I saw a previous discussion with BJ and Ganey. It talked about Shirley Bergeron doing Madame Bosco with steel guitar. I have two Bergeron cd's, and that song is not on there. It is on "Les Haricots Sont Pas Sale", but I can't hear any steel.

I have a lap steel, set up BDGBDB (low to high). Was told by a couple of folks, including Danny Cormier, that this was cajun tuning.

Anyone know of any instructional material for playing with this particular tuning? Or any recordings where this tuning is used and is prominent? Any recommendations on songs that might be simple enough for beginner learning?

i tune my steel for cajun music gdbgdb

Great subject !
That's the same tuning as a dobro used in bluegrass most of the time.
Maybe you will be so kind to show something on youtube.
There are also some vids from "Tee-Coon" Touchet on youtube.

try any recording between 1940-1970 where they are using a C accordion. That open D tuning (which will vary in string note but still be open D) is pretty standard for a C accordion steel. its just like learning fiddle or accordion listen, try, get ******* repeat.


If you are really bent on lessons or videos, look up steel playing in general and then apply those techniques to cajun music. You'll get it.

The most common tuning for lapsteel in Cajun music is GDGBDG. These are the notes that are formed when you barre a G chord at the third fret. It is an open G tuning. The high G string is necessary to get that famous Cajun lick. If you play a pedal steel tuned in E9, when you press the first two pedals, you get an almost identical tuning in open A, which can be used for a D accordion.

Ok, re-editing. This is what I got from Danny Cormier, but I'm assuming he's going from high to low:

GDBGDB for C accordion
FCAFCA for Bb " "
AEC#ARC# for D " "

High To Low as in
1st G
2nd D
3rd B
4th G
5th D
6th B Or Low G

when I started to learn to play steel guitar I went to shirley bergeron he said that he was tuneing his in gdbgdb

is that high to low, or low to high?

So, this is open D, DADF#AD, transposed down to G, GDGBDG.

http://www.npmusic.org/AlpheeShirleyBergeron_MadameBoso.mp3

Is that a steel guitar?

I love that song.

Not a steel, that is a regular (electric?) guitar.

Dowell

Yeah, it even sounded like you playing.

Definitly an electric .. you can hear the "hammer-ons".

It sounds like a single coil pick-up, maybe a Fender
guitar. I'd guess the "neck-pickup" is on because
it sounds to bassey to be the "bridge-pickup".

It may be a semi-acoustic like a Gibson ES-220 series ..

But, it is not a steel guitar.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell what color guitar it is

--bn

Dwight are you recording a solo cajun album ? if so you should give us a sneak peak of one of the tracks !! Just wondering cause everytime you post its about a different instrument and how you can play it (a good thing in my opinion).

Christian,

I should keep my mouth shut and let you think I'm great. I can't play lap steel yet. I have a cheap one, and thought maybe I could bop some chords in the background as filler for something else, and maybe do some really simple noodling.

I play button box, fiddle and washboard. I'm probably semi-pro on rubboard. At least I used to get paid to play it.

On box I'm intermediate (which is an awfully soft target). On fiddle, I can play with better rhythm than the box, but I play simplistically. I'm taking fiddle lessons now. Found a teacher that intrigues me.

I don't currently have the right hand dexterity for picking guitar. Never did have it. Which is why fiddle is good for me. The dexterity required on fiddle is in my left hand, and I'm left handed.

I have some recordings up on myspace, but they're pretty amateurish, and I'm sure that most people on here play better than me.

I do have a hankering to play the blues though. And I can fingerpick on some stringed instruments if the strings are arranged in a curved profile, like on a fiddle.

I was at a violin shop on Saturday, took a 1/2 size cello across my knee like a guitar, and started finger picking some blues scales on it. No bow, no frets, just ear and fingers. It was fun, sliding into everything. Don't know that anyone would have wanted to listen to me!

So, yes, I do intend to do some tracks that are totally me, but, I wouldn't hold high hopes for how good they'll be, at least not anytime soon. Just more a motivation for me to keep learning.