The Open Tuning
There is a somewhat standard "open" tuning. "Open" means that no pedals or levers are engaged and no bar is used. It is as follows:
This tuning diagram shows the steel guitar from the perspective of the player. The 1st string is the one furthest from the player. The 10th string is the one closest to the player.
The following picture shows where the open notes of the PSG are found on the keyboard for reference. Middle C is marked in red. Note that the pitch of the 1st string is lower than the 3rd string, and the pitch of the 2nd string is lower than the 4th string. This tuning anomaly has evolved for fast scale picking purposes. The original 8-string tuning that preceded the 10-string version (early 1950s), did not have the first 2 strings (D# and F#).
The lower 8 strings (excluding strings 1 and 2) make up the notes of the E9 chord (An E9 chord is spelled E G# B D F#). So this tuning is called the E9 tuning.
The open strings on the staff look like this:
Note Range of the Steel Guitar
The E9 neck of the steel guitar has a range that starts with an open string B that is 2 B's below middle C. It is played on the 10th string with no pedals or bar and is found here in musical notation:
The highest pitch depends on how far you can move the bar up on the third string. But at fret 25, the pitch is the 3rd A note above middle C. It is found here on the musical staff:
This means almost all notes available on the E9 pedal steel guitar fall within this range:
The following images shows the full range of open notes (no pedals or levers engaged) at fret 0, fret 12, and fret 24:
Pedal and Lever Names and Locations
There are a few ways to think about the pedals and levers on the Pedal Steel Guitar. One is to think of them as "unassigned". In this context, the pedals and levers have generic names and do not indicate what effect pushing them would have on the tuning. The following image shows the names of the pedals and levers that are unassigned:
The pedals are numbered 1,2,3, etc. and the Knee Levers are lettered as follows:
LL (left knee, left lever),
LV (left knee, vertical lever),
LR (left knee right lever),
RL (right knee, left lever),
RR (right knee, right lever).
Another way to think about the pedals is to name them as assigned. Some pedal and lever assignments are so common that they have acquired names that are in common usage. For example, the [a] pedal pulls strings 5 and 10 up two semi-tones. Other common pedal names are the [b], [c], and [x]. For the levers you will often see [e], [f], [g], and [d]. The [dd] is something that I personally use to indicate that the lever that lowers string 2 is pushed all the way over. When it is only halfway pushed I just use [d].
The following image shows a standard "Emmons Setup:"
Of course, there are variations in the arrangements of the common pedals.
In example below, the [x] pedal (which lowers strings 3 and 6) is added before the [a] pedal in a standard Emmons setup:
In this example, the [a], [b], and [c] are reversed, and the [e] and [f] levers are reversed. This is called a "Day" setup. It allows for additional pedals to be added next to the [x] pedal, or the [x] pedal could be removed and other pedal assignments could be placed to the right of the [a] pedal.
To discuss tunings with other players, you might say "I have my [e] pull on the LR lever." This means the lever that lowers strings 4 and 8 a semitone is found on the LR knee lever. It is important to have different names for the assigned and unassigned pedals so that alternative arrangements can be identified. Continuing from above, you might say, for example, "yes I have the [e] pull on my instrument, but I put it on the RR lever." In this way a distinction is made between what a pedal/lever does and where it is located on the instrument.
About the C6 Tuning
Some professional model pedal steel guitars have another neck on them closer to the player. There are many variations on the tuning of this neck. But many players tune it to the more or less standard C6 (CEGA) tuning, which is similar to earlier lap steel tunings. It is primarily used to get that old-fashioned Hawaiian or western swing sound. However, there are some methods to get that sound with the E9 neck, so the C6 is not totally necessary to play western swing and jazz. Here is the "standard" open tuning on the C6 neck:
Most of the information on this site is for the E9 neck. The general information is pretty much the same, but given the difference in tuning, the specifics of the songs and exercises contained on this site are different. I do teach C6 in my private lessons, but primarily the non-pedal version. I plan on adding more non-pedal C6 info soon.
