C6th - what do you have on top?

[Tony Russell Davis]

Here's a topic for C6th. What note do you have on top "D" or "G"? And what does it give you?
I had "D" on top for many years and it never really worked for me; so I hardly touched that neck. Missing the "C E G" chord on the first three strings I put a lever on to raise the "C" to "C#" to get it back on strings 2, 3, 4 at the third fret. Then I wanted the sound of the raised first string you get with the high "G". That led to considering more KL's to "recover" other voicings of the original tuning. I eventually reverted to G on top and now have got quite comfortable on C6th, enough to become my first choice when jamming with pals in our local.
What do YOU think? Tony

[Ken Byng]

Tony
This is a really good post. I have had a D on top for years. I would prefer to have a G on top with a D in the middle of the tuning but there aren't enough strings. The top D gives a 9th note (which is great for passing notes) and additional chords than the top G offers. There are numbers that I play that I wish I had the top G. An 11 string C6 would be the answer.

[Zebedee]

A towel

[Tony Russell Davis]

Richard - "Ford Prefect" reference, or am I missing something?

[Zebedee]

You wanted to know what I had on top of my C6 neck

[Ken Byng]

Its not like you to throw in the towel Richard.

I have said it before on here. C6 is a very expensive and heavy pad if you never play it. I meet loads of D10 players who never touch C6 - why??

[Peter Nylund]

I have a D as the first string on my guitars but I'm seriously considering putting the G back in business cause I've noticed that I rarely use the first string. I think I would use the G more often.
Peter

[Tony Russell Davis]

Ken - you NEED a ShoBud D-12!!! (And a team of porters, of course)
Sorry Richard - get it now! Oh, you wags with SD-10s.
Peter - here's my story, see what you make of it: ring any bells?
I got an 8 string plank some time ago and bought a C6th string set that had a top "G". After making some sense of the tuning and finding quite a number of "chordy" tunes, I tried the "G" out on PSG. The same stuff was all there, of course, but when I fooled around with pedals it gave a completely new angle on what they did. So the pedals/lever(s) started to make sense too. This insight confirmed that C6th is definately a "push the bar around" tuning first and the pedals are the bonus - unlike E9th, where the pedals and the chromatic strings are an integral part of the technique/style from the start. Previously I had tried (and failed) to copy some of the runs that we hear and admire on tracks from the more emmon-ent players! But I'm now convinced that the chord route is the way to go, certainly at first, and a high "G" helps to understand the nature of the tuning. You can always put a "D" on there later IF you feel you need it.
As an afterthought, I could tab out a couple of pedal-free licks; possibly for the newsletter? (I've done stuff before but the lack of feedback was discouraging). There are two off the top of my head that can also work on E9th in places where the intervals of that tuning correspond to adjacent strings in C6th (using different strings and in another key, of course). Tell me what you think?

[henry]

Hi Tony, i'm about to embark into the world of universal playing and any info / tab about the different approaches to E9/C6 would be much appreciated

really interesting to hear that C6 is 'push the bar around' primarily then pedals are a bonus.. this has already helped my understanding, thanks!

[Paul Brennan]

I think C6 players started putting the D on top after the E9 tuning had become established. Players became used to having the 9 note on the first string and liked the ease with which they could execute fast runs with this configuration. This then became a much used option for C6. Lesser players, as always, then copy from the greater players without really understanding the reason for what they're doing. I'm not entirely sure of this but it seems logical to me.

I agree with Tony on his "push the bar around" theory. I think you need to put yourself in an old pre-E9 frame of mind when you approach C6. Think of the type of licks they used to play in the 40's and 50's. It was mostly chordal stuff with lots of 6ths and m7s. Why were pedals and the E9 tuning invented? Because, players wanted the pentatonic country sounds that the E9 with pedals gives you. Most E9 licks use the pedals as an integral part of the sound. The pedals on C6 are used more for changing the tuning in order to make chords.