The following opentunings use a minor third, and give a minor chord with open strings. The method of choice if you want to combine both slide and normal playing. Tunings are described by the particular pitches denoted by notes in western music. Here is a little piece that is like alot of slide blues. Esteemed musician and teacher stefan grossman has created a.
Combine modal sounds with pentatonics and blues scales. All open tunings create a chord when the guitar is strummed without fretting any notes, and are named for the root of the chord they create. If youre in the key of d and play blues or minor pentatonic licks with some countryrock attitude, you end. Country blues guitar in open tunings book3cd set grossman. Ry cooder uses open tunings when he plays slide guitar. Learn all about open tunings here you learn how to tune your guitar in some so called open tunings. This edition of in deep will focus on open g tuning and how it is used in blues slideguitar playing. Sep 20, 2014 for many guitarists who cut their teeth on blues, rock, or jazz, country guitar technique is a bit of a mysteryperhaps even a little intimidating. Mel bay open tunings have been used by many country blues guitarists. Try hitting it hard enough so that the fifth string vibrates as well. Gbdgbd occasionally adopted for ordinary guitar, but requires lighter fifth and sixth strings. Learn blues guitar from kenny ray with an intermediate guitar lesson for open tunings.
On this dvdvideo, he covers the basics of open tunings and the use of the bottleneck, teaching essential techniques in a way that will be easy even for newcomers to this style. Stuart will discuss many considerations including positioning and chord forms. Click here to download a printable pdf of this lessons notation. They can be played with finger picks or with a flat pick or no picks. Country blues guitar players have often favored open tunings, as they are an easy way to achieve a rich, full sound with minimal effort. Open g tuning songs open g blues guitar tuning the video above opens with an old clip of me playing crossroads by robert johnson on an old johnny joyce model aria, and at 1. What do you get when you combine a guild jumbo 12 string, open d tuning, bottleneck slide. For many guitarists who cut their teeth on blues, rock, or jazz, country guitar technique is a bit of a mysteryperhaps even a little intimidating. Also a must is the eflat tuning that means all strings were tuned down a halfstep. How to play blues rhythm guitar like the blues masters. Complete country blues guitar book free ebook download as pdf file.
Open d also known as vastopol and open g also known as spanish are the most commonly used tunings for blues playing. They are found in classical guitar, folk, blues, rock and roll, to some degree jazz, and in a host of steelstring acoustic. I have also included the 5 box patterns you need to learn in order to memorize the blues scales in all keys. Deactivate arrows on your keyboard for page navigation with alt k. Blues guitarists have utilized open chord tunings for many years. Open tunings are so fun with slide guitar and open up a whole world of sonic possibilities. These tunings are frequently used in the playing of slide and lapslide hawaiian guitars, and hawaiian slack key music. The following open tunings use a minor third, and give a minor chord with open strings. They were very hand escpecialy if you play slide guitar. Mel bay open tunings have always been an integral part of the country blues guitar tradition. John lee hooker was one of the true blues giants and a real groove monster.
Remember that open d tuning or any tuning for that matter is not just limited to playing blues with a slide. Finger style guitar is also played in many open tunings. While delta blues slide guitar still embraces perhaps only a handful of open tunings, hawaiian slack key now uses hundreds of tunings. Most blues players began playing the guitar in an open tuning as it made playing much easier yet gave the guitar a much stronger and richer sound. But open tunings on an instrument that is easy to play eventually suggest other possibilities. For a minimum of effort you can produce a maximum of sound. Blues in d introduction to open tuning open d blues in g bottleneckslide guitar blues in c minor blues jazzier blues moveable chords in f, bb and eb the circle of fifths have you noticed. Theory, tunings, exercises 46 pages pdf with integrated sound for printing printable pdf support high quality printing and audio. Blues guitar overview introduction 12 bar blues in emajor 12 bar blues in amajor emajor revisited some other blues progressions some fingerpicking challenges more examples in e and a some theory. This tuning was made famous by elmore james, and is commonly used amongst many slide guitar players. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. When i was putting this lesson together i was watching a bunch of lessons on open g tuning and they were all about the rolling stones. Practising this cell in isolation will make the lick easier to execute.
