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Tune It Or Die

Tune It Or Die! Saw that on a T shirt recently.

 An easy way to get a spirited conversation going

with steel guitar players is to mention the subject

of tuning. Just about everyone has an opinion on how

a pedal steel guitar should be tuned. Most can accept

there are different ways to tune and a few will stop

at nothing to get you to agree with them that their

way is best.

Most of the discussions start something like this:

"Well, so and so (insert any famous steel player's name)

tunes like this." If that famous player is someone you

like to listen to then you might agree. But then again

you might not and then the sparks fly.

There are more or less two ways to tune your pedal steel guitar.

Straight up and using a tuning chart such as that produced by Jeff Newman.

The straight up technique is when you tune each string to be in tune

with the tuner needle “straight up”. This is the easiest way to tune and

judging by the posts on the forum, the most popular. The drawback

is that chords will be a little (very little)out of tune so you after you tune, there

might be a little tweaking needed to correct that.

Using the Jeff Newman (or anyone else's charts) gets

a bit more complicated in that you tune each string

a little sharp or a little flat so the intervals

between the strings are in tune.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and tell you that I tune

straight up and then go back and tweak the intervals

between the strings with my ears. I find the charts and

graphs a little cumbersome.

It really doesn’t matter which tuning method you use. We all end up

generally at the same place. The important thing is to be consistent and

use what works for you not necessarily what some famous player uses.

I cover tuning basics in my best selling course “Teach Yourself To Play Pedal

Steel Guitar”.

 http://www.steelguitarzone.com/Teach_yourself_pedal_steel_1.htm

Not only how to tune but I lead you by the hand from playing your first notes

through playing licks and songs. Grab your copy now.

http://www.steelguitarzone.com/Teach_yourself_pedal_steel_1.htm

Now, remember trying to tune when you had crusty old

strings on your guitar? Sure, everyone does at some point.

And it is very hard and frustrating to get the guitar

in tune with those crusty, rusty old strings. Changing

your strings periodically is probably more important

than trying to try some new tuning method because

some famous player does it. If you're gonna emulate

some famous player, change strings often. Not only

does your guitar sound better but it will stay in tune

longer after using the pedals and levers.

Stop by for http://www.steelguitarzone.com/strings_and_accessories.htm

the best prices on strings

for your steel guitar from SIT and GHS.

Jam On!

Joe

P.S.  Stop by my You Tube channel and say hi. http://www.youtube.com/user/resojoe

You’ll find some free Dobro lessons (among some harmonica and French horn lessons)

In particular a cool blues turnaround :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgTtB4o1u1g

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