Does anyone play a variety of songs in this tuning?

back in the 30's and 40's, C# minor was a popular tuning. The Hawaiians used it a lot. However when Jerry Byrd popularized C6th, it became less and less popular. C6 has sooo much more and while the timbre is different, one can get almost the same on C6 as C# minor. But certainly NOT the reverse.

Sorry, I remember only one other tune that I used C# minor tuning on. And that was "Mae Toni". I am sure I played havoc with the spelling of that huanting melody.

I do not know how much JB relates to C# minor in his book that Scotty sells, but you may wish to inquire and see if Jerry charts tunes using this tuning.

God bless,

carl

[This message was edited by C Dixon on 21 September 2000 at 10:35 AM.]

I play most of my "Hawaiian" tunes in the C#m tuning.
"Hula Blues" would be the most descriptive example of this tuning IMHO.(Also Hoopii's version of Twelfth St. Rag )although I think it might be easier in the C#m7.
Check out the clip of Hula Blues @ my web address below.

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Basil Henriques
Emmons D-10 1970
and
Emmons D-10 1970
1949 "Leilani"
1949 Dickerson
RICKENBACKER "Olde Uglie" Twin 8
"Fender 1000"

quote:

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Steel players do it without fretting

---

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~basilh/

http://www.stax-a-trax.com/

Paradise Isle
Sweet Leilani
Coquette (Noel Boggs has a cut on this one)

Here are a couple Western Swing songs that can be played with this tuning, expecially with the 7th note added.

Oklahoma Stomp
Boot Heel Rag (Drag)

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kd...and the beat goes on...

I used to play all of those. That Paradise Isle with the slant bar gave a nice sort of 9th sound and really work the volume pedal.

Here besides that is as mentioned, "Sweet Leilani", Coquette. I also played "Little Brown Gal", "Moon of Manakoora", "Little Grass Shack".

There are lots of songs you can play on C#mi tuning. Any lap steel player has learned to use 2 or 3 tunings in a night.

I think A6 is so good because you can go to C# min , E6, E7 ,A7 with just a string or two changes.You can even go to C6 real easy. Herb Remington Kept his A6 even after going to pedals, Reece Anderson used Bb6 on his non pedal and it is just a fret higher than A6. Otherwise basically the same.....al

[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 21 September 2000 at 08:15 PM.]

1 E
2 C#
3 G#
4 E
5 C#
6 G#

I like the 8 string C#min9th which also includes the "D" for the dominant 7th.

1 E
2 C#
3 G#
4 F#
5 D
6 B
7 G#
8 E

I believe that Noel Boggs used this tuning on "Coquette" and some of his others on the album "Steel Guitar Magic." And there are other variations of the above that I won't bring up on this post but, are equally as useful.

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kd...and the beat goes on...

1. G#
2. E
3. C#
4. G#
5. E
6. C#
7. G#
8. E

I find that I don't use the high G# a lot. It just seemed practical to tune this way. It seems I must hit a lot of single notes in the C# minor tuning that I would make double notes if I were playing the same tune on the C6th neck.

Rick

[This message was edited by Rick Collins on 22 September 2000 at 04:31 PM.]

Using these tunings (lo to hi):
C#m: G# C# E G# C# E
C6: C E G A C E

Strings 2, 3 and 5 in C6 are the same
intervals as strings 1,2,3 in C#m.

you said,

"It seems I must hit a lot of single notes in the C# minor tuning that I would make double notes if I were playing the same tune on the C6th neck."

This was, is, and always will be my "beef" with C# minor. The other beef I have with it is, it seems that every song is played in the "relative minor" key. There is NO 3 note major chord to be found unless you do a difficult backward slant.

True one can get a beautiful 9th chord on the first three strings by doin a 3 note, 3 fret slant. But beyond that, I believe C6 has it hands down over C# minor.

Others will surely dissagree,

God bless you all,

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kd...and the beat goes on...

LOOKING AT A COMMON C#min TUNING'S VOICING COMPARED TO E6 VOICING:
                       Up 3 frets
   C#min      E6       Emin7
                       Dorian
1. G#  5     G#  3     B  5
2. E   b3    E   1     G  b3
3. C#  1     G#  6     E  1
4. G#  5     G#  3     B  5
5. E   b3    E   1     G  b3
6. C#  1     C#  6     E  1
7. G#  5     G#  3     B  5
8. E   b3    E   1     G  b3

LOOKING AT AN E6 TUNING'S VOICING COMPARISON TO C#min7 VOICING:
                       Up 3 frets
    E6       C#min7    Emin7             
                       Dorian
1. G#  3     G#  5     B  5
2. E   1     E   b3    G  b3
3. C#  6     C#  1     E  1
4. B   5     B   b7    D  b7
5. G#  3     G#  5     B  5
6. E   1     E   b3    G  b3
7. C#  6     C#  1     E  1
8. G#  3     G#  5     B  5

Move E6 Tuning up 3 frets to the Emin7 / Dorian box and it contains the identical step voicing of C#min(7), just 2 notes short of the above C#min tuning's octaves span.

So E6 can provide MUCH / MOST of what C#min does; But C#min cannot come close to the versatility of a 6th tuning. ...IMHO.

And of course the familiarity and habits of either tuning plays a big part in how much a person might want to use either.

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Aloha,
DT~

[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 26 May 2005 at 05:10 PM.]

Those were the good old days.

This forum has gotten SO stale since Carl, Ray and Jesse(hope I got that spelled right...) used your picture as a dart board.