Open G tunings - Dobro vs. flat-top vs. electric guitars

JB Bobbitt · From: California, USA

Hello all;

I put down my resonator guitar for a bit to focus on my lap steel that I play in open D. I had me a real good time.

Now, I want to also play a flat-top guitar in open G, but can't discern which tunings my preferred musicians are using. An example of the "preferred musicians"/styles (in G?) include Lloyd Maines (Terry Allen's, Flatland Boogie, Human Remains) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puDdFUmqcfs, Derek Trucks, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin, many others.

The general question is: Which G tuning are acoustic flat-top slide players using? (I'm guessing the answer is "all the above and more and you'll never be able to tell by just listening").

G B D G B D (high bass, Dobro)
D G D G B D (low bass, Taro-patch)
G D B F# A D (Gmaj9)

Any insight?

Thanks a heap,
_________________
"Time is an enemy"
-Bob Dylan

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

JB Bobbitt · From: California, USA

[quote="Jack Hanson"]

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I believe that the low Bass G tuning, D G D G B D, is the most popular G tuning for 6 string guitar players. I have a good friend who is a fantastic slide guitar player and I've played gigs with him where he used that tuning all night long with a Blues band that also did quite a bit of R&B. I called a swing break song, C Jam Blues, and he sounded like Speedy West! Keith Richards uses this tuning a lot, but he doesn't like the low D, so he just takes off the low string and plays it as a 5 string.

D Schubert · From: Columbia, MO, USA

lo-bass G has been a favorite delta blues tuning, for electric and acoustic guitars. The low strings give you a "power chord" that works for major and minor chording.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

If you're talking about slide guitar, not lap steel - I think the most common slide guitar tunings are either a Vestapol-type tuning (1 5 1 3 5 1) - frequently open E = E B E G# B E or open D = D A D F# A D; or a Robert Johnson delta style 5 1 5 1 3 5 type of tuning like open G = D G D G B D (what Jack is calling low-bass G) or open A = E A E A C# E. Most slide players I know (including me) just call D G D G B D 'open G'. I call GBDGBD 'dobro G' or just GBDGBD.

I'd use that delta open G for that Terry Allen tune. Duane often used open E Vestapol. I saw Johnny Winter many times, he used open E and open A a lot on electric. I suspect he tuned down on some things, especially on acoustic. I think Bonnie uses open A a lot, as did Lowell George. But slide players will often move these tunings up or down to suit, either with a capo or using different strings to get a different base tuning. I generally keep one guitar set up with string gauges so it's easily re-tuned between open G and open D, and another set up with gauges so it's easily re-tuned between open E and open A. I have been known to run lighter or heavier strings to enable those same intervals either lower or higher than that. I have a baritone guitar set up for Vestapol open B or 5 1 5 1 3 5 open E - that low B is B below the bottom E of standard guitar tuning. David Lindley reported he used a Vestapol-style open A tuning on some tunes. Must be a bit lighter strings to keep that high A from breaking - but slide players tend to use heavier strings than the typical electric guitar player.

I view tunings for slide guitar and lap steel a bit differently. I think it's pretty unusual to see slide players use, let's say, a typical lap steel 6th type of tuning. Set up properly, slide guitars afford the possibility of fretting notes as well as sliding notes. Even fretting behind the slide while sliding, a la Sonny Landreth. So I mostly use these simple tunings and get my chordal notes outside the basic 1, 3, and 5 tones by fretting one way or another. Pretty tough to slant on slide guitar. So slide guitar and nonpedal steel each have challenges, and players have developed different workarounds.

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Lately on â€œvertical slideâ€ Iâ€™m using the DGDGBD tuning, but on some songs I tune the 5th string G up to A, which gives a modal power D on the bottom. It comes in handy for backup riffs and some other cool voicings. Neil Young has used this DADGBD tuning quite a lot. I often whip the slide off my finger and play overhand for variety. Itâ€™s a cool move, too, from audience perspective.
_________________
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Yeah - once you have a base tuning, it's easy to perturb any string's tuning or two up or down a semitone or whole tone without messing up the string tensions a lot. For example, going from Vestapol DADF#AD to DADGAD is common, and gives another variation with a modal feel. Banjo players often just call the equivalent banjo tuning gDGCD (from the standard gDGBD G tuning) 'modal tuning'.

But what is harder, IMO, is going from one of these standard open tunings to something like a closed-interval 6th or 7th tuning, on the same set of strings. I've tried and I always wind up with some strings that are either way too tight or way too slack. This is because the tuning range is significantly different. For example, both Vestapol 1 5 1 3 5 1 and Delta 5 1 5 1 3 5 have a two-octave range. But a typical closed interval 6th or 7th tuning like, for example, 1 3 5 6/b7 1 3 has just a 1-1/3 octave range. If you stretch the strings tighter from the 6th/7th, some tensions get really high. If you slack the strings looser from the standard open tunings, some strings get really slack. Slackening like this can be done, but I've never liked the feel or sound, either on slide guitar or steel.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Brian Evans · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

I play either DGDGBD - low bass open G - or the same with a low E if I want some minor chords. I had reason to look up what Bonnie Raitt plays recently, and she quotes that same low bass open G and the same tuning one step higher - low bass open A. One thing I really like about it is that (and I know this is pretty simple stuff) it has the major third interval between the third and second string, and a minor third interval between the second and first string. Seems to set up some licks like falling off a log... Smile

Allan Revich · From: Victoria, BC

Jamie Mitchell · From: Nashville, TN

as stated above, one of the advantages of DGDGBD is that you can easily move that to open D. you also have a fifth (and a power chord) on adjacent strings. which, for a simpleton rock 'n' roller like me, is very important!

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

[quote="Allan Revich"]

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