bar and it sounding more harpsichord like. It'll vary of course by what style of music you play.

On the dobro thing, I asked Megan Lovell recently what she did for minor chords (she plays open G on an electric lap steel in a rock/blues context, coming from a dobro background). She tends to play two note intervals for that, if at all...she could do slants of course, but she says that makes her sound "too Hawaiian", not that she dislikes the music, but not what she's going for in that style, which makes total sense. When you've got a rhythm section or backing musicians...its an easy trap to think you need to hit all notes of the chord and you can lose sight of the melody. I've done that and sometimes its better to simplify and not overcomplicate arrangements with constant three part harmony!

My 2c!
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I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me

Travis Brown · From: Florida, USA

Travis Brown · From: Florida, USA

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