|
Post by pete1951 on Apr 23, 2020 21:31:45 GMT
There was a time , in the recent past, that I used to go to a couple of Blues jams. As someone who plays in G tuning , all the time, I have had to learn to (try and ) play various tunes not in G. Things like John Lee Hooker’s Dimples or Baby Please Don’t Go , both usually in E , in fact thinking about it E (along with A) are probably the most common keys for ‘Standard’ tuning players as you have the root notes on the bottom 2strings. I was hoping to go to Pocklington this November and talk about playing in keys your guitar is not tuned in to anyone interested. This will probably not happen. Many good players , who use open tuning, only feel confident playing in the one key, or use a capo ( if your in G , putting a capo on the 9th fret to play in E can be a little restricting) I guess (if anyone is interested) I could make a video, but I think it would work best if it was more of a conversation with open G players who may have their own solutions to the problem and would ask questions I have not thought about. I guess a ‘Zoom’ type get together might be a way to do it, with maybe some other players who ,like me , play in any key also giving their ideas and tips? Pete I long to get back to jamming, though I am happy not to have to join in with a band that wants to play ‘Red House’ which seems to happen every other week. Usually in B
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Apr 23, 2020 22:11:32 GMT
Hi there !
I play in E minor, in Open G tuning. Can do the equivalent in B minor, in Open D tuning.
Both utilise many notes around the zero fret, and 2 fret, lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs, and bends at the 2nd fret. (actually, I'm hammering-on quite a few notes with the slide, not my fingers).
Like this one I did over 10yrs ago on youtube (excuse the poor quality video, an old video camera). I learned how to play like this by watching a great guitarist in New Orleans over the course of a few days seeing him.
I'm capo'd up two frets here, so I'm in the key of F# minor.
|
|
|
Post by pete1951 on Apr 24, 2020 7:08:32 GMT
Exactly what I am talking about, but I think Snakehips might be one of the few and it would be great to have input from other similar players. Though really I am more talking about joining in with other players, so not solo stuff. So no capos. I often play in A without a capo and use the 2nd fret to slide on, but I need a bass player etc. Capos give you root notes for rhythm and solo stuff and put the guitar in a better key for singing but they also remove available notes . So when someone starts Little Wing (in E) or Hideaway (E again) I don’t want to get my capo or reach for another guitar to back them up. Pete
Littlewing is one of the more challenging numbers, Hay Joe (usually E) is a more likely choice of young Hendrix fans.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Apr 24, 2020 7:50:51 GMT
When playing lap style I play in all keys in high bass G tuning with and without a capo, depending on what I am looking for. Playing lap style is as much a part of my voice as playing Spanish style, it always has been. I cannot imagine one without the other. With regular Spanish style guitar I do use a capo on lots of things, but also as Snakehips is saying, E minor is wonderful in open G, as are C and D keys. E minor of course being the relative minor of G, so the E minor scale is the G scale that starts and finishes on the E note. I have recorded things in E major in the G tuning too. I used to play quite a lot of African style pieces using other inversions of chords up the fretboard, but all in open G without a capo. The same thing applies, as Snakehips has also said, in the D or Vestapol tuning as B minor is the relative minor key of D.
Recently I have also been using a tuning that I got from studying Hawaiian slack keys players many years ago. It is G tuning, but with a C on the bottom. So it is... C G D G B D. This is fantastic for playing in the key of C because it has a wonderful deep big bottom C note. It is great for blues shuffles in the key of C using the bottom two strings for the 1 and 4, and the open G position for the 5.
