Open-G song recommendations?
Mike Stucka
detriment of the strings and tuners. I'd like to learn more songs in
open-G so I won't have to change as much (!) :) . I've been working on
Leo Kottke's Sailor's Grave on the Prarie, "Moal's Moan" that was posted
here, and the dueling banjos intro. This isn't much to practice.
So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
the tabs at Olga?
Thanks!
Mike
JRJarrell
(StringSing) writes:
> When I go to an open C tuning (CGCGCE), I
>always stop first at CGDGBE and play a few in that tuning.
One of the best known tunes in CGDgbe is Lindsay
Buckingham's terrific acoustic fingerstyle tunes
from Fleetwood Mac...."Never Going Home Again"
Capoed at 5th fret, Mark Hanson tabbed it out in
a Frets Magazine article in the late 80's. One of
last editions before Frets *bit the dust*
Jim Jarrell
JRJarrell
(KeithR5165) writes:
>How about Kottkes 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desire' or 'Available Space'
>(actually a Ry Cooder tune, but tab for Leo's version is at Olga) or 'The
>Train and the Gate'.
>Also, one of my favorites that I've pulled of off OLGA, 'Both Sides Now',
>as played by Randy Scruggs. You can find it filed under Joni Mitchell
Other OLGA open G tunes that come to mind are:
Dan Fogleberg.... "Longer"
Randy Scruggs...."Amazing Grace" OBTW it and "Both Sides Now"
I think are under Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
archive too.
Both solos are from Dirt Band's "Will the
Circle be
Unbroken" vols I and II
Kottke......"Arms of Mary" (OLGA tab is *rudimentary*)
"June Bug"...note that June Bug and Avaliable space are
tabbed out for 12 string however Kottke does
play
both on 6 string. "Train and the Gate" and
"Sailor's
Grave on Prairie" really only fit 12 string
Leo's "Crow River Waltz" (not in OLGA...get
the
tab from Mark Hanson's Accent on Music)
*demands* to be played on 12 string.
Jim Jarrell JRJa...@aol.com
Charles Held
mst...@orion.it.luc.edu (Mike Stucka) wrote:
->So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
->preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
->the tabs at Olga?
How 'bout a "Stones Unplugged" set? Brown Sugar, Can't You Hear Me Knocking,
Honky Tonk Women, Start Me Up, etc.
KeithR5165
mst...@orion.it.luc.edu (Mike Stucka) wrote:
->So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try
out,
->preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
->the tabs at Olga?
How about Kottkes 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desire' or 'Available Space'
(actually a Ry Cooder tune, but tab for Leo's version is at Olga) or 'The
Train and the Gate'.
Also, one of my favorites that I've pulled of off OLGA, 'Both Sides Now',
as played by Randy Scruggs. You can find it filed under Joni Mitchell.
And then, if you drop the low D to a C, you can play 'Eleven Small
Roaches', by Micheal Hedges.
Have fun,
Keith
Len Moskowitz
Mike Stucka <mst...@orion.it.luc.edu> wrote:
>So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
>preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
>the tabs at Olga?
Thry anything by the late Ted Hawkins. They all sound simple but that's
deceptive. His strumming, using a long nail on his thumb and index, is
something else.
--
Len Moskowitz
Core Sound WWW site: http://www.panix.com/~moskowit
mosk...@panix.com
StringSing
One thing I have found helpful is to learn some tunes in related tunings
so that as I go from one to another, I can stop part way there and play
some. For example, When I go to a D tuning, I always stop in DADGAD and
play a few pieces there first. When I go to an open C tuning (CGCGCE), I
always stop first at CGDGBE and play a few in that tuning. I find this
especially helpful at gigs because I don't have to tune quite as many
strings at one time.
Roy
StringSing
(JRJarrell) writes:
>One of the best known tunes in CGDgbe is Lindsay
>Buckingham's terrific acoustic fingerstyle tunes
>from Fleetwood Mac...."Never Going Home Again"
I think that Richard Thompson uses this tuning a great deal as well.
