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Make sure you practice this one, because we are going to revisit this tuning and style with a slide sooner than later

One of Chicago blues biggest legends was the master of slide guitar, the great Elmore James. Elmore isn't the first name that comes to mind when you think "Chicago Blues" but his impact on the overall landscape of blues cannot be denied, and he did all this from the great Windy City. He was partial to a tuning called Open E. Open E is an interesting tuning because you actually have to tune some strings up in frequency. Now, we aren't playing open E, we could tune the Ukulele to open E by bringing the G up to G#, C down to B, E stays and the A goes down a half step to G# BUT we are not using that tuning, we are using open A, because if you take Elmore's guitar and put a capo on the 5th fret, you get open A, and we are trying to play like Elmore. So for us you take the G and bring it up a whole stop to A, the C comes up a half step to a C#, E and A stay the same. Viola, open A tuning.   

This lesson is going to do two things, it is going to walk you through a dozen or so ideas that you can implement on this tuning to get you rocking. Shuffles for each chord, open and barre shapes of the chords, arpeggios, licks, triplets, mixing major and minor scales, turnarounds, all these ideas to help you see this tuning in context. The blues is just a 12 bar circle, and you can use all these ideas to mix with the 12 bar so you can create your own unique blues circle, or if you want you can mix and match these ideas to start to improves and manage these unique sounds on the fly. As always, tabs,

Will improve

  • Playing in alternate tunings
  • General understanding of the blues
  • Blues Shuffle
  • Triplets
  • Mixing swing and straight rhythm
  • Bends
  • Slides
  • Hammer Ons
  • Large intervalic leaps

Related Lessons

Files

Open A Tuning - Elmore James/Chicago Blues Style Master Class - Ukulele Tutorial

New Ukulele tutorials every Wednesday and Saturday, subscribe and learn One of Chicago blues biggest legends was the master of slide guitar, the great Elmore James. Elmore isn't the first name that comes to mind when you think "Chicago Blues" but his impact on the overall landscape of blues cannot be denied, and he did all this from the great Windy City. He was partial to a tuning called Open E. Open E is an interesting tuning because you actually have to tune some strings up in frequency. Now, we aren't playing open E, we could tune the Ukulele to open E by bringing the G up to G#, C down to B, E stays and the A goes down a half step to G# BUT we are not using that tuning, we are using open A, because if you take Elmore's guitar and put a capo on the 5th fret, you get open A, and we are trying to play like Elmore. So for us you take the G and bring it up a whole stop to A, the C comes up a half step to a C#, E and A stay the same. Viola, open A tuning. This lesson is going to do two things, it is going to walk you through a dozen or so ideas that you can implement on this tuning to get you rocking. Shuffles for each chord, open and barre shapes of the chords, arpeggios, licks, triplets, mixing major and minor scales, turnarounds, all these ideas to help you see this tuning in context. The blues is just a 12 bar circle, and you can use all these ideas to mix with the 12 bar so you can create your own unique blues circle, or if you want you can mix and match these ideas to start to improves and manage these unique sounds on the fly. As always, tabs, Tabs - https://www.patreon.com/TenThumbsPro 1-1- Lessons - tenthumbsproductions@gmail.com. Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tenthumbspro/?hl=en Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tenthumbsproductions #TenThumbs #ChicagoBlues #BluesUkulele Open A - Elmore James Style Blues Master Class - Ukulele Tutorial

Comments

Mike Batt

Thanks Tyler. Loving this. 🎼🎼🎼

Paul Janssenswillen

HI , thanks Tyler but I assume I could do this in open E on the Bari E, G#, B, E ?

Tyler Austenfeld

Hi Paul, you got it buddy. I have a cheapish Baritone that I wont in a poker game from an expat. Anytime I tune it up to D-G-B-E it puts a lot of strain on the neck so I just keep it tuned down a half step to Db-Gb-Bb-Eb and it has become my Nirvana, Weezer, Guns'N'Roses, Jimi Hendrix tuned down a half step baritone. Which is kind of fun to have that and my nicer one in standard tuning. So when I did this lesson I wanted to give this tuning a go on the baritone, but I figured it would by my second one, so what I did was that same tuning, but down a whole step. So instead of E-G#-B-E with the open E I did D-F#-A-D with a really low open D and it sounds soooo cool. Experiment with some slide if you have one and another little fun detail you can drop the G# down a half step to G and you have open E minor, E-G-B-E Rock on friend!