Ive tuned my qacoustic to open g to play usin a slide. I got pretty good with improviisin with a slide. But only wen i play by myself. How can u solo with a slide in any key, in open g? or is it only possible to solo in open g? Just how Rory Gallagher does with that battered Tele. I tried but it didnt work. Please help! Thanxx! :D :D
"No pain No gain!"- The Scorpions
Short answer, yes you can solo in any key....if you use mostly the 2nd 3rd and 4th strings, which are still in standard tuning...so open, you've got D G and B...G B & D are the 1st 3rd and 5th notes in the scale of G...move it up two frets, those same three strings are now E A and Db...A, Db and E are the 1st 3rd and 5th notes in the scale of A....this works all the way up the neck....
For a longer answer, try posting on the "Slide and Open Tunings" forum, which we've just got set up for this very purpose....
"Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh is , I believe in open E tuning...but I've played along to the CD in open G...
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
You can play in any key in any tuning if you know where the scales are. There are several great online scale and chord finders that let you enter whatever tuning you want.
Many slide players mostly play I-IV-V blues in the root key of the tuning and get used to certain basic slide riffs that work around the frets those chords are found on. (Open and 12th fret for the I, 5th fret for the IV, 7th fret for the V, and the third fret which is the iii chord is often useful also.) Now, if you want to play in a different key, a quick and dirty adaptation is to figure out where the I, IV and V chords for that key are and use them with the same licks you're used to. Say you're in Open G and want to play in E. The I, IV and V in E are E, A and B. So one way you could do it is to play around the barred 9th fret (E chord) for the I, the 2nd or 14th frets for the IV (A chord), and 4th or 16th frets for the V (B chord.) And the blues scale pattern you learned in G will work if you move it three frets toward the nut.
This is a very good scale and chord finder:
http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/guitar/index_rb.html
There are a bunch of others online.
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