This is a download-only Interactive PDF/E-Book.

Permissions are set so that you can print the arrangements.  Once purchased, the file is available for download in the Order Confirmation page. You'll receive a confirmation email, followed by an email containing a link to the file. This link will expire 24 hours after it's first clicked but we can resend the digital download link later if needed.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK 

• Origins of the C Diatonic Tuning
• Notes on the C Diatonic Fretboard
• Getting in Tune
• String Gauges
• Chord Forms: C Diatonic (6-strings)
• Chord Forms: C Diatonic (7-strings)
• Blocking and Muting
• Pick Blocking
• Harmonics
• How to Read Tablature
• Songs in C Diatonic

SONG ARRANGEMENTS

1. Blue Hawaii
2. Bluesette
3. Come A Little Closer
4. Fields of Gold
5. Funny How Time Slips Away
6. Night Train
7. One Note Samba
8. Surfer Girl
9. Tahitian Skies
10. The Shadow of Your Smile

SCROLL DOWN & CLICK BELOW TO HEAR COMPUTER-GENERATED MIDI AUDIO FOR EACH ARRANGEMENT. Click on Sample pages at left.

ABOUT THE C DIATONIC TUNING

C Diatonic (6-strings low to high) F G A B C E
C Diatonic (7-strings low to high) E F G A B C E

Jerry Byrd's C Diatonic steel guitar tuning is one of the most mysterious and least understood of the tunings in use today.  This is a shame because, with some background info, it is not hard to understand or play.  Unlike most other tunings that are based on chord tones, the C Diatonic tuning is based on a scale - the major diatonic scale in the key of C.

This Interactive PDF/E-Book demystifies the tuning and presents 10 songs to play that are very accessible to players. While Byrd advocated for a 7-string version of the tuning, the author has found that 6-strings work fine for C Diatonic and a wide variety of music is accessible. The book includes note charts for the 6 & 7-string versions and tips for adapting it to 8-strings. C Diatonic demands attention to picking the proper string groups as well as to using proper blocking technique to smooth out jumps between chords and make sure that the notes you want to ring are ringing and the notes you don’t want to ring are muted. That said, C Diatonic is not really any more difficult or "technical‘ than most other steel tunings if you pay attention to these basic techniques of good electric steel guitar playing.  While strumming full chords happens much less with C Diatonic, other intriguing possibilities open up.

As you explore C Diatonic, you‘ll see there are easy positions for two and three-part harmony, substitute chords, liquid pedal steel-like gliss effects, and ringing chromatic single string melody runs.