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by lonelyjelly on Apr 24, 2020 8:04:34 GMT
There was a time , in the recent past, that I used to go to a couple of Blues jams. As someone who plays in G tuning , all the time, I have had to learn to (try and ) play various tunes not in G. Things like John Lee Hooker’s Dimples or Baby Please Don’t Go , both usually in E , in fact thinking about it E (along with A) are probably the most common keys for ‘Standard’ tuning players as you have the root notes on the bottom 2strings. I was hoping to go to Pocklington this November and talk about playing in keys your guitar is not tuned in to anyone interested. This will probably not happen. Many good players , who use open tuning, only feel confident playing in the one key, or use a capo ( if your in G , putting a capo on the 9th fret to play in E can be a little restricting) I guess (if anyone is interested) I could make a video, but I think it would work best if it was more of a conversation with open G players who may have their own solutions to the problem and would ask questions I have not thought about. I guess a ‘Zoom’ type get together might be a way to do it, with maybe some other players who ,like me , play in any key also giving their ideas and tips? Pete I long to get back to jamming, though I am happy not to have to join in with a band that wants to play ‘Red House’ which seems to happen every other week. Usually in B Hey Pete, All this stuff interests me, whatever the tuning, so if there is any kind of group discussion call I’d be interested in joining in :-) A fun tuning and one that could maybe make it a little easier to jam along with others is open G6 tuning - DGDGBE. Don’t hold me to it but I think Robert Wilkins used it on ‘Old Jim Canon’s’...tune!! The good thing is it’s only one string to tune up if you’re already in Spanish G Best Lew
|
|
|
Post by dunvettin on Apr 24, 2020 10:14:01 GMT
When playing lap style I play in all keys in high bass G tuning with and without a capo, depending on what I am looking for. Playing lap style is as much a part of my voice as playing Spanish style, it always has been. I cannot imagine one without the other. With regular Spanish style guitar I do use a capo on lots of things, but also as Snakehips is saying, E minor is wonderful in open G, as are C and D keys. E minor of course being the relative minor of G, so the E minor scale is the G scale that starts and finishes on the E note. I have recorded things in E major in the G tuning too. I used to play quite a lot of African style pieces using other inversions of chords up the fretboard, but all in open G without a capo. The same thing applies, as Snakehips has also said, in the D or Vestapol tuning as B minor is the relative minor key of D. Recently I have also been using a tuning that I got from studying Hawaiian slack keys players many years ago. It is G tuning, but with a C on the bottom. So it is... C G D G B D. This is fantastic for playing in the key of C because it has a wonderful deep big bottom C note. It is great for blues shuffles in the key of C using the bottom two strings for the 1 and 4, and the open G position for the 5. Shine On Michael Just like English folk tuning of a 5 string banjo then Happy Days Tim
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Apr 24, 2020 10:36:05 GMT
A banjo in G tuning with a C on the bottom?
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by pete1951 on Apr 24, 2020 10:36:23 GMT
I like the idea of G6th and it would make Stormy Monday (the Allman Bros. version) easy to play, but I don’t like retuning mid-gig or changing guitars for that matter. So as MM does when in high G , I want to drop the capo, stay in Spanish and play what ever the other players start to play in whatever key. Pete I think a face-to-face chat is the best way ( well screen-to-screen these days) but I may do a short video with some ideas.
|
|
|
Post by dunvettin on Apr 24, 2020 10:44:59 GMT
A banjo in G tuning with a C on the bottom? Shine On Michael Yes when I first started playing the banjo all the song books had 5 string banjo chords with the base string tuned to C. Then I discovered bluegrass banjo tuning of the base string to D and finally the resonator guitar in Open G using the same chords ! Happy Days Tim
|
|
|
Post by lonelyjelly on Apr 24, 2020 12:29:41 GMT
A banjo in G tuning with a C on the bottom? Shine On Michael Yes when I first started playing the banjo all the song books had 5 string banjo chords with the base string tuned to C. Then I discovered bluegrass banjo tuning of the base string to D and finally the resonator guitar in Open G using the same chords ! Happy Days Tim This is also the standard way to tune a plectrum banjo which doesn’t have the short drone 5th string. It’s a really nice and easy tuning to use and can be easily adapted to guitar - CGCGBD. It gives chord shapes we already know from playing in Spanish a new voice as suddenly what would normally be a root note in the bass become a 3rd. Sorry, off topic a bit. Spanish G all the way...look forward to the video, Pete. Best all Lew
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Apr 24, 2020 12:43:37 GMT
Hi again !
