This lesson shows you how to tune your guitar to Open G tuning, which from low to high (in pitch) is D-G-D-G-B-D. When playing a G chord using the open strings (or the related ‘one finger’ bar chords), you generally want to leave the 6th string out of the voicing as it sounds muddy. Keith Richards went so far as to take the 6th string off his guitar when playing in Open G, though when playing slack key or fingerstyle you will use the 6th string (i.e. for a D or D7 chord) and thus want to keep it on the guitar. Open G is often called “Taro Patch” tuning by slack key guitar players, and most slack key songs – especially traditional ones – are in Taro Patch or a close variant.
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GEAR 402 • Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer vs Electro-Harmonix Soul Food
In this demo I compare and contrast some of the sounds you can get from two popular overdrive pedals – the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer and the Electro-Harmonix Soul Food. The Tube Screamer, a mild overdrive with a midrange boost, has been a pedal board staple for years. The Soul Food is a clone (Klone) of the Klon Centaur, a boutique pedal known perhaps above all else for its high price tag. The Soul Food seeks to bring Klon tone to the masses, but rather than trying to figure out how close it sounds to a Klon we can just enjoy it for what it is: a transparent overdrive with lots of clean headroom and an emphasis on the trebles. So this is really not a shootout to determine which one is “better,” since they’re different from each other and both good at what they do.
This demo was recorded with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
Ibanez page for the TS9: http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_effect_page14.php?year=2014&cat_id=6&series_id=153&effect_id=5
EHX page for the Soul Food: http://www.ehx.com/products/soul-food
LIVE 003 • Auld Lang Syne
Here is a fingerstyle guitar arrangement of Auld Lang Syne I came up with. It’s a slack key tinged version with an added bridge/transition, but otherwise follows the familiar melody closely.
Happy New Year!
All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.
Also – if you’re interested – here are the original lyrics to Auld Lang Syne, as penned by poet Robert Burns:
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old long syne.
CHORUS:
On Old long syne my Jo,
On Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
On Old long syne.
GEAR 401 • Boss ’59 Fender Bassman Pedal
Here is a two part review & demo of a cool little under the radar pedal, the Boss FBM-1 Fender ’59 Bassman. The Boss Fender Bassman pedal has a lot of tone-shaping options; it has presence, mid range, bass, and treble knobs in addition to the gain/level knobs. There is also a regular input and a “bright” input, Fender Bassman style. So, this ends up being a very versatile pedal that does mild grit (tweed style), clean boost, or can just be used as a pedal to fatten up your tone.
I think of this as a milder, mellower Blues Driver pedal – with milder overdrive (but still lots of clean gain) and many more tone shaping options. It pairs well with another overdrive pedal, like a Tubescreamer, in addition to working as a stand-alone unit. I have used this as a pre-amp plugged straight into the mixer and also plugged into a solid state amp, but found that it really shines when used in conjunction with a tube amp.
Part I is an overview of the pedal’s features, my thoughts on the pedal’s unusual cosmetics, and a few thoughts on how you might use it.
Part II is a sound demo with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.
The YouTube window below will play both videos as part of a play list.
Boss page for the FBM-1: http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=854
LIVE 002 • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Here is a fingerstyle guitar arrangement of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer I came up with for the holidays. It’s slack key tinged and was fun to play.
Happy St. Nicholas Day (December 6th) and Merry Christmas!
All rights reserved to this arrangement, however students may perform the arrangement in public.
SLACK 110 • Intro to Sixth Shapes in Open G
Intro to Sixth Shapes – this lesson explores Major and minor 6th shapes on the first and third strings in Open G tuning. These shapes are important building blocks for playing slack key (and other styles of guitar) in Open G. Sometimes referred to as simply “open” and “closed” shapes, they are used both to harmonize melody lines and outline chords.
SLACK 120 • Intro to Third Shapes in Open G
This lesson explores Major and minor 3rd shapes on the first and second strings in Open G tuning. These shapes are important building blocks for playing slack key (or other styles of guitar) in Open G.
SLACK 202 • Basic Slack Key Turnaround #2
Here is a follow-up to the basic slack key turnaround #1 lesson. Here we see another common type of turnaround plus a variation that can be used over a D7-G vamp.
SLACK 231 • Descending Slack Key Turnaround #2
This is a follow-up to the taro patch runs and picking patterns in lesson SLACK 230. This run starts higher up on the neck and requires a cutaway on your guitar. If you don’t have a cutaway, you can try to come up with some of your own variations on the patterns in SLACK 230 using some of the ideas from this lesson.
SONG 200 • Old Love by Eric Clapton
Today’s guitar lesson covers how to play the rhythm guitar parts for “Old Love” by Eric Clapton. Old Love was written by Clapton (co-written with Robert Cray) about his split with then-wife Pattie Boyd. The song originally appeared on Clapton’s Journeyman album, though most people are familiar with the version from the Unplugged album. “Old Love” has also been covered by John Mayer. I recently noticed that I neglected to give some examples of the strumming, but the pattern is pretty simple. Watch the live version of the song from Eric Clapton, below, to get a feel for how you might strum the chords.
Here is the Lesson:
Here is the live recording from Unlpugged: