Lap steel tuner

C6 lap steel tuning in Hz

Other lap steel tunings

At A4 = 440 Hz. C6 and low-bass open G are on the switch above; the Dobro tuner has high-bass G and open D, and the chromatic tuner reads any note. Some guitar tuner apps list a "C6" for six-string guitar, C A C G C E; a lap steel's C6 is C E G A C E.

How to tune a lap steel with this tuner

Choose C6 or Open G on the switch, tap Start tuning and pick the 6th string open: in C6 that is C3, 130.81 Hz. The needle shows how many cents off it is. Come up to the note from below, and at five cents or closer a tick comes and the 5th string is asked for; work up to the 1st. With the microphone off, a tap on a string's chip plays its note, so you can also tune by ear against it; on a phone speaker the two low strings of open G, D2 and G2, sound an octave up. On an electric lap steel, play through the amp or hold the phone close to the strings: unplugged, it is quiet.

Then check with the bar. A steel bar frets right over the fret marker, not behind it as a finger would. Lay it straight across the strings over the 12th marker and pick them one by one: each should read the same note as open, an octave up. If the open strings tick and the barred ones read sharp, the bar sits past the line; flat, short of it. A harmonic touched lightly over the 12th marker always sounds the exact octave: the barred note should read the same as the harmonic.

What tuning should I use on a lap steel?

C6 is the most common and the most taught: western swing, Hawaiian, country and jazz. Under one straight bar it holds C major (C E G), A minor (A C E), C6, and A minor 7 (A C E G), and it has three pairs of strings a sixth apart, the 6th and 3rd and the 4th and 1st a major sixth (C to A, G to E), the 5th and 2nd a minor sixth (E to C), for the sliding sixths the steel is known for. DeWitt "Scotty" Scott's Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method teaches it from the start. An 8-string lap steel in C6 usually adds a low A and a high G, A2 C3 E3 G3 A3 C4 E4 G4; the two extra strings read on the chromatic tuner.

Open G is the blues and bluegrass tuning, and yes, a lap steel takes it. The low-bass version, D G D G B D, is a guitarist's open G and suits a lap steel strung with guitar strings. The high-bass version, G B D G B D, is the Dobro's, with every note of the chord in two octaves. Open D (D A D F♯ A D) and open E, the same a tone higher, are the deep blues and rock tunings on electric lap steels; with the third in only one string, leaving it out fakes a minor chord. Open A, high bass, is the Dobro tuning a tone up; Hawaiian A, E A E A C♯ E, is the low-bass tuning of the early Hawaiian guitar books, so an old method that names no tuning probably means it (Brad's Page of Steel). A6, C♯ E F♯ A C♯ E, is the same kind of sixth chord as C6 on A, with the high E kept; G6 is high-bass open G with the 4th string raised to E, a ballad tuning. Raising C6's 6th string to C♯ adds an A7 chord on the bottom four strings (C♯ E G A) and a diminished chord (C♯ E G), and loses the full C chord with its root on the bottom. Don Helms's book and CD for the Hank Williams sound use E13 (players on the TDPRI forum, 2009). Brad's Page of Steel gives a six-string E13 as B D E G♯ C♯ E (B2 D3 E3 G♯3 C♯4 E4: 123.5 · 146.8 · 164.8 · 207.7 · 277.2 · 329.6 Hz); read it on the chromatic tuner.

A tuner for lap steel guitar: why chromatic

Any chromatic tuner works for lap steel, because it names whatever note it hears. A guitar tuner left in guitar mode waits for E A D G B E and points C6's strings at the wrong notes; switch it to chromatic. A clip-on on the headstock reads the wood and still works on a loud stage, and on an electric lap steel a pedal tuner in the cable reads the pickup and ignores the room. This page reads through the microphone, asks for each string of C6 or open G by name, and plays the note when you tap its chip.

Sweetened tuning: thirds a little low

A steel plays whole chords under a straight bar, so many steel players tune it to ring purer than equal temperament allows. A pure major third is 14 cents narrower than the tuner's, so in C6 the two E strings, the thirds of the C chord, go a little low: players set them anywhere from a few cents to about 14 below zero, and Peterson's strobe tuners carry steel guitar presets with such offsets. This tuner shows the cents, so tune the E strings to a number, say 10 cents low, and the C, G and A strings to zero; it won't tick on a string you leave low on purpose, so tap the next chip yourself. If you mostly play with a piano or keyboard, stay at zero: a sweetened third sounds flat against them.

C6 strings: tune up, but not on guitar strings

C6 sits far above guitar standard on the low strings: the 6th goes from E2 up to C3, a minor sixth, and the 5th from A2 up to E3, a fifth. Cranking a guitar set up that far is how strings pop. Use a C6 lap steel set, about .015 on the high E to .036 on the low C on a common 22.5-inch scale, and come up to each note from below; it plays tight, and that tension is part of the sound. Open G low bass and open D sit at or below guitar pitch on every string and work with a guitar set, a heavier one if the strings feel loose under the bar. Open E raises three strings and wants care with a light set.

Lap steel or pedal steel, and can one be tuned like the other?

A pedal steel has ten or more strings per neck, often two necks tuned E9 and C6, and pedals and knee levers that raise or lower strings while you play: that is how it changes chords under a straight bar. A lap steel has none, so its tuning decides which chords sit under the bar, and the rest comes from slanting it. A six-string lap steel in C6 shares most of its notes with a pedal steel's C6 neck and can play many of its parts; the E9 sound needs the pedals. A lap steel can also be tuned like a guitar, E A D G B E, and Brad's Page of Steel suggests trying it now and then for a different sound, but few full chords sit under a straight bar in it.

Looking for tuning machines, the gears on the headstock? This page is the other kind of tuner. On an old lap steel, a string that won't hold its note can be a worn gear rather than the string. Replacement machines come in strips, such as Kluson's four-per-plate strips for the Fender Stringmaster, which Steel Guitar Shopper listed at $105 in October 2026.

The notes you tuned go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat.