Open G tuning

[Jersey tuning]

Lately I've been on a quest to get a handle on open G. So far doing Circle Game and After The Goldrush(my own arrangement), plus a few others that need polishing(I Am A Rock comes to mind).  Any other suggestions?

[Earl]

Lots of blues and slide (Robert Johnson, etc) is done in open G and its cousin open A.  Open G (taro patch) is one of the primary slack-key tunings.  I play about 20 slack key songs in open G and should really work up a dozen or so blues and slide tunes to mix in. 

Things like Elizabeth Cotten's Spanish Flangdang come to mind.  There is a lot of instructional material of Stefan Grossman's DVD's.  LA singer-songwriter Peter Case plays almost exclusively in Open G.  At a workshop once he showed us Yesterday which requires just one easy chord formation for Em, and the rest is barres.  And I heard Puff the Magic Dragon done slack-key style on Kauai in open G once, and had to go work that one out for myself.

I avoided alternate tunings for years, not wanting the hassle of re-tuning all the time.  (As with anything else, more practice makes re-tuning it easier and quicker).  The tune that finally got me to take the plunge is an African tune called Sangisangy.  A YouTube search will bring it up easily enough.  It appeared on one of the Acoustic Guitar magazine CD's back in the day, with tab appearing in the March 1998 issue.  At first listen to the CD I had to learn it, but my heart sank when i found the tab and discovered it was in open G.  I got over that.....        and Sangisangy has become one of my favorite instrumentals to play, especially if my guitar already in open G tuning.  Now I play slack key in six different tunings, so I have really gotten my initial reticence.

[Guitarman]

Thanks Earl, for the heads-up on the Sangisangy tune.  I'll give that one a go.

[Earl]

FYI, although it is spelled Sangisangy, the final "y" is not pronounced.  You would pronounce it as "sangisang".  I have no idea what the word means......

The thumb is the tricky part, keeping that rhythm going while putting the melody on top.  My wife has written out a flute part to duet with (basically the main melody) and that is cool too.  On the guitar the melody is played using parallel thirds, like much of slack key.

[John]

I learned Jackson Brown's "Something Fine" in open G last year. Love the sound - He also did a few more in that tuning like "Running on Empty".

[Jersey tuning]

I've added a few more tunes in open G -- Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" plus a few Creedence tunes (Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Who'll Stop The Rain).

[Earl]

I've added a few more tunes in open G -- Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"......

Interesting.  I've played that one for years in standard tuning.  I'll have to try it in open G.  But in a day or two.  I played for 2.5 hours tonight at a jam, and my fingers are kinda sore.

[Jersey tuning]

I've added a few more tunes in open G -- Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"......

Interesting.  I've played that one for years in standard tuning.  I'll have to try it in open G.  But in a day or two.  I played for 2.5 hours tonight at a jam, and my fingers are kinda sore.

Starts G Gadd9   G  Gadd9.........

[Strumming Fool]

I've added a few more tunes in open G -- Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"......

Interesting.  I've played that one for years in standard tuning. 

Me too; "If You Could Read My Mind" sounds wonderful in standard tuning in the key of A. You can hit all the inflections that Gordy does - quite rewarding!