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Post by vikingblues on Sept 28, 2017 19:24:20 GMT
Now you'll see why I've never tried to teach anyone anything on guitar. It was incoherent and faltering on the dry run - and I showed consistency by being the same in the final product! Anyway it's an attempt at suggesting some things about Open G that lend itself to Meditative Noodling. I thought I'd give it a go as I seem to be the only user of that tuning around here! At 05:17 when I say "root note of chord" I mean "root note of key". Maybe needs a supplementary as I missed a few things along the way, but my nerves won't take any more tonight. Mark
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Post by lavaman on Sept 28, 2017 22:24:36 GMT
Nice video Mark. A great demonstration of the wonderful sounds you can get from a mahogany top Vintage Gordon Giltrap. I often noodle with G6 tuning (a la Bo Carter) for fun. Iain
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 29, 2017 7:39:54 GMT
Agreed. Nice video.
I've never really got own with Open G as I really don't like the idea of playing for so much on 5 strings. That being said it is a great tuning for blues txt really drive. Years ago I used to play a celtic-y finger style arrangement of The Water is Wide/Where Are You Tonight (Andy Stewart. I've forgotten this arrangement now!
What re-kindled an interest in G tunings was doing the Martin Simpson Workshop — one of his main tunings is G sus 4 — DGDGD (or can drop bottom D down to C). This is a very versatile tuning that can be used for the blues and for finger style. It is far more interestingly harmonically. I still don't like it as much as my D or C tunings but I find I use it quite regularly.
Open G and Open D can, of course, be both brilliant for driving plectrum strummed stuff (which I can't do). Check our Paul Brady. Wonderful stuff.
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Post by vikingblues on Sept 30, 2017 7:01:14 GMT
Iain and Andy - thank you for being so positive! Thanks too Keith, Leo and Rob for the likes! Though I don't feel I did the subject matter justice. I don't fancy going in front of the camera again so a couple of things to add. One thing I did forget to mention was the combination of those major and minor shapes on strings 2,3, and 4 with the 3rd string played open and adding both the open 5th and open 1st strings. So the lowest note is always G, backed up by another G on the 3rd string. The D on the top string adds nice flavour .... so you have on the 6 strings:- x00000 (G), x02010 (G6sus4), x04030 (GMaj7no3), x05050 (G6no3), x07070 (D/G), x09080 (G). A nice run of G flavourings there I find. The above does highlight again what Andy rightly mentions - the lack of tasks for the 6th string! I had also meant to mention you can do runs up the 6th string on combinations of open string, and 2nd and 4th fret, running up to the 5th fret, which being G can be played with any combination of G based chords / arpeggios. That 5th fret of the 6th string in combination with the other 5 open strings does give a fuller flavour of G chord with the doubled root note. Also the open bottom string can be used in conjunction with the notes of the D (V) chord at the 7th fret which gives it a better balanced sound to set against the open strings G chord. I think one of the reasons I like this tuning for unplanned noodling is the way the notes in the scale fall so easily on the fretboard and can be easily remembered - a great help to my tired old brain cells. The string that is the exception is the 2nd string and that can be remembered easily once those major and minor chord shapes on strings 2,3, and 4 are in the head. Scale notes on all Open strings. On all 2nd fret except 1st fret on 2nd string. All 4th fret except 3rd fret on 2nd string. All 5th fret, All 7th fret. All 9th fret except 8th fret 2nd string. As the above diagram. Whatever the reason this tuning and DADGAD are the ones that have stuck for on the fly off the cuff playing. The various C tunings I find very good for sounds etc but I have to plan it out first as pure improv rarely works. Maybe just need more time. Mark
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Post by andyhowell on Sept 30, 2017 8:11:13 GMT
Mark - the C sus 4 sus 9 tuning might work better for you - very close to DADGAD.
