Todd Wilson Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I'm a big Keith fan...... And I love playing slide, so I spend quite a bit of time in open G and/or A. Been working a lot more lately on playing rhythm in open G the way he does. Well, I've got that old Epiphone with the cracked heel. I can't leave it tuned up, as the stress would eventually pull the neck off. I just left it tuned a whole step down, and capoed it accordingly whenever I played it. Well, last night, I was watching a DVD I have of them, and I had always notice that for whatever reason my open G rhythm and his were never close, not just he's Keith and I'm me "not close" but just bad off. So one brain fart later I took my low E off and was sitting there with 5 strings. With out the big string on, I figured the neck could handle being tuned to standard down a half step. Long story short, Survey says 5 strings in open G are WAAAAAAYYY better for rhythm than 6 strings in open G! You hear the chords better! I actually even found some chords that I'm working on looking up today because they just sounded great! I had always muted the 6 string with my thumb, but 5 strings are just so much clearer. So, if you have several guitars, take a string off of one and try it out, the sound is really something. If you don't have an extra guitar to use, then you have a perfect excuse to go buy another one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuneitfred Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Open G on an acoustic is really something to hear. I'm a huge Keith fan. I remove the low E on my acoustics and my electrics in that tuning. I do have a dedicated open G acoustic guitar. Like Kieth says, "It just becomes an unecessary appendage". I think I'll go play a little "Wild Horses" now. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 5-string Open G is a blast to play, and I keep a tele and an acoustic tuned that way much of the time. Keef riffs practically fall out of the guitar once that light bulb goes off. Takes about an afternoon to get the hang of it, but a lifetime to master. The main reason it sounds so much better than six, imho, is that the root is almost (?) always on the bottom -- the voicings are just ballsier. I recently ran into some pretty good youtube videos on how to get the hang of it that are worth checking out if you've never tried this much before. Look for other stuff from this guy, but here's one of my faves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO1IQv4cTqA&feature=channel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swmcv2007 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 It's always good to meet other Keith fans. I'm a huge fan too and I also just found out he only uses 5 strings on open G. When I tried it and hear it I felt like hitting myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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