Yes, I'm guilty of using capo's a lot BUT it's because I use a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs in my playing, whilst trying to give low root notes at the same time. i'm not able to play in other keys in Open G without a capo (other than E min, as said already) - I've just not learned how to. The guy I learned that song from, that I posted, played all sorts of stuff in Open G, in all sorts of keys, fretting behind the slide, when necessary, including jazz chord progressions. He was amazing. He was called Kenny Holladay, and I think was from Boston. I believe he played with harmonica player Annie Rainnes for a while, when they were younger.
|
|
|
Post by gaucho on Apr 24, 2020 13:15:39 GMT
I'd definitely be interested in that type of video chat. Spanish tuning is all I use too, sometimes in other keys, but usually in G. I've adapted a lot of songs from Open D like Keep your Lamp and You've Got To Move. I like it, because I end up with a fairly unique version, which is what I'm usually going for.
|
|
|
Post by janatore on Apr 26, 2020 19:56:38 GMT
Hello there
I barely anser in the forum but am a reader since a decade or so.
It is an interesting topic for me here as i am mostly using open G (and varations with lower C bass or upper E bass or a high e and so forth) or standard tuning.
I had a threat going about similarities between open G and open D without preferring one or the other (more a rational approach) in the music row area a while ago. I wanted to go further in that threat to talk about aporoaches to play in various keys in one open tuning like G. I did not find the time for that. So that thread instantly catched my attention. I believe one can learn to play different keys and stuff in open tunings as you learn different fingerings and boxes/scales etc in standard tuning too.
Joey Landreth is a contemporary player showing that in a great way (mostly open D based tunings) or Rainer Ptacek (he is one of my musical heroes). May be Michael could point something out as well.
I came quite far with open G the last years i think playing in G/Emin progressions, D/Bminor, A/F#minor, C/A minor, F/G minor, Eb/Cminor and progressions around that like harmonic minor and other modes.
I try to collect some of my approaches if that is wanted here. I am not shure if that is the intention of that threat to gice a few glimpses here. Thankfully Jan
Edit:
Here i use a g dorian sound. I fret g minor shapes and C/Bb/F sus2 fingerings combined with slide. The cool thing is that openG etc. deliver many possibilities for minor and jazzy sounding chords because major triads can be just put in other contexts. Open G strummed or with slide can also be a E minor7 or even a c major 7/9 etc. That conclusion opened a whole new world for me. I am not speaking of behind the slide fretting yet. Just slide and fingerings.
In the end i think there is nothing wrong with playing G things in open G and capo. I do that many times too. Capoing with some more approaches just gives me some more possibilities. Like with cooking or other tjings people can learn and train the ways are so various. That keeps the process going i think.
This is an old tune of mine in open G played in the key of D.
Here in the Folk project practise we play a song in A minor (A, G, E minor, F). I have out lined and improvised lines there played in open G.
|
|
|
Post by pete1951 on Apr 26, 2020 20:18:21 GMT
I will do a short video of a few common songs (mostly in E) and see if it starts something useful. Most will be ‘rock,and blues’ from the 60s that often come up at jams , though I will try to add some prewar stuff but this is about jamming rather than solo playing. Pete
|
|
|
Post by janatore on May 1, 2020 7:33:49 GMT
Although it is not in open G but D or E i think Rainer's playing shows quite nice how one can play different keys in open tunings.
Here he plays in the fourth pisition (aquivalent G in open D or A in open E). For open G one can adopt the dame principle of course. Playing diatonic or other scales and underlaying chords in C in open G is a goid start to go further fooling around to explore that i thought back when i startet.
What i did here is basically jamming different chordal relationships in C in open G tuning (with a low C bass). Most fingerings and positions are known from playing in G. C, F, D, G and variations. So one could try to go further with other keys around the basic open tuning the guitar is tuned do. Fir G that means the key of C and D (4th and 5th position) are a good start.
Freundliche Grüße Jan
|
|