recomend me some songs in alternate tuning open E

[Fumble fingers]

I'm just starting to learn some slide technique in open E ..... do you guy's know of some good songs to learn with the same open E tuning ??

thanks , Eric

[louis cyfer]

i am no help on this, i don't know how to play one single song.

[supereiv]

check tedeschi trucks band, Derek Trucks plays in open E 90% of the time !

[jediguitarist]

Black Crowes - She Talks to Angels.
This one isn't slide...

Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way - Pretty sure it's Open E
Then again, neither is this one... Get a talk-box...lol

[Edited because I can't read]

[KenC]

It's not slide, but Dave Mason plays "We Just Disagree" in open E:

[youtube]TCpQLZs2Eh8[/youtube]

This is pretty far off the beaten path, but a Scottish musician named Rob St. John uses open E on his song "Your Phantom Limb":

[youtube]_heXeeAUQfE[/youtube]

Both of these videos have enough close-ups of the guitars to pick out a lot of the fingerings. There's another video of "Phantom Limb" on You Tube from a show in Cologne. The sound quality on that video is pretty bad, but the guitar fingerings are very clear.

I hope this helps.

Ken

[jediguitarist]

Okay, I finally found one from my collection.. err. Songs that I learned at one point in my life...

Triumph - When the Lights Go Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-AwlBkYBKY

The intro is slide in open E

[Fumble fingers]

thanks guy's !! ..... I was thinking Allman brothers had one too but can't figure it out

Louis , I'm having a hard time believing you don't know any songs

[louis cyfer]

thanks guy's !! ..... I was thinking Allman brothers had one too but can't figure it out

Louis , I'm having a hard time believing you don't know any songs

nope. i always tell people when i go play, don't call out the name of a song, i don't know them. tell me the key, and if there are unusual changes. i an learn any song in no time, but i won't remember as soon as it's over. i think can play most of smoke on the water, but that is it. and maybe neon by john mayer. but nobody ever wants to play that one. people call out things like freebird, and i am like "what?"

[KenC]

I was thinking Allman brothers had one too but can't figure it out

Statesboro Blues? You should be able to find a lot of ideas for that on You Tube.

Ken

[glvourot]

The rhythm guitar for Gimme Shelter is open E

[Fumble fingers]

The rhythm guitar for Gimme Shelter is open E

I was banging the chords the other day with a different strum pattern and I was thinking it was Stones but couldn't put my finger on it until I read your post ... lol ... thanks , Eric

[gitman001]

Hey Eric,

Personally I don't like to use open E tuning - I don't like the extra tension on the A,D and G strings.... However.... I do use open D tuning all the time! It is the same tuning just down a whole step (DADFsharpAD). When I play Angels or any of the songs mentioned above I'll capo at the 2nd fret, which puts you back up to E. I think it gives you a lot more options without having to retune all the time.

Scott

[Fumble fingers]

thanks Scott , good idea ! ..... I tried tuning my SC2 open E , I could get close but then the trem would move , didn't feel like removing the cover on the G & L so I got the chinese LP out with the TOM : )

thanks , Eric

[sirmyghin]

I am not a slide player, but you could easily take any open tuning songs and play them in E if you insist.

Louis, sounds like a great way to handle things, I tend to think that way and can execute it only in the basics though, nothing flashy generally but if I know they want a blues or a vi - IV- ii I or anything like that, as well as secondary dominants etc I can wing it. Comes with practice, most of which I am sorely lacking in a group setting, where as you have it in spades as I understand.

[NickHorne]

My early experience, for what it's worth, was (roughly chronologically):

Elmore James - first heard this small vocabulary / big-heart player in about 1967, a few years after he had passed. Chillingly stark yet sometimes super-sensitive and even almost pretty. Definitely poor man's music. Pretty much the post-war source code of open-tuned 12-bar.

Duane Allman. Say 1970. Elmore gone Les Paul plus some!!

