G Whiz, Part 2

More on playing in open G tuning

- CHARLIE STARR

IN LAST MONTH'S column, I talked about how using open G tuning (low to high: D, G, D, G, B, D) has inspired me to find my own musical and compositional voice as a guitarist and craft some cool and unique chord riffs and slide parts. To illustrate, I detailed how I play the intro and the main riff from the Blackberry Smoke song "Ain't Much Left of Me." This month, I'd like to provide some additional examples of the benefits of playing in open G tuning, by sharing how I play other sections of the tune, including the slide guitar solo.

The verse section is built from stop-time chord hits on G, followed by F/C to C and then G to F/G to C/E, accentuated by the band with big "crashes." This is played twice and then leads us into the chorus section.