Leavitt tuning?

[Tony Harris]

After playing C6 lap steel for a couple of years now, I'm playing around with Leavitt tuning. The big diminished chord on the bottom 4 strings sounds good ,and the seventh on the middle four, but I seem to have lost big major and minor chords - does any have a very basic chord 'dictionary' so I can find my way around?

[Doug Beaumier]

There are no "big" major or minor chords on this tuning. There is one voicing for the major chord... strings 2,4,5 (root, 5th, 3rd). That's a C in the open position.
And if you play a whole step above that position and pick strings 1,3,4, you'll get part of a C6 chord (root, 3rd, 6th). That's a C6 on fret 2.
The minor chord can be found on strings 1,3,4 (5th,3b,root). That would be a Gm in the open position. I don't have my lap steel here with me now, so I'm doing the "math" in my head... hope it's right!

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 01 December 2000 at 07:33 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Ian McLatchie]

Tony: As Doug says, the 2nd-4th-5th string 1st inversion major is about it, but if you jump up two frets you get the root and 3rd on
strings 1 and 3. A forward slant on strings 4-3-2 also gives you a root position major.
It's an unusual feature of the tuning that major triads are actually the most difficult thing to find, but given all the other chords that are possible in this tuning and no other, it's a fair trade-off.

If you have an 8-string instrument, simply adding a C and an A, respectively, on the 7th and 8th strings gives lots more major options.

[Doug Beaumier]

... or add C and Eb, if you have an 8 string steel. The Eb (along with the G,Bb,C) will give you a full Eb6 in open position. The low C will give you another much needed voicing for the major chord.

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www.dougbsteel.com

[Doug Beaumier]

Tony,

You might want to check out my Leavitt arrangement of Someone To Watch Over Me, as it appeared in SGW magazine a few years ago:

http://www.valinet.com/~doug/someone.jpg

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www.dougbsteel.com