Anyone using 6th tunings for slide guitar??

[Jim Fogarty]

Hey,

I started out playing straight guitar slide for years, before exploring steel. I play a lot of C6 non-pedal, and was wondering if anyone's experimented with using 6th-based tunings for slide? Obviously, most slants are out, but it seems like there would be a ton of other possibilities.

Thoughts? Experiences?

[K Maul]

I think Ry Cooder used D6(Bm7) on a few tunes, as have I. DADF#BD. Possibly it was E6 like Sol Hoopii. I have that option with a guitar I have outfitted with a Stringtone device. It gives me G,D&D6.

[D Schubert]

I will occasionally retune from open D to D6 by raising the second string from A up to B.

[Matt Sutton]

Hi Jim,
yeah, all the time. My acoustic is generally tuned D-A-D-F#-b-e, though there are a couple tunes running C-A-C-G-b-e. Also came from a bottle-neck background- with high action there's plenty opportunity to fret behind the slide.

Matt

[Wesley Parish]

I think some people play in standard tuning, which is G6 on the first four strings. D G B E I've tried it - fooling around with my acoustic and a slide - but I haven't worked at it yet.

[Dave Mudgett]

I missed this on its first go-round. But absolutely, yes. There are times when I can't bring a steel to a gig - really small stage area, no room to sit or to fit a console. So about 8-9 years ago, I got a few inexpensive 7 and 8-string metalhead guitars, and put A6 and G6 on two of them. The scale lengths were pretty long - like 27.5-28" - I prefer to have the 5 interval on top, and the high G for C6 was pushing it. And I honestly flat out prefer 7 or 8-string steels for 6th tunings, and it is pretty hard to find a 7 or 8-string guitar with normal scale lengths.

For me, another advantage to slide guitar is being able to fret behind the slide, which opens up almost pedal steel-like capabilities. Fretting behind the slide is just stock-in-trade for me, I use it extensively. Honestly, with a 6th (or 7th - I use them both) tuning, the fretting behind the slide is not as critical as with an open-major tuning like open E, A, D, or G, where there are absolutely no color tones at all with the straight bar. It doesn't matter so much for single notes, but for chords on slide, I really want some color tones available, and slanting is extremely limited on slide guitar.

Ultimately, I got rid of those guitars due to the extreme scale lengths, but recently picked up a couple of real inexpensive but surprisingly good Jackson JS22-7 Dinky 7 Strings - https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars ... ic-guitar/ - the scale length is 26.5", which is still a bit long, but not much more than the original early-50s 26" scale Stringmaster. The normal price is $200, stupid deal was $160, and they have an open box one for $140 now. I find these guitars workable (I did have to file some sharp fret ends), and I was able to set one of them up with C6 = CEGACEG using a .011 or .0115 string for the high G. I have to use SRV-style plastic tubing down the string-through bridge hole to keep it from breaking, but it works. But honestly, for slide guitar, I find I prefer the lower sonority G6 = GBDEGBD, and the band I use it in does a helluvalotta tunes in G. So that's what I use for 6th, and I set up the other one with open G = DGDGBDG, i.e., just an extended Robert Johnson style tuning with the high G. Or you can think of it as Vestapol E tuned up 3 semitones, but with the extended 5 on the bottom.

Another consideration in using these metalhead guitars is that the pickups are pretty highly wound humbuckers. Rhythm pickup DCR reads around 9.5K Ohms, lead pickup around 16-17K Ohms, the latter more like highly-wound pedal steel pickups. So I have to work with EQ a bit to get a tone I prefer with the 6th tuning. I really like these pickups for playing more rock and blues stuff with the Extended Open G tuning - they're hot but not insanely hot, and really sound good with my Dumble-style pedals like the Simble or Zen Drive.

These are great for cheap guitars. But I have been considering getting a multiscale 7 or 8-string to get back to a 25.5" scale on the high string, moving linearly up to 26.5, 27", or even 27.5" on the low string. I'd like to be able to put on a larger gauge high string. I think I need to get to a big-box store (none around here) to try some out and see if I can get used to the slanted frets with the slide.

I have to say that I do get some weird stares when I bring one of these metalhead 7-strings to my bluegrassy Americana band and play something like a Bob Wills tune.