Went back to C6 and now I'm stuck

me too!
went to C6 over the weekend with my new lap steel I made. I put on Ernie Ball Power
Slinkeys. the third string is plain not wound. nice strings.

Ive got a bit to learn on C6. the slants are great. I like having the minors and sevenths.

Yah, just strumming straight across gets to me! Sorta transports me back to the late '30s or something.

And funny, waaaay before I got a steel and was thinking of just tuning one of my standard guitars up, I went to Brad's Page of Steel and looked through all the tunings. The one I settled on was C6, but then I got busy doing other things and never got around to it.

Then I got the lap steel, put some SITs on it and...there it was - that sound. Like the first time I put Rotosound Monels on my Turser Beatle bass. You know that kind of thing where you play something, just a note or a chord, and it sounds so good you realize you're just smiling like an idiot?

Well, for me anyhow!

I'm sorta glad to 'settle' on a tuning, which means I can settle on a string set, which means I can do the nut and get everything nice and flat.

I guess guys who switch string sets - for different tunings - have to keep a couple of different nuts so the strings will lay flat. Either that or...wait, it's a great excuse to get a few more lap steels - what am I talking about?!!

I am the same way. I hear a note and a tone and total nostalgia.
I am the epitome of 'smiling idiot'

I like having several tunings around. although I dont get to all of them often( because I get so enthralled with open G on my reso I get carried away)...but it is nice having several lap steels so I cna leave them set up. it didnt happen over night.

I have a nce DVD with C6. very simple stuff. I will post what I got tomorrow.

as far as being transported to another era. it is so!.
and Ii t has broaden my awarness of the historical aspect of other music.

the story of the Spanish guitar getting to Hawaii and then those dudes creating open tunings which then came to the USA in the twenties which led to swing and then the country boys found it
that's how I learned of Spade Cooley the King of Country Swing.
life is good sometimes.

I'm sorta glad to 'settle' on a tuning, which means I can settle on a string set, which means I can do the nut and get everything nice and flat.

And once you settle on a tuning you can concentrate on the more important things like bar and pick control, pitch, etc... Settling on a tuning - any tuning - can be a tough decision, but it gives you a "peace of mind" that is important in order to progress as a player, and should you ever grow tired of the tuning it's a lot easier to transfer what you've learned to another than if you've been constantly switching tunings.
And, as Jerry Bird is reported to have said: "It's not the tuning, it's the player"........ :wink:

Steinar

Yup I totally agree, BUT, there was some sage advice not long ago from....

Ah, so many tunings, so little time...... :wink:

Steinar

Hehe, just kidding man :)

But yes, again. I feel comfortable with Standard tuning on normal guitars, and open D, open G, and that Keola 'mostly standard' slack-key tuning (CGDGBE), so I'll probably never go through even a hundredth of all the steel tunings out there. All those E13 and E11 and B9s and stuff.

Looks like C6 (or D6) will be the one for the foreseeable future.

Probably will never go to 8- or 10-strings either :)

PS: you guys aughta check out the Feet D maj though. It's really a fun tuning. It's actually...I guess it breaks down to a 5-string tuning because the Ds on the bottom are octave. DDF#ADF#. Lots of 3 string slants (I hope that's the right term - but it's like 1st string + 3rd string) both forward and backward, with only 1 fret distance. And having the 3rd of the chord on top is pretty interesting.

Hehe, just kidding man :)

No you're not! Yes I am!! No you're not!!!! Yes I am!!!!!! :lol:

It's a good idea to stick to one tuning until the basics and then some are covered, but then.... believe me, you'll be bitten by the Tuning Bug....... And then there's always some more strings. And another neck.... Hmmmm, why haven't anyone thought of adding some pedals to this thing? :D

Steinar

well I found a steel with pedals but it doesnt fit my lap. my 74 ShoBud pedal seel is way more than I can handle in my lifetime. still, whatI can play is wonderful. the tone of this pedal steel is amazing me.

here is a simple slant for C6.

5th fret key of F strings 2 and 5. (I)
slant backwards on the 5th string to the 6th fret leaving the 2 string as is. you now have a Bd7 (IV)
next slide the slant up two frets and you have C. (V).

now my pedal steel pic:

Woo! Got 3 sets of SIT C6 strings, put one on and voila!

'Cept, I tuned it up to D, didn't like the positions I'd be playing in (we do mostly key of D stuff, but I like starting around the 5th fret), so I tuned it down to A, and...that's pretty much it. I'm still fooling around with amp models on the POD. I like the Blackface with a bit of drive (no compression), and the tone control almost halfway down - real creamy 'womantone' sort of sound.

And I read something on SteelGuitarForum about some guy trying his steel through an old Marshall, so I tried the 60s Marshall model.

Not bad!

glad to hear you are having so much fun.

guess you wont be geting out of the house much. :wink:

Yah, it's almost as bad as when I went through my Lord of the Rings ROTK PS2 period. Hours would go by and I'd look up and...whew, two hours here, 45 minutes there. And you know what's funny? It makes my playing of other guitars better now, I think. I mean, the 'shapes' on the fretboard...I'm hearing them mentally way better now, plus the thing is with lap steel, you're *supposed* to look at the fretboard, so it's this whole visual thing going on.

One night not too long ago, I went to bed and all those shapes - well the slants - were still going, and it blended in with my dream state I guess. I was dreaming I was playing, and could hear it, and was writing this piece; you know, like 'oh, I can go down there with the bar right here,' and I'd hear it, and then I'd move the bar up and hear it. I can only hope I start playing that instinctively while awake some day. :)

Yah, it's almost as bad as when I went through my Lord of the Rings ROTK PS2 period. Hours would go by and I'd look up and...whew, two hours here, 45 minutes there. And you know what's funny? It makes my playing of other guitars better now, I think. I mean, the 'shapes' on the fretboard...I'm hearing them mentally way better now, plus the thing is with lap steel, you're *supposed* to look at the fretboard, so it's this whole visual thing going on.

One night not too long ago, I went to bed and all those shapes - well the slants - were still going, and it blended in with my dream state I guess. I was dreaming I was playing, and could hear it, and was writing this piece; you know, like 'oh, I can go down there with the bar right here,' and I'd hear it, and then I'd move the bar up and hear it. I can only hope I start playing that instinctively while awake some day. :)

I am having the exact experience as you.
my jam band mates have been remarking for the last month or so. they noticed and have asked if I were studying theory.
arent we the ones now! :D

Wow, that's cool, Demo!

I love the way you describe that process Demo, very cool! :)

Steinar