C6 or A6?

Virgil Franklin · Post by **Virgil Franklin** » 28 Jan 2024 2:08 pm

So..
I have this 26" Fender clone...it's currently tuned to C6 as I'm working my way through the
Cindy Cashdollar books...
but would A6 tuning fit it better?
Thoughts?

Brooks Montgomery · Post by **Brooks Montgomery** » 28 Jan 2024 2:36 pm

Well, like Cindy, you can do both.

Stephen Baker · Post by **Stephen Baker** » 28 Jan 2024 3:31 pm

Myself, I'd have A6 on the near neck and some kind of E9/E13 on the other neck. That's what I have on my main stage steel. BUT!, if you are working through Cindy's stuff, therefore learning, most instructional material is in C6. I always have one guitar in C6 just for the lessons on YouTube etc.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 28 Jan 2024 10:01 pm

If your C6 has an E on top you can easily retune to A6 with the same string set. Hi to Low:

C6 = ECAGECAG
A6 = EC#AF#EC#AF#

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 1 Feb 2024 5:28 am

C6 and A6 are close enough functionally that I would say, pick whichever is most common in whatever you are learning from. You can as mentioned tune back and forth. Tunings are super personal of course...in my case I don't know that I'd want C6 and A6 on the same guitar because they are so alike (I would rather a different style tuning altogether like B11...B11 being a very easy retune from A6 as it happens), but that's totally an option.

If Cindy's teaching material is mostly C6 I'd stick with that for now. If you learn the basics of C6 and get comfortable A6 is not hard to switch too. It's sort of like...uncapo'ing the steel from an imaginary 3rd fret and then adding an additional string for the 5th on top, but the middle strings will all have the same intervals (just shifted over).

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 1 Feb 2024 8:11 am

Tim Whitlock wrote:If your C6 has an E on top you can easily retune to A6 with the same string set. Hi to Low:

C6 = ECAGECAG
A6 = EC#AF#EC#AF#

I agree with Tim - you can have both on the same neck with the same set of strings. Always getting screwed up looking at tunings hi-lo, and noting the function via number, lo-hi:

C6 = G(5) A(6) C(1) E(3) G(5) A(6) C(1) E(3)
A6 = F#(6) A(1) C#(3) E(5) F#(6) A(1) C#(3) E(5)

So, functionally they're identical except that in C6, the root (1) is shifted to the right one string, and the top string is a 5 instead of a 3. And of course, they're 3 half tones apart.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 1 Feb 2024 3:17 pm

Both. And more.

Tony Oresteen · Post by **Tony Oresteen** » 1 Feb 2024 5:06 pm

Both. I have pairs of guitars tuned to C6 & A6 - 6 string and 8 string. I just added a third 6 string tuned to G6.

They all have the the same intervals:

L to H

1 3 5 6 1 3

This simplifies song patterns.

Paul Seager · Post by **Paul Seager** » 2 Feb 2024 6:29 am

I learnt with Cindy Cashdollar's videos and I tuned my instrument as she recommended, I think it had a G on 1st. I stayed with this in my first band as a Steeler until we changed singers. The new fella sang in keys better suited to A6.

By this I mean that most songs could played in the middle of the fretboard (I.e., frets 3-15). This felt more comfortable to me and as my knowledge of the instrument has grown, I've found no reason to change back to C6.

Since then, I've added a B11 derivative to the 2nd neck, not least because strings 1-4 are tuned the same as A6 so many melodies and solos are easily transferred. Then I can choose which neck works better chordally for each song.

I recommend you learn as Cindy prescribes and then, through playing with others, figure what works for the project.

I can imagine A6 on a 26" scale, will be very gutsy!