SoundWrangler Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Does anyone know of an ACCURATE listing on the web of tunings & capo positions used by Keith (& the other gtr parts) on Stones songs, broken down on a song-by-song basis? The Joni Mitchell Discussion List site has an incredibly useful listing of this sort. (Be sure to check it out if you're either a JM fan or just generally interested in alt. tunings; for one thing her naming system for tunings is the only sensible one I've seen so far.) Most of the web stuff (tabs, etc.) to be found is pretty sloppy - & I see so many players unsuccessfully trying to play Keith riffs in standard tuning. (And for the record, that open G with no 6th string is NOT the only tuning he uses; note Street Fighting Man in open D --1st chord a barre at the 10th fret-- for example.) I once saw an interview where he said that first chord of Jumpin' Jack Flash, "in open tuning" was something like the essence of R&R - & I'm STILL trying to figure out exactly how he plays that (if this is true). The second gtr is playing std. tuning, with capo at 5th or 7th fret, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted July 29, 2002 Share Posted July 29, 2002 Successful, accurate listings of Keith Richard's tunings may be hard to come by because one would have to ask HIM what they were. And if he's asked at the wrong end of one of his numerous transfusions, there's no telling what kind of answer you'd get. Anyway, that Mitchell link is of interest, and the only tuning I know of Richards using was an open G. I know there has to be more, but that's all I recall reading about. Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signal1000 Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 Originally posted by whitefang: Successful, accurate listings of Keith Richard's tunings may be hard to come by because one would have to ask HIM what they were. ... and the only tuning I know of Richards using was an open G. I know there has to be more, but that's all I recall reading about. All I've ever heard of is open G. He also takes the 6th string off of his guitars. I'd try open G and move the capo around to taste to get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 Ask Lee Flier.... Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted July 30, 2002 Author Share Posted July 30, 2002 Here's a random sampling, anyway: Open G: Start me Up (w/capo), Honky Tonk Women, Happy (capo 4th fret), Brown Sugar Open D: Street Fighting Man, Salt of the Earth? (capo 2nd fret?) STANDARD tuning: Satisfaction, Mother's Little Helper, Get Off My Cloud, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Paint it Black (capo 3rd fret), The Last Time, Love in Vain (capo 2nd fret; other gtr bottleneck in open tuning) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 Mostly open G, five string teles. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfjunkie Posted July 30, 2002 Share Posted July 30, 2002 i'm surprised no one has hooked Lee up out in LA so she could get online. she should be back soon. open G is a good start, and it looks like Wrangler knows Keef (or guesses well ). hey- am i the only person who has learned a lot of those tunes using standard tuning? his stuff is mostly about the G, D, & B strings anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted July 31, 2002 Author Share Posted July 31, 2002 No, wager47, you're surely not the only one who learned many of these in std tuning. (Sometimes having a 2nd or 3rd gtr in an alt tuning on club gigs can be a luxury, for one thing...) But when you play (for example) Honky Tonk Women or Brown Sugar in std tuning, you know somehow it isn't coming off even close to the original. Get the tuning right, & instantly the sound, attitude & FUN happens. Same thing with Street Fighting Man - I too had done a thousand lame bar band versions over the years in std tuning, then stumbled across the correct tuning on some tab page a couple years ago... In open D, as soon as you hit that 1st chord at the 10th fret, you INSTANTLY know it's right, & it's a blast, not a chore! Still would be great to see a more comprehensive, song by song listing, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfjunkie Posted August 6, 2002 Share Posted August 6, 2002 Originally posted by SoundWrangler: Sleuthing around, I found this EXCELLENT page about KR's gtrs & tunings, that answers a few of my own questions. Check it out! Lowdown on Keith\'s Gtrs & Tunings cool link, but it starts off with the quote "Five strings, two fingers, one asshole..." who said that? hey- Lee's back, so i thought i'd bump this back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted August 6, 2002 Author Share Posted August 6, 2002 Sound like a typical Keith quote to me! Jumpin Jack Flash: Open D, capo 2nd fret (other gtr in standard tuning). You play the 1st chord as a barre at the 9th fret, & off you go! This lets you play that sweet high melody with your pinkie & ring fingers, on the "All... Right... Now..." refrain. No WONDER almost every bar band version of that song sucks! Another one: I just "discovered" that Let it Bleed (in C), which for years I've incorrectly played in standard tuning, is actually played by Keith in A, capo 3rd fret. (Listen; you can't miss the hammer-on figure he plays on the A chord, once you're clued into it.) And the slide guitar is in Open C! Don't get me wrong, this isn't nostalgia (although these songs are so much fun to play IF done properly)... In the dual-gtr parts of these "classic" Stones songs, we're dealing with some major building blocks in the R&R vocabulary, their influence all over the place. But paradoxically (& forgive me the falootin') they're as little-understood as they are well-known. Thousands and thousands of competent guitarists have never noticed what tunings/capo transpositions these songs are played in, even though they hear them all the time, & think they "know" how to play them. Wierd, huh? Again, has anyone already done the homework, & assembled a comprehensive (& accurate, please!) list of many Stones songs, tunings, capo positions (including the Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, Ron Wood gtr parts, of course!)