Country blues guitar in open tunings 2004 rotten tomatoes. His interest in music was forged by his father, who played. Some slide blues licks in open g that son house and robert johnson and other delta guys used to great effect in open g tuning. Little red rooster and open g tuning blues guitar unleashed. Jack covers several alternate tunings that work well for slide guitar. To get the open d tuning on your guitar you tune it like this. In particular, this list contains more examples of open and regular tunings, which are discussed in the article on guitar tunings. Just hit a standard d chord and instead of muting the e string, let it ring out. The second style this works great in is a country sound with a dirty feel.
The most popular country blues tunings were the open g tuning, also called spanish tuning and the open d tuning, also called vestapol tuning. Country blues guitar in open tunings dvd grossmans guitar. Jul 29, 2016 finally, there are lots of open tuning variations droppedd, open d, all the weird ones that joni mitchell uses, and the really odd one that stephen stills uses on suite judy blue eyes which is something like d, b, b, b, b, d that he apparently got from david bromberg or one of the sixties folk players. Roy book binder has given us another terrific look at his unique brand of fingerpicked blues guitar. Simply put, an open tuning is when your guitar is tuned so that strumming all the strings without holding any of them down on the fretboard will produce a chord. Open tunings have always been an integral part of the country blues guitar tradition. You can get more charts in with custom tunings using my interactive scale generator here. Now strike the open string and vary the force of your attack. This tuning delivers a very open, almost naturally. Complete country blues guitar book entertainment general.
This technique is very important for developing a full sound and the right. The most commonly used open tunings for slide are e, d, g and a. Here i will demonstrate a few licks in open d tuning. By convention, the notes are ordered from lowestpitched string i. About kenny ray view full biography kenny is a blues veteran of 40 years whose pedigree includes recording and appearing with artists the caliber of william clarke, little charlie and the nightcats, charlie musselwhite, smokey wilson, albert collins, and stevie ray vaughan. In this lesson you will learn some typical john lee hooker riffs and licks in spanish tuning open a or open g that every blues guitarist needs to know. Country blues guitar in open tunings book3cd set grossmans guitar workshop. These days open tunings are common all across the spectrum of guitar playing. From the alternating bass styles of furry lewis and mississippi john hurt to the evocative and haunting sounds of skip james to the ragtime blues of blind blake. Johnny demonstrates a very helpful bending exercise combining two notesone.
Joni mitchell has employed a wide variety of unusual. In this lesson, we will explore the use of open d tuning while playing with a slide. Both terms stand for a relative tuning of the strings to each other, no matter what the. Open tunings are very often used by guitar players like keith richard from the rolling stones. As youll learn in this ebook, there are countless ways to form blues riffs and be creative with them. Open tunings have been exploited for use with slide guitar since the earliest days of delta blues. There are many open tunings, but by far the most common ones are spanish and vestapol. Open g guitar tuning guitar lessons learn guitar from. Kenny ray was born in lodi, california on january 11, 1950. Dgbdgbd is an open g tuning, approximately in major thirds. We have completely redesigned the tuning window to make it more intuitive and easy to use.
All examples are taken from my new ebook an easy guide to open tunings for blues guitar, which contains many more examples and ideas available at my website. Improve your guitar playing with online video lessons from jamplay. There are some common techniques that apply to all open. What is an open tuning if a guitar is tuned to an open tuning playing the open strings results in a. Most blues players began playing the guitar in an open tuning as it made playing much easier yet gave the guitar. Blues in d introduction to open tuning open d blues in g bottleneckslide guitar blues in c minor blues. While country guitar has roots in the aforementioned styles, concepts such as openstring cascades, hybridpicked doublestops, and pedalsteel bends can befuddle even the most accomplished players. First thing, you must tune your guitar strings down to match the open d tuning. This guitar lesson is going to be about open g tuning.
