I like the 6 and 9 aspect of it, which led me to the following.

Assume a E-G-A-B-D-E-G-A-B-D ten string tuning, and assume that you considering putting this tuning on a dormant C6 armrest, oops I mean neck.

So this tuning with no pedals is a E minor pentatonic scale or a G6 add 9 scale.

The overall goal is a good tuning for loud electric blues, think Stevie Ray Vaughan or something along those lines.

No pedals you are in good shape, the pentatonic is right there.

Some obvious notes via pedals/levers I would add would be A#, F# and C# for single note work.

Also a G-G# raise on a pedal, so that you can trill beween the major and minor third of E chord, that's a classic blues move.

For playing over the A7 of a blues in E, maybe drop the D to C#, making an Adom7 add 9 across the strings.

For playing over the B7 of a blues in E, I guess raise the Ds to D# and the Es to F# for a B dom 7 across the strings

If you take a look at Junior Browns tuning on 8 string steel, it's really good for blues. Listen to "Guit-Steel Blues"

You could add a couple of lower strings to it for 10 string. The notes are (high to low) G, E, C, A, G, E, C, Bb... This is a very handy tuning for blues soloing and chording. For example. If your playing in E (4th fret) you have some good "major" soloing, but if you move up 3 frets to the 7th fret, you have wonderful access to the E pentatonic minor & blues scales.

Your C6 neck is almost tuned like that already!

If you like an open E tuning try E13th:

G#, E, C#, B, G#, E, D, B, G#, E (High to low)This would be nice on your pedal steel. The "D" string could be lowered to "C#" and you'd have a nice 6th tuning there too. In this situation you also have a good pentatonic minor up 3 frets.

I play this E13 (2nd thru the 7th strings) on my (6 string)1935 Dobro lap steel and play a ton of blues on it.

I really would consider some chords to strum instead of just the soloing notes.

__________L1__P1____P2___P3____P4___P5____
1__G_____+G#_____________+A_______________
2__E _________+F#______________+F__________
3__D__________+E___________________________
4__B_________________+C_____________+C#___
5__G_____+G#_____________+A_______________
6__E__________+F#______________+F_________
7__D__________+E___________________________
8__B___????????????_____
9__G___????????????_________
10_E___????????????_________

I am more accomplished as a 6 string guitarist than a steeler (I am trying to even that up), so I got out the Strat and plotted the pentatonic, thirds, and sixths for an A blues scale.

The base pentatonic scale I like is A-C-D-E-G, with C# optional. I also use Eb, F#, C# and G# over certain places in a 12 bar blues for flavor. For instance, G#, D, bend D to E played over the V7 (E7 in this case) is a classic move.

Key bends include G to A, A to B, D to E, I wanted to get those on pedals.

The thirds/sixths for an A blues I like to use are from the G Major scale, ie E-G, F#-A, G-B, A-C, B-D, C-E, D-F#.

For thirds/sixths the pedals above would be pushed in pairs to traverse the thirds.

For example,
2nd fret, strings 2 and 5, press P3 and P4 to bend A-F# to B-D
0 fret, string 4 and 5, press P2 and P3 to bend G-B to A-C
7th fret, string 4 and 7, press P1 and P2 to bend A-F# to B-G

Strings 2,4,5 above would correspond to strings 1,2,3 on a 6 string guitar standard tuning.

The frets you would play on steel you correspond to 6 string guitar, ie for A your basic positions would be fret 0 and fret 5.

The goal is sound like a screaming lap steel with impossibly fast bar slants, via the pedals.

Any thoughts on my latest brainstorm?

[This message was edited by Scott Swartz on 30 September 2002 at 01:24 PM.]

Seriously, my back neck is a C6th with added 9th in the middle (D). See previous threads on this. On my front tuning I just recieved my old Franklin guitar from Paul Sr., and it not only looks like new, it has a brand new tuning on it that is amazing. I am going to redo my other Franklin in a similar way. It is a cross between a Sacred Steel E tuning and the E9th. I believe that you can do pretty much anything on this that you can do on the E9th, but the rhythm capabilities of this tuning are phenominal. I feel like going out and getting a job with AC/DC......
Here's a link to my copedent:
http://tyack.com/Technical%20stuff.htm

Lowers would probably help with chords though.

_________LKR___RKL___P1____P2____P3____P4_____P5____
1__G_________________________________________________
2__E ________________________+F________________+F#___
3__D___________________________________________+E____
4__B_________________+C#_________________+C___________
5__G____+G#___-F#_________________+A__________________
6__E________________________+F___________+F#__________
7__D_________________-C#_______________________+E____
8__B________________­_____________________+C_________
9__G____+G#___-F#_________________+A_________________
10_E________________________+F____+D_________________

_________LKR___RKL___P1____P2____P3____P4_____P5______
1__C__________________________________________________
2__A ________________________+Bb_________________+B____
3__G_____________________________________________+A____
4__E_________________+F#_________________+F____________
5__C____+C#___-B__________________+D__________________
6__A________________________+Bb__________+B____________
7__G_________________-F#_________________________+A____
9__C____+C#___-B___________________+D__________________
10_A________________________+Bb____+G__________________

There are lots of dom7 chords available. For instance, at fret zero you have E7 (LKR), A7 (P1 + P3), G7 (P2), and a huge D7 (P3 + P4).

Minors chords are available at fret zero and also "up 2 frets" and "back 2 frets".

There is a VIIdim on string 4,5,6 at fret zero.

At zero fret, have G, D, A and E power chord grips on the lower strings.

[This message was edited by Scott Swartz on 27 November 2002 at 01:51 PM.]

The standard E9th tuning is good for playing the pentatonic scale. With string 2 lowered to D and your G$ strings raised to A, at the 4th fret the notes sre:
E G A B +D E A +D -G B

The G-G# lever is the single most important lever, use the B-Bb a lot also.

Its a little hard to tell from just looking at the chart, but it is very easy to play smooth sounding blues scales and licks on this tuning.

I would recommend a meantone tuning system for this copedant also.

_______________LKL1_______LKR________P5_____P6_____P7____P8______P9______RKL______________
1__G__.012________________________________________________________________________________
2__E __.014____________________________________+F_________________________________________
3__D__.016_____________________________-C#__________________________+E_______+D#_______
4__B__.018______-Bb__________________________________________+C__________________________
5__G__.024_________________+G#_______________________+A_________________________________
6__E__.030_____________________________________+F________________________________________
7__D__.034_____________________________-C#__________________________+E_________________
8__B__.038______-Bb__________________________________________+C_________________________
9__G__.048_________________+G#_______________________+A________________________________
10_E__.056________________________________________________________________________________