-Austin-
Resident Guitar Slinger
Fan of the Eagles from 1972-2016 #NOGLENNNOEAGLES
RIP Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key..."
At least here Glenn seems to be playing in the same (standard) tuning as everybody else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBIkHtWr18
(Incidentally I love Glenn's smile in the beginning.)
I know nothing about guitar tunings but to clarify what Don said about BOML, at least at the Opry concert, he talked about Joni Mitchell and then said Glenn started the song in a drop C tuning. Is this the same as an “open C”? I thought it was a significant detail that he was talking about how the song began initially.
Right or wrong, what’s done is done
It’s only moments that you borrow...
All reports tend to say that Glenn began writing The Best Of My Love with an alternate guitar tuning, which suggests that, although it may have provided some initial inspiration for the music, he may well have abandoned it at some point in the writing and recording process
This probably isn't going to make any sense to people who don't play an instrument..."Drop C tuning" would, I think, mean that the low E is tuned even lower to C while all the other strings are in standard tuning. This would make sense in the case of BOML since the basic verse progression is C major to D minor and you can't play the D root of the D minor chord on the guitar without detuning a string - not if you play the "third" (f note) on the D-string like they do. If you tune the low E to C you can play the D root with your thumb on the 2nd fret. And, of course, it gives you a very low C for the C major chord. But I don't think it's like that on the album. It's possible that Glenn wrote it that way.
Drop C makes a hell of a lot more sense to me, and I can totally see that. Thanks for that bit of info, definitely helps make it easier to think about! lol
Again, open tunings are mostly for slide players, oh, and Keith Richards (and those who want to be him, like Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes as one example). Keith learned it from Ry Cooder, and Ry is a slide player.
Drop tunings are very fun. Chaim has it exactly right.
-Austin-
Resident Guitar Slinger
Fan of the Eagles from 1972-2016 #NOGLENNNOEAGLES
RIP Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key..."
At 0:15 mark when it goes to D minor, you can see Glenn placing his thumb on the second fret on the low E (C?) string. So perhaps he's using the drop C tuning here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBIkHtWr18
-Austin-
Resident Guitar Slinger
Fan of the Eagles from 1972-2016 #NOGLENNNOEAGLES
RIP Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key..."
I've always wondered where the D comes from before the bass comes in, because the D string is fretted (F note), A string is open, the G-string has an A, the B string a C and the high E is open (Dm9 chord). This would explain it.
When they later play the G7 arpeggio, there's a low G. How did Glenn play that? Was the other low E in his 12-string tuned to low C and the pair string to G? Genesis's Mike Rutherford tuned some of the string pairs to different notes for some songs.
EDIT:
Changed my mind about string pairs tuned differently. See later post.
Last edited by chaim; 11-28-2017 at 11:24 AM.
Are you talking about the part in the song where the vocals stop and they play out that one chord one string at a time? Because based on the capital centre footage, i think Glenn strums like a triad or something. I can’t tell what it is but he’s not doing the chord on the record. Maybe joe or don is.