This is a beautiful piece I learned from Stu Basore on the C6th pedal steel. Stu plays a mostly standard C6th, but does something very unique which I really like. He eliminates the high G or D on the first string and uses a high E instead (which is the 2nd string for most players). Jimmy Day and Bobby Seymour use a high G. Buddy Emmons uses a high D.

I like both myself and go back and forth between them from time to time. I prefer D mostly. G is more for western swing stuff (giving a nice 13th chord, which is exactly what Herb Remington's A6th tuning is). D is nice for passing between chords. Stu Basore puts the D on his 9th string instead and moves the F up to the 8th string and so forth. The 10th string is still a low C. Very interesting.

Anyway, I love this musical piece which you can hear him play in the song Honky Tonk Angel (but this ad lib piece would work anywhere in any similar country song). Stu is a musical blessing and had a unique sound that God gives individually to each person. I believe God gives a gift to each person, and no matter how hard you try you'll never be able to be that person, and neither will they be able to be you. So don't try to play exactly like someone else. Learn from those you admire as much as you can and then be yourself musically. You'll be much happier that way developing your own style and sound. This is not exact, but the chords are pretty close I think and you'll get the idea once you play the chords. I love the diminished chords in here using the 5th and 6th pedals. I'm using the standard C6th tuning which most players use, not Stu's tuning with a high E.

P = Pedal (standard C6th pedals)
R = Raise
L = Lower

G __________________P5_____P5,6___P7_______P7____________4__2______
E ___8~9___________8~~7~______________________________4__4__2__4___
C ___8~9___9_______8~~7~____1_____2~2R~2______________4________4___
A ___8~9___9_______8~~7~____1_____2~2R~2____2~2R~2_____________4___
G ___8~9___9___9___8L~7L____1_____2~~~~~____2~~~~~__2__________4___
E ___8~9___9_______8~~7~____1_____2~~~~~____2~~~~~_____________4___
C ___8~9___9_______8~~7~____1_______________2~~~~~_____________4___
A _________9________________1______________________________________
F _________________________________________________________________
C _________________________________________________________________

G ____P5______P5,6___P5,6__P7___P7_____P7____________7___9_________
E ___3~~2____________________________________________7___9_________
C ___3~~2_____________8~~~~9R___9R~9______________9________________
A ___3~~2____5~~~8____8~~~~9R___9R~~___9~9R~9_____9________________
G ___3L~2L___5L~~8L___8L~~~9____9~~~___9~~~~~__9___________________
E ___3~~2____5L~~8L___8L~~~9____9~~~___9~~~~~______________________
C ___3~~2____5~~~8____8~~~~9___________9~~~~~______________________
A ___________5~~~8_________________________________________________
F _________________________________________________________________
C _________________________________________________________________

You get the basic idea. It's a great run. Watch the video and you hear how great Stu sounds.

He didn't play it in this particular music piece, but Stu also only raised his A's to Bb instead of A like most players do. Raising strings 4 and 8 from A to B is the standard setup for C6th pedal steel. Jeff Newman only raised them to Bb, like Stu. I like both changes, depending on what I'm playing. I really like raising string 8 only a half tone because it gives you an awesome 7th chord if you pick strings 7,8 and 9; like strings 6,8 and 9 on the E9th tuning with no pedals or knees. It comes in handy a lot when working out song arrangements. So I actually raise 4 a whole tone and 8 a half tone on my guitar. I don't know anyone else who splits the changes like that, but it works for me.

Don't you just love the steel guitar, how you can change this and try that, move this and experiment with music! There's no musical instrument like the steel guitar, especially the pedal steel. Still, I'll always love the profound simplicity of a simple 6 string lap steel, from which Hawaiian music has become legendary. In particular, the C6th tuning is really awesome.