Selecting tunings for a Triple neck

[Alex Cattaneo]

Allright, she's finally good to go, so it's time to string up my triple neck Stringmaster. I decided to go with C6, E13 and A6.

C6: I've always used C6 with a high G, so I think I'm going to stick with that, but this time I'm going to use the Jeremy Wakefield thing and put a high B in place of the low A. Wasn't using that low A much anyway, so I'm curious how that B will open things up.

E13: Never really figured out how or when to play this tuning, but I'm going to give it another try. I got the SIT string set which goes B D E G# B C# E G# from low to high.

A6: Here it gets interesting. I have a baritone nut on this neck, so was thinking about having one or several bass strings. On my other guitar I tried lowering the low G to an E and that was really cool for bass lines, alternating between and A and E on the two lower strings. I could also go with an A a full octave lower.

For example A E A C# E F# A C#

Or, if I want the high E

A(low)A C# E F# A C# E


I was also considering some kind of hybrid tuning where the lower strings are tuned in fourths, like a bass or a guitar, which would really make it easier for me to play bass lines.

E A C# E F# A C# E

or

C# F# B E F# A C# E

Yeah, still not sure about this one...

P.S. I ended up with

A(low)A C# E F# A C# E

so straight A6, and I can switch it to the Kayton Roberts tuning by raising 4 a semitone and lowering 2 a semitone. Pretty cool!

[Duane Becker]

Looks good Alex, and good choice for your tunings. I have a triple neck trap pickup early Fender that I have for my three tunings. Mine are

C6 high to low: E, C, A, G, E, C, Bb C-I think they call that the C13 too. But I really like the low strings and the seventh chord with the Bb in there. I never really was a fan of the high G on top

B11 the Jules Ah See-Barney Isaacs tuning:
E, C#, A, F#, D#, B, F#, and B. I just love this tuning.

and then for the third, I don't use it often, but I love the Hawaii Calls sounds you can get with this similar to what they were playing behind Web when he was doing the announcing.
E 13: E, C#, G#, F#, D, B G#, low E

[Alex Cattaneo]

I decided to go with the same E13 as you after seeing a video where Alan Akaka plays bits of Hawaii Calls!

It makes a lot of sense to me to have all thirds from 1 to 9 and then a C#m triad on top, which is very familiar to anyone who plays regular guitar. Very excited to start working on that one.