Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh - open G or open E?

I believe Joe Walsh does most of his sliding in standard tuning, but I'm not sure about this one, long time since I heard it..

Steinar

I thought Joe was an Open E guy. He certainly uses a lot of the usual open E slide riffs in that song.

There's another guitar in there.

Ask and you shall receive!

I mentioned this to a friend over the weekend, he said "hey, I've got a tab for that...." - he scanned it for me, printed it out and brought it round......

Ricochet, you're right - there is more than one guitar, there are three! And the lead (slide) IS in open E.....

He also scanned out a lesson and some riffs, fills and tricks in open E.....written by Derek Trucks!

darn, just as I was getting used to open G......

:D :D :D

Vic

Cool!

Derek Trucks seems to know his way around an Open E fretboard fairly well. :D

That he does, I'm just trying a few of them out now - un-amplified electric of course, it's just gone midnight here....can't wait to try them plugged in tomorrow!

:D :D :D

Vic

Really fun stuff! :D

As a side note, I found out where I've been going wrong when I've tuned to open E before....

I've always tuned to (low to high) E Ab E Ab B E.......
whereas Derek Trucks uses this....E B E Ab B E.......

I didn't think it would make much difference, but I couldn't understand why some of the bass notes in the lesson sounded "off" - now I know, I was 3 semitones flat!!!

So another valuable lesson learned - ALWAYS CHECK YOUR TUNING!

:D :D :D

Vic

Yup, for many years I knew one G tuning, DGDGBD, the one I think Keef uses a lot. I was into the Stones a lot so it matched. That and the open E (or D in my case), which is like an open E 'shape'. I also used an open C (sorta) which is the 6th string down to C and the 5th down to G and the rest standard. But now, having gone into lap steel, I find all these other G tunings and whatnot. Like dobro G (GBDGBD) which I never knew about, and a bunch of others. Even the A6 tuning I'm using on steel, it's not what most people call an A6 - I just took a C6 and lowered everything.

So yah, one or two strings being diffferent make a thing either playable or you gotta do some weird slants or position shifts to get it. Lots of times though, the guy you're listening to will pick or strum all the strings in a 12th fret harmonic and you can then go ahead and 'steal' his tuning - or at least check it against what you have ;)

That's an interesting Open E variation you came up with Vic. I've never seen that one before. Derek's version is the usual.

I used that tuning because I didn't know the standard open E tuning....I figured for an E chord, I'd need all the strings tuning to either E, Ab or B...it seemed easier to tune the A string down 1/2 a step than up a full step. It sounded OK for open chords, but not powerchords...

With hindsight, I should have realised that the bottom two strings - tuned my way - give you the 1st and 3rd of the scale - the proper (D. Trucks) tuning gives you the 1st and 5th....

Ah well, what I knew then about music theory could have been written on the back of a postage stamp with a 6-inch brush!

On another point that's arisen from this post - Demoetc mentioned C6 and A6 tunings - I know Smokindog also uses C6 tuning on his pedal steel....

If you're tuning to C6 - C(root) E(3rd) G(5th) A(6th) isn't it the same as tuning to Am7 - A(root) C(flattened 3rd) E(5th) G(flattened 7th)? Or does the particular voicing dictate how the tuning is named?

And purely to satisfy my curiosity - what's the reason for tuning to, say, C6? Just remembered - Smokindog mentioned that the C6 tuning he used wouldn't be suitable for guitar, I think he said it would put too much tension on the neck. So is it just a lap steel tuning? Or could it be adapted for guitar?

:D :D :D

Vic

And purely to satisfy my curiosity - what's the reason for tuning to, say, C6? Just remembered - Smokindog mentioned that the C6 tuning he used wouldn't be suitable for guitar, I think he said it would put too much tension on the neck. So is it just a lap steel tuning? Or could it be adapted for guitar?Others can tell you a lot more about it than I, but I do know that with sixth chord tunings you have a major and a minor triad at each fret.

I think you'd often have to use custom string gauge sets to play in those tunings on your guitar.

The standard C6 tuning is (low to high) CEGACE, so I guess you can call it an Am7 if you insist... :wink:

There are two major advantages with it (and any "6th" tuning,- A) the closer intervals between the strings makes playing fast melodies and solos easier, and B) you have 'instant access' to more triads and harmonies than with a major-chord tuning.

Personally I wouldn't use it for bottleneck slide, not because of the string tension (you'd just need to adjust the gauges to the tuning), but because I would combine sliding and fretting to achieve some of the same results. Plus there's something very "Hawaiian" about those tunings that I feel are better suited for lap steel,- I want a 'rougher' sound from my bottleneck sliding, but I'm sure someone would find it useful.

Steinar

re - C6 or Am7 - what I was getting at, is it called C6 rather than Am7 because the root C of the C6 chord is on the bottom string?

It's certainly an interesting tuning....like you both said, a majorCEG) and a minor(ACE) triad at the same fret.....

I can imagine some nice chord voicings - like for example, Am - xx2000, you'd get a nice drone effect with the 3rd and fourth strings playing the same note....

If you tried this on an acoustic, would you use heavier gauge strings? Seems to me you'd have to tune everything down - some a LONG way!.....

You've really got me interested now!

Thanks guys....

:D :D :D

Vic

Hmmm, I was thinking of tuning up with lighter strings...