[amyjared]

Hey all,
I read that Garcia was the one who gave the Airplane the music to their song "Coming Back to Me" and the song is in Open E. It's a beautiful song and it got me to wondering about Jer using alternative tunings. Anyone know of any songs where he used them? Didn't he even play slide in standard tuning?

[phreaker]

I dont have the answer to youre question, but I don't THINK he ever used different tunings.

but how do you tune to open e? I've never really bothered with slides, but im interested in starting.

[CaptainTrips]

phreaker, the open is tuned as follows . . .

standard
E ----- A ----- D ----- G ----- B ----- E


open E

E ----- B ----- E ----- G# ----- B ----- E

[phreaker]

ah, thank you.

[Jimkkc]

Over the years, I have asked people about Jerry and alt. tunings and without exception folks seemed to oddly enough take great offense at the question. Maybe I was asking the wrong folks, but I always thought the reaction strange. That being said, I would be blown away if Jerry never messed with tunings on his own - I mean come on, this is Jerry we're talking about!

As far as playing the songs in different tunings, dadgad tuning thread from a few weeks back listed several songs that just sound wonderful in dadgad. As far as open E goes, I tune to open d and capo at the second fret (less stress on the guitar's neck) and play Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm" with hints of the Little Martha Riff between verses.

I also keep my twelve string tuned to standard D (just tune all the strings down a step and play standard chord forms). I own a guild 12 string and don't really need to tune down, but the D standard has such a presence that I don't want to get out that tuning. Of course, the tricky part of this tuning is that you gotta keep your chords straight - you may be playing a D in the first position, but because the guitar is tuned down, it is actually a C chord - once you get these things straight, it is a great tuning - Lazy River Road is another great tune to play in D standard.

[jackaroe1276]

Just a note as Jimk referenced it, you might want to tune to open D and capo it at the 2nd fret. Open E puts alot of stress on the neck and could damage your guitar.

[amyjared]

I also keep my twelve string tuned to standard D

I have a guitar that I do this with as well. Some great songs to play, that were originally played this way include:

Sugar Mountain
Hey Hey My My
Rockin in the Free world -all Neil Young
The Joker - Steve Miller
Sunday Morning - Velvet Underground

And, of course, if you capo at the 2nd fret, you're back in standard E tuning.

See, I'm with you jimcck. Jerry MUST have used alternative tunings as he was such a guitaraholic. He played peddle steel, slide, banjo, etc. I'm just surprised there isn't much out there to back this up.

Oh, and I like open E better than D because it's easier to tune to and while it does create more stress on the neck, a well-made guitar can handle it.

[Jimkkc]

Just a quick note - I have also played with the Leo Kottke C# tuning which is pretty cool; however, tuning all the way down to C allows you to play around with Bflat and EFlat - which are gorgeous keys for a twelve string.

[spilly]

hey amyjarod, how's about a Sunday Mourning post

[amyjared]

hey amyjarod, how's about a Sunday Mourning post

Sounds good to me. I'll put it in the submissions section as soon as I get a chance. Look for it!

[docmeister]

Assurdedly he did use alternate tunings as additional colors on his musical palete. As a banjo player, he knew all about non-standard (EADGBE)guitar tunings. Shooting from the hip on this one, I always thought that Duprees' Diamond Blues had something funky about the acoustic guitar that suggested an alternate tuning. Why doesn't somebody contact Weir or Lesh about this?
Peace

[tigerstrat]

You might be onto something there, doc. Those acoustic Dupree'ses and Mountains of the Moonses from 68 & 69 could very possibly be in non-standard. So could some of the 1970 acoustic stuff I guess. I don't think he ever used them in a live setting after that point though.

[docmeister]

Shaw enough tigerstrat! Do you have a tiger maple strat?

[tigerstrat]

No it's an alder MIJ strat with a birdseye maple/ebony neck with jumbo frets. I just recently upgraded the neck! Love it.

[LazyLightnin]

any velvet underground tabs would be grately appreciated