Sonny Landreth Tuning?
Glenn S Kroll
Anyone know what tuning Sonny Landreth used on "Je Suis Desole" found on
Mark Knopfler's "Golden Heart" recording?
I bought the Hal Leonard Golden Heart book which has tab for Mark's guitar
but would really like to be able to play Sonny's line.
Of course I realize that it could be played in any number of tunings but so
far I haven't hit one that "feels right".
TIA,
Glenn.
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> Hi,
>
> Anyone know what tuning Sonny Landreth used on
> "Je Suis Desole" found on Mark Knopfler's "Golden Heart"
> recording?
Was that a duet with Landreth? Hah! I didn't know that. I thought
Knopfler was just multitracking. I guess that shows you how much
attention I pay to liner notes.
It makes sense though. Knopfler plays almost all his other stuff on
the National as a standard fingerpicked guitar. He may not even keep a
National set up in a jacked-up tuning for slide.
> I bought the Hal Leonard Golden Heart book which has tab
> for Mark's guitar but would really like to be able to play
> Sonny's line.
>
> Of course I realize that it could be played in any number of
> tunings but so far I haven't hit one that "feels right".
I play an arrangement of that song, but as a fingerstyle acoustic
piece, not slide. It lays out very naturally in standard tuning in the
key of A minor, all in first position except for the B section. In
fact, I have a hard time keeping it from mutating into "Ghost Riders
in the Sky" when I play it. :-) So for slide, I imagine it would work
nicely in an E major tuning, just flatting the third when you need to.
Of course this may have nothing to do with what tuning they actually
used. I haven't even checked my arrangement against the record.... I
just sorta worked it up one afternoon.
What key is the Hal Leonard tab in, by the way?
Mike Barrs
Glenn S Kroll
key of D (2 sharps?).
I am very new to slide and associated tunings and haven't heard many with a
minor flavor as most of Je Suis Desole seems to me.
I had been focusing the the G and D tunings trying to get up the nerve to
tune up to the "High G" tuning GBDGBD I understand many lap style players
use when I got sidetracked by this recording.
Glenn
"foldedpath" <mba...@REMOVE-NOSPAM.nightviewer.com> wrote in message
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Mike Dotson
pretty much specific toBluegrass Dobro. Hawaiian players tend to use Open G
(DGDGBD)
If it's D minor tune try DADFAD. Cool and spooky sounding.
foldedpath
> Thanks Mike. My music classes were 35-40 years ago but I think it
is in the
> key of D (2 sharps?).
I just threw the CD in my computer and tried playing along with that
tune, using my Asian copy Dobro (which is tuned in E major).
The original recording seems to be in B minor.
Kick that down two frets and you're in A minor, where it lays out
naturally for the straight fingerpicked accompaniment on the steel
string guitar in standard tuning. So I'm guessing Knopfler capo'd up
two frets to play this song (probably to fit his vocal range), and
Landreth tuned in E major (or minor) with a capo on the second fret. I
tried playing some of Landreth's licks on my major E-tuned Dobro, and
it works out fine, as long as you flat the third.
The thing about playing in minor keys is that most of the chords in a
minor song are often major chords (like this song). So it works out
better (for me, anyway) to tune my slide guitar to a major chord, and
then fret behind the slide to get the signature minor chord. That's
the hard part, and then the major chord shapes are all there right
under the slide.
If you tune to a minor tuning, then it's much harder to fret AHEAD of
the slide to sharp the major third. That's my take on it anyway...
your mileage may vary.
> I am very new to slide and associated tunings and
> haven't heard many with a minor flavor as most of Je
> Suis Desole seems to me.
Try tuning to an E major, then lay your slide across the 5th fret with
the slide on your ring finger (or whatever works for you), and use
your index finger to flat the third (4th fret, 3rd string from the
top). This technique has opened up a world of new bottleneck slide
voicings for me.
If anyone else here has something to contribute to this topic, I'd
love to hear it! I've just been shooting in the dark over the years,
working out my own approach to this stuff.
Glenn S Kroll
It'll take a bit more practice but I now have the basic idea of the song. I
tuned to E Major and capoed at the 2nd fret. I need to work a bit more
until I get the pressures right to flat the 3rd behind the slide without a
lot of buzzing. My action is a compromise between slide and fingerstyle so
a little low. But I now have that "feel" of the song I was seeking.
Thanks for your help,
Glenn
"foldedpath" <mba...@REMOVE-NOSPAM.nightviewer.com> wrote in message
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foldedpath
> Mike,
>
> It'll take a bit more practice but I now have the basic
> idea of the song. I tuned to E Major and capoed at
> the 2nd fret. I need to work a bit more until I get the
> pressures right to flat the 3rd behind the slide without a
> lot of buzzing. My action is a compromise between
> slide and fingerstyle so a little low. But I now have that
> "feel" of the song I was seeking.
>
> Thanks for your help,
Great!
By the way, my strings are set up with a fairly light tension on that
third string (from the top), so it's easier for me to fret behind the
slide for songs in minor keys. It runs like this, top to bottom for E
major tuning on a National wood body resonator:
.015
.017
.024 (plain, not wound)
.034 w
.044 w
.054 w
You might even go down to a .022 on that third string, but I've found
that .024 gives me the right balance between being able to fret the
minor chords behind the slide, and having decent tension under the
slide for playing the major chords. Recently I replaced the biscuit on
my National so I could jack the action up a little higher. That lets
me still fret behind the slide on the lower 5-7 frets, while still
having a good strong slide tone on the upper frets.
Have fun, it sounds like you're on the right track!
Mike Barrs