SURPRISE!!! Joni Mitchell. !970-ish again, plus following years. Yes, Joni. Lots of open tuning going on, just listen to it, lots can be done in open E or D (same thing only lower); she's a really great open-tuning discovery coach - just get a capo and play along to the early records, get a feel for experimenting yourself. Plus her rhythm and overall groove is fantastic.

Ry Cooder, also early 70's. Vast proportion of his music is in open. Plus he unsuspectingly showed Keith Richards how to knock out those dirty vamps. Open tuned again. Rhythm and groove again fantastic.

Leo Kottke, early '70s.

Taj Mahal. Warm-hearted man with a National.

More recently, check out Greg Leisz's many appearances with guitar or lap steel, and Cooder is still very much at it. "Humpty Dumpty World", off "Pull up some dirt and sit down" is a seriously great open-tuned groove, along with his other recent bits of fun.

STRINGS: you may need to think about custom-gauge A,D, and G's if you're going to keep a guitar permanently in open E, or else watch your truss adjustment. My three open-tuned guitars each wear custom gauges to suit their tunings.

Have fun!

[Fumble fingers]

thanks for the tip on strings , I have been leaving the open tuning on it , I guess I better back it off when not playing , its been sitting in the case for a couple weeks

[NickHorne]

Tuning to open E flat would pretty much keep the tension the same.
You will make friends with horn players, and some pianists.
But you probably don't need to worry too much. Just watch the truss and don't let the neck settle into new habits you don't want. I never did when I started, but that was on an old 60's Kay Speed Demon and my love for it was shallow.

D'Addario have a great tension / pitch calculation chart on their website. I use it a lot, for working out good starting points for various tunings. I have a Danelectro in open E, a strat in open D, and a baritone (Dano again) in open C.
There won't be much point me giving you my own gauges, as the trusses have been set on mine to suit the tensions, which are mostly somewhat high and not directly comparable with a "regular" electric setup, which is what I guess you have now.

But if you are using a regular set of 10s or 11s, then you won't do much harm to your guitar by raising two strings by a bit plus another one by a tiny bit. Just watch the neck relief / truss adjustment sensibly.

The beginnings of playing in open can just be fun experimentation, followed by a thought session along the lines of "what did I just do, and why did it work?"
The bottleneck is, of course, just waiting to be used (if you like that sort of thing). I use it a lot. A moderate increase in string gauge and action make it a lot better. Also avoid very light slides, they just rattle and fizz, and you will get frustrated with them as you end up pressing the strings down onto the frets as you try to get a clean sound.
Raising the action, tension, and slide mass is the way to go. But this is not a huge deal, you're not trying to recreate Leadbelly's 12-string; don't be alarmed. It will still be frettable with human fingers!

Best luck & fun!

[sirmyghin]

The minor increase in tension is not going to be nearly enough to damage a neck Fumble, no need to slack them. We are talking at most 5 pounds . Strings are already uneven in tension for standard sets, so it is not as if torsion is the issue either. Think of a bass neck, holding 140-160 lbs (4 string), not much if any bigger than a guitar neck. The eccentricity shouldn't be an issue either, as guitar strings are not balanced in tension (with stardard sets). Always nice to get better guages though, I play balanced sets on my 6 string bass (C/O Circle K strings, he's been doing it longer than D'addario), and it is a very good feeling.

[NickHorne]

Indeed.
I'm sorry if I have caused any unnecessary alarm. A regular electric set will not cause damage when raised in this way, although I still wouldn't ignore the truss adjustment over many months until I was sure it was staying stable; but just a watching brief, not a great worry or anything.
Some of my setups are a different thing, the SRV wears 15-56 in open D at present, and that is definitely a truss job!
Main thing is, have fun and learn.

[Elwood]

Some of my setups are a different thing, the SRV wears 15-56 in open D at present, and that is definitely a truss job!

Yeah baby !! I put heavy bottoms on my ASAT (52's I think) , what a sound : )))
No adjustments yet, playing it everyday, I'll watch for changes but it's stable and the action is still low .
Once you get past the healthy pain of working with heavier strings , the rewards are there with every note .
...after playing with .008's it's a refreshing wall of tone.
Love the sound and feel of heavy strings in Eflat.

elwood