Roy
Al KD1DJ
>>>I keep changing by guitar between regular and Open-G tuning, to the
detriment of the strings and tuners. I'd like to learn more songs in
open-G so I won't have to change as much (!) :) <<<
Mike - I'd suggest you look into 5-string banjo tunes since the common
G-tuning for those instruments is similar to the open-G guitar tuning.
Cripple Creek works, as does Wildwood Flower.
Meanwhile, I play Simple Gifts (The old Shaker tune), and Joyful,
Joyful, We Adore thee (old hymn based on chorus from Beethoven's 9th
symphony) in Open-G. Also, you might try listening to the accompaniment
to Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" as recorded by Judy Collins - There's a chord
progression that seems to work well in G-tuning starting at the 12th fret
on the 2nd and 4th strings and cruising down the neck until you reach open
position.
Keep On Pickin'
Al Hicks
Westford, MA
Chifuru Noda
>So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
>preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
>the tabs at Olga?
Randy Scruggs did wonderful arrangements of
Both Sides Now ("Will the Circle Be Unbroken", Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
Amazing Grace ("Will the Circle ... Vol II" NGDB)
which are on OLGA.
-----
I don't know if this is on OLGA. but Spanish Fandango (Violet Waltz) is
an easy waltz played on open G. Apparently, open G tuning was invented
for this tune and often is called Fandango tuning. Chet does it (se his
"Off the Record" book). Mississippi John Hart recorded this in his "Best
of" (live) CD but his guitar was stunningly out of tune.
------
An interesting variation of open G is open G6, D G D G B E. Chet Atkins'
"Vincent" and Adrian Legg's "Nanci" are done on that. YOu need to change
only one string from oepn G.
One problem of all these pieces is that they are in key of G. When you
perform these for audience, it's *usually* a good idea to mix them up and
avoid using the same key back to back. You can use a capo to cheat if you
have to.
I don't know any piece played on open G not in key of G..... Here are
some other things you can try....
Double drop D, D A D G B D. Ed Gerhard's "Si Bheg
Si Mhor" is played in that tuning. Not particularly easy but a wonderful
arrangement. Key of D, not on OLGA but on his book.
Michael Hedges wrote "Eleven Small Roaches" (on OLGA) in C G D G B D. Not
too difficult, it's in key of G.
By the way, when I said "it's easier to stay in one tuning," Martin
Simpson replied "Do Not Be Afraid of Retuning" :-)
Cheers
Chief
PS: You can also find an abundance of open G pieces in Hawai'ian Slack
key music..... Maybe someone can comment on this since I don't know much
wil...@hg.uleth.ca
>
>Mike Stucka <mst...@orion.it.luc.edu> wrote:
>
>>So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
>>preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
>>the tabs at Olga?
>
>
Wow, Laurence Juber is on this newsgroup, along with Bob Taylor, Happy
Traum and Adrian Legg. I feel like asking for autographs.
Anyway. One of the amazing all time unrecognized players is Randy Scruggs,
son of the banjo picker. He played an instrumental version of Joni
Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will The
Circle Be Unbroken" album, back in 71 or thereabouts. This is fingerstyle
and in Open G and is available from Nevada, which as far as I know is
a mirror site for Olga.
In about '89 they put out a "Will The Circle . . " vol. 2, and again
Randy Scruggs played an open G fingerstyle instrumental. This one was
"Amazing Grace". I have this one too, so I must have got it from Nevada.
"Both Sides Now" is in the Joni Mitchell Directory, and "Amazing Grace"
if I remember correctly is under Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Did I mention that (Don't look a gift horse I suppose, but most of those
tabs aren't terribly well done) both these tabs are complete, and
accurate, and not terribly hard to learn. There also were some tabs
posted to this newsgroup a while ago, mostly Martin Simpson stuff, that
were open G fingerstyle. They were pretty good too, although I don't
think they were note for note accurate. I don't know if they made it
to Olga or not. I might still have copies somewhere if you want them
and can't find them.
