Lap Steel Guitar Tuning Hawaiian

Blues and rock open g open a or open d open e open g is tuned d g d g b d.

Lap steel guitar tuning hawaiian.

We carry string sets designed for g high bass g d am am6 am7 c6 and c7 tunings. The original tuning for playing hawaiian music on the hawaiian guitar was a either high bass or low bass. Instruction for hawaiian and lap steel guitar including information on tunings arrangements in tablature and covering hawaiian western swing and country playing styles. Part of it is a6 and the other part is b7 b9 b11.

You ll recognize sounds while your learning and playing the steel guitar. Hawaiian lap steel guitar strings are designed to be used only on steel guitars. Today most open tunings for lap steel guitar fall into 3 primary categories. Brad bechtel s excellent website is chock full of tunings.

B11 is rich in 9th and 7th chords and works especially well for hawaiian songs. The 8 string version i m discussing here is high to low e c a f d c b a. B11 tuning for lap steel guitar. It won t sound hawaiian or country if you don t play it like you would for country or hawaiian music.

Steel guitar really shines as a melody instrument and on lap steel fully harmonized melodies are not only possible but sometimes required. It s a combination tuning. Open a raises each of those notes a whole tone 2 frets to e a e a c e. Andy volk has written an excellent guide to steel guitar tunings.

C6 and a6 are extremely versatile tunings for 6 and 8 string lap steel. When i started my musical adventure there were only two types of guitars. These sets will work on hawaiian lap steels some table steels and some pedal steel guitars. E c a g e c.

Hawaiian lap steel guitar strings are available in many different tunings. Tunings for lap steel bottleneck resophonic and indian slide guitar covers tunings for 6 8 and 10 string guitars. Remove two or four strings and you have your lap steel string gauges. Start with c6th high to low.

It s the most comprehensive lap steel course i know of. Also it s important to listen to lots of hawaiian steel guitar so you ll become familiar with the sounds and get them into your mind. There are a few variations of the tuning. Scale positions on the top strings translated directly to the bottom strings.

The earliest hawaiian lap steel tuning was open a low bass e a e a c e. The e13th and diatonic tunings have very little repetition of notes so they are not as easy to conceptualize.