Fred Sokolow

Open Tunings For Beginners

Open tunings are as old as the guitar itself, and they've been used to play blues, folk, country, rock and old-timey music.

Who's known for using open tunings? Artists as diverse as Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan, Maybelle Carter, Bo Diddley, Blind Willie McTell, Keith Richards, Doc Watson, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Ry Cooder, Neil Young, Fred McDowell, Jimmy Page, Son House, John Renbourn, Leo Kottke, Ani DiFranco, Alex de Grassi and Pierre Bensusan!

In this 92 minute lesson, Fred shows you how, contrary to what many beginners might think, open tunings make it easier to play guitar. You'll learn songs from all the above musical genres in open D, open G and DADGAD tuning. In addition to learning songs, you get some tips on how to improvise and play chords in G and D tuning. It's a great way to expand your range on the guitar and get a whole different sound!

Tunes include: Buckets of Rain, Statesboro Blues, Mean Old World, Little Sadie, K. C. Jones, Stackerlee, The Way I Am and I Didn't See It Coming.

Also included are bonus audio tracks featuring recordings from the 1920s to 1940s of some of these tunes so that you can hear how these songs can be played and sung.