Electric Slide
Guitar Techniques|October 2017

Harrison March continues exploring slide guitar styles, this time looking at Elmore James and Johnny Winter’s favourite open D tuning.

Harrison March
Electric Slide

Open D tuning has been used by everyone from Robert Johnson to Johnny Winter and was the favoured tuning for Elmore James who was a profound influence on Derek Trucks, Duane Allman and many other slide players. Elmore James’ tunes such as The Sky Is Crying, Shake Your Money Maker and It Hurts Me Too have been popularised by Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Like open G, the open strings form a Major chord with the 5th, 7th and 12th frets forming I, IV, V chords. However, open D tuning has its own unique sound and is quite distinct from open G.

This story is from the October 2017 edition of Guitar Techniques.

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This story is from the October 2017 edition of Guitar Techniques.

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