??? (Web searches on this mostly turn up ignorant tablature crap that's wrong...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted August 6, 2002 Share Posted August 6, 2002 Hi all! "Five strings, two fingers, one asshole" is a quote from Keith himself. Most of the classic Keef riffs are open G tuning, and he removed the 6th string from a couple of his Tele's for that purpose. Personally, I leave the 6th string on and have simply learned to mute it. After years of having only one guitar, I also learned to tune to open G and back to standard really fast. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is open E on the original record I believe, but live, he plays it in open G with the capo on the 4th fret. If you have other questions about specific songs, ask away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted August 6, 2002 Author Share Posted August 6, 2002 OK! 1. Salt of the Earth (in E): (Open E, Open D capo 2nd fret, or dropped-D capo 2nd fret?) Did anyone notice how he played it, to open the post-9/11 concert for the NYFD & NYPD? 2. Midnight Rambler (in B): (Std tuning, played in E capo at 7th fret?) 3. Beast of Burden (E): ? (OK the other gtr is standard tuning; but Keith? Open G capo 4th fret, maybe, but tricky fingerings?) 3. Gimme Shelter (in D#): (OK, open G; but with capo 2nd fret or not? To my ears, the 3rd chord doesn't ring like it's "open", it sounds barred like the previous 2 chords.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted August 6, 2002 Share Posted August 6, 2002 Originally posted by SoundWrangler: 2. Midnight Rambler (in B): (Std tuning, played in E capo at 7th fret?)Correct. 3. Beast of Burden (E): ? (OK the other gtr is standard tuning; but Keith? Open G capo 4th fret, maybe, but tricky fingerings?)I've always played this one in standard tuning, and I believe Keith does too. The chords are mostly 3-string chords, so he sort of fakes the open G sound by playing most of the main riff on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings only. Since you can't hear the bottom notes, this leads me to believe it was standard tuning especially when you get into some of the other fingering. I'm pretty sure I have some live video with this song on there, so I'll check it out, though he doesn't always play live the same way as on the records. 3. Gimme Shelter (in D#): (OK, open G; but with capo 2nd fret or not? To my ears, the 3rd chord doesn't ring like it's "open", it sounds barred like the previous 2 chords.)Yeah, there's no capo on Gimme Shelter. As for Salt of the Earth, I'm 90% sure that was just dropped D with the capo 2nd fret. Again I think I've got some video which could answer the question for sure... maybe later tonight I'll try and dig it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted August 6, 2002 Author Share Posted August 6, 2002 Excellent - thank you VERY much. Salt of the Earth is tough. I know it has to be either std. tuning or Open E (or Open D cap 2nd fret) rather than dropped-D, 'cause you year the B & E strings ringing open above the chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted August 6, 2002 Share Posted August 6, 2002 Actually, I've always played Salt of the Earth in plain ol' standard tuning myself, and always thought it sounded right... but I'll check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted August 6, 2002 Share Posted August 6, 2002 Incidentally, I've never played Start Me Up with a capo. Also, you're correct on the "Love In Vain" guitars on the original recording... but there's no capo on the "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" version, it's just in G standard tuning, and Mick Taylor plays the bottleneck part in standard tuning also. I love that version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted August 8, 2002 Author Share Posted August 8, 2002 Couple more Keith quotes: During that long recording lay-off after Between The Buttons, I got rather bored with what I was playing on guitar... Anyway I eventually got into open-D tuning, which I used on Beggars Banquet. Street Fighting Man is all that, and Jumpin' Jack Flash. Child of the Moon was one of the early open-tuning numbers on the electric guitars, because Street Fighting Man was all acoustic guitars. - Keith Richards, 1977 I (was) working a lot with open-E and open-D tuning for Beggars Banquet, working from what I'd learned during that year off the year before. (But I wasn't using the open-G yet), not at that time, except I played around with it for slide... - Keith Richards, 1989 These are from this website, which actually has some musically useful info scattered about these songs (who played what, which guitars, some tuning references, etc.): Stones 67-72 Track Talk BTW, you're right about Jumpin Jack Flash; per '92 Guitar Player interview, the man himself says it's in Open E (not Open D capo 2nd fret). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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