I can't help you with the slide stuff, except the Wood Chops column in
"Acoustic Guitar" has been doing slide lessons over the last couple of
issues, (Dec, & Jan). I'm not a slide player myself, but these columns
looked verrrry interesting, (and sorta do-able too).
Pete
>
David Haines
into my kitchen, Walking Blues
try dust my broom, and Little Red Rooster by Howlinn Wolf (London Sessions) to get started. Come
into my kitchen is a great song to learn technique because it is slow and the notes are easy to
find but if you don't damp the strings right, and use the slide to drive the strings right, the
song falls flat. There must be 50 different versions of walking blues from Eric Clapton unplugged
to Robert Johnson to Son House to John Hammond. Guy Davis does a GREATw walking blues. DArark is
Dark is the night, cold is the ground by Blind Willie Johnson ala RY Cooder is an
nice tone practice.
Of course, all these songs are slide tunes. (If you cannot find the tab at OLGA E-mail me and/or
post a request and I'll send them it to you.
for fingerstyle, the only songs I know in open G are Foggy MMountain Breakdown and
the ballad of Jed Clampett
david
ch...@clt.mindspring.com (Charles Held) wrote:
>In article <4d95vd$3...@artemis.it.luc.edu>,
> mst...@orion.it.luc.edu (Mike Stucka) wrote:
>->So, a plea for help: Anyone have any recommendations on songs to try out,
>->preferably fingerstyle, quite possibly with slide, of which I can find
>->the tabs at Olga?
>
LocalMus
slide piece in open G. Tab anyone?
Larry
Tom Loredo
I thought the original post was looking for instrumental tunes, but
noticed some vocals (eg, blues tunes) in the suggestions. I don't
know any instrumentals in Open G, but I do know some vocal tunes,
so I thought I'd mention the following:
Phil Keaggy's "It Could've Been Me" on *Way Back Home*, an entirely
acoustic "folk" album; one of my favorites by anyone, ever. A
very sweet album, with songs focusing on family themes. There's
more about this album at the Phil Keaggy page, at
http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/staff/loredo/keaggy/
Dana Robinson's "Child's Game," on *Elemental Lullabye*. Dana is
an up-and-coming singer/songwriter from Northampton, MA, whose
voice is somewhat remeniscent of Cat Stevens, and whose writing
spans bluegrass to contemporary styles. He's among my very favorite of
the new crop of singer/songwriter/guitarists, with a very unique
and tasteful guitar style. And he'll be here in Ithaca this weekend!
Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime," (capo 3); my favorite
version is on her *One Fair Summer Evening* live CD/video. This is
the tune that inspired Adrian Legg's "Nanci", according to Legg's
liner notes on his lovely ballad. Nanci's song really tugs the
heartstrings.
Michael McNevin's "Second Hand Story," off his Waterbug CD of the
same name. Another very talented new singer/songwriter, who has
won more songwriting awards than you can shake the proverbial stick
at. His classical training shows in some of his fingerpicked tunes.
This one is capo 2 or 3.
Martin Sexton's "In The Journey" (from the casette of the same name)
and "Caught In The Rain" (from the *Performing Songwriter Magazine*
editor's choice CD with the 12 best independent releases of 1994).
Marty is a great songwriter and player from Boston. But the show
stealer is his MAGNIFICENT voice; this guy's voice is the most
impressive I've ever heard, spanning an incredible dynamic range,
from warm and folky to deep and growly to an airy falsetto; and
always smack on pitch. His live shows are a tour-de-force. DO
NOT MISS HIM if he comes anywhere near you!
Shawn Colvin has a number of songs in Open G; my favorite
is "Cry Like An Angel", on her 1st studio album, and with a killer
version on her "new" live album (rerelease of her 1988 cassette).
