In the 1930s,
steel guitar had a limited vocabulary due to its
open tuning in a single chord. Players began adding a seventh to the bottom of the range.
Jerry Byrd realized that by adding a sixth scale degree, he had even more flexibility. By 1937, Byrd was devising an arrangement based around a C major
sixth chord. The tuning allowed easy access to nearly any chord through pedals and slant positions. Byrd claimed C6 tuning as his invention, but so have other players. Regardless, Byrd indisputably was the one who popularized C6 tuning. C6 tuning remains closely associated with Western swing and jazz, and E9 tuning is more endemic to Nashville country music. C6 tuning is sometimes called "Texas" tuning. ==Practice==