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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Do any of you slide players (Temp???) know if you need to use a different tuning for playing the slide accompaniment(sp??) bit in 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd?
I'm going to try to teach myself slide, and I'm also interested in having a crack at learning 'Guilty' by Nazareth.
Any tips or tabs would be a great help.
Should I have a guitar dedicated to playing slide, ie, something with a higher action? (Like my Hondo?)
I've been mucking about with 'The Amazing Slow Downer' tonight. What an 'amazing' bit of software. They obviously put a lot of effort into naming it, eh? |
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Location: NJ | I'd venture t'guess that "FreeBird"(ecccchh!) is in G tuning . . . |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Originally posted by cliff:
"FreeBird"(ecccchh!) . . . Don't like FreeBird, eh Cliff? (The beginning IS a tad insipid, I agree, but the slide bit sounds potentially easy, and the latter half ROCKS)
When one plays slide guitar, is it usually in one of the open tunings? |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Usually open D (E) or G (A). But many play in standard. Can't help you with Freebird. What are the Chords (key is it in)? That's a good place to start. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | How do I tune to open D or open G?
My only experience of different tunings is dropped D. |
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Location: NJ | If I remember correctly, "Freebird" (at least the "outro") was G-Bb-C. |
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Location: PDX | Open C: C G C G C E
Open D: D A D F# A D
Open G: D G D G B D
Open A: E A C# E A E
Open E: E B E G# B E
In no particular order.
_____
gh1 |
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Location: closely held secret | Muzza, here\'s a site that addresses some open tunings including open G (D-G-D-G-B-D).
And yes, Freebird was originally in G. |
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Location: Carle Place, NY | G-----D/F#----------Em
If I leave here tomorrow
F-----------C-------------D
Would you still remember me? |
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Location: Scotland | Muzza, it’s best to have a guitar set up specifically for slide, with the action a little higher at the nut and saddle. Generally slide players prefer heavy strings. A regular 13–56 medium gauge set is fine. I tend to increase the string gauges on the 1st and 2nd strings to 0.016 and 0.018 or thereabouts. Fingerboard Camber is a matter of taste. Personally I prefer not to have a cambered board on slide guitars
Generally, but not always, the key of the music will dictate the slide tuning. If it’s in G then a G tuning will be the easiest to get a sound from.
I may be wrong here but I seem to recall that Rossington used standard tuning for the slide solo on Freebird, but with the 2nd string down to G. Making EADGGE which is kinda Em11 or G6sus2 tuning.
I think Guilty by Nazareth is in E, but watch out for the Aminor. There’s a trick to getting a minor chord when playing with a slide in a major tuning.
I decided years ago that rather than mess around with different tunings I would use open E as my standard slide tuning regardless of the key I’m playing in. I never use a capo for upright slide, though I do occasionally for lap steel.
What you need to remember is that E/D tuning and G/A tunings are almost identical in terms of intervals/scale degrees and what you can do with them
For example in terms of scale degrees E major tuning (EBEG#BE) is 1 5 1 3 5 1. - D major is exactly the same but a tone lower
G major tuning (DGDGBD) is 5 1 5 1 3 5 - A major is exactly the same but a tone higher
Spot the similarity? Just about anything you do in one tuning can be played in another tuning, it'll just be at a different position on the neck. |
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Location: ranson,wva | temp..i bow at you expertise....jason |
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Location: closely held secret | Anyone who's seen or heard you play can see you know what you're talking about, but that was nicely explained, Paul. |
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Location: ranson,wva | ive seen and heard paul play at the nor'easter gathering..man he is a force to be reckoned with..jason |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I wish I knew about alternate tunings back then. I played Freebird, Rocky Mountain Way (J. Walsh), Nazerth's Love hurts, and a few of my own tunes, all in standard tuning for years. I guess that explains why I can't use a non-tapered slide :( |
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Location: San Bernardino, California | Old Grey Whistle Test Volume 1
There is a video of Freebird on this DVD, but no close-ups. Rossington uses the same guitar for slide and fingered playing, although he puts something under the strings at the first fret for slide playing.
BTW the video for Bob Marley is good.
Also has a Breadwinner on one track (Iggy Pop?). |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Thanks gh1, Waskel and Temp. You guys are diamonds!!!!
I hope I get to one of these tours/jams/gatherings and meet you all one day. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | FREE BIRD! woooo! Hold up a lighter, pass the whatever.
That is what I play when I pick-up a guitar. Turn on amp, G D Em f C D. (That's a little F, no barre.) First song to teach a beginner.
Half my neighbors are OK with it. The rest probably hate me. |
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Location: North Carolina | Slide in Freebird? Standard tuning worked fine for me. But don't ask me to play it. I played that damn thing a gazillion damn times, and will NEVER do so again. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Yep, Freebird, Stairway, and a few others, just got played to death. Unfortunate because I thought they were all pretty cool Jam songs if one stayed somewhat in character with the originals. On a side note in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge there is a "No Mustang Sally" rule. It's not unwritten, it's WRITTEN into the rules. Play it in challenge = disqualified. One of the acts, made a comment about it... then started to play Freebird (first few bars) as a joke... |
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Help - what slide tunings for 'Free Bird' and/or 'Guilty'