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Post by vikingblues on Oct 1, 2017 19:35:03 GMT
Thanks Andy. That is - I think - the CGCFCD? Bottom 4 strings as DADGAD but a full tone lower. In which case by strange coincidence I've been having a go at davewhite 's "Diamond House" piece off his album / Tabs. Dave certainly gets some magic on the piece using that tuning, and it's impressive how he creates beautiful sounding music from musical passages that are technically relatively straightforward. That is a real skill, and I'm hoping some of it might rub off on me if I study the albums Tabs enough. Optimist! I will take the opportunity to look at the way the tuning might work for, & make sense to, me. In the interim I did do an improv based around my alleged Open G lesson - I'd meant to post it earlier but we've had distractions with serious dog health issues. This is the Open G Improv - "Happy MGG in G"Not so happy with recording quality - computer fan noise and headphones falling off a chair, but it flowed OK so I kept recording. Mark
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Post by stringdriventhing on Oct 1, 2017 23:11:24 GMT
I only know 2 tunes in Open G and one of those is a Christmas tune Enjoyed the video Mark
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Post by theinvisibleman on Oct 2, 2017 8:38:26 GMT
That really is a decent sounding guitar isn't it. I had the basic mahogany V300 which I had to turn upside down and make a new nut and saddle for as a left-handed person but there was no cajoling that sort of sound from it. It's neither dull nor too luxuriant. I liked the other 'noodling' video on your YT page also. Five all-mahogany guitars have passed through my hands now, three of them being Sigma 000M15s, and I'm still in half a mind about trying a fourth of those...
I think Open G is improved by tuning the bottom string to C (where 002000 is a knockout chord).
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Post by vikingblues on Oct 3, 2017 22:41:13 GMT
I only know 2 tunes in Open G and one of those is a Christmas tune Enjoyed the video Mark I don't know many tunes in Open G either! So I often need to revert to just making it up. There is a Martin Simpson arrangement of "O Jerusalem" in Open G which I keep returning to and hope that one day I can do it full justice on a recording. The only other Open G tunes I've found so far are a few Rob MacKillop arrangements of old Scots music in one of his books. Glad you enjoyed the video ... hope the rambling nature wasn't too off-putting! That really is a decent sounding guitar isn't it. I had the basic mahogany V300 which I had to turn upside down and make a new nut and saddle for as a left-handed person but there was no cajoling that sort of sound from it. It's neither dull nor too luxuriant. I liked the other 'noodling' video on your YT page also. Five all-mahogany guitars have passed through my hands now, three of them being Sigma 000M15s, and I'm still in half a mind about trying a fourth of those... I think Open G is improved by tuning the bottom string to C (where 002000 is a knockout chord). I did have a V300 many years ago, but I was heavily into playing electric back then and it got sold to fund some new gear - I recall it was good value for money, but a much lower price point than the Giltrap model. I am sill amazed at the excellent job that Vintage and Rob Armstrong made of their relatively low budget copy of Rob's Giltrap guitar design. Usually signature guitars are inflated prices on already expensive guitars. I'm convinced that so much of what I like in the sound is resulting from the unconventional body shape - really big lower bout and much thinner waist - both bass and treble seem to benefit. Both the cedar top and the all mahogany versions share this good sound. It's taken me a while to find the right mahogany guitars for me as I often find them too warm and veering towards muddy. I have often found that all Hog guitars seemed more choosy about what strings they needed than various cedar top / mahogany back and sides guitars did. I have ended up needing to have Thomastik Infeld Plectrum 11s on my Tanglewood TW133 all mahogany - it has expensive tastes! The Giltrap all mahogany fortunately is OK on D'Addario 11s. I will need to have a go at dropping that bottom G down to C when I next get a guitar in Open G tuning. G6 with a C bass? Thanks for the suggestion. Noticing that then adding a first fret on the 2nd string (002010) for G6sus4 with a C bass - intriguing. Mark
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Post by andyhowell on Oct 11, 2017 6:42:37 GMT
I only know 2 tunes in Open G and one of those is a Christmas tune Enjoyed the video Mark I don't know many tunes in Open G either! So I often need to revert to just making it up. There is a Martin Simpson arrangement of "O Jerusalem" in Open G which I keep returning to and hope that one day I can do it full justice on a recording. The only other Open G tunes I've found so far are a few Rob MacKillop arrangements of old Scots music in one of his books. Glad you enjoyed the video ... hope the rambling nature wasn't too off-putting! Mark That O Jerusalem arrangement is very old now. I doubt he would play it in that tuning anymore. I have been playing that tune a bit recently (in my atheist hymn mode). I have tried in DADGAD and in G sus 4 but have settled for C sus 4. I’ve been playing it in a medley with Weeping Pilgrim (off Natalie Merchant’s House Carpenter album). Both of these tunes are relatively simple and suit a simple arrangement with a bit of space - great for me as I get more and More into simple each year. I might have a crack at recording these.
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