Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Slide Guitar and Open-D tuning
You probably don't need me to tell you that open-D tuning is terrific for playing slilde guitar. But I'll tell you anyway - open-D tuning is terrific for playing slide guitar.
It's so terrific, in fact, that I marvel at the guys who manage acceptable slide licks in standard guitar tuning (except you guitar gods out there - you guys can do anything!), something I've never managed. It's kind of a back handed compliment to standard, I know. But I see guys doing it, and I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that there is a small built-in open chord in standard, which would be the D G B - a G major triad, in an inversion. If they are not utilizing this to get a chordal thing going on slide, then they are sticking to single note slide leads, again an admirable undertaking, given the unorthodoxy of standard. That must take one heck of a lot of string damping.
Nonetheless, open-D offers all the convenience you could ask for in slide, on both acoustic and electric guitar. Single note leads are no problem of course, but as a bonus, let'em all ring, and there's no sweat - you get the sweet sound of a major chord! Want to hear the main riff from Dust My Broom the way Elmore James played it? Just slide up to the octave (12th fret) and hit the lick.
I have learned that electric guitar seems a lot more forgiving that acoustic when it comes to unwanted noises. I'm no bottleneck virtuoso, but I have learned a thing or two, and that is one of them.
Guitar-eze does not delve specifically into slide technique - maybe one day I will include a section, or provide some supplemental material at some point. Suffice it to say, for a slide guitar enthusiast, open-D tuning is a great place to start.
It's so terrific, in fact, that I marvel at the guys who manage acceptable slide licks in standard guitar tuning (except you guitar gods out there - you guys can do anything!), something I've never managed. It's kind of a back handed compliment to standard, I know. But I see guys doing it, and I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that there is a small built-in open chord in standard, which would be the D G B - a G major triad, in an inversion. If they are not utilizing this to get a chordal thing going on slide, then they are sticking to single note slide leads, again an admirable undertaking, given the unorthodoxy of standard. That must take one heck of a lot of string damping.
Nonetheless, open-D offers all the convenience you could ask for in slide, on both acoustic and electric guitar. Single note leads are no problem of course, but as a bonus, let'em all ring, and there's no sweat - you get the sweet sound of a major chord! Want to hear the main riff from Dust My Broom the way Elmore James played it? Just slide up to the octave (12th fret) and hit the lick.
I have learned that electric guitar seems a lot more forgiving that acoustic when it comes to unwanted noises. I'm no bottleneck virtuoso, but I have learned a thing or two, and that is one of them.
Guitar-eze does not delve specifically into slide technique - maybe one day I will include a section, or provide some supplemental material at some point. Suffice it to say, for a slide guitar enthusiast, open-D tuning is a great place to start.