They can be major or minor chords, but the major tunings seem to be the most commonly seen in popular guitar music. This lesson comes along just as im reading keith richards autobiography where he talks about open g tuning and not even using the sixth string. Country blues guitar in open tunings dvd grossmans. There are, of course, others that are utilized, with many distinctive variations, depending on the musician and style of music. Alternate tunings for guitara brief look rochester guitar club. Theory, tunings, exercises 46 pages pdf with integrated sound for printing. With a few pulloffs on the a and d strings 3 rd fret, youve got some outlaw country riffs cooking. Blues guitar overview introduction 12 bar blues in emajor 12 bar blues in a.
To change this up and maybe give you something new, i busted out my acoustic guitar and came up with a small lick using open g tuning. And you can play with the 1st and 3rd strings open as well 000030. This is a slightly longer lines using double stops. Also used by a few delta guitarists such as skip james and bukka white was the crossnote tuning where your guitar is tuned to an open em chord. This pdf contains the scale charts for the blues scale in all keys for guitar in standard tuning. In this lesson ill show you that absolute basics of outlaw country strumming. This tuning was also a favorite of bob dylan, who used it to great effect in songs like oxford town and a simple twist of fate. These qualities combine to create a magnetic groove that pulls you in and keeps. These chords, riffs and scales can be expanded in a. Learn blues guitar from stuart ziff with an intermediate guitar lesson for open tunings. This information is also applicable to almost any open tuning.
Open d is another major chord tuning and another popular choice among delta blues guitarists. Country blues guitar in open tunings dvd grossmans guitar workshop. Open tuning altered tuning gitarrenworkshop opend, open. Outlaw country strumming for beginners guitar alliance.
Open tuning is often used for delta blues on acoustic guitars, because you need. Unlocking the mysteries of slide guitar in open g tuning. The two most popular open tunings in blues are open g and open d. Guitar tunings assign pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Learn the variety of picking techniques and tunings that johnson used to. Country blues lick in open d tuning open d tuning, country blue, drugs. Outlaw country strumming for beginners lets say you want to strum along with some willie, waylon and boys, but alas, you dont know what strumming pattern to use. The bottleneck way of playing guitar consists of letting the surface of the slide rest on the strings while we strum or fingerpick. Blues, rock and country are naturals for open tunings, slide guitar and hawaiian lap steel are also done in open tunings. Generally, the guitar action needs to be higher than when playing. Oct 12, 2015 open tunings have been exploited for use with slide guitar since the earliest days of delta blues. By the way, this is the same tuning as is used on a five string banjo, so i see some finger picking in the future as well.
Acoustic guitars love to be played on the lower frets with lots of open. Open tunings or slack key guitar some of the most common alternate tunings used by musicians are socalled open tunings. Open tuning chart 7 open tunings 14 alternate tunings. Mar 6, 2014 open tuning chart 7 open tunings 14 alternate tunings stay safe and healthy. Sep 22, 2015 the second style this works great in is a country sound with a dirty feel. Unlock the guitar mysteries of the delta blues great. In this approach the guitar is tuned to a full chord. This list of guitar tunings supplements the article guitar tunings. Daddad tuning is sometimes used on dobro guitars for rock and blues.
Blues chords with slide in open d tuning country blues. The examples well look at are there to spark your creativity in your rhythm guitar playing. Tunings for guitars, guitar tunings english guitar. Where they differ is that mississippi hill country blues generally has fewer chord. During the folk scare of the 1960s open tunings found favor among many songwriters of the day. What is an open tuning if a guitar is tuned to an open tuning playing the open strings results in a major chord or less common in a minor chord. Finally, there are lots of open tuning variations droppedd, open d, all the weird ones that joni mitchell uses, and the really odd one that stephen stills uses on suite judy blue eyes which is something like d, b, b, b, b, d that he apparently got from david. Kenny opens up the world of open tunings and how they can be applied in the blues genre. There are many new possibilities here, especially in the harmonic sense. This one features a different movement for the picking hand.
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