I don't know this one myself, but my friend Mike Allinger does
a great version at local coffeehouses!
Some others near to open G are Nanci's "Working In Corners" (DGDGAD),
capo 2, off the same live album as "Love at the five...". Some of
my favorite instrumentals to play are three of Martin Simpson's that
I play in a medley: "Santa Cruz" (an original), "Donal Og", and
another Scotts tune whose name escapes me at the moment. They are
in "G4 tuning", CGDGCD, capo 3 or so. Gorgeous stuff. He teaches
them in his videos, where he also discusses how best to use the 4
in this tuning.
Several other vocal tunes using Open G tuning are in the Alternate
Tuning Guide for Contemporary Folk Music at:
http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/staff/loredo/ag/tunings/fm_tunings.html
Peace,
-Tom Loredo
John Boston
[snip]
>I don't know any piece played on open G not in key of G..... Here are
> some other things you can try....
John Fahey says (in the booklet to RETURN OF THE REPRESSED) that "Night
Train to Valhalla" is in open G but the key of D.
John Boston
Andy Howell
<mailto:alk...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Meanwhile, I play Simple Gifts (The old Shaker tune), and Joyful,
> Joyful, We Adore thee (old hymn based on chorus from Beethoven's 9th
> symphony) in Open-G. Also, you might try listening to the accompaniment
> to Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" as recorded by Judy Collins - There's a chord
> progression that seems to work well in G-tuning starting at the 12th fret
> on the 2nd and 4th strings and cruising down the neck until you reach open
> position.
Somehow Open-G seems to suit church/gospel music well.
--
Andy Howell
Birmingham, UK.
Nichael Cramer
:Mike Stucka writes:
:
:>>>I keep changing by guitar between regular and Open-G tuning, to the
:detriment of the strings and tuners. I'd like to learn more songs in
:open-G so I won't have to change as much (!) :) <<<
:
:Mike - I'd suggest you look into 5-string banjo tunes since the common
:G-tuning for those instruments is similar to the open-G guitar tuning.
:Cripple Creek works, as does Wildwood Flower.
:
:Meanwhile, I play Simple Gifts (The old Shaker tune), and Joyful,
:Joyful, We Adore thee (old hymn based on chorus from Beethoven's 9th
:symphony) in Open-G. [...]
Similarly (assuming I remember correctly) Leo Kottke's version of "Jesu,
Joy of Man's Desiring" is in open-G (OTOH that means that he has to omit
the whole central section with the fancy chord progression...) For that
matter a whole bunch of LK's stuff --particularly the slide pieces-- are
in open-G.
Another peice that's "almost" in open-G is Stephen Still's "Black Queen":
DADGBD.
Nichael
nic...@sover.net __
http://www.sover.net/~nichael Be as passersby -- IC
ceng
wrote:
>alk...@aol.com (Al KD1DJ) wrote:
>
>:Mike Stucka writes:
>:
>:>>>I keep changing by guitar between regular and Open-G tuning, to the
>:detriment of the strings and tuners. I'd like to learn more songs in
>:open-G so I won't have to change as much (!) :) <<<
>:
I've solved that problem.. one guitar is in the good ol' EADGBE and
the other is in the cool ol' xGDGBD (which everyone asks.. "where's
the 6th string... answer: mock banjo... leave me alone :)
>
>Another peice that's "almost" in open-G is Stephen Still's "Black Queen":
>DADGBD.
any chance of finding this on the net?
>Nichael
>nic...@sover.net __
>http://www.sover.net/~nichael Be as passersby -- IC
ceng/env.manager
Mike Stucka
You folks have been most helpful. _Thank you_!
I'll try out some of these recommendations soon. I'm still a full-time
student, but I quit one of my two jobs today so maybe I'll have some
time... <laugh> If you can't make time for your guitar in your life,
what kind of life do you have?
Yours,
Mike Stucka
Leon Pereira
Many of them are in open-G tuning. You can find tab on the net!
- Leon