A6 Tuning

C6 moved down to A: three strings shift by one semitone and three stay put, and the open strings ring as F#m7 or A6 — the chord C6 makes, a minor third lower.

C6, a minor third lower

The A6 tuning's open strings hold A, C#, E and F#. Those four notes are an A6 chord and an F#m7 at once, exactly as C6's C, E, G and A are both C6 and Am7. Sit Strings files A6 beside C6, under Hawaiian and swing playing.

The retune from C6 is the smallest on this site. Strings 1, 3 and 5 stay where C6 has them, on E, A and E, and the other three each move a single semitone: strings 2 and 6 up from C to C#, string 4 down from G to F#. No string travels further than that.

Reading the tables

The first table compares each string with C6, string 1, the highest, first. The second lists every chord type a straight bar or a slant spells in either tuning. A6 spells the same eight types as C6. The voicings differ, because the strings are arranged differently: the bar finds each chord at its own positions in each tuning.

Which A6

More than one six-string row is called A6. This page publishes C# E F# A C# E, low string first, the row two independent sources print. Another row starts on A and moves C6's own string pattern down a minor third; it rings as the same chord, with the strings in a different order.

What moves from C6

A6 against C6, string by string, string 1 (the highest) first. Each move is the nearest one that reaches the new note.
String C6 A6 Move
1 E E stays
2 C C# up 1 semitone
3 A A stays
4 G F# down 1 semitone
5 E E stays
6 C C# up 1 semitone

Three of the six strings move. Struck open, the strings ring as F# m7 or A 6.

What a bar spells

Every chord type a straight bar or a slant spells in A6 or in C6. A type is spelled on all twelve roots or on none, because the bar slides.
Chord type C6 A6
Major yes yes
Minor yes yes
Power (5) yes yes
m7 yes yes
maj7sus2 yes yes
6sus2 yes yes
6 yes yes
m(add9) yes yes

A6 spells eight chord types to C6's eight: zero gained, zero given up.

Where this row comes from