C6 tuning

C6 tuning
Texas tuning: sixth chord.

C6 tuning is the most common tuning for electric steel guitar, both on single and multiple neck instruments. On a twin-neck, the most common tuning is C6 tuning on the near neck and E9 tuning on the far neck.

On a six-string neck, most common on lap steel guitar, C6 tuning is most commonly C-E-G-A-C-E, bass to treble and going away from the player. Some other six-string C6 tunings are:

  • A-C-E-G-C-E.
  • G-C-G-A-C-E.
  • E-C-G-A-C-E.
  • E-G-A-C-E-G.
  • C-A-C-G-C-E

On an eight-string neck, most common on table steel guitar, common C6 tunings are:

  • High C6 tuning A-C-E-G-A-C-E-G.
  • Low C6 tuning either:
    • G-A-C-E-G-A-C-E.
    • F-A-C-E-G-A-C-E.

On a ten-string neck, most common on pedal steel guitar, a common C6 tuning is C-F-A-C-E-G-A-C-E-G, adding two bass strings to the high eight-string tuning, or one string on either side of the F-bass low tuning. This is sometimes called the Texas tuning.

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