Common Steel Guitar Tunings
The history of the steel guitar in many ways has been a history of tuning changes. Before pedals were added to the steel guitar many tunings were developed by players. Some of these tunings took hold and others fell into disuse. Many stringed instruments have alternative tunings, but changing tunings seems to be part of the ordinary routine of playing the steel guitar. The reasons for this tuning indecision may be obvious, at least in the early, pre-pedal era of the instrument. By playing the instrument with a steel tone bar, you are essentially playing the instrument with one finger in the left hand. Two-note harmonies are tricky to play and three-note chords are limited. Re-tuning could be done to aquire some easier-to-play chords or scales, but usually at the expense of losing other chords and scales. The balancing act never really resolved into a perfect steel guitar tuning. The desire to add harmonies and simplify playing was a driving factor towards putting pedals on the steel guitar. In other words, the pedals add harmonic variety and simplify playing.
Even though the pedal steel has dominated in terms of popularity since the 1950's, the non-pedal steel guitar (also called "lap steel", "console steel", "fixed-steel", etc.) has persisted in both vintage and modern genres of music. Playing the steel guitar without pedals in some ways is a lost art. The tunings used however have not changed too much since the early years (pre-pedal). You will see many of the common tunings from that era used over and over again. Of course, players continue to try new tunings, but there are some more common tunings that all students of the instrument should be aware of.
In my studies of the hundreds of tunings of steel guitar, I have narrowed down the more common ones to a small handful. I've also split them into eras based of the string gauges that were used. A tuning is limited by the string gauges used. You can only aquire a small range of notes for each string gauge. If you tune a string too low the string will be loose and not vibrate properly. If you tune a string too high, you risk breaking the string or putting too much tension on your instrument. As a result, the variations in tunings were limited by what string gauges were used at the time. At certain points in history, some player would invent a tuning that would require changing the string gauges. If this tuning became popular, the rest of the players would also change their string gauges. At that point a new "era" of tunings would develop. Any new tuning changes would be based on the string gauges that were then commonly-used.
Take a look at the following graphic:
I classify the tunings into 4 paradigms, Low Tunings, High Tunings, Modern Tunings, and High G Tunings. The low tunings of the earliest era of steel guitar history (roughly 1890-1930) have string gauges that match the spanish guitar. This makes sense since the steel guitar originally was a spanish guitar that was played with a steel bar, an invention of hawaiians in the late 1800's. The main tunings used with these string gauges were the A Low Bass, E Major, E7, and E6 Tunings.
Around 1930, you start to hear recordings and see sheet music that uses thinner string gauges for the lowest two strings. These are the high tunings. The jazz and swing music of the time probably drove this alteration. With these sets of string gauges, you find the A High Bass, E7, and E13 tunings used most frequently.
Around 1950, the string gauges for the "Modern tunings" appear in sheet music and recordings. These string gauges were similar to the 6-string high tunings, but added two extra strings to allow for more harmonic variety. The common tunings used with these string gauges are the A6, C6, and E13.
Also around 1950, some players added a high G string to their tunings, while removing the lowest string. The common tunings that were used with these string gauges included the E9, E13, and C6. This was the last alteration to occur before pedals were added to the steel guitar. The E9 and C6 became the preferred tuning for the pedal steel guitar, and are still the most-used tunings on pedal steel guitars today.
You may notice that I put end dates to the eras of tunings in the graphic above. This is not to say that these tunings stopped being used, but rather another tuning became more popular. Even today, you will find players all over the world that use some or all of these tunings.
If you want to learn non-pedal steel guitar, you will have to decide which string gauges to start with. Within those string gauges, you can then try the common alternate tunings. That noted, even one tuning would be enough to keep any student of the instrument busy for years without ever having to try another tuning or another set of string gauges.
This should be enough info to get you started on fixed steel guitar. But, if you want more detailed info on this topic, you can visit this more in-depth study I conducted on the history of steel guitar tunings: TUNING HISTORY
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